iPad Marketing VP: iPad and Mac are Complementary Devices, Not Competing Devices

[nuff_said]

macOS coming to the iPad at WWDC 2024, I'm calling it

I’d be surprised if this ends up happening. Apple would rather you buy both a Mac and iPad versus only one. Plus they are moving more towards subscriptions for years.
I think what we might see is some gimmicky named “remote login feature”. Something that leverages iCloud and subscriptions that let you log into your Mac via iCloud and access whatever you have on it from your iPad. That way 1) Apple still sells you both devices 2) it straddles the fence of not having macOS on the iPad and not having macOS on the iPad and 3) gives Apple another subscription service.

 

[Thehangmn]

No sense in having an iPad if you can get a Mac. Unfortunately I think Apple also sees that the reverse could be true for a large number of people.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Translation: We want you to buy both products because we only care about $$$.

Actually, to me it’s clear now that it’s more “If you want an iPad, buy an iPad! If you want a Mac, buy a Mac!” However, “IF you want the features of a Mac combined with an iPad in one device, I’m sorry to say you are quite literally a dying breed. There’s not enough of you remaining to even make it worthwhile! So, if that’s really what you need, then choose from what we’re actually selling.”

Or, like they told a specific kind of “Pro” from awhile back, “There’s always Windows?”

 

[TravelsInBlue]

No sense in having an iPad if you can get a Mac. Unfortunately I think Apple also sees that the reverse could be true for a large number of people.

That’s a controversial statement around these parts.

When I worked at the school district, there was a reason we gave iPads to the lowest grades of kids who haven’t developed their fine motor skills, and all other grades got chromebooks - which are far more capable devices.

 

[Apple_Robert]

No sense in having an iPad if you can get a Mac. Unfortunately I think Apple also sees that the reverse could be true for a large number of people.

A lot of times it is much easier to carry a iPad around town for usage when wanted, than carry, open, setup, and use a Mac.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

"If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will." - Steve Jobs

I think modern Apple has forgotten this idea. After 14 years iPadOS should have been the successor to macOS. But the appeal of selling customers two $2000 products was just too great.

Luckily for Apple, Microsoft has also lost their way and Google still hasn't figured out tablets.

Except for the fact that the iPad DOES sell twice as many units in a year as all Macs put together. This year, it’s bound for 3 times or more. They’re already cannibalizing themselves here.

 

[LogicalApex]

I’d be surprised if this ends up happening. Apple would rather you buy both a Mac and iPad versus only one. Plus they are moving more towards subscriptions for years.
I think what we might see is some gimmicky named “remote login feature”. Something that leverages iCloud and subscriptions that let you log into your Mac via iCloud and access whatever you have on it from your iPad. That way 1) Apple still sells you both devices 2) it straddles the fence of not having macOS on the iPad and not having macOS on the iPad and 3) gives Apple another subscription service.

I'm not saying Apple is being macOS to the iPad. At this point I'm no longer convinced we'll see that...

That said, I'm also not convinced they are aiming to sell customers both an iPad and a Mac. iPad prices have gone so bonkers that I'm convinced Apple knows a certain segment of customers have a workflow that affords them an iPad Pro only purchasing reality. As a result, they've priced the iPad Pro sufficiently high enough to offset the loss of Mac revenue. I can't see many consumers dropping $4K+ on an iPad Pro with all its trimmings + a MacBook. Even for professional workflows I can't see them doing the same. At those prices it becomes a one or the other.

 

[dandy1117]

if you frequently scan and mark up documents for work, the iPad Pro is a better option than a MacBook Pro. Similarly, if you conduct virtual real estate walkthroughs with clients, the front and rear-facing cameras on the iPad Pro can be useful. If you're an event producer, the iPad Pros has a better color-accurate screen and powerful audio. Finally, if you're an architect or contractor working on-site, having a lightweight, powerful computer to conduct integrated location scans with LiDar measurements is a feature only available on the iPad Pro.

