Yeh, it still needs a few, relatively minor enhancements (like a cursor) to give it the functional abilities of a "real" computer... But, step by (very slow) step, it's getting there...
I can't say I really need a cursor, but what I would dearly love is some arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. I can't tell you how many times I simply want to go back a few characters and make an edit, but am forced to lift my hand, and navigate to the area I want to edit, then try to squeeze my fat finger into the extant space I need to insert the cursor, inevitably get it wrong, and end up retyping the whole thing anyway, only to then have to lift my finger and move the cursor back to the end of the line. Apple got a lot of things right, but they really should admit when they haven't. The Pencil will change a lot of that in general, but it's moving away from the philosophy that created the device in the first place.
You express that well... Those who panic at the thought of adding a cursor to the iPad should take heed.
I think Apple's vision for the iPad is clear: It will work as a superior tablet and also work as an excellent computer. But, as you point out, until it gets a cursor, it will not be an excellent computer. Be patient, it's coming...
seeing the chronology of ipad releases i now realize my ipad mini 2 is now on its 5th year — and it still works fine albeit a tad slow becuse of the latest os update. but i’m not complaining. using it mainly as a consumption device (using it now and use it for music, twitter, safari), but i’m still able to do some productivity work like emails, file management and coordination (slack, messaging, facetime). i love ipad and excited — and ready — to purchase the 2018 release. honestly though i think this can still hold out for another year...
Besides, Apple has never, ever let you add your own storage, going back to the first generation iPod, despite it being the refrain of a very loud, very small, subset of users. So, why would they start now?
Holding out for SCSI. Come on Apple! We're still waiting! I'd buy a shipping container filled with anything that features sweet, sweet SCSI!
And they had better include a free SCSI chain terminator too or it’s a no sale for me.
They'd terminate it internally, surely? Don't want a second SCSI port ruining their smooth design.
How am I supposed to daisy chain iDevices without a second SCSI port?!? Think, McFly!
Where would you even put the downstream port? On the top of the device? Much more likely, they'll have a software switch for the termination, and sell a multi-headed cable.
You could even include the termination switch as an option for the orientation lock/mute switch in settings.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
If you want a cursor on a tablet, along with a bloatware all-things-to-all-people OS, Microsoft will set you up. If you think that Apple is moving step-by-step towards making the iPad a (by your apparent definition) “real” computer, you’ve missed the point of the ad you linked. The kid asks “what’s a computer” specifically because the iPad serves her needs without it being a full-fledged notebook device. The girl goes about her day, using the iPad to do iPad things, and the flip out keyboard cover only enhances that. It doesn’t make it anything like a traditional “computer,” though. The point of the ad is that for some people, a powerful tablet is all they need, and a notebook computer would just slow them down. What’s a computer?
Funny... It doesn't look like she's working on a tablet in the last scene. It looks more like a "computer" to me. A real one. Apple didn't get to lead an industry by indulging in half way measures. They don't always have a fully developed product right out of the gate. But they get there. And, despite the screams of fear and anguish from the Mac bigots, they're getting there with the iPad too. Step by step.....
Your eyes and preconceptions deceive you. Apple didn’t get where they are by building devices that attempt to be all things to all people. That’s why they have an iPad (that uses an OS and UI distinct from notebooks and desktops) that sells well, and Microsoft has a hybrid tablet/notebook (with a bloatware OS that tries to do everything with multiple overlapping UIs) that does not sell well.
Apple had great success in doing what seems after the fact to be an obvious thing of combining a PDA and a cell phone, but they did it by breaking away from the contemporary concepts, rather than step-by-step trying to replicate them. The iPhone was successful because they ditched the stylus required for touch-screen PDAs like Palm, and converting the Blackberry’s physical keyboard into more screen space. They also ditched the MacOS (and PalmOS and Blackberry) cursor-and-menu UI, because that made no sense for a touchscreen device. Had they kept the stylus or the keyboard or the UI, the iPhone would have been no better than the competition and would have gone nowhere. Instead it replaced Palm and Blackberry and spawned a whole new industry of imitators.
Ten years later, and we have Microsoft with Surface notebook/tablets that already do the things that you’re suggesting Apple is moving ‘step-by-step’ toward, yet the Surface is hardly a success. Apple would be foolish to look at that and think, “Ooo. Let’s do that.” So once again, if you want a cursor on your tablet, go buy a Surface, because you’ll be waiting a long time for Apple to make the iPad you think you want.
