Does anyone seriously believe that Apple will merge iOS and OS X into a super all consuming operating system anymore? Seems to me it's more about making hardware and OS redundant and pushing everyone to iCloud...thoughts?
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Apple's future: merging iOS & OS X or is all about iCloud?
- Thread starter Carl Sagan
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It's sort of a combination of all of those things.
I don't think Apple ever intended to merge the two OS's on their own. They'll do that naturally as hardware progresses.
What they're doing is evolving their apps (and hoping that developers will do the same) to be identical across all platforms.
The changes we've seen to iWork and iLife are perfect examples of that. With these apps Apple's taken a calculated risk. They've taken a step back with the Mac versions--removing some features that iOS can't handle yet--but a step forward with the iOS versions.
Within a generation or two of hardware, those features will all be totally supportable on all platforms. The advantage Apple gains is that they can now have a single team develop just one app--instead of one for each platform.
iCloud is useful in all of this as the glue that holds all the apps together and allows the user to open documents on all of their devices without having to physically copy and transfer files.
Before long, many apps will function across both platforms without any loss in functionality and the less capable devices will be smaller supporting items like wearables and connected accessories.
I don't think Apple ever intended to merge the two OS's on their own. They'll do that naturally as hardware progresses.
What they're doing is evolving their apps (and hoping that developers will do the same) to be identical across all platforms.
The changes we've seen to iWork and iLife are perfect examples of that. With these apps Apple's taken a calculated risk. They've taken a step back with the Mac versions--removing some features that iOS can't handle yet--but a step forward with the iOS versions.
Within a generation or two of hardware, those features will all be totally supportable on all platforms. The advantage Apple gains is that they can now have a single team develop just one app--instead of one for each platform.
iCloud is useful in all of this as the glue that holds all the apps together and allows the user to open documents on all of their devices without having to physically copy and transfer files.
Before long, many apps will function across both platforms without any loss in functionality and the less capable devices will be smaller supporting items like wearables and connected accessories.
Correct. Apps will function the same across platforms, but OS X and iOS will still exist separately.
Very interesting post. You think we'll end up with something like Chrome OS but done right with proper thought to hardware?
iOS = ARM based ecosystem complete with design decisions like eliminating the pointer and a single storefront that commoditizes software to the point it's disposable
OS X = x86 based ecosystem complete with multiple storefronts to maintain the value of software
You can't merge them - you'd end up destroying one of the ecosystems and upsetting the business model and devs vested in whichever you destroy
Far as iCloud, Apple is lagging in their cloud offerings. Their global datacenter penetration isn't competitive, they have no EC2 or Azure like PaaS solutions for devs to take advantage of, just a bunch of SaaS solutions meant to sync data to keep users on iDevices and limited API's. Their best SaaS was probably SIRI, and they just sat on it for a couple years and IMO Google Now has reached parity with it. If they're hedging on their cloud offerings as the future, they need to be doing more
OS X = x86 based ecosystem complete with multiple storefronts to maintain the value of software
You can't merge them - you'd end up destroying one of the ecosystems and upsetting the business model and devs vested in whichever you destroy
Far as iCloud, Apple is lagging in their cloud offerings. Their global datacenter penetration isn't competitive, they have no EC2 or Azure like PaaS solutions for devs to take advantage of, just a bunch of SaaS solutions meant to sync data to keep users on iDevices and limited API's. Their best SaaS was probably SIRI, and they just sat on it for a couple years and IMO Google Now has reached parity with it. If they're hedging on their cloud offerings as the future, they need to be doing more
Yes.
iCloud is the glue. And to be honest…. iCloud is nothing more than a glorified data-server. There you go. It's simply a repository for your Apple device's data files (including app settings, game saves, iWork docs, iPhoto pics, etc)
The executable files, the programs themselves… are still resident in the hardware/device. Which means that there is no incentive (at this point) to "merge" the program files or the core operating systems. Thus, it's still conceivable that OSX and iOS could be kept separate indefinitely.
Yup for me different device need different UI as we interact differently between device.
Each apps is optimized with each device. iPad, iPhone, mac have different apps which is a good thing.
The "theme" should be look alike for each crossover app for ease of transition and the key to great workflow is accessing same data across devices. This data integration function is done by icloud.
Sure each developer can manage their own data in cloud but for smaller developer, they can "hook" (assumption it works properly) the app data to icloud and no need to worry about the workflow when their user move between devices.
Each apps is optimized with each device. iPad, iPhone, mac have different apps which is a good thing.
The "theme" should be look alike for each crossover app for ease of transition and the key to great workflow is accessing same data across devices. This data integration function is done by icloud.
Sure each developer can manage their own data in cloud but for smaller developer, they can "hook" (assumption it works properly) the app data to icloud and no need to worry about the workflow when their user move between devices.
They will co-exists. computers and laptops will still around in 5-10 years.
Desktop OS and mobile OS is different due to how they interact with user. What matters is how they continue the workflow from one device to another, which we're talking about data.