Demigod
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Apple launches new series of iPad Pro ads as anticipated hardware refresh looms
You could have said the same thing about the Smart Keyboard and the Pencil/stylus (Apple has already crossed that line with the Pro). Adding a cursor to the iPad Pro would be a major overhaul but it is absolutely necessary if the iPad Pro is to become a serious PC contender. The touch-based input is the single biggest obstacle to making more sophisticated apps since you can only do so much with touch (e.g., UI elements need to be large and simple - small, complex controls are a nightmare for touch input). Of course the Pencil can provide precision input but it is not suitable as a general input device (it's meant for drawing, not for general input). A cursor, along with a native file manager (and maybe an additional port or two) would go a long way to making the Pro a genuine PC competitor. Until then, it's just a big iPod.macxpress said:
No, absolutely not! You can't make a tablet a laptop and visa versa. It doesn't work. This is exactly what Apple doesn't need to do. Anyway you look at it, the iPad Pro is still a tablet and needs to be treated like one. As soon as you start treating it like a laptop (like giving it a mouse), you turn it into something it was never intended to be and it will end up be like all of the other hybrid devices...like the Surface Tablet, I mean Surface laptop, I mean well...you get what I mean.k2kw said:
They need mouse support. They added the smart connector and a keyboard to make it more laptop like, but not having mouse support make about as much sense as selling a laptop without a track pad now. Maybe then the iPadPro will be worth looking at but now the iPP is over priced. When they came out with the 9.7 inch iPP they raised starting price $100 (and if you wanted to use it as an artist its another $100 for the pencil.) No wonder sales have dropped by half the last two years. iPad Air 2 (a 3 year old machine) should be $249 (iPad Air 3 $350) and iPadPro $450 ($500 with pencil included) Then they will sell like hot cakes.entropys said:iPad has always been about how the tools we use for doing work change according to the work we need to do, and that in turn changes the work we do, to take advantage of the tools available.
While I know what you are trying to say, not quite. People adopt tools because they help them do the work they want better. They don't adopt tools that force themselves to do work a different way. Help is not the same as force.
The iPad is limited by imposed constraints in iOS. A few changes to iOS with new APIs could fix that and actually turn it into a productivity tool. The most important is a file manager to improve access to files. Those things workers use and share around. A file manager makes possible even very simple things like putting more than one file in an email. Pretty important for work don't you think? There are other simple things too, like windowing which with a bit of thought could work too.
Microsoft has based itself on its strengths and is working Surface backwards from a PC towards a productivity tablet. Of course that means as a tablet it isn't that good in comparison to an iPad. Apple is working from a very good tablet and working toward a replacement for the PC. At a snail's pace.
I reckon though that Apple could turn iPad into a great productivity tool more easily than Microsoft can shoehorn windows 10 and an Intel chip into a lightweight tablet. IOS will always have a better interface for tablet use. But there is no reason iOS can't become a desktop class OS, built from the ground up for touch input and widely used lightweight applications.