The keyboard on the iPad in the commercial does not make it more like a “computer.” It just makes it easier to occasionally type on a tablet that has a finger-based touch-screen UI. Also note that the Pencil used for iPads is used for writing and drawing on the screen, but not for interacting with the UI. You can use it to tap on icons if you want, but it’s not required for that and ultimately doesn’t really get used that way. So the girl is asking “what’s a computer” despite the keyboard, not because of it. Her mother is actually the one who represents your outdated perspective, and the final words in the ad are from her daughter, correcting her misperceptions.
LOL.... Nice argument -- except that it has no basis in reality...
Rather than the dogmatic approach that you set for them, Steve set a standard and enunciated it clearly: Apple makes great products that change people's lives.
I have no idea what you think is dogmatic. I am simply looking at what Apple has always done, and at the core principles behind their success. Apple makes things that “just work” by limiting unnecessary variables in their products. They write operating systems that are meant to only run on machines that they design and build in concert. Others like Microsoft write software that has to run on machines designed and built after the fact by myriad other companies. Same goes for Google and the Android OS. Those strategies introduce innumerable unanticipated variables that weaken performance and reliability. That’s ultimately what you have with the Surface: a machine that deliberately can’t decide whether it’s a tablet or a PC, running on an OS that must handle the features of both, not only on that machine, but on innumerable others designed by third parties.
Apple doesn’t do that. They’re also very unlikely to do that, because it runs against everything the company has ever done successfully. That is reality.
While I do have some current iPads, my original iPad 1 refuses to quit. It still holds a good charge and is very useful as a document and book reader. Some apps are even still useable.
Same. I still use mine. Perfectly acceptable for iBooks, e-mail, and some light browsing. The only major complaint I ever had about the 1G iPad was that there was never an after market camera attachment for the 30-pin dock connector. I've yet to read any technical reason why this couldn't be added, so one must assume Apple prevented it, in order to push customers to upgrade to the iPad 2. The one side-benefit to not having a camera is that when I was on a restricted job space which confiscated mobile devices with cameras, I was allowed to keep my iPad -- so, a "feature"? ;-)
Yeh, it still needs a few, relatively minor enhancements (like a cursor) to give it the functional abilities of a "real" computer... But, step by (very slow) step, it's getting there...
I can't say I really need a cursor, but what I would dearly love is some arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. I can't tell you how many times I simply want to go back a few characters and make an edit, but am forced to lift my hand, and navigate to the area I want to edit, then try to squeeze my fat finger into the extant space I need to insert the cursor, inevitably get it wrong, and end up retyping the whole thing anyway, only to then have to lift my finger and move the cursor back to the end of the line. Apple got a lot of things right, but they really should admit when they haven't. The Pencil will change a lot of that in general, but it's moving away from the philosophy that created the device in the first place.
That description brings to mind old Ronco commercials where the picture goes black and white, sinister music plays, and someone has an amazingly difficult time doing a thing that the miracle (but destined for a shelf in the garage) Ronco device will solve.
If you’re typing on an iPad’s virtual keyboard and want to make an insert edit, ‘lifting you hand and navigating to the area you want to edit’ involves very little actual lifting of your massive hand. We’re talking inches, here. (I think I hear the sinister music starting...) As for navigating your “fat finger” to the precise spot, when you touch the text and hold your finger there for a second, a virtual magnifier pops up, making precision really, really easy.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
There already is a cursor on the iPad, any time you're entering text. You can move it around with your finger, and also by force touching on the keyboard (that might be iPhone only, not sure, I don't have an iPad anymore), and also by using directional keys on a keyboard if you have a keyboard attached that has directional keys. It's already there.
It doesn't have a mouse pointer, for sure, but it's still tracking pointing in a not wholly dissimilar way, whether you're entering by finger multi-touch or by Apple Pencil, so it's hardly a great stretch to imagine Apple adding the ability to connect a more traditional pointing device for certain tasks.
