I've been an iPhone user for 10 years. I also use iPad, especially at work, and a 12-inch MacBook laptop. I would like to simplify my digital life with fewer devices, and this desire exacerbated recently when Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg reporter, raised an important news about Apple last year: the company is working to combine iOS applications (iPhone and iPad operating system) with those of macOS (Mac computers).
On Monday, June 4, 2018, Apple confirmed the information at its annual developer conference. They showed a sneak peek of what will be possibly done from next year: that iOS applications work in macOS after few developments. Apple also said they don't have plans to merge operating systems with a giant "NO" on the screen. The path is different: that mobile applications work on a Mac computer.
All this brings us to the following question: does Apple plan to manufacture a touchscreen computer?
My response: it is possible, but we'll have to wait a little longer. The user experience is very different as with iPhone we use fingers, on Mac, the touchpad or a mouse), so it probably takes time. But with the computer of my dreams, I have it clear: a 10-12 inches device with touchscreen and manageable as an iPad, which serves as a tablet and has iOS and macOS applications.
I mean, all the good things about iPad and Mac altogether.
"The computer of my dreams: a 10-12-inch device, tactile and manageable like an iPad, which acts as a tablet and has iOS and macOS apps."
At the end of the day, what is an iPad Pro with a keyboard? A device with outstanding applications but with some limitations. The first iPads and tablets, seven or eight years ago, were conceived as content consuming devices. Today, mobile screens have grown in sizes and quality, which has changed the functionalities of tablets. The iPad, especially the iPad Pro, and other tablets are “mini laptops" in which you can produce content thanks to some software upgrades (there exist Office 365 for iPad, among many others) and removable keyboards.
Why make that "new device” with the computer operating system? It's easier to bring the simplicity of iOS to computers than the other way around. At the moment, there is no professional video editing software, like Final Cut or Premiere, for a tablet. File management is also harder and slower on a tablet.
Many may ask: aren't there any touchscreen computers or tablets, like the Microsoft Surface, that is competent like a computer with the qualities of a tablet? Partly, yes, and also with good results. But the Surface lacks one detail: applications designed for tactile use, quantity and application quality.
The App Store, Apple's application store, has over two million applications, around half are compatible with iPad, and many are high quality and very easy to use. In the case of Microsoft, there are only a few applications. Microsoft has quality applications for computers and not tablets. The Windows 10 itself is an operating system conceived especially for computers and not tablets.
That is Microsoft probably lacks the "endorsement" of developers and companies to create more mobile-designed applications. Today the answer is iOS and Android. Both cope almost entirely in the mobile device market.
Walt Mossberg, one of the most prominent and reputable technology journalists (retired a year ago and is now writing a book), said after the Apple’s presentation of June 4, 2018, that the company seemed to have taken "a big step towards a true iOS laptop".
Lauren Goode, Wired's senior editor, sat down with Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, after the presentation. Federighi told her that they have been working on the project for two years and that the goal is not to create a single operating system (the famous "NO" on screen) but to make iPhone and iPad applications compatible with computers. Right now, doing something like that requires a lot of work for developers, so many don't do it. The idea is that it is effortless to do so.
He also implied that they are not planning to launch a touchscreen computer at this time. In my opinion, the announcement on June 4 is the hint of something that goes far beyond using iOS applications on the Mac. Today it makes no sense touching the screen, but in a few years, with iOS on the Mac, maybe a change of things. Apple does not advance their projects, gives them by surprise. I am convinced that the computer of my dreams will arrive sooner or later.
Finally, I recommend reading an excellent article on the same issue that has written Pedro Aznar, Applesfera editor-in-chief. He titled it “The Intersection: the future of iOS and macOS". He believes that the future of the Mac will have all the possibilities of iOS incorporated, not agitated, will be something much bigger. •••
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