iPad Will ipad pro be Mac OS + iOS ?

[jb1280]

I'm guessing everybody is way overthinking a potential iPad Pro. The most logical conclusion would be that it's simply a larger iPad.

Issues.

1. The Name. Forget about iPad Pro only being for Pros. It's simply a marketing lexicon to describe something larger, and perhaps more capable than iPad Air. See MacBooks as an example.

2. Why should it exist? There exists room between a 13" Macbook Air and iPad Air for people who believe that a Multi-touch, full-screen interface is preferable to a keyboard and Mouse. There are those who want nothing more than simply a larger iPad.

3. Problems with some hybrid OS? When will Apple announce the transition of OS X from X86 to ARM? Should you use the iOS or OS X version or a particular app? These seem like rather consequential issues. In the end, you'd end up with something less useful than both a Mac or an iPad.

As a prior post has said, if Apple intended to shrink OS X down into a tablet, it would have been done 4 years ago, rather than blowing iOS up to a tablet. In the end I imagine iOS 8 will be more responsive than iOS 7, so many of the concerns about size will be alleviated. After all, nobody complains about the differences in OS X between an 11.6" display and a 27" display, so the distinctions between 9.7" and 12.9" or whatever are much smaller.

 

[vancleef]

Im quite certain an 12-13" iPad would have a different UI than the present iOS since it would be terribly hamstrung with plain iOS7. The 9.7" iPad is stretching enough as it is.

I am inclined towards thinking they should adapt OS X to a touchscreen interface but whether they do that or adapt the iOS for extended capabilities I do not have a clue.

 

[vancleef]

I'm guessing everybody is way overthinking a potential iPad Pro. The most logical conclusion would be that it's simply a larger iPad.

Issues.

1. The Name. Forget about iPad Pro only being for Pros. It's simply a marketing lexicon to describe something larger, and perhaps more capable than iPad Air. See MacBooks as an example.

2. Why should it exist? There exists room between a 13" Macbook Air and iPad Air for people who believe that a Multi-touch, full-screen interface is preferable to a keyboard and Mouse. There are those who want nothing more than simply a larger iPad.

3. Problems with some hybrid OS? When will Apple announce the transition of OS X from X86 to ARM? Should you use the iOS or OS X version or a particular app? These seem like rather consequential issues. In the end, you'd end up with something less useful than both a Mac or an iPad.

As a prior post has said, if Apple intended to shrink OS X down into a tablet, it would have been done 4 years ago, rather than blowing iOS up to a tablet. In the end I imagine iOS 8 will be more responsive than iOS 7, so many of the concerns about size will be alleviated. After all, nobody complains about the differences in OS X between an 11.6" display and a 27" display, so the distinctions between 9.7" and 12.9" or whatever are much smaller.

Interesting points but I have some remarks.

1. I would say that the history of Apple products named Pro actually have been marketed towards high end consumers. The Mac Pro has been about performance and meeting professional demands such as tweaking etc. It has always lacked the neatness of the iMac. The difference between the two is quite apparent.
The same goes for the MacBook variations. The Pro has sturdier design, better performance and offers possibilities for productivity the standard MacBook and the Air couldn't and cannot.
The MBA and the MBP are very different laptops. One is very consumer-friendly with limited capabilites and the other offers more I/O, better screen and higher performance. There is a sizeable price difference as well.
Thus, I cannot agree with your statement about the name Pro merely meaning bigger size. The difference has always been noticeable between the Pros and the non-pros.

2. Why should it exist? Why shouldn't it? Apple, as many successful companies, make products they think make the most sense and they think would find the most useful. Jobs was all about not asking the consumer what it wants, because the consumers haven't done the research and they don't know the possibilites. That is Apple's job.
Many would differ from the opinion that simply a larger iPad is the most useful. Apple knows it's inevitable that laptops and touch devices will meet eventually. They will try to make that market their own the same way they did with the tablet market.

3. This is true. Dual OS has yet to convince me. It's not really Apple's style. There is a possibility we will see something completely new software-wise, or we will see an adapted iOS or OS X.

Your comparison between the screen size used for OS X respectively iOS is not really representable. The smallest screen size that use iOS is not 9.7" but 3.5", as you surely know.

Who knows what Apple's next step will be, I don't for sure. However, they need something new to bring them back to the glory of five years ago. The iPad Pro could be that something, but it could as well be not. I only hope Apple has something to offer us who would like to replace their laptops with a touch device.

 

[DeathTheKid]

It would be nice if they could integrate OS X apps in a way they would be comfortable to use on a tablet. I would imagine it would run a suped-up version of iOS. OS X app elements could be scaled up and due to the fact that OS X doesn't have the menu bar in the applications and on the top means it would be easier to make a touch friendly version of the menu. Also, given most Mac applications are written with Cocoa, would make it easier for them to scale applications.