I don't understand the confidence you have in your assertion. They will certainly never add SCSI.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
If you want a cursor on a tablet, along with a bloatware all-things-to-all-people OS, Microsoft will set you up. If you think that Apple is moving step-by-step towards making the iPad a (by your apparent definition) “real” computer, you’ve missed the point of the ad you linked. The kid asks “what’s a computer” specifically because the iPad serves her needs without it being a full-fledged notebook device. The girl goes about her day, using the iPad to do iPad things, and the flip out keyboard cover only enhances that. It doesn’t make it anything like a traditional “computer,” though. The point of the ad is that for some people, a powerful tablet is all they need, and a notebook computer would just slow them down. What’s a computer?
Funny... It doesn't look like she's working on a tablet in the last scene. It looks more like a "computer" to me. A real one. Apple didn't get to lead an industry by indulging in half way measures. They don't always have a fully developed product right out of the gate. But they get there. And, despite the screams of fear and anguish from the Mac bigots, they're getting there with the iPad too. Step by step.....
Your eyes and preconceptions deceive you. Apple didn’t get where they are by building devices that attempt to be all things to all people. That’s why they have an iPad (that uses an OS and UI distinct from notebooks and desktops) that sells well, and Microsoft has a hybrid tablet/notebook (with a bloatware OS that tries to do everything with multiple overlapping UIs) that does not sell well.
Apple had great success in doing what seems after the fact to be an obvious thing of combining a PDA and a cell phone, but they did it by breaking away from the contemporary concepts, rather than step-by-step trying to replicate them. The iPhone was successful because they ditched the stylus required for touch-screen PDAs like Palm, and converting the Blackberry’s physical keyboard into more screen space. They also ditched the MacOS (and PalmOS and Blackberry) cursor-and-menu UI, because that made no sense for a touchscreen device. Had they kept the stylus or the keyboard or the UI, the iPhone would have been no better than the competition and would have gone nowhere. Instead it replaced Palm and Blackberry and spawned a whole new industry of imitators.
Ten years later, and we have Microsoft with Surface notebook/tablets that already do the things that you’re suggesting Apple is moving ‘step-by-step’ toward, yet the Surface is hardly a success. Apple would be foolish to look at that and think, “Ooo. Let’s do that.” So once again, if you want a cursor on your tablet, go buy a Surface, because you’ll be waiting a long time for Apple to make the iPad you think you want.
The keyboard on the iPad in the commercial does not make it more like a “computer.” It just makes it easier to occasionally type on a tablet that has a finger-based touch-screen UI. Also note that the Pencil used for iPads is used for writing and drawing on the screen, but not for interacting with the UI. You can use it to tap on icons if you want, but it’s not required for that and ultimately doesn’t really get used that way. So the girl is asking “what’s a computer” despite the keyboard, not because of it. Her mother is actually the one who represents your outdated perspective, and the final words in the ad are from her daughter, correcting her misperceptions.
LOL.... Nice argument -- except that it has no basis in reality...
Rather than the dogmatic approach that you set for them, Steve set a standard and enunciated it clearly: Apple makes great products that change people's lives.
I have no idea what you think is dogmatic. I am simply looking at what Apple has always done, and at the core principles behind their success. Apple makes things that “just work” by limiting unnecessary variables in their products. They write operating systems that are meant to only run on machines that they design and build in concert. Others like Microsoft write software that has to run on machines designed and built after the fact by myriad other companies. Same goes for Google and the Android OS. Those strategies introduce innumerable unanticipated variables that weaken performance and reliability. That’s ultimately what you have with the Surface: a machine that deliberately can’t decide whether it’s a tablet or a PC, running on an OS that must handle the features of both, not only on that machine, but on innumerable others designed by third parties.
Apple doesn’t do that. They’re also very unlikely to do that, because it runs against everything the company has ever done successfully. That is reality.
Your dogma comes from a blind, tunnel vision belief that doesn't tie into reality. So, I'll say it again for you: "Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
The stripped down simplicity you site is a means to the end. But not the goal. Apple isn't tied to making single use devices. It never has and, hopefully, never will. Again: 'Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
While I do have some current iPads, my original iPad 1 refuses to quit. It still holds a good charge and is very useful as a document and book reader. Some apps are even still useable.
