Exactly. I thought this part of the keynote was the most exciting and forward-thinking. Just when I had started to think Apple had run out of ideas with the iOS, they reinvigorated it. I can now see my iPad Pro replacing most of my day-to-day computing tasks. And I just got Affinity Photo for iPad (which I use on my Mac). The future really is starting to look like mobile.
To a point. There's still plenty of work that will be better served by a laptop as your primary portable computer. And there's industries that have zero ability to do work on the iPad (including developers working on Apple platforms).
That said, this is definitely taking it into the realm where more and more, it can probably be the "companion device" to a capable desktop, depending on exactly what you do on the go. For example, I try to avoid getting sucked into full-blown work away from the desk, I like to use that time to brainstorm/prioritize/etc which the iPad works well for. Even if it can't take over full work duty itself.
Great, can I finally do some excel editing on my iPad now?? For it to be really productive. Or does it come with a full fledged word now? Instead of a crippled version.
All these people here saying the iPad is saved now need to take a real good look again. The iPad is nice for consuming content but not for real production work. Does it come with any real Pro App now? Nope...
I find this particular argument interesting, because of the implied definition of "Pro App". A definition that if we applied older versions of today's "Pro Apps" to, wouldn't meet. Where they would stop meeting that definition, depends on which features you use in those apps.
To me, it suggests that what we are seeing is a relatively young set of platforms being compared to a set of mature platforms that are now easily 30 years old, and apps like what you mention are quite literally, just as old. It's fair to point out that this younger platform is not at feature parity with the mature one. But I also think what we are going to see is a more gradual process here than you suggest. As more apps like Affinity Photo go all-in on their iPad versions, as Office expands the feature set supported on iOS, as Adobe figures out what the heck they want their mobile story to be, we will start to see more folks look at iPads that are productive. Some people do that today, depending on how and what they use laptops vs desktops for. How many people do it 5 years from now depends on both Apple and 3rd parties.
Those who use laptops primarily are probably going to be the last folks to jump over to the iPad, IMO. I consider myself one of those early adopters into this space, but I also almost never rely on a laptop for critical work. I've got two desktops and can easily work at either, so a portable companion is better for me to be a compliment to the two desks I work at, rather than allowing me to work at a third desk. I do get some Word/Excel/Photo stuff done, along with notes and task management, and that's really all I'd be doing on a laptop as well. I get that many folks can't or won't jump yet. And I also think Microsoft's approach with the Surface is an interesting one, if a headache when it comes to creating touch APIs that also happen to support all this legacy that Windows continues to carry for multiple decades.
What's relevant here about today's announcements is that Apple is not only hearing folks about the weaknesses of the platform itself for productive work, but they are working to improve the foundations needed to support 3rd party developers in this space. They are willing to give that work its own space in the keynote to breathe. Having Apple do this, even if it is maybe a release later than it should have been, is a good sign on that front, and as a developer, I'd take it as a good sign that perhaps it is worth sinking time into making something work on this platform more than I have in the couple years going in.
All the promo material give the iPad Pencil centerstage. Do people really draw that much of annotate so many stuff?
Since getting my 9.7" Pro, I do it more than I have in the past. Partly because it is convenient to do some tasks via pencil, and others via typing. I tend to do a lot of draft notes and diagramming in 53's Paper. Anything I find that I want to reference later tends to then get cleaned up and imported into Bear with more details filled out. But Apple's notes app is starting to get pretty good for this sort of hybrid note. I might have to give it a shot in iOS 11.
That said, I thought a lot of the Pencil callouts was commenting on how they are improving on the experience for those that do, and making it possible to use it in many more places than you can with iOS 10. Which is a good thing. It opens up more ways of working for the people that want it.
