“The iOS could be a dual boot OS on a Mac, but what would really integrate the iOS with Mac OS would be if iOS were also accessible via Mac OS. This leads to all sorts of possibilities,” Kingsley-Hughes writes. “Think this is far fetched? Maybe, but wasn’t the idea that Apple would make it possible for users to install Windows on their Macs also once far-fetched?”
Kingsley-Hughes writes, “I also doubt that it would cannibalize iPhone and iPad sales either, the addition of iOS on a Mac would be a value add to an existing platform, rather than a replacement for an iPhone or iPad.”
Full article here.
Not unlike Widgets on the Mac now.
The apps are made and tested on a Mac. They should also be available with a mulitough pad.
Why? Because they changed the name?
Seems to me if they intended to do that they could have a long time ago.
If I could suddenly run the hundreds of thousands of apps available for iOS on my Mac, there’s be quite a bit less reason to purchase an iOS device.
Considering an emulator is already built in to the dev tools, this should not be hard to do. The question is, does it make business sense to? I don’t see any major objection, one is already allowed to use a purchased app on multiple devices.
This is quite a dumb idea. Who will want to dual boot or a touch interface on a keyboard/mouse environment. The much better idea would be an easy export option from native iOS Apps to HTML 5 / javasript Webclient Apps with the help/integration of SproutCore in XCode 4. Then adjust the interface to bigger desktop screens and enjoy all your programs and data on every modern browser including on all Windows machines. This would be huge and XCode will become the new center for software developement.
I’ve got Snow Leopard on my MacBook. There are some programs I’d like, but they’re written only as iPhone or iPad apps. They have no Mac OS X equivalent. What do I do? Can I install iOS on a virtual machine using VirtualBox or Parallels?
This could work well in combination with an iTrackpad.
I’m with theloniousMac on this one.
Steve Jobs clearly stated Apple’s view that putting an OS designed with a tiny interaction point requiring a stylus/mouse/keyboard onto a mobile device was a failure out of the gate. So they built the “Multi-Touch Interface” for the iPhone et al. Now we have Kingsley-Hughes positing that Apple should put a “Multi-Touch Interface” on hardware designed to be used with a stylus/mouse/keyboard. Many here might think it’s a good idea to try that. I’m betting a tightly focused Apple won’t take any time to consider it.
The dashboard in OS X should let you run iPhone and iPad apps and widgets.
Rather than a dual-boot system, I think virtualization would make more sense.
I’ve always been a bit of a fan of “dual-screen” laptops, and I think adding a touchscreen instead of a keyboard & trackpad to MacBooks, etc., would allow iOS 4 apps to be used on a built-in iPad, essentially, and then when a Mac app is needed, the conventional screen would be used as the keyboard & trackpad. This idea has been floating around in my head for ages and you may have noticed mentions of this from other people and myself.
Other benefits of a touchscreen keyboard/iPad app touchscreen would be a more accessible and adaptable keyboard which would be completely silent, media controls, power saving for the main screen, a very elegant design and a trackpad that Mac apps could adapt to unique uses, including a customised controller for games or industrial applications.
I know this is similar to what the Nintendo DS and DSi do but they aren’t laptops or iOS devices and will never compete. Also, the form factor and usability would be vastly different.
Ehh? I’ll have some of what he’s smoking! My MacBook Pro doesn’t have an accelerometer, it only has a drop sensor for the harddisk. I’d be mad to try to control a touch interface with my tiny trackpad. Talk about frustrating. The different OSs are designed around the different hardware capabilities and I’m happy for that to be so. I might just buy an iPad, but if and when do, I won’t expect it to replace all my keyboard tasks.
Shesh, we all have brains – just don’t know why some people leave them switched off.
This article is stupid, but only because it completely ignores the fact that iPad and iPhone apps are created on Macs! If they can run in simulation on a Mac for testing, there is absolutely no need to boot into another OS, or even use virtualization solutions. Just create a “yellow box” that the apps run in, or a special widgets layer in the OS.
Are all bloggers this poorly informed about the topics they write about?
I don’t know that it would have any effect on iOS device sales, but it would significantly increase app sales. There are several iPad apps that I would love to run on my MacBook Pro.
Guys, you just don’t get it.
iOS IS Apples new consumer computer line. They are going to start killing off the consumer level computers. By WWDC 2011, their line up will be iOS for their consumer level computers and OSX for their professional computers. Soon if you want a Mac, you’ll have to pay at least $2000 for it.
If you can’t see that is where Apple is going, then you are blind.
PocketRocket:
Macbooks and MacBook Pros have had accellerometers (a.k.a. Sudden Motion Sensors) for years. There are several Mac applications out there that utilise them (BubbleGym, Carpenter’s Level widget, MacSaber, SkipChecker…).
That doesn’t detract from the fact that you have a valid point regarding purpose of different OSs.
We will have to wait just a little bit longer (perhaps next year), until Apple releases a 12-14″ iPad. That will be the turning point for the quality of apps, which will then precipitate transformation of the Mac line from OS X to iOS. Keyboards and mice will soon become optional accessories sold under build-to-order option. And I have no doubt, both Microsoft, as well as Adobe will grudgingly port their flagship Mac software over to the new multi-touch paradigm.
In five years, most of us will ask ourselves how did we ever get anything done working with a mouse and keyboard.