Same. I still use mine. Perfectly acceptable for iBooks, e-mail, and some light browsing. The only major complaint I ever had about the 1G iPad was that there was never an after market camera attachment for the 30-pin dock connector. I've yet to read any technical reason why this couldn't be added, so one must assume Apple prevented it, in order to push customers to upgrade to the iPad 2. The one side-benefit to not having a camera is that when I was on a restricted job space which confiscated mobile devices with cameras, I was allowed to keep my iPad -- so, a "feature"? ;-)
Yeh, it still needs a few, relatively minor enhancements (like a cursor) to give it the functional abilities of a "real" computer... But, step by (very slow) step, it's getting there...
I can't say I really need a cursor, but what I would dearly love is some arrow keys on the virtual keyboard. I can't tell you how many times I simply want to go back a few characters and make an edit, but am forced to lift my hand, and navigate to the area I want to edit, then try to squeeze my fat finger into the extant space I need to insert the cursor, inevitably get it wrong, and end up retyping the whole thing anyway, only to then have to lift my finger and move the cursor back to the end of the line. Apple got a lot of things right, but they really should admit when they haven't. The Pencil will change a lot of that in general, but it's moving away from the philosophy that created the device in the first place.
That description brings to mind old Ronco commercials where the picture goes black and white, sinister music plays, and someone has an amazingly difficult time doing a thing that the miracle (but destined for a shelf in the garage) Ronco device will solve.
If you’re typing on an iPad’s virtual keyboard and want to make an insert edit, ‘lifting you hand and navigating to the area you want to edit’ involves very little actual lifting of your massive hand. We’re talking inches, here. (I think I hear the sinister music starting...) As for navigating your “fat finger” to the precise spot, when you touch the text and hold your finger there for a second, a virtual magnifier pops up, making precision really, really easy.
Ahh, well, no.... Yes, it CAN be done. But, compared to a MacBook, what you describe is slow, cumbersome and, frankly, a pain in the butt. That's why Apple said that they would not put a touchscreen on the MacBook.
But, that said: I do find it easier than expected to use the touchscreen on the Gen6 iPad with the Logitech keyboard I bought for my grandson. That's mostly because everything on it is so small, tight and compact that there isn't a lot of reaching involved. But that's touching icons and such -- big, bulky things designed for a touch interface.
When you get to the things like positioning a non-existent cursor in between letters of a word (or a cell of a spreadsheet) that the poster you're responding to sited, it is still a pain even on the latest iPad. A touch screen interface simply wasn't designed for those things and is not well suited.
The Gen6 iPad is a great device. But, it's not there yet. I don't think Steve would have let it out the door into the wild. To be all that it can be it needs two things: 1) A thinner, more streamlined keyboard like the one vailable for the iPad Pro. The Logitech keyboard is excellent -- but it's too thick and bulky. 2) A cursor for doing fine work.
I don't think it's IF Apple will release these things, but WHEN.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
There already is a cursor on the iPad, any time you're entering text. You can move it around with your finger, and also by force touching on the keyboard (that might be iPhone only, not sure, I don't have an iPad anymore), and also by using directional keys on a keyboard if you have a keyboard attached that has directional keys. It's already there.
It doesn't have a mouse pointer, for sure, but it's still tracking pointing in a not wholly dissimilar way, whether you're entering by finger multi-touch or by Apple Pencil, so it's hardly a great stretch to imagine Apple adding the ability to connect a more traditional pointing device for certain tasks.
I don't understand the confidence you have in your assertion. They will certainly never add SCSI.
Saying that replacing a cursor with your finger is like saying you can take a 30 foot box truck to the grocery store to buy milk. It CAN be done. But, most would choose a more appropriate device.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
If you want a cursor on a tablet, along with a bloatware all-things-to-all-people OS, Microsoft will set you up. If you think that Apple is moving step-by-step towards making the iPad a (by your apparent definition) “real” computer, you’ve missed the point of the ad you linked. The kid asks “what’s a computer” specifically because the iPad serves her needs without it being a full-fledged notebook device. The girl goes about her day, using the iPad to do iPad things, and the flip out keyboard cover only enhances that. It doesn’t make it anything like a traditional “computer,” though. The point of the ad is that for some people, a powerful tablet is all they need, and a notebook computer would just slow them down. What’s a computer?
Funny... It doesn't look like she's working on a tablet in the last scene. It looks more like a "computer" to me. A real one. Apple didn't get to lead an industry by indulging in half way measures. They don't always have a fully developed product right out of the gate. But they get there. And, despite the screams of fear and anguish from the Mac bigots, they're getting there with the iPad too. Step by step.....