Quoting myself is kind of trippy, but I wanted to add this. Imagine if you asked one of the professionals described above to switch from their iPad to a MacBook Pro for a week. They would likely be unimpressed with having to carry around a heavier device that cannot easily accomplish the tasks that they are used to performing quicker and with fewer accessories on their iPad.

 

[SAIRUS]

Someone accidentally watched the first Steve Jobs iPad presentation and it clicked.

 

[trusso]

Reads to me like they're digging their feet in on iPadOS being iPadOS.

Good.

Clearly not in touch with the people. Can’t wait for a new staff overhaul of Apple

Speak for yourself. I think most people are fine with the iPad as it is.

 

[Siliconguy]

No sense in having an iPad if you can get a Mac. Unfortunately I think Apple also sees that the reverse could be true for a large number of people.

Even a MacBook Air is not as convenient as an iPad for reading the news in the morning, or for a quick check of email, and especially not for reading a book.

The issue for Apple is the low end iPad (as in my ninth generation) does that just fine. An Air or a Pro would be money down the drain for no added utility.

 

[tobybrut]

If “Pro” stands for “Professional, the new 13“ iPad Pro should offer the option to run OSes — M4 and OLED is not enough.

When it’s a bad experience, why? I think putting macOS on the iPad will kill the product. The number of people who want macOS is far too niche for Apple to worry about losing sales. Remember iPads outsell Macs, meaning there are more people who like iPadOS than like macOS.

 

[subjonas]

Keep in mind Macs have been around for almost four decades with macOS being around for 20 years or so. IPadOS is very new with programmers, unfamiliar with how to write touch-first apps. There’s a steep learning curve, hence the slower pace of iPad apps. It’s flat out hard to write touch programs. Stalwarts like Photoshop promised fully desktop features, but it’s been three years and counting. Final Cut Pro is still missing plugins but is slowly moving forwards. DaVinci Resolve ported all their desktop tabs but hid all but two because they aren’t sure how well they’d work in a touch environment.

The obvious challenge is trying to figure out how to translate a screen-full of pixel precise UI elements into a much smaller number of huge touch UI elements (I don’t think you mentioned this explicitly). It’s simply impossible to do without dumbing it down at the surface and hiding features in submenus, sometimes levels deep. And the submenus in macOS apps will be who knows how many levels deep in the iPadOS version. It will just be a ridiculous amount of submenus, and a terrible UX. Touch is simply never going to be as productive for feature rich apps and workflows. Not to mention it’s unergonomic for long work days. Touch excels in shorter work sessions or workflows with relatively minimal interaction. This and because of the innate limitation of iPad’s battery and thermals is why I don’t believe there will ever app parity between Mac and iPad.

 

[abhibeckert]

So it’s not really iPadOS that people have a beef with. It’s that they own Mac programs they want to run.

I *also* want to run Mac programs. But primarily it’s iPadOS that I have a beef with. For example the inability to have overlapping windows is frankly ********.

Also a lot of apps I want to run are technically possible but the App Store Review Team will not allow them unless you live in Europe (and I don’t).

But consider this, people knock the MacBook Air for throttling and poor performance

People do? I’m perfectly happy with performance on my M1 MacBook Air. Webpages load as fast as my internet connection will allow. When I click on an email, it opens nice and quick. When I type an email, characters appear on the screen with a perfectly fine level of snappyness.

Sure, it doesn’t have enough RAM to run a full size large language model… but I wouldn’t want to pay for two terabytes of RAM if it was an option.

What I hate is the keyboard - it gives me RSI. And the trackpad - which is nice but I don’t use it because it’s attached to the ****** keyboard. I also hate that it has no cellular connection. I hate that I can’t use the pencil and you can’t interact with multiple points on the screen at once.

Also - I hate having to carry a Mac and an iPad everywhere I go. I wish I could leave one of them behind.