And no, Dallasm, I don’t think they’ll continue supporting OS X for too much longer. Mac Pros may be the last ones to give it up and migrate to iOS, but they will get there too. Apple has developed by far the most intuitive user interface paradigm in the history of computing. There is doubt that they will consolidate their entire hardware product line on the iOS. For Mac Pros, the Studio Display will become multi-touch. I’m also sure that very soon after the completion of that migration, third-party multi-touch monitors will begin to appear (for the Mini and the Pro).
It lasted for almost three decades, but its life is very near its end. Mouse (and all its derivatives: trackball, trackpad, etc) as a pointing device has served its purpose in the history of computing.
This man has obviously never seen a projector in a 3D design office, or a large lcd screen in a recording studio. Mouse is precision without the necessity of human error. OSX will never replace it with touch, they may supplement it but it will never be replaced.
Sure, it allows developers to sell apps to all the laptop and desktop Mac users – makes total sense. Add the rumored touchpad device for the Mac that was shown before WWDC, and whammo….
That would drive a stake thru the heart of the “there are no games on the Mac” argument.
iOS is a touch-based GUI. Mac OS X is a keyboard and mouse (or equivalent) -based GUI. Apple would never let users run iOS apps under Mac OS X. That’s why Apple developed a different GUI for use on mobile devices.
@ singidunum
No, Apple will not create multi-touch devices with huge displays. That would fail the usability test, and Apple is big on usability. Touch is great for devices with smaller screens. However, if you scale it above 12 inches or so, it does not work so well. The user will need to make large flailing human-energy intensive movements to control the interface. The user will need to hold their arms, hands, and fingers in awkward positions, and since the screen is larger, they will need both hands to make multi-touch gestures; it would be carpal tunnel syndrome, multiplied to the whole upper body. And very importantly, the user’s arms, hands, and fingers will block the view to portions of the screen, while using the interface. Plus, you’ll leave fingerprints all over a large screen.
These things are not a major problem when the screen is 3.5 inches or 10 inches. It does not take too much movement to touch all parts of the screen, and you can quickly and easily move your hand and fingers out of the way after a “gesture.” Multi-touch can be done with one hand. And wiping off the finger smudges is not too much of a chore. But at 15 inches and larger…?
Apple created iOS as a specialized GUI for its mobile devices. It is brilliant. Almost by definition, it is NOT meant to be scaled up as a replacement GUI for laptop and desktop -sized devices. It is possible that something will come along to replace a keyboard and mouse for input, but I don’t see these huge imprecise touch screens with users waving their arms around all day.
many if not most iPhone apps could certainly be enabled to run like widgets on standard Macs. laptops already have the touchpads for their UI, and an Apple keyboard with built in touchpad (instead of numerical keys) is certainly do-able.
why not? but Apple has de-emphasized widgets for years. i guess Jobs just doesn’t like them.
still, it would be a smart move to “converge” OS X and iOS for users this way, seamlessly linking these crucial parts of the Apple “ecosystem.” a lot of those apps would be really useful and convenient on the desktop too. let’s hope to see this in OS X 10.7.
The argument that iOS Is Not MacOS is purely semantic.
Usability will decide. Right now, I’d bet Jobs thinks iOS apps would suck on Mac desktop.
Please elaborate on:
– How will you code iOS apps w/o Macs? Not in iOS right now.
– Where/How do you compile the iOS kernel? Not in iOS.
– What will run the Apple BILLION DOLLAR SERVER FARM? Not iOS.
I would like to see iOS apps run in OSX natively, without having to reboot the system. Rebooting just to run iOS apps seems pretty silly if you really think about it, especially when Apple is integrating everything into everything else they make. Personally, I still would like the iOS to become more OSX like. I think it would be prety cool if I could use the bookstore on my Mac, not to mention play all those great games and other cool gadgets. I have never been much interested in the gadget thingys in OSX, I wanted to them to run on the desktop, not in a separate window that you had to tap a key everytime you wanted to see one or use one. This is the only function I like Microsoft uses in OS7, which of course was stolen from OSX. When I first saw OS7, I busted out laughing at how similar it was to OSX, even the dock is laid out the same (the trashcan is in the same location and almost looks identical to the OSX version). Please Apple, give us the ability to run iOS apps in OSX. It can’t be THAT hard, and you can dounble your sales of iOS apps in one day!
It would be pretty cool to be able to wirelessly send the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch screen over to a mac and then be able to use your iOS device as the input device.
Mmmmm, No. iOS=car OSX=truck Future? – truck=production machine, no internet and it’s distractions, get your lazy ass back to work. car=I’m free to express myself and consume, consume, consume and do frilly, fru fru things. Macs available from contractors and Apple online, retail stores for the “deer in headlights” customer.
Why couldn’t Apple rewrite Dashboard so that iPad apps run as widgets? Seems pretty obvious. Since iOS is a subset of Mac OSX, Icannot imagine it would be that big a deal.
I’ve never been in the presence of so many idiots before. The author clearly did not know the mac platform at all. Most responders seem not to be able to get their heads around the fact that iOS is INDEED OS X! Let’s say that again … iOS is Mac OS X for mobile devices.
And another thing, all you who think the Mac and OS X are dead are not only idiots, you are insane!