iPad Pro Apple has given up on the iPad

[tomtad]

Just listened to this podcast and I fully agree, it's also what I've been thinking for a while.

However I wouldn't say Apple has given up on the iPad, if anything it has become core to Apple software and what is on iPad will spread to the Mac. Just look at visionOS, this is just iPadOS with some tweaks to accommodate VR. All the apps are iPad apps with white space rendered as frosted glass.

Over the next few years we'll see iPad/visionOS apps become more detailed and feature rich and I do believe we'll then see macOS replaced by an all-new version which still uses the desktop paradigm but runs wholly iPad apps. In operation the UI in these apps will expand when used with touch and shrink when used with a pointer. There will also be a classic mode so older Mac only apps can still be run until they are updated.

The advantage of this is that one app will be able to run seamlessly across iPad, Mac and Vision Pro platforms using the same codebase. Fundamentally it will also bring touch support to the Mac which Apple is rumoured to be shipping in the next few years.

What does this mean for the iPad? It will carry on and will remain a touch first experience which can be modified for more professional work with an attached keyboard/pointer or pencil. The Mac remains a pointer first experience which can also be used more casually with touch.

 

[The point and shoot pro]

I don't think they have given up on the iPad but I do suspect the future of the iPad is a tablet in the most common sense.

The iPad Pro does not make sense, it gets more and more powerful each year and yet its purpose never really changes, or should I say its abilities never really change in line with its potential. Sure we now have final cut pro for the small number who will use the IPP for that but most won't.

The biggest opportunity for the iPad was its potential to become a true laptop replacement. For that, it needs to have macOS. It never will get for various reasons.

Use the iPad for its real purpose, a tablet for all the reasons people most commonly use a tablet for.

That’s why I never spent the money on a pro model. Extra money for things that I would never take advantage of, and you can’t take advantage of for 90 percent of the software available for the iPad. My 10th gen with all it’s “quirks” like 1st gen pencil etc is a great tablet. It works fast, gets great battery life and the Logitech keyboard is a winner. Gives me everything I need for a small portable device to take with me when we are just travelling for a few days without my camera gear.

 

[klky]

I have a 2018 11" iPad Pro.

I think the iPad is an amazing piece of tech but I also feel it is severely hampered by iPadOS. Over the years, I have tried doing work on it but have found the experience mostly frustrating.

I now mainly use it for content consumption around the house and when I travel. The pen is actually great for signing and marking up digital documents. For these purposes, I think the iPad excels. It is however the most dispensable Apple device I own by a mile. I'm happy I own it but wouldn't necessarily rush out to replace it if it died. In contrast, if either of my AirPods, Apple Watch, iPhone, Mac or AppleTV died, I'd get them replaced immediately.

Admittedly, the iPad mini still intrigues me. By virtue of its smaller size and weight, I suspect it'll be an even better content consumption device, especially for reading, and I won't have to pretend I bought it for any other purpose.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

We will never know, why not innovate with the announcement of some sort of range of ipads with HDMI in, SD cards, CF cards, Apple power banks, eGPU? Something.. but a toy called visionpro...with a 2 hour battery, from the best brains in tech...Really Apple is mocking, trolling...

As much as I would like loads of ports on my iPad, what you propose isn't innovative at all. HDMI, SD, CF etc are all legacy tech. I'd be more impressed with lots of Thunderbolt 4 ports.

It's a similar situation to the original iMac and the howls that it didn't have a floppy drive.

 

[The point and shoot pro]

I have a 2018 11" iPad Pro.

I think the iPad is an amazing piece of tech but I also feel it is severely hampered by iPadOS. Over the years, I have tried doing work on it but have found the experience mostly frustrating.

I now mainly use it for content consumption around the house and when I travel. The pen is actually great for signing and marking up digital documents. For these purposes, I think the iPad excels. It is however the most dispensable Apple device I own by a mile. I'm happy I own it but wouldn't necessarily rush out to replace it if it died. In contrast, if either of my AirPods, Apple Watch, iPhone, Mac or AppleTV died, I'd get them replaced immediately.

