“It’s been an interesting year for Apple – they’ve announced one completely new hardware product (the Apple Watch) and two major updates to existing product lines (the 4th generation Apple TV and the iPad Pro),” Jan Dawson writes for Tech.pinions. “In the process, they’ve also launched two new operating systems: watchOS and tvOS, for the Apple Watch and the new Apple TV respectively. However, the one really new product that didn’t get a new operating system was the iPad Pro, which runs iOS, the same operating system that runs on all iPads as well as iPhones and the iPod Touch. There’s a logic to this, but there’s a case to be made Apple should have launched a new OS – call it padOS – with the iPad Pro.”
“The two new operating systems Apple has launched recently are, in reality, versions of iOS optimized for two new form factors – the Watch and the Apple TV. Each of them has customizations which make them work best on, respectively, 1.5 inch screens worn on the wrist and 40+ inch screens several feet from the user, which they interact with through a remote,” Dawson writes. “Like watchOS and tvOS, this [padOS] operating system wouldn’t be completely new but would instead be largely based on iOS while making adjustments and optimizations for the new form factor and interaction models.”
“The next big question becomes which iPads should run this new operating system. Does the iPad Pro truly stand alone, or do the same accessories and interaction models eventually extend back down the line to the iPad Air and even the iPad Mini?” Dawson writes. “Should those devices also run padOS? Or should the new OS instead be called iOS Pro or something else that makes clear it’s optimized for this specific device and not iPads in general?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iOS works perfectly fine for iPads, including iPad Pros. If it ain’t broke, don’t “fix” it.