Your eyes and preconceptions deceive you. Apple didn’t get where they are by building devices that attempt to be all things to all people. That’s why they have an iPad (that uses an OS and UI distinct from notebooks and desktops) that sells well, and Microsoft has a hybrid tablet/notebook (with a bloatware OS that tries to do everything with multiple overlapping UIs) that does not sell well.
Apple had great success in doing what seems after the fact to be an obvious thing of combining a PDA and a cell phone, but they did it by breaking away from the contemporary concepts, rather than step-by-step trying to replicate them. The iPhone was successful because they ditched the stylus required for touch-screen PDAs like Palm, and converting the Blackberry’s physical keyboard into more screen space. They also ditched the MacOS (and PalmOS and Blackberry) cursor-and-menu UI, because that made no sense for a touchscreen device. Had they kept the stylus or the keyboard or the UI, the iPhone would have been no better than the competition and would have gone nowhere. Instead it replaced Palm and Blackberry and spawned a whole new industry of imitators.
Ten years later, and we have Microsoft with Surface notebook/tablets that already do the things that you’re suggesting Apple is moving ‘step-by-step’ toward, yet the Surface is hardly a success. Apple would be foolish to look at that and think, “Ooo. Let’s do that.” So once again, if you want a cursor on your tablet, go buy a Surface, because you’ll be waiting a long time for Apple to make the iPad you think you want.
The keyboard on the iPad in the commercial does not make it more like a “computer.” It just makes it easier to occasionally type on a tablet that has a finger-based touch-screen UI. Also note that the Pencil used for iPads is used for writing and drawing on the screen, but not for interacting with the UI. You can use it to tap on icons if you want, but it’s not required for that and ultimately doesn’t really get used that way. So the girl is asking “what’s a computer” despite the keyboard, not because of it. Her mother is actually the one who represents your outdated perspective, and the final words in the ad are from her daughter, correcting her misperceptions.
LOL.... Nice argument -- except that it has no basis in reality...
Rather than the dogmatic approach that you set for them, Steve set a standard and enunciated it clearly: Apple makes great products that change people's lives.
I have no idea what you think is dogmatic. I am simply looking at what Apple has always done, and at the core principles behind their success. Apple makes things that “just work” by limiting unnecessary variables in their products. They write operating systems that are meant to only run on machines that they design and build in concert. Others like Microsoft write software that has to run on machines designed and built after the fact by myriad other companies. Same goes for Google and the Android OS. Those strategies introduce innumerable unanticipated variables that weaken performance and reliability. That’s ultimately what you have with the Surface: a machine that deliberately can’t decide whether it’s a tablet or a PC, running on an OS that must handle the features of both, not only on that machine, but on innumerable others designed by third parties.
Apple doesn’t do that. They’re also very unlikely to do that, because it runs against everything the company has ever done successfully. That is reality.
Your dogma comes from a blind, tunnel vision belief that doesn't tie into reality. So, I'll say it again for you: "Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
The stripped down simplicity you site is a means to the end. But not the goal. Apple isn't tied to making single use devices. It never has and, hopefully, never will. Again: 'Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
While you say I’m being dogmatic, you keep repeating a quote that is so broad as to be meaningless. You could use it to claim they’ll one day incorporate a pooper scooper into the iPad, so long as you think that it would be life changing. My “dogma” is simply an analysis of how Apple has approached things in the past, and using that to consider what directions they might choose in the future. The iPad is anything but a “single-use device,” but it is very intentionally not a notebook hybrid.
Of course, they can do whatever they want, but they have in fact been amazingly consistent in their approach over the years. I personally wouldn’t call them dogmatic for that, however, because that consistency of approach has been based careful thought, design and engineering that thus far has proven highly successful.
But you know maybe you’re right. Maybe imitating their less successful competitors will be their new approach to ‘changing people’s lives.’
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
If you want a cursor on a tablet, along with a bloatware all-things-to-all-people OS, Microsoft will set you up. If you think that Apple is moving step-by-step towards making the iPad a (by your apparent definition) “real” computer, you’ve missed the point of the ad you linked. The kid asks “what’s a computer” specifically because the iPad serves her needs without it being a full-fledged notebook device. The girl goes about her day, using the iPad to do iPad things, and the flip out keyboard cover only enhances that. It doesn’t make it anything like a traditional “computer,” though. The point of the ad is that for some people, a powerful tablet is all they need, and a notebook computer would just slow them down. What’s a computer?
