I'm seeing this pattern play out in a few places in the late spring. A mostly online event with a fairly small-scale, maybe invite-only, in-person component.
A lot of companies have found that, while online participation is mostly watching video, far more can participate to at least that degree than ever could when a lot of these expensive, popular events were in-person only--with maybe a streaming keynote.
I assume that Apple does have small-scale events for developers of various types though I don't know for a fact as I don't develop for mobile.
But putting on full-blown events like WWDC is enormously expensive both in direct dollars and, probably more importantly, people's time. Some big US companies do hold their big user shows (which serve a somewhat different purpose and audience anyway) in both the US and Europe but most just do US only.
They wouldn't need to promote it forwards into the public eye like Microsoft did with Windows 8. ChromeOS being able to run linux via Crostini and Android apps isn't such a headlining feature, but it makes a Chromebook have more utility for power users. M1s are the first chip to support virtualization in iPads, they could just start supporting that avenue to enable users.
Touchscreen-only use actually works really well on GNOME, perhaps best of any OS. (The default on-screen keyboard is sadly very substandard compared to something like the open source Hacker's Keyboard for AOSP, but there are workable alternatives if you're running an Xorg session.)
Buying one of each platform is a bug, not a feature. The goal is to maximize customer LTV. This hypothetical product could be strictly superior to _and_ more expensive than separate purchases of a MacBook and iPad.
I wouldn't expect to see this on the Air or even Pro models as standard; it makes sense as an expensive upgrade akin to the M1 Max.
The iPhone is a more profitable platform than iPod. Cannibalizing the iPod market was a move that maximized long-term profit.
Jobs wanted the iPad to represent a unique interface and experience that was distinct from a laptop. They failed to do that and the touchscreen is the only difference that remains. Merging these products is only likely if they doesn't reduce overall expenditure on Apple products in the long-term.
If you look at the development of the iPad UI over the past 2-3 years it's clearly converging more and more with laptops, rather than trying to differentiate itself. The differences between a 12.9 inch iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard and a MacBook Air are getting fewer and fewer with each OS update.
I don’t think they’ll put macOS on an iPad either, but they’ve been positioning the iPad as a computer for a long time. Even in marketing language at times.
Frankly, it's really frustrating to watch them posture like this when pretty much every use-case that isn't content consumption or light content-creation is out the window.
"The iPad is a computer!"
Okay, what's the development experience like on it?
"Well, for $19.99 you can buy a license for this app that lets you SSH into another box to do your work!"
That's okay, I'm fine sticking with my laptop. How's the software situation?
"It's great! You can only download the stuff Apple lets you get, or you can pay $99 a year for the privilege of loading arbitrary software."
I think that's another win for the PC... at least I can do my web browsing on it, right?
"Of course! Safari is a first-class experience on iPad, which is why it's the exclusive supported browser on iPadOS."
Any platform with this many "gotchas" probably doesn't qualify as a computer any more than a LeapPad or a feature phone does.
I mean, this would bother me—as in, I’d leave the platform—if they didn’t offer a bunch of other computers without any of those limitations. But then, I’m not in the target market for the iPad, and I have no interest in its features on a Mac.
>"The iPad is a computer!" Okay, what's the development experience like on it?
Even if it's bad, development is like 1% of what computers are used for. More PC/laptop users never program anything or even know how to are care to learn.
> rankly, it's really frustrating to watch them posture like this when pretty much every use-case that isn't content consumption or light content-creation is out the window.
They advertise a lot of real, specific use cases. And lots of people do actually use these devices to do work.
> Okay, what's the development experience like on it?
Oh you meant your use case.
> Any platform with this many "gotchas" probably doesn't qualify as a computer any more than a LeapPad or a feature phone does.
It’s 2022, literally toasters are internet connected. “Computer” is a pretty vague term already. Plenty of people can actually do their work on an iPad. I’d call it a computer, but I’m not tied to it. Who cares if it’s a “computer”? It does what most people need and I’m guessing you were never going to consider an apple product anyways.
Highly capable touch-screen sensor-rich portables are carving out their own niche and that's been a great opportunity for shaking up some of the core ideas in system architecture and OS designs. This applies across all vendors for products in that class.