Admittedly, the iPad mini still intrigues me. By virtue of its smaller size and weight, I suspect it'll be an even better content consumption device, especially for reading, and I won't have to pretend I bought it for any other purpose.

I bought our two 10th gens on impulse one day. Next thing you know I am out buying our son a new 9th Gen to replace his 6th Gen model. I just wish they made a full keyboard for the mini like we have for the 10th gens.

We love them for everything you said. We can do basic work and content creation too. Like writing articles and scripts for our platforms and clients. It’s great to have a small device we can work from.

 

[darngooddesign]

Yes exactly, Apple has become extremely risk adverse, I explained that with the round Mac Pro aka "trashcan Mac", that was innovative, but in the wrong direction, it solved problems no one had, someone did have a problem, and Apple tried to solve that problem with the trashcan, it was rejected, but Apple tried to recoup costs, so sold it..

The may have to be renamed "vision pro" was a solution to a problem someone had, and approached Apple, so this was was what Apple came up with, and it may not prove popular, seems very odd to announce it now, when it would make more sense later, I think Apple felt that the keynote after the announcement in May of FCP for Ipad, there was too much time left in the keynote... So a quick re-edit of the keynote...Include the visionpro in lieu of FCP for Ipad...

We will never know, why not innovate with the announcement of some sort of range of ipads with HDMI in, SD cards, CF cards, Apple power banks, eGPU? Something.. but a toy called visionpro...with a 2 hour battery, from the best brains in tech...Really Apple is mocking, trolling...

Wait... so you think adding HDMI or a camera card slot, even more iPads, or an Apple-branded powerbank are innovation? You might not be interested in the VisionPro, but it's hardly a toy and has a lot of innovation packed in. Apple already announced FCP and Logic for the iPad, so including them in the keynote would have been silly.

 

[Night Spring]

Wait... so you think adding HDMI or a camera card slot, even more iPads, or an Apple-branded powerbank are innovation? You might not be interested in the VisionPro, but it's hardly a toy and has a lot of innovation packed in. Apple already announced FCP and Logic for the iPad, so including them in the keynote would have been silly.

I can actually see the pov of those who say the Vision Pro is a toy, even though I personally don't agree with that view. What I don't understand is how anyone can say VP isn't innovative. I, for one, was floored when I realized it didn't need a controller, that it could be controlled solely by eye tracking + hand gestures.

 

[darngooddesign]

I can actually see the pov of those who say the Vision Pro is a toy, even though I personally don't agree with that view. What I don't understand is how anyone can say VP isn't innovative. I, for one, was floored when I realized it didn't need a controller, that it could be controlled solely by eye tracking + hand gestures.

To be fair, JP also thought that Apple only announced VP because they already released FCP.

 

[Night Spring]

To be fair, JP also thought that Apple only announced VP because they already released FCP.

Yes, that view is so out of touch with how hardware development works. It's not like Apple can magically conjure up hardware just because they have an extra 40 minutes they have to fill in their keynote.

 

[sparksd]

I can actually see the pov of those who say the Vision Pro is a toy, even though I personally don't agree with that view. What I don't understand is how anyone can say VP isn't innovative. I, for one, was floored when I realized it didn't need a controller, that it could be controlled solely by eye tracking + hand gestures.

Yeah, I have no interest in the VisionPro but the technology and implementation are amazing.

 

[JustinePaula]

To be fair, JP also thought that Apple only announced VP because they already released FCP.

OK lets go back to the replay, the timeline is like this, middle of May 2023, a sudden announcement by Apple of FCP for Ipad, then 2 weeks later it's released, feral and useless, a day after the announcement,9to5Mac posted a theory that FCP for Ipad was used to plug a leak within Apple, which sort of fits the sudden announcement a month before WWDC, and fcp for ipad 2 weeks before WWDC..

