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Google's Not Going to Make Tablets Anymore
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You grossly understate the corporate and business uses for iPads. In the jet engine manufacturing business - GE uses them for checking out engines during the manufacturing stages and tracking serialized engines through the manufactuing process. Engineers and program managers use software made by the big OEMs and service providers for the iPad to manage operations on the floor and communicate amongst teams in real time.
In my company - most of the executives have a Mac in their office - but when they go to meetings or on business travel they bring their iPad Pro. I have been on the road and been able to review and sign purchase orders or contracts from clients - send them back and post them to our internal document management system.
Airliners use iPads to track maintenance actions on aircraft.
It is true there are some things you wont use an iPad for - however, there are plenty -- a lot -- of things you can do on an iPad that you can also do on a Mac/Desktop/Laptop and many things that the iPad platform allows you to do that you cannot do on a mac in business.
This is not an either or discussion - its a platform and application discussion. The difference between Apple and Google with regards to tablets is how Apple sees the tablet platform and the use cases for them. Google made the mistake of seeing them as just a blown up phone.
Hence iPad is successful - android tablets are not.
They really don't need to. They have the #1 mobile OS in the world and countless other ways to generate revenue. They'll be fine.They got their hands on the latest iPad Pro and realized there was no way they could compete
You are missing the point. The blown up phone app issue is real. The UI/UX is negatively impacted by that approach and it reflects the fundamental problem in Android's development environment (fragemented and dominated by third party APIs and functionality that are not in stock android). Its not just a matter of blowing up size and resolution - most android apps cannot do that well on the tablet - its usability and functionality as well.
I don't understand where you imagine Cook disagreeing. He's not saying a Mac is worse than an iPad. He's saying an iPad can do some stuff better than a Mac, and a Mac can do some stuff better than an iPad.
First of all, your analogy probably assumes a wrong arithmetic.
Let's assume that 27-inch monitor has 2560x1440, and the 21-inch 1920x1080. That's 78% more space.
Then you have an iPad Air at 1112x834, vs. an iPhone 8 at 667x375. That's 271% more, or almost four times as much!
Secondly, phone UIs are almost invariably full-screen. Imagine your phone UI being blown to almost four times the space on an iPad Air. That's not at all the same thing as a desktop, where you can put the UI in a window that might only take up a portion, regardless of how large the screen is.
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He's carefully saying "PC" there. And he's expanding on it: "Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people." That's not wrong.
I do believe the iPad is the dominant tablet. However I have the Surface Pro 6 and I use it a lot for work. Microsoft did really well here and I can see it being a rising competitor.
I think the iPad / ipadOS will eventually gain more desktop-like experiences now that it’s split off. It’ll be similar like switching from desktop to tablet on the Surface Pro.
In a Window business world, it’s just easier to run Surface Pro and Windows 10 is making it better to do the things ipadOS does.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy my iPad Pro either. I enjoy the weight/battery life and the overall feel better. Just that certain apps being desktop versions help me be more productive. It’s also more reliable for me to use a usb-network dongle to hardwire into the network and run scripts to quickly change my IPs based on which network I need to be on (some don’t have DHCP)
I have the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. I think that's what it's called. Supposed to be the best Android tablet on the market. Other than the OLED panel and sound quality, it is worse than the base $329 iPad in every conceivable way. And it costs double. It is slow, it has really crappy edge detection, it's buggy, the app choice is limited, it's just a mess. Great for watching movies, painful for everything else. It's a shame iPad has no real competition.
They don’t need to? They sure have been trying (and failing) in the hardware business.
Countless other ways to generate revenue? Google only has one revenue stream - advertising made possible by all their data mining. Everything else they do combined is maybe 10% of their revenue. If anything threatens their advertising model (new browser that actually blocks ads, government regulation of data collection) they’re finished.
I used an ipad as an RDP/VNC terminal to great effect. Not as proper as a full KVM panel but it was still useful for quickly jumping on and off servers.
I'd say the tablet competition is Microsoft Surface (and it's OEM clones) vs iPad. Microsoft has done a decent job adding a tablet-friendly UI to Windows, and Apple has done a decent job of making the iPad more laptop-like. There is still a difference, and neither is totally a replacement for the other, but the venn diagram overlap between the two is getting larger and larger every year.
Actually your are factually incorrect. There is a great article at Android Police that discusses this in detail. Third party vendors added these functional capabilities outside of stock android. As a result - Android application developers could not take advantage of them because they were specific to third party implementations - e.g., Samsung Galaxy tablets.
So stock android does NOT have most of these capabilities.
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They will make money on their advertising/search. However, if they let the user experience and ecosystem stagnate on tablets and phones - they will be in trouble.
I look at Samsung which takes stock android and improves it with their own proprietary applications and features. I look at what they are doing with dex and other applications and I see Samsung doing more with Android than Google. I think Samsung will eventually fork Android into their own OS that will support better applications and user experiences. Huawei is doing the same. As mobile computing penetrates into the enterprise - I see Google actually taking a hit from them and Apple.
I have a professional Colleague that works in a large law firm. He uses his Galaxy and Dex for road travel to their offices across the US. They have leveraged the Samsung Mail, Ca,ednering, and Contacts client into their corporate system and MS Office on Dex for what they need. He simply brings his phone to the field office and drops it in the Dex and boom. He is using only Samsung and MS Office applications. He can even access his One Drive. While the foundation is Android - he is using Zero Google services or applications.
That should worry Google.
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Stock android can do multitasking, use external storage, use widgets and support a mouse and an external keyboard.
