Apple has finally made one of my longest standing dreams into reality. They’ve made iPadOS. And not just because it’s neat or right or just for the iPad, which has long had its [own] experience, to have its own, named iOS variant the way most other major products do, but because of the demands that come with it having its own, named variant.
I’m going to highlight a few major trends that show why that’s so important but, the first and most critical reason is this: From now on, whether it’s just a little like tvOS or a lot like iOS — which, ironically, was originally called iPhone OS — every year, Apple is going to have to have something to say about the iPad at WWDC. Every WWDC.
MacDailyNews Take: Some take longer than others, but Apple over the decades has proven to be very adept at the fulfillment of dreams:
Imagine an “iOS Pro” mode.
Turn on iOS Pro on your iPad Pro
1. Tap Settings > General, and make sure iOS Pro is turned on.
2. There is no step two.
Hey, we can dream, can’t we? — MacDailyNews, December 29, 2015
See also our previous post wherein Apple’s Craig Federighi talks iPadOS and more with John Gruber.
Give me a memory slot and ports and it’s almost a netbook. Or its modern substitute…
I don’t think it really changes anything. Consumers will still prefer a laptop over a tablet due to the presence of a physical keyboard. Because it’s Apple, users will never get an SD memory slot as it would cut into Apple’s tablet storage tier profit margin. So anyone thinking Apple is suddenly going to be able to sell significantly more iPads, they’re sadly mistaken. The school system isn’t going to choose Apple’s iPad over over Chromebooks no matter what changes are made in the OS. That’s a pure cost problem. Corporations also prefer devices with physical keyboards so they’re also not going to switch to iPads.
Remember the great sales iPads used to have but it fell out of favor over time as consumers realized the form factor or usability wasn’t as great as they thought it would be. Besides, it’s unlikely Apple will ever let the iPad come close to usability as a MacBook (Pro) because it would ruin their product profit margin structure. Everything Apple does appears to be governed by strict profit margins and almost completely ignoring market share.
I dont understand this concept at all. By the time you add a physical keyboard and a mouse, you have the size and weight of a laptop without the power, storages or connectivity. Just make MacBook with a touch screen and get over it.
Mouse is not necessary in my experience, and with Apple’s keyboard for the iPad Pro, it still weighs less and is thinner than my 2018 MacBook Pro 13.