Apple had to follow through with the plan, if the leaker was in fact correct that FCP for IPad was scheduled for a 2024 launched, to be announced in 2023, Apple had to now scrap this announcement from WWDC, with less than a month to WWDC, filming and post production had to revise the WWDC keynote...So VisionPro stepped in as the replacement...

Hence the long delay and the unfinished $2 battery cable for the VisionPro, of course this is all just mere speculation, it will maybe never be revealed as to the truth "was WWDC re-edited to find a leaker?"

The simple fact is, the ipad suffers from a lack of innovation, whether that is using "old" tech such as SD cards, CF cards, or a brand new tech, Apple has not once tried, every ipad since gen 1 is the same, a screen with built in storage and a very inefficient method to access data on the device.. The filesystem is a bit odd, maybe not helped by ipadOS, trying to be 2 things, a file manager and a somesort of not quite MacOS, but needs to be MacOS..

Would it not make more sense to either ditch MacOS on the mac portables, make both ipads and mac portables, either ipadOS or MacOS???

WWDC 2023 seemed rushed, 15 minutes for all the mac hardware, out of 2 hours, VisionPro was 40 minutes... If you go to the Apple.com website and go to the WWDC keynote, you will see that the 1st 43 minutes is all Mac harware+software, from 43minutes to 1:20, 40 minutes this is home automation and watch, then the last 40 minutes is Vision Pro.. 3x 40 minute slots.. 120 minutes... a full 1/3 is VisionPro, a product that is a year from being in the wild...

Would an hour Keynote feel too short? or an Hour 20, or 80 minutes? Maybe 20 minutes for VisionPro and 20minutes for fcp for ipad in block 3??

 

[JustinePaula]

Yes, that view is so out of touch with how hardware development works. It's not like Apple can magically conjure up hardware just because they have an extra 40 minutes they have to fill in their keynote.

Apple needed to plug a hole, someone was leaking Apple ideas, Apple needed something to lure the offender out, and they needed something juicy, no one would buy the VisionPro, that just seemed a bit too radical, it makes sense that if you are trying to find someone who is leaking secrets, use something that a lot of folks will buy as valid, fcp for ipad, a month before WWDC, Apple had to act and act in a way that sent a message, but they had to do it before WWDC, to give them time to re-edit WWDC keynote, this is the only thing that makes sense as to the sudden on a Tuesday the announcement of fcp for ipad, then the leaker was found, a tweet from her brother confirming his insider knowledge, he had already leaked fcp for ipad, Apple had to follow through, and a feral useless version of FCP was published... No doubt this sting operation created a problem for the Keynote... It makes sense it would have been in the keynote, but now a hole in the timing.. VisionPro was always a product, it was a year away from being ready, so if this is true, Apple had only 2 products for 2023, excluding the 2023 macbook pro... So it really makes sense that VisionPro would have been 20minutes in the keynote, but was stretched to fill 40 minutes... the pantry was empty for the 1st 20 minutes of the last 40minutes of the keynote..

 

[Night Spring]

OK lets go back to the replay, the timeline is like this, middle of May 2023, a sudden announcement by Apple of FCP for Ipad, then 2 weeks later it's released, feral and useless, a day after the announcement,9to5Mac posted a theory that FCP for Ipad was used to plug a leak within Apple, which sort of fits the sudden announcement a month before WWDC, and fcp for ipad 2 weeks before WWDC..

So is your theory that Apple prepared the Vision Pro presentation in the keynote in less than a month? If so, I totally disagree. That presentation wasn't created in a month. It took a lot longer to film and edit all those videos. Also, Apple didn't just present the Video Pro in the keynote, they also had demo units for selected attendees to try. Have you read or seen the articles and YouTube videos from those who were able to try the Vision Pro? Are you saying Apple was able to crank out those demo units that so many found so impressive in less than a month?

