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what does ipad/ios need to make it a full computer replacement?
- Thread starter mrklaw
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Unfortunately that doesn't work, because everyone has a different idea about what most people need. Some think most people need file management, while others think most people don't know what files are. And for every anecdote about a hapless aunt who doesn't know where she saved her photos, we have a user with a project folder containing several different types of files that needs to be manipulated by several different programs. Which is the typical user, my aunt or the one with the project folder? Who can say, really?
I'd say desktop apps, and the ability to work the way I want to work. That includes organizing my data the way I want to organize it. That means, basically a file system that is exposed to the user. Creating email attachments is one point of pain I have, and I think a file system would definitely help.
I think overall the IPP is a great tablet, but right now, its basically an oversized iPad that has a couple of neat features. I can see myself getting it, but I don't see myself replacing my Surface Pro 3 or MacBook Pro.
With the MBP and SP3, I have the ability to work the way I want to work, with the iPad, I'm forced into how it thinks I should work.
I think overall the IPP is a great tablet, but right now, its basically an oversized iPad that has a couple of neat features. I can see myself getting it, but I don't see myself replacing my Surface Pro 3 or MacBook Pro.
With the MBP and SP3, I have the ability to work the way I want to work, with the iPad, I'm forced into how it thinks I should work.
Just so you realize, a Windows PC or Mac does the exact same thing. It makes a duplicate copy as a temporary file, and then upon closing the app, it deletes the temporary file. A common issue in Windows is that because you get a lot of app crashes, those temporary files never get deleted and they build up over time and need to be cleaned out on occasion. They are just hidden from view so most users never realize they are there.
Apple is just fine with cannibalizing themselves. If people decide iPad pro can replace their laptop, they still have an expensive Apple device where they can buy even more apps (that apple gets a cut of)
I agree with this. Plus, I think Apple sees iOS as the future of everything. They control the entire operating system and make money on every app that is sold, something they do not have with OSX. They would love if they were able to move everyone to iOS over time.
That makes no business sense, i.e., by cannibalizing sales, they're not gaining any money, but they're spending more money. That is they made a laptop that you were going to buy but will not, and they spent money making a tablet that you will buy. Basically they're making two products but are only getting one stream of revenue (in the most simplistic terms - its more complicated then that I know).
Steve Job returning to apple took a chainsaw to Apple's product line because it was overly complex and overlapping. I can't see how apple would be happy if one product cannibalized another.
In the short term, you are right, but in the longer term, as a poster said above, Apple wants to move everyone to iOS, but keeps the MacBooks around while the transition is happening. Like iPhones and iPod touch has almost totally replaced iPods, but Apple still made the iPod classic for a long time before finally phasing it out.
Let me just explain it in the most simple way I can: Because people buying iPads instead of a MacBook is apple still being in the market. Still being used. Their services will only proliferate and it's been shown more people are buying apps and services on iOS devices than MacBooks. More people buy iOS devices than all Apple laptops and desktops combined. iOS is apple's bread and butter. Trust me...although they still want people to buy both iPads and MacBooks, if people choose iPads as their main computing device, they won't care. And they won't intentionally cripple iOS in the future just because they want to make a little more of a profit on macs instead of iPads.
Tim Cook views the iPad as the future of computing. It's pretty obvious what path we are being led down here when they didn't release an OS X tablet. iOS was the foundation for an OS that would last a long long time. They are building on it every year and updating it with features people want. Everybody has had some kind of checklist of features they want in an iOS device that would make it good enough to replace their laptop or...whatever. Every year, that checklist gets smaller and smaller. It's not hard to see at some point that checklist will be nonexistent as iOS will have matured to a point where it satisfies the needs of most users. Even more demanding ones. Don't be myopic. Think big picture
The issue is business exist to make a profit. When they're making two products and one of the products is stealing the sales of the other, that's not a very good business decision. Its bad enough that sales of iPads are shrinking, it adds insult to injury that some of those sales are stealing MacBook sales. So apple is only make less profit but is still making more product, i.e., increased overhead.
I understand the idea of being in the market, but I don't believe apple is content to cannibalize its sales. I mean if you find a quote where Cook (or another apple exec) is ok with iPad sales cannibalizing MBA/MBP/MB sales (or vice versa), I'll gladly admit I was wrong.
I just feel, you're putting your opinion on why apple could accommodate this, which does fly in the face of normal business practices.
Apple are taking no one path, they provide options for people to consume technologies as they choose. iOS is certainly not the future of a$$le as things stand now.
Laptops make more sense for some workflows, where as iPads make more sense for other workflows - hence why most people have many devices, not one. (IMO)
Laptops make more sense for some workflows, where as iPads make more sense for other workflows - hence why most people have many devices, not one. (IMO)
I don't see that happening, sales figures of its Macs are growing, and are as strong as ever. The same cannot be said for the iPad sales.
