“Steve Jobs sought to sell Windows PC users a ‘BYOKDM’ drop in replacement: the Mac mini (and Xserve). A few years later, Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ campaign similarly invited PC users to switch and enjoy working where things were so much easier,” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for AppleInsider. “However, Apple hasn’t been actively pushing Macs at Windows users lately.”
“Instead, in 2015 Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook yanked out the tablecloth of accepted expectations when he rhetorically asked in an interview, ‘I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?'” Dilger writes. “He upset many PC pundits by simply explaining what was happening in the industry: ‘iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones.'”
“The cynical explanation for Apple’s fixation on disrupting the status quo of computers has been that Apple is simply abandoning the conventional PC to shift to the mobile world, where everyone else has failed. But that’s false,” Dilger writes. “It’s not just false, it’s absurd. This year, Apple again devoted massive new attention to macOS Mojave at its Worldwide Developer Conference. And fittingly so, because developing software for its massive mobile iOS platform requires a Mac. Apple’s macOS Mojave is still a work in progress, but the strategy is clear: Welcome to the Mac for iOS users.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iOS 11 was the real turning point.
As we wrote last August, “Since its inception, iPad has always been the future of personal computing for the masses, it just really needed what iOS 11 will soon deliver to fulfill its promise!”
For the vast majority of current Mac users and PC sufferers, Apple’s iPad truly could be their next personal computer, thanks to iOS 11.
As our own SteveJack remarked seconds after Apple’s Craig Federighi unveiled iOS 11’s new features (namely, Multi-Touch Drag and Drop, the new Dock, and the Files app):
Finally, the promise of iPad is realized. – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, June 5, 2017
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Listen, we want new MacBooks. We’re Mac users. We love Macs. We’ll be getting them (to replace our beloved 11-inch MacBook Airs). But, we won’t need them on the road anymore as soon as iOS 11 is loaded onto our new iPad Pros.
In fact, the new MacBooks might be the last Mac notebooks we ever buy. About that, of course, we’ll be a little sad, but we believe that the iPad is the portable Mac of the future. And, as Mac users, we like to push forward. As always, we have no respect for the status quo. — MacDailyNews, June 21, 2017
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What’s more natural than dragging and dropping with your finger? It’s certainly more natural than doing so with a mouse. With iOS 11, many people’s biggest conundrum for their next road machines went from MacBook vs. MacBook Pro to 10.5-inch iPad Pro vs. 12.9-inch iPad Pro. — MacDailyNews, June 9, 2017
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iPad Pro. The future of computing is here (or will be, as soon as iOS 11 is released this autumn). — MacDailyNews, June 23, 2017
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We find that there are many older users longing to make iPad work like a laptop, because that’s what they know.
Take a look at a twelve-year-old who’s only really ever used an iPad for personal computing. It’s an eyeopener. It’s like looking into the future.
The answer isn’t to try to make the iPad into a MacBook. The answer is to provide all the tools possible in iOS for developers to make robust apps that can take advantage of the multi-touch paradigm. — MacDailyNews, May 16, 2017
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iPad Pro can replace the vast majority of people’s MacBooks because people never had an alternative to a MacBook to accomplish what what they use a personal computer for: Web browsing, email, light word processing, music-video-photo storage and playback, and maybe some messaging (but they do most or all of that on their iPhones or iPhone wannabes).
Note: Obviously, we are not talking about our readership which skews heavily toward techies who use their Macs for far more than the vast majority of current personal computer users.
For the vast majority of people even a crappy low-end Windows laptop is vast overkill for what they do. Therefore, the headroom for iPad remains virtually limitless, especially as Apple’s A-Series chips, iOS and iPad apps become ever more powerful.
This “iPad pause” will not last forever. — MacDailyNews, November 11, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro has replaced my 12-inch MacBook – December 26, 2017
Apple: With iPad Pro + iOS 11, a post-PC world may be closer than you think – November 17, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro from the perspective of a college student – October 13, 2017
Apple’s iOS 11 turns the iPad Pro into the only device your family needs – June 28, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro is now a true photographer’s tool – June 26, 2017
10.5-inch iPad Pro: Back on an Apple computing device, but not in the form I anticipated – June 23, 2017
Apple’s powerful, new 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a typing champ – June 22, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro and iOS 11 will finally kill the MacBook Air – June 21, 2017
How Apple’s iPad Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion technology works – and why it’s awesome! – June 21, 2017
Tim Bajarin: Apple’s iOS 11 finally brings Steve Jobs’ vision for the iPad to life – June 20, 2017
Macworld reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘If any iPad replaces the MacBook, it’s this one’
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
CNBC review: In the market for a new tablet? You should buy Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro – June 17, 2017
TechCrunch reviews new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘Apple pays off its future-of-computing promise’ – June 14, 2017
Apple’s game-changing 12.9- and 10.5-inch iPad Pros arrive in stores – June 13, 2017
Jim Dalrymple reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Highly recommended – June 12, 2017
LAPTOP reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Amazingly fast performance beats most Windows laptops – June 12, 2017
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Much more ‘pro’ than what it replaces – June 12, 2017
These go to 11: Apple makes iOS more Mac-like and iPad’s promise is finally realized – June 9, 2017
This is all utter BS.
