Dave Smith for Business Insider:
The iPad is finally going to be the best computer it can possibly be — and it’s all because it’s leaving iOS.
As Apple announced at the WWDC keynote on Monday, starting later this year, the iPad will run on its own operating system called iPadOS. This means iOS will belong to the iPhone, more or less.
This is incredible news for iPad owners.
Instead of forcing the iPad to live by the rules of the iPhone (a much smaller device), or trying to make the Mac operating system work on a touch device, iPadOS will start off pretty similar to iOS 13, and gradually become more differentiated to the iPad’s form factor as years go on.
You can create multiple windows, endless tabs, and switch between everything seamlessly with improved multitasking.
For years, the story of the iPad has been that it’s “struggling,” or “on the decline.” With iPadOS, it will finally have the dedicated tools and attention it needs to not only succeed, but grow.
MacDailyNews Take: The iPad has actually been growing of late, even before iOS 13, with the strongest iPad growth in six years achieved in Apple’s Q219 results.
IPadOS is the biggest new thing for me. Multiple windows. External storage connectivity. Multiple side bar apps. New gestures. Just waiting to see what the external pointer support will be.
It is certainly on track to becoming a true alternative to conventional laptops. One thing I’d like to see is the device become more in tune with contemporary design language. The rounded edges and bezels must go and there should be a 15 inch model.
I’m getting to the point where I am honestly using the iPad exclusively during the day. If I’m mobile, the 12.9 inch is the only device I take with me. I’ve taken to installing VPNs at most client locations, and a single MacMini with all the networking utilities I might need. The MacMini runs the MacOS, Windows, and LINUX. I connect to the client’s VPN using the iPad and can either remotely control specific user desktops from there, or use my MacMini to monitor, observe and remedy network problems. I even sometimes have the client move the MacMini to a desktop, connect it to the user’s machine, and reboot in target disk mode. Then I can work on the desktop through the MacMini.
For me these days, that’s most of the 20% and everything else, the iPad handles easily. Video conferencing, word processing, cloud based information management, email, web surfing, i.e. 80%.
The fact that I’ve slipped into using the iPad more than the Mac, along with the new Mac Pro, sends a clear message. I am no Pro. I just service them.
Wow! Your ability is impressive.
Improvements for the iPad OS and the new tower Mac Pro with monitor are things pro users have been asking for.
My wife’s buying her first iPad and Apple product.
She’s definitely a “it just works” kind of user, so the new OS should enhance her experience.
Hmm, isn’t this going in the opposite direction from the long-anticipated unification of MacOS and iOS?
They are already unified in all but name.
Unification isn’t the goal. Quality is. Just ask Microsoft.
Never anticipated by Apple—in fact, always stated that it would never happen. But, always anticipated by the Apple fanboys that it would occur and hasn’t and won’t.