People continue to want and buy Macs, and so far that trend has not supported the notion that iPads will replace Macs.
Agree, we are currently reviewing what to do with with our iPads and have concluded IF and thats a massive if, we buy new tables it will either be Samsung ones or more than likely 11" MacBooks will replace the iPads for the kids.
Google "tim cook cannibalization." There are a lot of hits, but this was the first one.
http://allthingsd.com/20130123/apple-ceo-dont-fear-cannibalization-embrace-it/
Until iPads can do everything a computer can do, it will never replace the computer. The number one thing FOR ME is being able to run full desktop apps. Surfing, email and marking up pdfs is one thing. Processing raw files in Lightroom, editing a movie in Final Cut, and recording tracks in Logic Pro are quite another.
When I go on vacation, I take both my MBP (for processing photos) and my iPad for convenience (sitting back surfing, emailing etc.). I look forward to the day when I need take only one device.
I stand by my wish that Apple made their own Surface Pro. I think they will eventually.
When I go on vacation, I take both my MBP (for processing photos) and my iPad for convenience (sitting back surfing, emailing etc.). I look forward to the day when I need take only one device.
I stand by my wish that Apple made their own Surface Pro. I think they will eventually.
As noted, I'm wrong. Apple clearly does not fear cannibalization. I still hold to my opinion that its a poor business decision.
They just HAD to have a giant pic of Hannibal lector on that article didn't they?
So what do you think Apple should do, stop making iPads altogether?
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Ha! Maybe that's why it was the top hit.
It's a poor business decision to focus resources on your most popular product? Huh? The one with the most potential, the most units sole, the most development support? And I emphasize: THE MOST POTENTIAL. What is amazing about Apple and has made them the company others are measured by is their ability to "see beyond". They are visionary. They don't cater to quarterly statements and what will see right now. They know where the market is headed, lay the foundation and build upon that and in some cases, create their own markets.
The iPad as it is now is nothing like the iPad 1 just 5-6 years ago. The iPad 10 years from now will be nothing like it is today. Neil Degrass Tyson had this great interview when talking about alien technology and as he pulls out his iPhone 1st gen says "just 10 years ago you would've been burned at the stake like a witch for pulling this out and saying this is real! This would blow people's minds!" And he's right. What was the slide Apple showed in the iPad pro keynote? That in just 5 years GPU performance increased some 300x? Where will we be 10 years from now? That's twice the time and innovation we've had from iPad inception until now. And it wasn't until the iPad pro that we even took the iPad seriously as a real laptop replacement! Until now it's only been a companion device for small tasks like watching Netflix or playing simple games. iPad pro has already changed the game in ways people can't see yet and won't understand for years. Never needing to charge your battery? AirPlay taken to a whole ' other level? Some type of virtual reality integration? iPad will grow into something. It's just a baby now and it's already impressive. These are the posts and opinions we will look back on and laugh that we had such short sightedness
Pointing out the issue, is the easy part - it alway has been. Fixing those types of things is not easy and to be honest, I don't have an answer for you. Its ludicrous to think apple should stop selling the iPad and I'm not even recommending that.
The iPad is not Apple's most popular product and its trend is showing flattening (or shrinking) sales.
The iPhone would be Apple's most popular product. But according to this chart, iPads are still outselling Macs, despite shrinking sales.
I think people don't know what to make of iPad's declining sales numbers. People typically aren't very business minded and don't understand nuance. They don't understand things like statistical analysis, projections and the reasons behind why things are the ways they are.
- Is the declining sales numbers of iPad attritubuted to people not wanting iPad as a product anymore?
- Is it market diversity and the entrance of Microsoft into the market with products like the surface?
- What about hybrid computers?
- Or is it the fact that the most popular and widely used computer people have turned out to be....the smartphone?
- What about the aspect of the iPads longer life cycle than usual, as people tend to not want to upgrade as much because they are satisfied with what they've got? Not because the tablet is a failed product, but because it has actually exceeded in being such a great product that people want to keep it longer and get more use out of it? Because it's not a disposable throw away product?
- Mac sales are strong (and I love that!) but is that at the detriment of iPad? Can we conclude people don't want iPads anymore and are instead going back to MacBooks because the iPad is such a failed product? Or is it because the world of technology as it is today has exploded and the fields of technology have grown so much so there will be growth in all tech related products? I'm studying computer science. There's a lot I can do with my iPad, but some I can't so I still have a Mac. For those students that need access to a terminal or certain development environments, they are pretty much forced to get a Mac. As well as for other tech related areas. But what happens in the future (and I'm not talking quarterly statements here) when iPad (and tablets in general) grow to be an environment where I can do everything I want without compromise? What happens when all the negatives we have about tablets are gone and we have adapted tablets to fit OUR needs? Just something to think about
And just to clarify, I meant "iOS" as apple's most popular product. Not just iPad.
Actually I don't think it's very functional as a laptop, as it doesn't work well on ones lap