Funny... It doesn't look like she's working on a tablet in the last scene. It looks more like a "computer" to me. A real one. Apple didn't get to lead an industry by indulging in half way measures. They don't always have a fully developed product right out of the gate. But they get there. And, despite the screams of fear and anguish from the Mac bigots, they're getting there with the iPad too. Step by step.....
Your eyes and preconceptions deceive you. Apple didn’t get where they are by building devices that attempt to be all things to all people. That’s why they have an iPad (that uses an OS and UI distinct from notebooks and desktops) that sells well, and Microsoft has a hybrid tablet/notebook (with a bloatware OS that tries to do everything with multiple overlapping UIs) that does not sell well.
Apple had great success in doing what seems after the fact to be an obvious thing of combining a PDA and a cell phone, but they did it by breaking away from the contemporary concepts, rather than step-by-step trying to replicate them. The iPhone was successful because they ditched the stylus required for touch-screen PDAs like Palm, and converting the Blackberry’s physical keyboard into more screen space. They also ditched the MacOS (and PalmOS and Blackberry) cursor-and-menu UI, because that made no sense for a touchscreen device. Had they kept the stylus or the keyboard or the UI, the iPhone would have been no better than the competition and would have gone nowhere. Instead it replaced Palm and Blackberry and spawned a whole new industry of imitators.
Ten years later, and we have Microsoft with Surface notebook/tablets that already do the things that you’re suggesting Apple is moving ‘step-by-step’ toward, yet the Surface is hardly a success. Apple would be foolish to look at that and think, “Ooo. Let’s do that.” So once again, if you want a cursor on your tablet, go buy a Surface, because you’ll be waiting a long time for Apple to make the iPad you think you want.
The keyboard on the iPad in the commercial does not make it more like a “computer.” It just makes it easier to occasionally type on a tablet that has a finger-based touch-screen UI. Also note that the Pencil used for iPads is used for writing and drawing on the screen, but not for interacting with the UI. You can use it to tap on icons if you want, but it’s not required for that and ultimately doesn’t really get used that way. So the girl is asking “what’s a computer” despite the keyboard, not because of it. Her mother is actually the one who represents your outdated perspective, and the final words in the ad are from her daughter, correcting her misperceptions.
LOL.... Nice argument -- except that it has no basis in reality...
Rather than the dogmatic approach that you set for them, Steve set a standard and enunciated it clearly: Apple makes great products that change people's lives.
I have no idea what you think is dogmatic. I am simply looking at what Apple has always done, and at the core principles behind their success. Apple makes things that “just work” by limiting unnecessary variables in their products. They write operating systems that are meant to only run on machines that they design and build in concert. Others like Microsoft write software that has to run on machines designed and built after the fact by myriad other companies. Same goes for Google and the Android OS. Those strategies introduce innumerable unanticipated variables that weaken performance and reliability. That’s ultimately what you have with the Surface: a machine that deliberately can’t decide whether it’s a tablet or a PC, running on an OS that must handle the features of both, not only on that machine, but on innumerable others designed by third parties.
Apple doesn’t do that. They’re also very unlikely to do that, because it runs against everything the company has ever done successfully. That is reality.
Your dogma comes from a blind, tunnel vision belief that doesn't tie into reality. So, I'll say it again for you: "Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
The stripped down simplicity you site is a means to the end. But not the goal. Apple isn't tied to making single use devices. It never has and, hopefully, never will. Again: 'Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
While you say I’m being dogmatic, you keep repeating a quote that is so broad as to be meaningless. You could use it to claim they’ll one day incorporate a pooper scooper into the iPad, so long as you think that it would be life changing. My “dogma” is simply an analysis of how Apple has approached things in the past, and using that to consider what directions they might choose in the future. The iPad is anything but a “single-use device,” but it is very intentionally not a notebook hybrid.
Of course, they can do whatever they want, but they have in fact been amazingly consistent in their approach over the years. I personally wouldn’t call them dogmatic for that, however, because that consistency of approach has been based careful thought, design and engineering that thus far has proven highly successful.
But you know maybe you’re right. Maybe imitating their less successful competitors will be their new approach to ‘changing people’s lives.’