 

[NastyMatt]

Apple needed to plug a hole, someone was leaking Apple ideas, Apple needed something to lure the offender out, and they needed something juicy, no one would buy the VisionPro, that just seemed a bit too radical, it makes sense that if you are trying to find someone who is leaking secrets, use something that a lot of folks will buy as valid, fcp for ipad, a month before WWDC, Apple had to act and act in a way that sent a message, but they had to do it before WWDC, to give them time to re-edit WWDC keynote, this is the only thing that makes sense as to the sudden on a Tuesday the announcement of fcp for ipad, then the leaker was found, a tweet from her brother confirming his insider knowledge, he had already leaked fcp for ipad, Apple had to follow through, and a feral useless version of FCP was published... No doubt this sting operation created a problem for the Keynote... It makes sense it would have been in the keynote, but now a hole in the timing.. VisionPro was always a product, it was a year away from being ready, so if this is true, Apple had only 2 products for 2023, excluding the 2023 macbook pro... So it really makes sense that VisionPro would have been 20minutes in the keynote, but was stretched to fill 40 minutes... the pantry was empty for the 1st 20 minutes of the last 40minutes of the keynote..

I highly doubt everything in this post.

 

[mandopicker101]

My office provided me with an iPad 9 in lieu of the craptastic Samsung Android phone I had for calls I didn’t make anymore. We transitioned to MS 365 recently (yeah, finger on the pulse at my place) and for most tasks I tend to use my iPad (Word, browsing, emails, spreadsheets, Teams) as it’s better than my meh-tastic HP laptop.

Also Bluetooth isn’t locked down so can stream to wireless headset/hearing aids as well as using my Magic Keyboard and Mouse.

For me, it’s almost perfect.

 

[Longplays]

375: ‘No False Humidity’, With Jason Snell

Poddavsnitt · The Talk Show With John Gruber · 2023-05-23 · 2 tim 11 min

podcasts.apple.com

Starting at 1:33:40

I just listened to the latest episode of The Talk Show With John Gruber where he had Jason Snell as a guest. They discussed why Apple released Final Cut Pro for iPad now all of a sudden and they went on to talk about the status of iPad in Apple’s lineup today.

They made some interesting points that I wanted to share and hear your thoughts on.

They talked about how everyone at Apple thought iPad was going phase out the Mac in mid 2010s, but when Apple silicon arrived on the Mac, it completely changed everything. The iPad is now basically just another product in Apple’s lineup and the Mac has taken the spot back as the second most important Apple product (after the iPhone, of course).

They also talked about how iPad as a product is not really “necessary” and that Apple doesn’t know what to do with the it. They compared the first 10 years of the Mac and the iPad and how stark the difference was. Gruber argues that the iPad has not changed computing at all compared to the Mac and iPhone.

Thoughts?

I have an 2022 12.9 iPad Pro, which my wife gifted me, a MacBook Pro 16" and iPhone and the iPad Pro is honestly the least essential device of the three. I would go as far to say that iPad Pro and the AirPods Max are the two least essential and most overpriced Apple products.

If I want to consume social media, music or browse the web, 10/10 times I just grab my iPhone 14 Pro Max because the entire world is optimised for mobile screens. The iPad takes the iPhone UI and just makes everything bigger which makes navigating the UI gruesome. It's a nightmare to type on the big iPad on-screen keyboard and the iPad is heavy as hell which means you can't hold it for long.

When it comes to the Mac, it's significantly better than the iPad in terms of multitasking, browsing the web and you have access to desktop Chrome because the world is optimised for Chrome. Then the Mac has significantly better battery life, less Mini-LED blooming, less bugs, better apps.

I would honestly only recommend the iPad Pro to people who have a lot of disposable income to burn and you have a job that makes use of annotating PDF's and note-taking. I'm studying at University and I know a lot of people who use iPads and I've never seen a person be more productive than a typical laptop. I guess the tablets in general is a mystery to me...

iPad seems boring as the

- iPad Pro went M2
- iPad Air went M1
- iPad mini A15 Bionic
- iPad A14 Bionic

After this year's iPhone refresh I see the iPad mini & iPad getting better iPhone chips in them.

After the M3 is announced next year I expect the iPad Pro & iPad Air getting better Mac chips in them.

