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Apple Working With More Than 40 Tech Companies to Make iPad a Better Work Tool

I would love a convertible Mac that flipped like a Yoga and had Apple's version of Win X.

I think Microsoft is on the right track with it. (Heresy, I know)

I remember Steve saying iOS was OS X. If I could have the level of control in iOS that I have on the Mac, things might be different.

But alas, Apple is stuck in two separate OSes and lockdown/proprietary mode for the foreseeable future.
 
I'm sure Apple has known for some time now that if they don't really penetrate the professional market (business, the arts, engineering, etc.) with iPad, they'll start losing more money then they'll make. Hence why they'd be utterly stupid not to ship an iPad Pro PRONTO this year with a more powerful version of iOS, more ram, and digitizer support. Although this would rope in more consumer support too, of course (myself being one of them).

iPad is dwindling as our phones get bigger and notebooks get more portable and stay evermore powerful than an iPad.
 
Dargoth said:
I've never understood why Apple thought that was a good decision. Everything in iOS is just too damn plain. I have button shapes turned on, which helps somewhat, but everything is still far too boring. Tons of black and white, the UI widgets are all boring and uninspired, etc.

P.S. If anyone tells me that the new UI is good because it looks "modern", I'm going to skin a cat. Please think of the kitties...
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I recently reverted my 17" MBP to Mountain Lion after using Yosemite since it came out for the same reason. I detest that look, especially all the plain-text crud. Ugh.

It was refreshing to see the hyper-detailed, realistic icons and the way-more-elegant UI in ML.

The speed gains were also quite noticeable.

But my favorite: playing with the Calendar. I spent 10 minutes admiring how detailed, smooth, and beautiful the page-turn animation really is.

I will miss the dark mode from Yosemite, though. I wish someone would come up with a hack to do that on older OSes.

I get no benefit from being on the latest OS X (no iPhone, iWatch, or heavy iPad use), so I have no need to put up with Yosemite's garish over-simplicity.
 
Security fixes give you no benefit...?

melendezest said:
I recently reverted my 17" MBP to Mountain Lion after using Yosemite since it came out for the same reason. I detest that look, especially all the plain-text crud. Ugh.

It was refreshing to see the hyper-detailed, realistic icons and the way-more-elegant UI in ML.

The speed gains were also quite noticeable.

But my favorite: playing with the Calendar. I spent 10 minutes admiring how detailed, smooth, and beautiful the page-turn animation really is.

I will miss the dark mode from Yosemite, though. I wish someone would come up with a hack to do that on older OSes.

I get no benefit from being on the latest OS X (no iPhone, iWatch, or heavy iPad use), so I have no need to put up with Yosemite's garish over-simplicity.
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rulymammoth said:
Pretty much. The iPad will continue to go nowhere unless its productivity aspects increase. And I don't mean document processing, but just simply being useful to the average person beyond simply being a bigger screen to watch stuff on.
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Agreed. And with Windows X, Microsoft is addressing exactly that. If they refine it quicker than Apple adapts, it's 1998 (1995?) all over again.

I like Microsoft's vision for the future…and I'm surprised to say that after all these years. Whether they pull it off is another story, but the unification thing is really, really attractive. I like what I see from them, although I'd prefer a UNIX implementation.

But it seems like Apple wants to keep things as-is and make users/business cases adapt to it, not Apple adapt to the use-case.
 
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Bbqthis said:
Security fixes give you no benefit...?
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In regard to computing NOTHING is impenetrable, so not in the absolute sense (but I still get security updates).

I am my Security fix.

I'm talking about personal use.

If it was business, then that's another story. And in that case, I'd use Linux.
 
afsnyder said:
Well how has iOS 9 changed your thoughts on that?
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It's baby steps, really. Maybe the iPad will be relevant in one year or ten years, but we still have to wait for iOS to become a competent option in the first place.
 
As I'm sure it's been said a number of times before, one factor that's slowed iPad sales over time is that people don't feel the need to upgrade them very often because they've proven quite capable of performing well for years. Their reliability certainly isn't something Apple needs to change as it's obviously one of the reasons so many love their iPads. Tablet sales have been down across the board, but Apple continues to lead the pack with sales (12.6 million iPads sold in the first quarter of 2015). Yes, they're ideal for consumption (I probably watch videos on my iPad more than I do on anything else these days), but their uses extend beyond simple consumption. I think they'll continue to evolve in the coming years, and that they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

neither will they care for a ridiculous update and refresh cycle. try telling a Fortune 500 they have to retrain their entire staff because Apple completely changed the UI elements. eventually they'll tire and go to somebody who doesnt pull the rug out from under them every 18 months.
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Retraining staff on software and system updates is pretty common. And the amount of training the average (halfway tech savvy) person needs to figure out the differences between iOS 7 and iOS 9, or what's new in Windows 10 when upgrading from Windows 7 is quite minimal. Lots of businesses and Universities all over the country use services like Lynda.com for that.
 
