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iPad Mouse Support - The Missing Elephant

seadragon said:
Thanks... I plan to order a Citrix mouse soon. I just bought the new 12.9 and this will be a great combo. I just wish Apple would allow native mouse support and I could use my Magic Mouse. :)
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a word of caution: Once you start using Jump Desktop and Citrix X1 mouse on the 12.9 ipad pro, the experience is so natural that it will make you want native mouse support even more.
 
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neteng101 said:
So I've always thought the iPad Pro is an odd duck and with iOS 11 finally adding a proper filesystem, you'd think they'd add support for Bluetooth mice too.

Until Apple starts taking the iPad Pro seriously as a desktop replacement and not a UI/OS experiment, it will always fall short of its mission to replace the traditional computer's role.

Mouse support is a must have IMO - and the proper filesystem structure that iOS has long been missing.
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Jobs said no to the stylus ("you were born with 10 of them", "sign of total failure", "over my dead body")... now you want a mouse for your tablet? No thanks. Just no. (asbestos underwear is in place, so flame on.)
 
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I think some people are mistakenly making the assumption that the iPad will forever and a day always be an iPad. I think it's a device that will morph over time.

Like a previous poster mentioned, a stylus was considered forbidden fruit at one time. Now we have the pencil. Then there was the lack of access to the file system, we now have the coming Files app. There was also a time where the idea of a large ipad seemed ridiculous. Etc. Etc. I'm sure we could look back in this forum and find threads where people argued these things would never happen. Look where we are now.

The iPad is slowly becoming more of a production tool than ever before. I'm really excited to see where the iPad goes.
 
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brianric said:
In that case it will never be a replacement for the laptop.
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That is not true at all. Sure it would not be a laptop replacement in the way that you think of a laptop right now. Computing is changing, and I think the way we use computers are changing. As more and more mobile computing devices get popular, the more apps will begin to work with touch screens. At some point thinks like excel will before much more usable with touch screens. Therefore eliminating the need for a mouse.
 
You know - if Apple is so much into touch, it doesn't have to be a mouse - Magic Trackpad support will be a start. The only thing is the Magic Trackpad might be a bit bulky to pack on the go. A built-in trackpad to the keyboard (like the Surface) will be another option.

Let's admit it - Apple is slowly going down the Surface route with the iPad. Pencil is plenty proof!
 
I'm using the swiftpoint gt mouse with VMware's vdi app on the new pro. Works awesome. Now I can access my work pc from anywhere and actually get work done.
 
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dwfaust said:
Jobs said no to thestylus ("you were born with 10 of them", "sign of total failure", "over my dead body")... now you want a mouse for your tablet? No thanks. Just no. (asbestos underwear is in place, so flame on.)
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No flame, just don't understand why people object to options. You appear to object because Jobs said so. When is the last time you wrote or drew with your fingers? They named the thing "iPad" for goodness sake. Well finally we have our forbidden stylus. Now Apple says you don't need a traditional computer any more. iPad gets the job done. In some ways, sure, but so many possibilities are locked out because you can't interact with some things in an accurate and predictable manner, especially when using the keyboard. #gorillaarm What was it Jobs said about "laptops" with touch screens?
 
BorderingOn said:
No flame, just don't understand why people object to options. You appear to object because Jobs said so. When is the last time you wrote or drew with your fingers? They named the thing "iPad" for goodness sake. Well finally we have our forbidden stylus. Now Apple says you don't need a traditional computer any more. iPad gets the job done. In some ways, sure, but so many possibilities are locked out because you can't interact with some things in an accurate and predictable manner, especially when using the keyboard. #gorillaarm What was it Jobs said about "laptops" with touch screens?
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I think you missed his sarcasm with the stylus
 
scupking said:
I have been saying it for years to friends that mouse support would be awesome and until then I will still need a laptop.
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Laptops have come with touchpads for ages and recently touchscreens, yet many folks including myself add the mouse to make it more like a desktop experience.
 