Not only would porting macOS to iPad disturb Apple's business proposition of "why not buy both?" but it would let up on the pressure that makes iPadOS itself evolve and solve problems in its own way.
I'd say just be patient and tablets will become what you want. The road to get there is a bit longer than "just port over the old stuff!" but that long road will probably keep surfacing exciting new innovations and paradigm-changes along the way.
At this point it's the same OS with different UI shells, so they can do better than dual boot: instantly switch to the full macOS UI when a Magic Keyboard is connected, and even preserve the state of any running apps.
I would rather iPadOS continue its journey to achieve parity with a "fullOS". iPadOS has a lot of new concepts about how we should be computing, and it would be a shame to throw it away for what we already have.
If dual boot ever becomes a thing, all momentum on improving iPadOS would probably just stop as "if you need PC-level features just use macOS".
So the company who just can't innovate without forcing 165,000 employees back to office in April can't figure out how to run an in person event in June
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[ 2.1 ms ] story [ 88.4 ms ] threadOr maybe they’re just having a thing at their home and if you’re international and want to come and can afford it then do so.
But putting on full-blown events like WWDC is enormously expensive both in direct dollars and, probably more importantly, people's time. Some big US companies do hold their big user shows (which serve a somewhat different purpose and audience anyway) in both the US and Europe but most just do US only.
Merging 2 usages into a single experience = you flop like Win8/Win11/Gnome/Unity8
On other hand Android/ChromeOS and macOS/iOS/iPadOS is a big winner
I wouldn't expect to see this on the Air or even Pro models as standard; it makes sense as an expensive upgrade akin to the M1 Max.
They did it with the iPod to iPhone, for a famous example.
Jobs wanted the iPad to represent a unique interface and experience that was distinct from a laptop. They failed to do that and the touchscreen is the only difference that remains. Merging these products is only likely if they doesn't reduce overall expenditure on Apple products in the long-term.
Who said that? In my experience they succeeded. That's also why it's the main tablet that ever sold shitloads and still does after a decade...
If you look at the development of the iPad UI over the past 2-3 years it's clearly converging more and more with laptops, rather than trying to differentiate itself. The differences between a 12.9 inch iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard and a MacBook Air are getting fewer and fewer with each OS update.
"The iPad is a computer!"
Okay, what's the development experience like on it?
"Well, for $19.99 you can buy a license for this app that lets you SSH into another box to do your work!"
That's okay, I'm fine sticking with my laptop. How's the software situation?
"It's great! You can only download the stuff Apple lets you get, or you can pay $99 a year for the privilege of loading arbitrary software."
I think that's another win for the PC... at least I can do my web browsing on it, right?
"Of course! Safari is a first-class experience on iPad, which is why it's the exclusive supported browser on iPadOS."
Any platform with this many "gotchas" probably doesn't qualify as a computer any more than a LeapPad or a feature phone does.
Even if it's bad, development is like 1% of what computers are used for. More PC/laptop users never program anything or even know how to are care to learn.
They advertise a lot of real, specific use cases. And lots of people do actually use these devices to do work.
> Okay, what's the development experience like on it?
Oh you meant your use case.
> Any platform with this many "gotchas" probably doesn't qualify as a computer any more than a LeapPad or a feature phone does.
It’s 2022, literally toasters are internet connected. “Computer” is a pretty vague term already. Plenty of people can actually do their work on an iPad. I’d call it a computer, but I’m not tied to it. Who cares if it’s a “computer”? It does what most people need and I’m guessing you were never going to consider an apple product anyways.
Not only would porting macOS to iPad disturb Apple's business proposition of "why not buy both?" but it would let up on the pressure that makes iPadOS itself evolve and solve problems in its own way.
I'd say just be patient and tablets will become what you want. The road to get there is a bit longer than "just port over the old stuff!" but that long road will probably keep surfacing exciting new innovations and paradigm-changes along the way.
If dual boot ever becomes a thing, all momentum on improving iPadOS would probably just stop as "if you need PC-level features just use macOS".