It is still vastly more difficult to edit a plain text (copy, paste, selecting, dragging) on iOS than on the Mac, even in a low key app TextEdit.
Really, until iOS is on par with the ease of use on the Mac, it will NOT be a replacement for many users.
“vastly more difficult to edit a plain text”
Not vastly. And ONLY slightly more difficult primarily to those folks that -haven’t- been editing plain text on iOS devices for years. One can assume that the majority of future customers are people that have been using iPhones (or some other touch device) for a number of years. To them, switching to macOS means learning a new way of doing things. I can see many of those folks just getting an iOS device with a bigger screen over a Mac.
Wrong as always. Who pays you to slander anything non- iOS?
So, Wrong Again, what percentage of users as a whole routinely edit documents on their phone (iPhone or otherwise) as their *primary* mode of editing documents? One hundredth of one percent of users, i.e. one in ten thousand users? It’s probably more like one hundredth of that! What percentage of videographers edit their video on their phone? What percentage of musicians do their core work in their phone?
Many of these things may move to iPads and the like in several years, but not today.
There is no core group that is moving their work from phones (iPhones or otherwise) to their tablets (iPad or otherwise). They *MAY* be slowly moving from their computer (desktop or laptop) to a tablet. But that transition is slow in coming. The user interface for many things still has to evolve to get it to a point where many users will use tablets to the extent they use desktops and laptops now.
Just as a case in point, I and most of the people I know use two or more monitors routinely to get work done. (OK, I admit it, I’m a screen real estate junkie and routinely use three or more monitors at a time.) How many independent screens can those tablets and phones support?
“what percentage of users as a whole routinely edit documents on their phone”
On a smart phone like the iPhone? When you consider that one of the largest use cases is “texting”, I’d say the vast majority of folks with iPhones… especially the ones that don’t have access to or utilize any other computing device. Beyond that, there’s email and posting on forums like these. For very many, when they do this, they do it from the device they have with them, which is very often going to be their mobile device. (Even a laptop takes longer to be ‘ready to post’ than an iPad) Understanding that there are over 1 billion active iOS users versus just over 100 million active OSX users, there’s a REALLY good chance that an average user you pull off the street is more familiar with editing on an iOS device than OSX.
“What percentage… videographers/musicians”
The original poster and myself was talking about editing text. HOWEVER, I’d be willing to bet that the majority of both groups spend more time texting and emailing to business prospects, coworkers, and friends on some mobile device than they do on their computers.
“Many of these things may move to iPads”
Yes, we are in agreement here… and actually, if people weren’t so quick to pull out all their “defense phrases” for anyone talking about anything NOT macOS, they might find agreement more often than disagreement. The original poster said it’s VASTLY more difficult to edit text. It’s not. And, in responding, I didn’t say anything about work or replacing any of you guys’ fine multi-monitor setups with iOS devices. 🙂
This would be easier to believe if Apple kept its Macs regularly updated.
A desktop OS designed for personal users versus a mobile OS designed for always-connected network reliance and tracking of sheeple within a tightly controlled walled garden?
If you don’t understand the difference, then you’ll accept anything. Apple’s continued attempt to downgrade the Mac into a consumer-grade subscription computing model is obvious. And it won’t work because the smartest users will go elsewhere for better performance and data security.
Cook continues to demonstrate that he doesn’t give a shit about Mac users. He just wants to extract money with walled garden app stores & media distribution subscriptions. He’s too lazy to sell top quality, industry competitive Mac hardware that places the user in control of his network and data.
“because the smartest users will go elsewhere for better performance and data security.”
One more time – for you and others who make similar statements – why are you here? If things are so much better elsewhere… off you go.
already on my way out. My first computer was an Apple II+. Currently have a Win10 PC, a Linux desktop and an iMac and networked together. My iMac used to be my main machine. I am using it less and less now as things are slowly migrating over back to Windows and some to Linux. Still waiting for that mythical fully up to date Mac. I’m still here because I am still holding out hope…and also you guys are sometimes interesting to read.
“Still waiting for that mythical fully up to date Mac. I’m still here because I am still holding out hope”
I started helping people like you migrate over 6 years ago. There were a few times early on when I wondered if Apple was going to pull a rabbit out of a hat making them want to switch back (and regretting I’d help them switch in the first place). But, the past six years of “not giving a damn about what Apple is doing” has them in a much better place. Their hardware needs are defined by THEM and not by Apple. They look at their friends stuck on outdated insufficient hardware and now THEY are telling folks that, if you need more than Apple offers, WHY ARE YOU WAITING AND HOPING? Get the hardware your business needs and live life.
Even if Apple WERE to release something now, I can pretty confidently tell you that it’s NOT going to be what you’re looking for. There will be the same ol’ compromises that, if you haven’t accepted them yet, you’re DEFINITELY not going to change your mind on it in the future.