Here is a perspective from an Android user at Android police.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...shortsighted-as-it-was-in-2016/#disqus_thread
Tim Malone • 14 hours ago
The really bad part about this is that the Google ecosystem keeps getting smaller. Google abandoned Android on tablets and now Chrome OS on tablets. They all but abandoned WearOS. When did the last Android TV device come out? It seems like they aren't even trying. So, if you want a complete and integrated ecosystem of devices, your only option is Apple. If you already have an iPad, an Apple TV, and an Apple watch, why get an Android phone?
The danger for Google is that Apple is committed to their ecosystem. They continue to improve it and will continue to improve services that complete with Google's. This will slowly erode Google's ability to serve us ads.
So, yep, this is shortsighted. With the resources they have, I can't understand why they don't seem to put any real effort behind these things. How hard would it have been to have tablet friendly versions of all their apps ready to go when the pixel c came out? Use your resources. Instead of endlessly experimenting with new button layouts, make some meaningful changes.
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Multi-tasking was added but after years of that being done by third party apps.
You were able to use a bluetooth keyboard at the start - used on on an Air2.
The files application in android is third party with Samsung having the best one.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/...shortsighted-as-it-was-in-2016/#disqus_thread
Tim Malone • 14 hours ago
The really bad part about this is that the Google ecosystem keeps getting smaller. Google abandoned Android on tablets and now Chrome OS on tablets. They all but abandoned WearOS. When did the last Android TV device come out? It seems like they aren't even trying. So, if you want a complete and integrated ecosystem of devices, your only option is Apple. If you already have an iPad, an Apple TV, and an Apple watch, why get an Android phone?
The danger for Google is that Apple is committed to their ecosystem. They continue to improve it and will continue to improve services that complete with Google's. This will slowly erode Google's ability to serve us ads.
So, yep, this is shortsighted. With the resources they have, I can't understand why they don't seem to put any real effort behind these things. How hard would it have been to have tablet friendly versions of all their apps ready to go when the pixel c came out? Use your resources. Instead of endlessly experimenting with new button layouts, make some meaningful changes.
[doublepost=1561128678][/doublepost]
Multi-tasking was added but after years of that being done by third party apps.
You were able to use a bluetooth keyboard at the start - used on on an Air2.
The files application in android is third party with Samsung having the best one.
Nothing can touch the iPad anyway. Just like the Apple Watch, they are leagues ahead in their respective fields.
Too many flip flops on Tablets by Google, glad I haven't invested in their tablets, once. I have bought Samsung Tab S2 bought quite a few years ago, 10 inch QHD AMOLED display, still looking great for my tablet needs. iPads Pros way too expensive with decent storage configuration. May be Google is focusing on converging device like Chromebook (tablet & laptop) that would cater to both sides without compromises, yet become competitive in the desktop / laptop OS market, but that's a very long shot imo
Some bold claims you have there regarding chrome books. Just because it is not for you does not mean developing countries have no need for it.
ChromeOS has evolved quite a bit from it's initial goal, where will it mature to next, I am afraid only Google knows that information.
Whatever perceived app implementation mess you believe is on AndroidOS, it is Googles issue to find a solution. As a comparison I have had iOS apps that were not scaled properly for iPad or the notch. It happens, developers need to fix them and sometimes it helps with a little pressure from Apple or Google.
I am not here to defend or tear down the three companies mentioned, if you feel the any one of these are not for you the great, it does not mean it is not for others. Apple has a challenging time selling iPhones in China and India, let alone Africa. One can dismiss the claim that these markets are not important, however Apple and shareholders do not see it that way. Any nitty gritty contractual details is between the manufacturers and the three companies involved, unless there is an inside source who has complete oversight into theses details posting here, that would go against the agreed NDA.
Chrome lacking in high- end apps, iPad has been on the market for years and only until recently has Adobe committed by to bring Photoshop to the platform. One could argue that the hardware is not powerful enough, however rivals has proven this is not the case. Chrome compared to iOS is relatively new, one has to provide it the opportunity to develop. It is just too early to say.
Developers go where the users and revenue is. Today it might be iOS, tomorrow something else. Photoshop as an example was initially on macOS and then windowsOS and now iOS. Developers can adopt or drop support in favour of something else, it is just what they deem is profitable to they shareholders and business survival.
Both Apple and Google has adopted and dropped support for many apps and services, it is not the end of the world.
MacRumors staff: You are incorrect here. The Pixel Slate is Google's SECOND Pixel-branded tablet offering. You are forgetting the 2015 Pixel-C tablet which exclusively ran Android.
They're not killing the Pixelbook. They're killing the Pixel Slate. See below:
Yes, I understand that. For me, the Pixelbook was a step closer to my target of a converged device (from what I was using before, 12.9 iPad Pro). The Pixel Slate was a step even closer. Without Google producing a flagship tablet running Chrome OS, I have no incentive to continue down the Chrome OS path.
Then there's the whole issue of Google's lack of commitment to the tablet form-factor in general. Google made a big misstep by adding support for Android apps on Chrome OS devices (before adding support for Linux). When Google added support for Android, there were only clamshell chromebooks. That makes no sense for apps that are designed to run on phones and tablets.
Google had let tablet support in Android languish for years. App developers essentially gave up on supporting tablets.
Then Google tried enhancing Chrome OS to be a touch-enabled OS. That didn't go too well and the current state of Chrome OS is a bit of a mess since the introduction of Chrome OS 70.
Hopefully this means a killer Pixelbook 2. The first one had incredible hardware and build quality, but the screen had massive bezels.
Cut down the bezels to nothing, and keep everything else the same (Other than a CPU bump) and I'd be in. Basically one of the best laptops for running linux out there.
Cut down the bezels to nothing, and keep everything else the same (Other than a CPU bump) and I'd be in. Basically one of the best laptops for running linux out there.