Really this is all wishful thinking. They have to have a significant reason to change the model of the iPad to a hybrid model. If Windows 8 tablets start selling well, you can guarantee, that you would see a hybrid model.

 

[vancleef]

It would be nice if they could integrate OS X apps in a way they would be comfortable to use on a tablet. I would imagine it would run a suped-up version of iOS. OS X app elements could be scaled up and due to the fact that OS X doesn't have the menu bar in the applications and on the top means it would be easier to make a touch friendly version of the menu. Also, given most Mac applications are written with Cocoa, would make it easier for them to scale applications.

Really this is all wishful thinking. They have to have a significant reason to change the model of the iPad to a hybrid model. If Windows 8 tablets start selling well, you can guarantee, that you would see a hybrid model.

The tablet market wasn't a success before the iPad, that didn't stop Apple from making a tablet. But yes, Apple isn't what it used to be and they followed their competitors in the smartphone market making the iPhone larger.

I hope the iPad Pro will be a well thought out thing of the future.

 

[tdale]

I cannot see the iPad Pro, if that is what it calls being a success.

1. Too big. Many moved to the Mini as its more portable tablet, a big tablet is getting inconvenient, may as well get a MBA 11"

2. It has to be more costly

3. The Surface Pro 2 is now very good, its a tablet and full OS. Apple won't/cannot add a hybrid, that will be hard, and not needed as it will cannibalise the MBAir

4. A big iPad is still JUST a tablet. Great tablet, yes, but still JUST a tablet. Its great as a tablet but nowhere close to a laptop replacement, as it wont play flash, its tied to adding files via iTunes/email, there is no visble file system. As too tabletty, and it needs to stay that way.

5. Could they make an Air with a iOS7 emulator?? And removable keyboard?

If they could reduce some iOS restrictions, it would move closer to being more suitable as a laptop replacement, if they could focus on keeping iOS and OSX seperate but increase integration so a user can easily use either for anything, that would help too

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I can't see dual-OS at all, not so long as OS X is on Intel and iOS is on ARM. Short term, I see other reasons it wouldn't work well (if at all).

Under the hood, both OSes are Unix, so in theory, anything one can do, so can the other (as far as OS-based processes are involved). The question is, what would Apple want iOS to do that it doesn't already do?

I don't see them doing anything that would undermine the security features in iOS. That's not only important for the casual, "what's an exploit" users, but also for corporate, government, and education IT. Could OS X, with its full access to the file system and Terminal, unregulated apps market, and such, safely coexist on the same device with iOS? Effectively, OS X would be an exploit waiting to happen. (And if it's a true OS X release, doesn't that also mean BootCamp?)

Would corporate, government, and educational institutions prefer to see enhanced capabilities within the highly controlled (and controllable) iOS environment, or the more free-wheeling, user freedom/user-can-muck-things-up world of desktop OSes? Bueller?

I also don't see Apple moving so far so fast that the owners of other iOS devices would feel orphaned by all the cool new things the Pro can do. Things dependent on having more than 1gb of RAM and/or a significantly larger battery, for example. If they have to wait more than two years for the trickle-down, they wouldn't be getting that stuff at the next hardware upgrade, but the one after that. That would not make for happy customers or good customer retention.

No matter what, "Pro" does not mean "Pro" the way the word is bandied about in Mac Pro circles. There's no way Apple can satisfy the demands of the "true professionals." Outboard storage media? Upgradable RAM and CPUs? 3rd-party GPU cards? Device drivers for anything under the sun? In addition to the security concerns, this is the quickest path to OS bloatware imaginable.

There are already device-specific releases of iOS, so the idea of an extended iOS that can run on a device with more RAM and internal storage isn't all that far-fetched. But whatever those extensions are, they'll have to fit within the existing iOS framework.

Finally, if Apple is to maintain the market for MacBooks, there can't be too much overlap. OS X on a tablet does just that. Perhaps Apple is ready for creative destruction of that product line, but I doubt it.

 

[Saturn1217]

As many here have said I don't think Apple will take the approach of adapting OSX to a touch UI for the iPad Pro (or whatever it is called).

OSX is very complex and even Microsoft had a bunch of issues with converting everything in windows to a touch interface (I believe a lot of settings at least in windows 8 still required the traditional desktop ui).

A touch version of OSX would be dumbed down simply to make the monumental task easier (think Final Cut Pro X or the new Pages app). And people would whine endlessly about each little detail of missing functionality because they are expecting a full OS if Apple sells it that way.

Instead I think that Apple can simply expand iOS to be more productive. I like this approach because it wouldn't just help the iPad Pro (I have zero interest in a larger iPad). It could help the whole ecosystem as well as serving as a testing ground for experimental things like true multitasking and file managers before they are filtered down to the much more important iPad/iPhone ecosystem. I think (hope) Apple realizes that eventually someone is going to figure out how to have a tablet that can truly be a laptop replacement without any of the pitfalls we have now. It might as well be Apple. And I personally don't mind if they take their time to get it right.