Apple's neglecting the 2020 iMac 27" that's turning 3 soon and the 2021 iMac 24" that just turned 2 lately.

Top Five Tablet Companies, Worldwide Shipments, Market Share, and Growth, Calendar Year 2022 (Preliminary results, combined company view for the current quarter only, shipments in millions)

Company	2022 Unit Shipments	2022 Market Share	2021 Unit Shipments	2021 Market Share	Year-Over-Year Growth
1. Apple	61.8	38.0%	57.8	34.3%	7.0%
2. Samsung	30.3	18.6%	30.6	18.2%	-0.8%
3. Amazon.com	16.0	9.8%	16.1	9.6%	-0.7%
4. Lenovo	11.6	7.1%	17.7	10.5%	-34.6%
5. Huawei	9.1	5.6%	9.8	5.8%	-7.0%
Others	34.0	20.9%	36.4	21.6%	-6.6%
Total	162.8	100.0%	168.3	100.0%	-3.3%

Source: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS50239723

Apple's tablet business has YoY growth while the whole tablet industry is shrinking.

In terms of market share of a specific industry the iPad's doing better than the iPhone.

If the iPhone owned as much market share as the iPad in the smartphone industry they'd make an all time high $3 trillion market cap company possibly a $4 trillion or even a $5 trillion one.

Below shows the iPhone's smartphone market share. It is less than 1/2 of the iPad among tablets.

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Smartphone Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, CY2022 (Preliminary results, shipments in millions of units)

Company	2022 Shipment Volumes*	2022 Market Share*	2021 Shipment Volumes	2021 Market Share	Year-Over-Year Change*
Samsung	260.9	21.6%	272.1	20.0%	-4.1%
Apple	226.4	18.8%	235.8	17.3%	-4.0%
Xiaomi	153.1	12.7%	191.0	14.0%	-19.8%
OPPO	103.3	8.6%	133.6	9.8%	-22.7%
vivo	99.0	8.2%	128.3	9.4%	-22.8%
Others	362.7	30.1%	399.1	29.3%	-9.1%
Total	1205.5	100.0%	1359.8	100.0%	-11.3%

Source: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS50146623

 

[JustinePaula]

Youtube short showing how confusing the product line up is
The above link shows just how confusing and out to lunch Apple has become, the whole hardware range has become so confusing, and it does not show any rational thinking about what is what, and what is going to happen...That is just my point, I don't think Apple have a plan, if they do, it is very confusing...

 

[Night Spring]

Youtube short showing how confusing the product line up is
The above link shows just how confusing and out to lunch Apple has become, the whole hardware range has become so confusing, and it does not show any rational thinking about what is what, and what is going to happen...That is just my point, I don't think Apple have a plan, if they do, it is very confusing...

Totally agree about the product lineup getting too complicated and confusing. I wouldn't say Apple doesn't have a plan, they kind of do, but the execution isn't as clear and simple as it could be.

 

[Slartibart]

"Crippled file system"? What's wrong with the Files app?

While it continuously improves which each iPadOS release, this - to reference just one thread.

EDIT: obviously would not call the file system “crippled” - that’s just silly.

 

[Longplays]

Totally agree about the product lineup getting too complicated and confusing. I wouldn't say Apple doesn't have a plan, they kind of do, but the execution isn't as clear and simple as it could be.

When Steve Jobs returned the product matrix of 2x2 was like that because of the really small market Apple had at the time.

This was done for economies of scale and shortening inventory time.

As shipment volume went up then any company's allowed to add more specialized SKUs.

Think of how many colors the MBA has vs how many M2 Ultra SKUs the Mac Pro has.

When I bought my 2018 iPad Pro 11" I did so for the awesome largest dispaly I can comfortably handhold.

 

[tmanto02]

It’s a cornerstone device in many households for entertainment. I get the point that the mac has more uses but the iPad is very good at for light computing/ media consumption.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It’s a cornerstone device in many households for entertainment. I get the point that the mac has more uses but the iPad is very good at for light computing/ media consumption.