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brinary001 said:
I'm sure Apple has known for some time now that if they don't really penetrate the professional market (business, the arts, engineering, etc.) with iPad, they'll start losing more money then they'll make. Hence why they'd be utterly stupid not to ship an iPad Pro PRONTO this year with a more powerful version of iOS, more ram, and digitizer support. Although this would rope in more consumer support too, of course (myself being one of them).

iPad is dwindling as our phones get bigger and notebooks get more portable and stay evermore powerful than an iPad.
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I don't think Apple is worried one bit. They have a looot of money to lose before they could ever feel worried about losing money. I get the feeling that the exorbant amount of money they made off Apple Watch sales alone would more than make up any sort of loss they'd have in the iPad department.
 
Apple will need to furnish rugged mission critical form factors for vertical markets, opposite what it does now. Apple will also need to jettison its wizzy features such as its hypnotic motion interface that's all well and good when your curled up with a novel or finger painting while tucked in bed. Apple will also need to cut prices to compete, another element that is anathema to the Apple way.
 
Pakaku said:
I don't think Apple is worried one bit. They have a looot of money to lose before they could ever feel worried about losing money. I get the feeling that the exorbant amount of money they made off Apple Watch sales alone would more than make up any sort of loss they'd have in the iPad department.
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Well yeah they have a lot of money, but at the end of the day they're still a big corporation that will always have money on their mind. "Hmm we have $700 Billion to our name, but adding a new iPad line with features everyone wants will add another projected $50 Billion."
 
melendezest said:
Agreed. And with Windows X, Microsoft is addressing exactly that. If they refine it quicker than Apple adapts, it's 1998 (1995?) all over again.

I like Microsoft's vision for the future…and I'm surprised to say that after all these years. Whether they pull it off is another story, but the unification thing is really, really attractive. I like what I see from them, although I'd prefer a UNIX implementation.

But it seems like Apple wants to keep things as-is and make users/business cases adapt to it, not Apple adapt to the use-case.
Click to expand...

Really? What on earth is so great with 10! I've been using MS crap, by choice (sic) or by force since 1990, so it's not like I'm a newcomer here. At best, they're mobile side is catching up with IOS and their OS side is catching up with OS X... without the tight integration between components Apple already has.

Considering the underpinning of IOS and OS X is essentially the same, how much effort do you think it would take to extend OS X with a touch interface and some IOS trappings... Not long at all. They developed the whole WatchOS thing in 2 years to become a sophisticated adjunct to IOS and OS X.

Windows 10 is not even complete, and won't probably be until next year (that'S when businesses will start to upgrade). Right now it seems like an decent hybrid of 7 and 8.1 with some IOS and OS X extra thrown in. Nothing to write home about.
 
Benjamin Frost said:
Even something as simple as reading PDFs would be so much better with a 13" screen. And there are endless scenarios in which having a laptop-size screen that one can carry around will trump a laptop.
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Going back to primordial tablet days in the 90's. Companies like Go, Slate and Momenta (Yes, I also walked to school up hill, both ways and I was greatful.) ...

All of these outfits were going after the 8.5" x 11" screen size and handwriting recognition. They all failed due to screen cost, lack of resolution, poor handwriting hit rate and most of all -- weight!

This 13" iPad will do well IMO.

On the nostalgia, Momenta "hockey puck" UI was cool and I'm sure the patents have expired.
 
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X38 said:
Three things left that I've wanted to see since iOS 1.0 to make it more useful for work:

1- A user and third party app accessible shared file space. Given the OSX guts, it should be trivial to make an iOS version of Finder. If security and stability are concerns, no need to make the entire file system user accessible, just a common storage space for user data.

2- Related to 1, the ability to connect external storage devices (like thumb drives) or connect to a computer and be seen as an external storage device so that files could be copied back & forth to the the user accessible file space.

3- Capability to work with off-screen pointing devices, such as a wired or wireless mouse or trackpad. The Mac based iOS development environment already does this in the iOS simulator, so it too should be a trivial addition.

The current workarounds for these deficiencies are unnecessarily clumsy and hold iOS back from reaching its full potential as a work tool.
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Couldn't agree more, without proper file management capibilities the iPad will never be useful in a work enviroment.
 
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kwikdeth said:
truth. enterprise customers arent going to be impressed by multiracial emojis and shaving .2mm off the case size. neither will they care for a ridiculous update and refresh cycle. try telling a Fortune 500 they have to retrain their entire staff because Apple completely changed the UI elements. eventually they'll tire and go to somebody who doesnt pull the rug out from under them every 18 months.
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They will be impressed by security, robust OS and good update schedule. Which iOS has.
 
TSE said:
I just hope they bring upon Wacom-level pressure sensitivity for designers. THAT would change the game for a lot of costumers.
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I thought they gonna release a special stylus for all ipads
 
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