Given that we are pretty sure there will be a fair amount of software to talk about (iTunes U, Classroom, iBooks, iBooks Author), I'm not sure how much hardware there will be, though I'd hope for at least one new tool for teachers (something portable, given the "field trip" term, so either a "new" MBA/MB model or a new iPad model -- maybe a new Pencil!).
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
There's no need to "merge" the two OS's... Actually, they were separated from each other so Apple had an OS that worked well on the iPhone. And they did that by stripping functionality from the Mac OS and adding touch screen functions to "create" iOS.
Since then the large screen iPad was born and more recently iOS was expanded to deal once again with a file system and an external keyboard. Now all they have to do is add the cursor back in and they have an iPad that is fully functional as EITHER a tablet or a laptop as the user's needs demand.
They could also give the MB a touch screen. But that is unlikely because, as they pointed out a couple years ago, touch screen laptops suck.
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
MacOS on iPad will be a horrible user experience. Desktop apps are designed with small targets, cursor position awareness, keyboard+mouse combinations etc. That is the entire reason iOS UI was designed for touch input from the ground up (even as it shares the kernel with MacOS). This experiment has already been tried by MS tablets with epic failure. Apple will never do that.
You set up a strawman and then shoot it down... Good Job!
No, of course Apple has no intention of putting MacOS on the iPad. Instead, they have been quietly updating iOS to once again handle an external keyboard and provide it with a file system. Now, all it needs is the ability to once again manage a cursor. And we will have a full function iOS rather than the stripped down OS we have now...
I am keeping my fingers crossed for Apple on this one -- because, to date, they have done nothing but face plants in education. Yes, they have done two very good things: 1) Produce an affordable iPad that could be attractive to schools. 2) Produce and disseminate SWIFT to make coding education more available.
But meanwhile, Google has been eating their lunch in education with their ultra cheap Chromebooks and dedicated education apps (like Google Classroom) which teachers can use to teach traditional subjects like the infamous 3 R's...
And, in so doing, Google is indoctrinating kids at the grade school level into their ecosystem -- much like McDonald's did with their playgrounds and Happy Meals. And, today schools are issuing kids their first personal ID accounts -- to the Google ecosystem...
I hope that Apple uses this opportunity to enter into mainstream education (much like it started to do back in the 80's). To do that, they might have to buy or at least partner with a recognized education system such as Khan Academy...
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
MacOS on iPad will be a horrible user experience. Desktop apps are designed with small targets, cursor position awareness, keyboard+mouse combinations etc. That is the entire reason iOS UI was designed for touch input from the ground up (even as it shares the kernel with MacOS). This experiment has already been tried by MS tablets with epic failure. Apple will never do that.
The only thing Apple needs is a better keyboard cover, like the Microsoft's Surface Pro type cover with it's integrated track pad. Also .. Apple is working on a haptic screen based keyboard according to recently filled patents. One thing is certain ... the iPad is dying. It either grows up to become a MacPad or it will die. Apple needs to move now.
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
MacOS on iPad will be a horrible user experience. Desktop apps are designed with small targets, cursor position awareness, keyboard+mouse combinations etc. That is the entire reason iOS UI was designed for touch input from the ground up (even as it shares the kernel with MacOS). This experiment has already been tried by MS tablets with epic failure. Apple will never do that.
The only thing Apple needs is a better keyboard cover, like the Microsoft's Surface Pro type cover with it's integrated track pad. Also .. Apple is working on a haptic screen based keyboard according to recently filled patents. One thing is certain ... the iPad is dying. It either grows up to become a MacPad or it will die. Apple needs to move now.
I'm uncertain how you believe that 4.3 million devices a quarter is considered dying. On that metric, the Mac is dying too at 5 million a quarter -- when in fact it is very near the most Macs it has ever sold in a quarter.
Apple has 1/4 of the total tablet volume sold per year. It has been this way since the second quarter of 2013. I don't have ASP on hand, but I'd put money that it is leagues above any other company's offerings.
I agree with the person who said Chromebooks are doing very well in education at the moment. I wonder if Apple is going to release a Chromebook competitor in the form of a revamped Macbook Air.