I was being a bit sarcastic... "never a stylus" to Apple Pencil. "Never anything but a 9.7 " iPad" to 3 sizes and NONE of them 9.7"... I am also totally confused by Apple's apparent lack of direction. First this, then that... sort of which ever way the wind is blowing at any moment. Apple now says that the iPad can/does replace the computer... yet if anything goes really south, you need a computer and iTunes (speaking of clusterf**k) to fix it... lately Microsoft is eating their lunch... and Apple keeps making stuff thinner and less upgradeable...

I've been Mac longer now than I was PC... but it's clearly no longer "magical", and more often than not these days, "it just works" is a dream at best and a lie at worst.

I'd be curious to see how a mouse with an iPad will change any of that... Apple needs "the next big thing" soon.
 
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In case if your company uses Parallels Remote Application Server for applications and desktop publishing, the upcoming v16 will introduce the support for Swiftpoint GT mouse in the iPhone and iPad clients.
 
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Mark my words.....mouse support and a real file system will be coming to the iPad, but why would Apple give you everything that you want now when they'd rather role these things out slowly, and I mean slowly, over time. They are in the business of making money and if they can sell more iPads by incremental upgrades, then that's what they'll do. If Apple built iPads with every feature, why would people bother upgrading? Heck, people barely upgrade their iPads now.

When mouse support and a file system finally come out, it will be the greatest thing since sliced bread. /s
 
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sers said:
but why would Apple give you everything that you want now when they'd rather role these things out slowly,
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Because tablet sales are sluggish and the iPad isn't doing well, introducing yet another Pro that can't function as a true laptop replacement will not lead to more sales.

If Apple seriously wants the tablet to be a capable, serious tool that can function as a laptop/computer replacement, then mouse support should get added sooner. They don't have to make the native interface to support the mouse to start with, just allowing mouse pairing and app developers that want to use a mouse for their apps to do so will go a long ways.

Until/unless this day comes, the iPad is mostly a consumption device, not the laptop replacement that Apple seems to think it is. File system and mouse support are the two missing ingredients - one's coming, the other should be added too.
 
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Just do a search for iPad and mouse support. I've seen stuff from 2012 with people saying it will never replace a laptop until they add mouse support. Here we are 5 years later with a better camera. /s
 
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The only things I would want a mouse for is a web inspector, and for games like Minecraft PE. Controllers suck, and touch screen is just a hair better for FPS/First Person games
 
Just wondering, why would an Apple Pen be not as good as a mouse and hence warrant such a question?

I thought the Pen can point much faster and its drag and drop performance being its main (if not only) weak point?
 
dwfaust said:
Jobs said no to thestylus ("you were born with 10 of them", "sign of total failure", "over my dead body")... now you want a mouse for your tablet? No thanks. Just no. (asbestos underwear is in place, so flame on.)
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There you go... A stylus over Steve's dead body.

I know, a sick message, but as shown, Steve was human, he did die, and he could be wrong.

A mouse supported iPad could be useful.
 
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Would be great to be able to connect my Magic Mouse for RDP/VNC instead of the only 2 available mouses that work with iPad. Like most in my industry, we connect to powerful Linux servers for work.
 
darkarn said:
Just wondering, why would an Apple Pen be not as good as a mouse and hence warrant such a question?

I thought the Pen can point much faster and its drag and drop performance being its main (if not only) weak point?
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In my previous example - if you're using a keyboard then the screen is standing up and away from your hands. It's an awkward position to use for touch and similarly awkward for a pencil - you're leaning across a keyboard at a strange angle.
 
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Personally I think the stylus is a pretty good method for an accurate input device, which in a touch based scenario may even be better than a mouse. That's just my humble opinion though, please don't take it as a slight against all you guys who really want the option.

Not to derail, but what I think is the last big missing piece to the iPad equation is better external drive support. If HDD manufacturers could devise a USB - > Lightning 'cap' on their products and then with the new APIs that will allow drag and drop into the Files app (or maybe the same APIs that allow dropbox etc to integrate with it - then you have a device that you can move files and media on and off of.

I know there are currently things like the Sandisk iXpand, but they seem really clunky and walled off.
 
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