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Apple will never intentionally prolong upgrade cycles for expensive laptops by offering you a cheaper device that can “do everything.” If that were the case, t

Apple will never intentionally prolong upgrade cycles for expensive laptops by offering you a cheaper device that can “do everything.” If that were the case, they’d be making much more money from laptops than from iPads, right? If they were making just as much money from iPads, though, it would make sense to make the iPad as good as possible. Cannibalizing Mac sales wouldn’t be a big deal. Per the Six Colors breakdown of Apple’s financial results (https://sixcolors.com/post/2023/08/charts-apple-q3-2023-results/ https://sixcolors.com/post/2023/08/charts-apple-q3-2023-resu...) Macs and iPads accounted for 8% and 7% of their revenue. The iPad was conceived as a media consumption device, sitting between a phone and a laptop. Steve Jobs said this at the beginning. They’ve gone back on plenty of things Steve Jobs said (in many cases, Jobs himself was the one who did it). I don’t think they have a religious objection to making the iPad useful, as you seem to be saying; I think they think they are making it useful, that the current design (including its limitations) is the best compromise.

gizajob 3y ago
I was thinking recently that there was something weirdly cryptic and prophetic at the end of that Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs - I haven't looked it up again, but there's some tale along the lines of Steve on his deathbed playing with an interface, like he's seen a vision of the future and having an epiphany. The book tells it as if like he's playing with an Apple TV and a remote control which doesn't make much sense as a deathbed experience...but now I realise he had an Apple Vision prototype and that's what he was looking at/through. I think they must be that many years ahead in their labs, like decadal R&D. RIP Steve.
tonyedgecombe 3y ago
I had the impression that they saw it replacing the computer for ordinary users. That a PC with Windows/macOS was overkill for the average man on the street. In the end phones have done that for a lot of people.

gizajob 3y ago

I was thinking recently that there was something weirdly cryptic and prophetic at the end of that Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs - I haven't looked it up again, but there's some tale along the lines of Steve on his deathbed playing with an interface, like he's seen a vision of the future and having an epiphany. The book tells it as if like he's playing with an Apple TV and a remote control which doesn't make much sense as a deathbed experience...but now I realise he had an Apple Vision prototype and that's what he was looking at/through. I think they must be that many years ahead in their labs, like decadal R&D. RIP Steve.

tonyedgecombe 3y ago

I had the impression that they saw it replacing the computer for ordinary users. That a PC with Windows/macOS was overkill for the average man on the street. In the end phones have done that for a lot of people.