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We've spent the last five years building innovative products...BLAH BLAH BLAH... so you can be productive anywhere.

Meanwhile...inside the Astropad labs...

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Ipad is a bit superfluous if you already have a touch enabled Win10 laptop :)

There has been synergy app around for a long time that works across platforms (not mobile os) from a single KB/Mouse etc and supports drag and drop on many screens not just 2

Wireless Display (WiDi) has been around for awhile.
 
It is far too early to know how this will end up for either company. The major benefit that this move by Apple does is it expands the market as Luna and Duet are no longer niche options, but something consumers will look for as they encounter Apple marketing the feature only the find out the feature is limited in Macs it supports as well we not supporting Windows. The user may then check out Luna and Duet.

Given Sidecar only works on a limited set of apps and Apple hardware, they will be good for a while.

Only works with the following Macs.
  • 27-inch iMac (Late 2015 or newer)
  • iMac Pro
  • MacBook Pro (2016 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (2018)
  • 12-inch MacBook (early 2016 or newer)
  • Mac mini (2018)
  • Mac Pro (2019)

It supports all apps, but the Pencil features have more limited app support.
 
Don't let them fool you. I’ve been using Astropad for years, including, for a time, the subscription version. It has plenty of bugs, slowdowns and other oddities. So do all of the others out there.

If Apple’s works as described, it will be much better. When the public betas are available, I’ll try them.

Apple, Microsoft and Google have problems with features like this. There’s a big outcry from reviewers, those who write articles and the public, for them to put features such as this into the OS itself. A lot of complaints from people who, often rightly, say that third party workarounds are unreliable, and perform poorly.

But when Apple and the rest do put these features into the OS, then we get those who complain that they’re taking third party sales away. Well, let the third parties make their products better, if possible. But this is what business is. There’s no guarantee that what you do will always be successful, or won’t have competition.
 
I don't think apple should be able to copy apps that are posted on their store I don't think it's fair for other programmers, apple has all intel of downloads and traffic created by 3rd party apps, if it were the other way around the app would be banned
 
I don't think apple should be able to copy apps that are posted on their store I don't think it's fair for other programmers, apple has all intel of downloads and traffic created by 3rd party apps, if it were the other way around the app would be banned
There are more than one such apps already on the Appstore, and if they are not doing a good job atleast someone should. Coming from Apple we can be rest assured that this problem would be solved perfectly once and for all. Many third party apps have lot of bugs and they push it out in the wake of unavailability of something really good from others. Let the market forces take care of the rest, if Apples solution isnt good it would fail. Capitalism 101!
 
I fail to understand what the CEO is talking about? What Pro scenario does Luna covers? Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me.

Hover simulation, 60fps, magic gestures, custom shortcuts, custom pressure curves, 3-button simulation, eraser tool, pinch zoom and pan, velocity control, preview line, stroke stabilization, color calibration (so your iPad has the same color as your Mac), etc.

I'm not entirely sure which one of these Apple has implemented, but I suspect that they only have very basic screen mirroring and pen.
 
This is the nature of things. If you play are reliant on someone else's platform there's a good chance eventually they will produce your functionality. Systems grow over time and if you thought it was a good idea and the market liked it eventually the native environment will do the same.

ISVs need to be constantly innovating or face sure death.
 
What else were they going to do? Just say GG and announce their shutdown the day after WWDC?

Hahaha couldn't have said it better. I was thinking the same thing..

Like where are they gonna go? Seriously.

"Welp, that was fun. Guess I'll buy a boat and sail off into the sunset"

lol
 
they still have 3 months of existence

Not sure, sidecar will probably be super glitchy with high latency. I don’t see it being good for anything other than basic use. Luna needs to get rid of that hideous pink dongle and make it flush with the same finish. shocking how they didn’t think of that earlier.
 
They got sherlocked and I will say some of the stunts Apple pulled on them should be looked at. It is no surprise Apple finally has done the 2nd display thing but the fact that they ordered a lot of luna units, invited them to Apple ect when it was clearly to figure out how it worked and what they could steal says a lot. Honestly Apple should of just offered to buy them up.
 
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Bye bye Astropad, you were good once. I don't have much sympathy, they did it to themselves the moment they moved to the subscription model for software, death by a thousand subscriptions.
 