You are (finally) correct! They have been "amazingly consistent in their approach over the years" ... They make great products that change people's lives.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
There already is a cursor on the iPad, any time you're entering text. You can move it around with your finger, and also by force touching on the keyboard (that might be iPhone only, not sure, I don't have an iPad anymore), and also by using directional keys on a keyboard if you have a keyboard attached that has directional keys. It's already there.
It doesn't have a mouse pointer, for sure, but it's still tracking pointing in a not wholly dissimilar way, whether you're entering by finger multi-touch or by Apple Pencil, so it's hardly a great stretch to imagine Apple adding the ability to connect a more traditional pointing device for certain tasks.
I don't understand the confidence you have in your assertion. They will certainly never add SCSI.
Saying that replacing a cursor with your finger is like saying you can take a 30 foot box truck to the grocery store to buy milk. It CAN be done. But, most would choose a more appropriate device.
Not sure what you're responding to there, but fine. Get a keyboard then. That's the best device for text entry, and you can get them for iPads. Apple sell one.
They’ll add that SCSI port mentioned upstream before there is ever a cursor on an iPad.
If you want a cursor on a tablet, along with a bloatware all-things-to-all-people OS, Microsoft will set you up. If you think that Apple is moving step-by-step towards making the iPad a (by your apparent definition) “real” computer, you’ve missed the point of the ad you linked. The kid asks “what’s a computer” specifically because the iPad serves her needs without it being a full-fledged notebook device. The girl goes about her day, using the iPad to do iPad things, and the flip out keyboard cover only enhances that. It doesn’t make it anything like a traditional “computer,” though. The point of the ad is that for some people, a powerful tablet is all they need, and a notebook computer would just slow them down. What’s a computer?
Funny... It doesn't look like she's working on a tablet in the last scene. It looks more like a "computer" to me. A real one. Apple didn't get to lead an industry by indulging in half way measures. They don't always have a fully developed product right out of the gate. But they get there. And, despite the screams of fear and anguish from the Mac bigots, they're getting there with the iPad too. Step by step.....
Your eyes and preconceptions deceive you. Apple didn’t get where they are by building devices that attempt to be all things to all people. That’s why they have an iPad (that uses an OS and UI distinct from notebooks and desktops) that sells well, and Microsoft has a hybrid tablet/notebook (with a bloatware OS that tries to do everything with multiple overlapping UIs) that does not sell well.
Apple had great success in doing what seems after the fact to be an obvious thing of combining a PDA and a cell phone, but they did it by breaking away from the contemporary concepts, rather than step-by-step trying to replicate them. The iPhone was successful because they ditched the stylus required for touch-screen PDAs like Palm, and converting the Blackberry’s physical keyboard into more screen space. They also ditched the MacOS (and PalmOS and Blackberry) cursor-and-menu UI, because that made no sense for a touchscreen device. Had they kept the stylus or the keyboard or the UI, the iPhone would have been no better than the competition and would have gone nowhere. Instead it replaced Palm and Blackberry and spawned a whole new industry of imitators.
Ten years later, and we have Microsoft with Surface notebook/tablets that already do the things that you’re suggesting Apple is moving ‘step-by-step’ toward, yet the Surface is hardly a success. Apple would be foolish to look at that and think, “Ooo. Let’s do that.” So once again, if you want a cursor on your tablet, go buy a Surface, because you’ll be waiting a long time for Apple to make the iPad you think you want.
The keyboard on the iPad in the commercial does not make it more like a “computer.” It just makes it easier to occasionally type on a tablet that has a finger-based touch-screen UI. Also note that the Pencil used for iPads is used for writing and drawing on the screen, but not for interacting with the UI. You can use it to tap on icons if you want, but it’s not required for that and ultimately doesn’t really get used that way. So the girl is asking “what’s a computer” despite the keyboard, not because of it. Her mother is actually the one who represents your outdated perspective, and the final words in the ad are from her daughter, correcting her misperceptions.
LOL.... Nice argument -- except that it has no basis in reality...
Rather than the dogmatic approach that you set for them, Steve set a standard and enunciated it clearly: Apple makes great products that change people's lives.
From this WIRED interview with Craig Federighi: While Apple is going to make it possible for developers to port iOS apps over to MacOS, those apps will use the distinct and separate Mac user interface. “The point of this is not to create a single unified OS, Federighi said.” They’re not merging the systems or user interfaces, they’re just making it possible to write one program for multiple platforms and then adapt the UI to the OS and device.