It’s also a product that is very important in education too. Most schools buy dozens of them and many parents buy them for children to continue certain e-learning at home. This is why it is so important for Apple to keep offering an entry level and affordable iPad as they made huge leaps in the last 4 years and have effectively replaced the Chromebook for these purposes in learning as the costs have aligned. Unfortunately Apple haven’t replaced the iPad 9 yet although it’s still a great entry iPad, so hopefully this is on the horizon.

 

[Slartibart]

As an example i just tried to do a common vlookup in excel which is a daily formula most people use and I couldn’t even open to excel documents side by side. It would just open up one over the other so I couldn’t cross reference.. maybe you can and I’m missing something?

you obviously are:

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple needed to plug a hole, someone was leaking Apple ideas, Apple needed something to lure the offender out, and they needed something juicy, no one would buy the VisionPro, that just seemed a bit too radical, it makes sense that if you are trying to find someone who is leaking secrets, use something that a lot of folks will buy as valid, fcp for ipad, a month before WWDC, Apple had to act and act in a way that sent a message, but they had to do it before WWDC, to give them time to re-edit WWDC keynote, this is the only thing that makes sense as to the sudden on a Tuesday the announcement of fcp for ipad, then the leaker was found, a tweet from her brother confirming his insider knowledge, he had already leaked fcp for ipad, Apple had to follow through, and a feral useless version of FCP was published... No doubt this sting operation created a problem for the Keynote... It makes sense it would have been in the keynote, but now a hole in the timing.. VisionPro was always a product, it was a year away from being ready, so if this is true, Apple had only 2 products for 2023, excluding the 2023 macbook pro... So it really makes sense that VisionPro would have been 20minutes in the keynote, but was stretched to fill 40 minutes... the pantry was empty for the 1st 20 minutes of the last 40minutes of the keynote..

So you think that Apple spent years of development, thousands of patents, innovation within the VR space, not to mention half a billion dollars, just to find a leaker when they could have just traced the publication of rumors on something far more conventional like a new 12” MacBook?

I get it, you want innovation like an SD slot in the iPad instead of innovation like a brand new VR platform, innovative VR technologies, a VR OS, and future family of VR products. Actual iPad innovation would look like the Asus ZenBook Fold, but people who loudly claim they want iPad innovation just want an iPad that runs MacOS…which is about as far from innovation as you can get.

PS. There is nothing wrong with launching when something is ready enough; the iPhone was also a year away from being ready, SJ carefully planned out the step-by-step demo so the still-buggy OS had the least chance of crashing. Heck, the YouTube app was even missing in Apple’s reveal images. It’s obvious that it was always supposed to launch with an AppStore since you can’t plan, develop, test, refine, and finally release an entire SDK and AppStore in less than a year, but Apple launched it despite that part being unfinished.

 

[ericwn]

Apple needed to plug a hole, someone was leaking Apple ideas, Apple needed something to lure the offender out, and they needed something juicy, no one would buy the VisionPro, that just seemed a bit too radical, it makes sense that if you are trying to find someone who is leaking secrets, use something that a lot of folks will buy as valid, fcp for ipad, a month before WWDC, Apple had to act and act in a way that sent a message, but they had to do it before WWDC, to give them time to re-edit WWDC keynote, this is the only thing that makes sense as to the sudden on a Tuesday the announcement of fcp for ipad, then the leaker was found, a tweet from her brother confirming his insider knowledge, he had already leaked fcp for ipad, Apple had to follow through, and a feral useless version of FCP was published... No doubt this sting operation created a problem for the Keynote... It makes sense it would have been in the keynote, but now a hole in the timing.. VisionPro was always a product, it was a year away from being ready, so if this is true, Apple had only 2 products for 2023, excluding the 2023 macbook pro... So it really makes sense that VisionPro would have been 20minutes in the keynote, but was stretched to fill 40 minutes... the pantry was empty for the 1st 20 minutes of the last 40minutes of the keynote..

Some works of fiction are so obviously made from just hot air it’s amazing.