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
MacOS on iPad will be a horrible user experience. Desktop apps are designed with small targets, cursor position awareness, keyboard+mouse combinations etc. That is the entire reason iOS UI was designed for touch input from the ground up (even as it shares the kernel with MacOS). This experiment has already been tried by MS tablets with epic failure. Apple will never do that.
You set up a strawman and then shoot it down... Good Job!
No, of course Apple has no intention of putting MacOS on the iPad. Instead, they have been quietly updating iOS to once again handle an external keyboard and provide it with a file system. Now, all it needs is the ability to once again manage a cursor. And we will have a full function iOS rather than the stripped down OS we have now...
@GeorgeBMac, Thanks for your comment, but why do you say I "... set up a strawman"? I was replying to @TEAMSWITCHER's comment about running MacOS on iPad. Here is a direct quote from his post:
I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution
That "marzipan" project to integrate iOS apps and the macOS desktop has me curious. Running iOS apps on a mac without a touch screen is a horrible experience. I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution. This would provide exciting new capabilities for the iPad - including popular mac apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. MacOS also has some exciting new benefits - High refresh rate displays with Apple pencil support and an extremely portable solution with LTE capabilities. Maybe this event will be the unveiling ... I know they claimed they would never make such a product but I think it would be foolish not too. The iPad needs to grow beyond the "Big Phone App" experience .. and macOS is the logical next step.
MacOS on iPad will be a horrible user experience. Desktop apps are designed with small targets, cursor position awareness, keyboard+mouse combinations etc. That is the entire reason iOS UI was designed for touch input from the ground up (even as it shares the kernel with MacOS). This experiment has already been tried by MS tablets with epic failure. Apple will never do that.
You set up a strawman and then shoot it down... Good Job!
No, of course Apple has no intention of putting MacOS on the iPad. Instead, they have been quietly updating iOS to once again handle an external keyboard and provide it with a file system. Now, all it needs is the ability to once again manage a cursor. And we will have a full function iOS rather than the stripped down OS we have now...
@GeorgeBMac, Thanks for your comment, but why do you say I "... set up a strawman"? I was replying to @TEAMSWITCHER's comment about running MacOS on iPad. Here is a direct quote from his post:
I can't help to think that having an iPad that can also run macOS (A MacPad if you will) is a much better solution
Comments
Actually, they were separated from each other so Apple had an OS that worked well on the iPhone. And they did that by stripping functionality from the Mac OS and adding touch screen functions to "create" iOS.
Since then the large screen iPad was born and more recently iOS was expanded to deal once again with a file system and an external keyboard. Now all they have to do is add the cursor back in and they have an iPad that is fully functional as EITHER a tablet or a laptop as the user's needs demand.
They could also give the MB a touch screen. But that is unlikely because, as they pointed out a couple years ago, touch screen laptops suck.
No, of course Apple has no intention of putting MacOS on the iPad.
Instead, they have been quietly updating iOS to once again handle an external keyboard and provide it with a file system. Now, all it needs is the ability to once again manage a cursor. And we will have a full function iOS rather than the stripped down OS we have now...
1) Produce an affordable iPad that could be attractive to schools.
2) Produce and disseminate SWIFT to make coding education more available.
But meanwhile, Google has been eating their lunch in education with their ultra cheap Chromebooks and dedicated education apps (like Google Classroom) which teachers can use to teach traditional subjects like the infamous 3 R's...
And, in so doing, Google is indoctrinating kids at the grade school level into their ecosystem -- much like McDonald's did with their playgrounds and Happy Meals. And, today schools are issuing kids their first personal ID accounts -- to the Google ecosystem...
I hope that Apple uses this opportunity to enter into mainstream education (much like it started to do back in the 80's). To do that, they might have to buy or at least partner with a recognized education system such as Khan Academy...
Apple has 1/4 of the total tablet volume sold per year. It has been this way since the second quarter of 2013. I don't have ASP on hand, but I'd put money that it is leagues above any other company's offerings.
Did I misunderstand something?
... My apologies...