More from the article: “When addressing my [the WIRED author’s] question about whether iOS apps moving to macOS is a natural precursor to touchscreen Macs, Federighi told me he's ‘not into touchscreens’ on PCs and doesn't anticipate he ever will be. ‘We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface, and that lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do,’ he said.
Federighi added that he doesn't think the touchscreen laptops out there today—which he referred to as ‘experiments’—have been compelling. ‘I don't think we've looked at any of the other guys to date and said, how fast can we get there?'"
Comments
I think Apple's vision for the iPad is clear: It will work as a superior tablet and also work as an excellent computer. But, as you point out, until it gets a cursor, it will not be an excellent computer. Be patient, it's coming...
Where would you even put the downstream port? On the top of the device? Much more likely, they'll have a software switch for the termination, and sell a multi-headed cable.
You could even include the termination switch as an option for the orientation lock/mute switch in settings.
Apple doesn’t do that. They’re also very unlikely to do that, because it runs against everything the company has ever done successfully. That is reality.
If you’re typing on an iPad’s virtual keyboard and want to make an insert edit, ‘lifting you hand and navigating to the area you want to edit’ involves very little actual lifting of your massive hand. We’re talking inches, here. (I think I hear the sinister music starting...) As for navigating your “fat finger” to the precise spot, when you touch the text and hold your finger there for a second, a virtual magnifier pops up, making precision really, really easy.
It doesn't have a mouse pointer, for sure, but it's still tracking pointing in a not wholly dissimilar way, whether you're entering by finger multi-touch or by Apple Pencil, so it's hardly a great stretch to imagine Apple adding the ability to connect a more traditional pointing device for certain tasks.
I don't understand the confidence you have in your assertion. They will certainly never add SCSI.
"Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
The stripped down simplicity you site is a means to the end. But not the goal. Apple isn't tied to making single use devices. It never has and, hopefully, never will. Again:
'Apple makes great products that change people's lives."
But, that said: I do find it easier than expected to use the touchscreen on the Gen6 iPad with the Logitech keyboard I bought for my grandson. That's mostly because everything on it is so small, tight and compact that there isn't a lot of reaching involved. But that's touching icons and such -- big, bulky things designed for a touch interface.
When you get to the things like positioning a non-existent cursor in between letters of a word (or a cell of a spreadsheet) that the poster you're responding to sited, it is still a pain even on the latest iPad. A touch screen interface simply wasn't designed for those things and is not well suited.
The Gen6 iPad is a great device. But, it's not there yet. I don't think Steve would have let it out the door into the wild. To be all that it can be it needs two things:
1) A thinner, more streamlined keyboard like the one vailable for the iPad Pro. The Logitech keyboard is excellent -- but it's too thick and bulky.
2) A cursor for doing fine work.
I don't think it's IF Apple will release these things, but WHEN.
Of course, they can do whatever they want, but they have in fact been amazingly consistent in their approach over the years. I personally wouldn’t call them dogmatic for that, however, because that consistency of approach has been based careful thought, design and engineering that thus far has proven highly successful.
But you know maybe you’re right. Maybe imitating their less successful competitors will be their new approach to ‘changing people’s lives.’
... They make great products that change people's lives.
From this WIRED interview with Craig Federighi: While Apple is going to make it possible for developers to port iOS apps over to MacOS, those apps will use the distinct and separate Mac user interface. “The point of this is not to create a single unified OS, Federighi said.” They’re not merging the systems or user interfaces, they’re just making it possible to write one program for multiple platforms and then adapt the UI to the OS and device.
More from the article: “When addressing my [the WIRED author’s] question about whether iOS apps moving to macOS is a natural precursor to touchscreen Macs, Federighi told me he's ‘not into touchscreens’ on PCs and doesn't anticipate he ever will be. ‘We really feel that the ergonomics of using a Mac are that your hands are rested on a surface, and that lifting your arm up to poke a screen is a pretty fatiguing thing to do,’ he said.
Federighi added that he doesn't think the touchscreen laptops out there today—which he referred to as ‘experiments’—have been compelling. ‘I don't think we've looked at any of the other guys to date and said, how fast can we get there?'"
So you know, dogma and whatever.