I want a portable Mac with no keyboard or trackpad (I’ll pair Bluetooth ones like I do every day on my iPad), touch/pencil input (for times when keyboard/mouse is the wrong input method), and cellular.

 

[subjonas]

Then iPad Pro shouldnt cost as much / more than baseline Macbooks

Apple isn’t forcing anyone to buy the most expensive product. They offer very inexpensive iPads. Why shouldn’t Apple offer higher end products for people who want it? (and plenty do)

 

[subjonas]

That sums up nicely about what Apple will (finally) do in the long run: giving the iPad a nice macOS inside. Now the burning question is when that time finally happens.

That’s what you took away from this article??

 

[tobybrut]

Complementary? How out of touch with reality can you be? A loaded iPad Pro is $2900! That’s not a complementary product. A small % of consumers are not purchasing both a Mac and iPad Pro at those costs.

Most people don’t buy a fully loaded iPad Pro. Nor do people buy fully loaded MacBook Airs or Pros either. Most will spend $2000-3000 on a MBP rather than the $6K or $7K a fully loaded one would cost. Most will buy that 11” Pro for $999 or $899 educational cost and that’s it. Or $1299/1199 for a 13”. Ever priced out a fully loaded MBA? That price will make your hair curl. Instead most people will drop $1099 on an Air.

I’d buy a $2900 iPad Pro over a $7,000 MacBook Pro any day of the week. But practically, I’m not buying either fully loaded system, though I have both (or will have by Wednesday).

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Read: No, MacOS will not come to iPad, and it probably never will.

If Apple is forced to allow sideloading (which is what macOS allows) in all its major markets, then they would actually likely bring MacOS to iPads.

Apple knows damn well that iPadOS is a t*rd, but it is waaaaay too profitable to keep it a t*rd, as the revenue they gain from preventing sideloading and rorting 15-30% off every single software sale/sub, is massive.

However, if forced to allow sideloading, then they know they will make a lot more sales of iPads by giving it iPadOS.

Keep in mind, that all the touch screen capabilities of iPads/iPhones, are pretty much the same as for the touch pad on a Mac.

 

[tobybrut]

No sense in having an iPad if you can get a Mac. Unfortunately I think Apple also sees that the reverse could be true for a large number of people.

I’m one of those who’d rather have just an iPad over a Mac if I were forced to choose one over the other exclusively. I use my iPad for over 90% of my computing needs. The Mac doesn’t do anything for me my iPad can’t, except connect to multiple monitors.

 

[Kylo83]

They just don’t care what we think

 

[tobybrut]

They just don’t care what we think

They do. There just aren’t as many of you as you think there are. People wanting to run Mac apps on an iPad are a very tiny niche audience. Just because they’re concentrated on Mac message boards and YouTube only makes you think you’re in a larger group than you really are. Not only is macOS garbage on a touch screen device, but the effort to make it work wouldn’t be worth it. And then, they’d have to convince every Mac app maker to change their apps to be touch friendly. With that last statement, it’s easier to get those app makers to just write iPad apps to begin with.

 

[subjonas]

This clarifies Apple’s sometimes misinterpreted message of whether or not the iPad is intended to replace a laptop. It isn’t, but it can for some.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If Apple is forced to allow sideloading (which is what macOS allows) in all its major markets, then they would actually likely bring MacOS to iPads.

Sideloading on the iPadOS would be like sideloading on iOS. Neither of which requires macOS to be installed on the device.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Sideloading on the iPadOS would be like sideloading on iOS. Neither of which requires macOS to be installed on the device.

How do you mean? By jailbreaking? Or are you tlaking about the EU's app store thingo?

 

[roncron]

So if you're upset that your pricey new M4 iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard are lousy for Microsoft Excel and other apps you depend on, it's your fault for not also buying an M3 Macbook Pro. Is what Apple is saying, basically.