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they will be solid until the market of unsupported iPads and Macs fades out, hopefully they can provide some differentiating feature sets. but to say "side car won't handle professional needs" is naive, as apples is building a native solution.
I think it will a little of this, and a reverse of what Apple is doing to them. As they helped identify an area that needed addressing that Apple is NOW fulfilling. Luna and Duet can study what Sidecar doesn't deliver for professionals and niche users, and be able to more quickly address their needs when Apple will probably wait another year to make improvements.
 
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Here's to the Sherlocks, the Night Mode Red Shifters, the Growl Notifications, the Virtual Desktop Makers and soon to be the iPad as a monitor and the snap windows makers.

You all found a need, filled it, sometimes really well and got crushed as it got pulled into the OS with no compensation. (If they should be compensated is a grey area, but if Apple would have implemented the feature without them paving the way is much murkier).
My thanks - which sadly won't pay your rent - for pushing things forward.
 
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Astro/Luna have been around for years - if their software and hardware are still only offering the same features as Sidecar, then it is completely a problem of their own making. At hand is a grace period as Sidecar only runs on recent hardware - they should spend this time to truly differentiate their product to make it a compelling purchase. E.g. Extend their product beyond the basic "second screen" offering.
 
Given Sidecar only works on a limited set of apps and Apple hardware, they will be good for a while.

Only works with the following Macs.
  • 27-inch iMac (Late 2015 or newer)
  • iMac Pro
  • MacBook Pro (2016 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (2018)
  • 12-inch MacBook (early 2016 or newer)
  • Mac mini (2018)
  • Mac Pro (2019)
This is the Apple equivalent of nickel and diming somebody. It really is tiresome that they restrict the feature on a supported OS for older machines to the most recent models. Apple did this with Apple Night Time.
 
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Luna Display is still a better product for the market they cater to and it's a good product, but neither is a robust replacement for a second monitor.
 
It seems to be using HEVC which requires at least Skylake CPUs.

So I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that it can be hacked through a terminal command to support unsupported Macs and that the user experience is crap. I wonder if that’s not the point, though. Why not optimize for unsupported Macs later, after you’re comfortable with test results from Skylake Macs?

I use Duet on a 2013 MBP and it’s really good, at least for standard business apps where latency may not be noticed as much (Office 365, Atlassian apps, Things, etc.) - I believe that if Duet can do it, so can Apple. It’s not their target market and not their top priority, but I bet they roll in support for more Macs later in the game. I’d be really surprised if they don’t. If Duet can optimize performance, so can Apple.
 
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Pocket what you made and get out while you can. I literally own two of these and will not use them anymore after this and they will fall into obscurity and burn through payroll until they have nothing left.

Take what you made, re-invest into R&D for a new company idea or product.
 
how fast is sidecar wirelessly compared to luna though? no physical connection between things seems to make things laggy like airplay your Mac to your appletv. Will this be as good as wired?
 
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They might actually end up doing better because of Sidecar. Apple is showing users the possibilities of using an iPad as a second display but many people don't have supported Macs. Luna will fill in the demand in that market better than if they were an obscure company that nobody had heard about.

Of course, this won't last. As people upgrade their Macs, Luna will have to focus on the Windows market.
 
they still have 3 months of existence

Who remembers flux? Yep, I give them 2 years or less before closing shop, unless they release another creative product.
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They might actually end up doing better because of Sidecar. Apple is showing users the possibilities of using an iPad as a second display but many people don't have supported Macs. Luna will fill in the demand in that market better than if they were an obscure company that nobody had heard about.

Of course, this won't last. As people upgrade their Macs, Luna will have to focus on the Windows market.

As iPadOS gets more capable there is little reason to have a Mac. I still use a Mac as the apps I use are not available on iPad, however once it’s is available I have no requirement for a laptop.

Once iPadOS gains extended display mode vice mirroring to an external monitor there is little reason to purchase an expensive Mac.

If I had a choice to purchase Luna or upgrade to supporting hardware, I would upgrade as purchasing 3rd party solution is just way to risky relating to support and I will have to upgrade that unsupported hardware eventually, might as well bite the bullet.
 
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