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No TouchID? Surprised they'd introduce a new feature on their premium phone and not include it on the (currently) premium iPads, especially since the other 5s
by bsimpson 13y ago
No TouchID? Surprised they'd introduce a new feature on their premium phone and not include it on the (currently) premium iPads, especially since the other 5s hardware (motion coprocessor, 64-bit architecture) has been carried over.
I would have thought they'd want to build a basic foundation for the future, e.g. "all devices better than the 5s include 64 bit, motion, and TouchID". When you vary on a feature (like TouchID), you discourage people from building cutting-edge experiences that require it.
- atonse 13y agoMostly agree - although you can only use TouchID now to unlock your phone and buy stuff from Apple. So I think they probably want to give it a year out in the wild to see exactly how secure it is, so they can then unleash it with an API to developers. That's my hunch.
- MikeCapone 13y agoIt's also not as useful on a tablet, so there's less hurry. A phone is often in public spaces, and unlocked dozens of times a day. That's rare for a tablet.
- mikeevans 13y agoI agreed 100%. I'm assuming that it will come next year (or whenever) when/if they have multi-user support in iOS. Scan your finger, get logged in as your user.
- replax 13y agoI don't think that they'll add multiuser support because then the incentive for e.g. each family member getting their own idevice would be less. instead people might get a family ipad...
- freehunter 13y agoThe benefit from having multiple iPads is that multiple people can use theirs at once. Multi-user doesn't help that fact, you end up with a family iPad that's just shared without separate user accounts.
- 0x0 13y agoWell, TouchID has no API, so it's not like third parties can build cutting-edge experiences on top of that either way.
- bsimpson 13y agoYet. It's much easier to upgrade software than hardware.
- IBM 13y agoTouch ID sensors are supply constrained and putting it on more things than the 5s wouldn't help.
- onedev 13y agoProbably the most logical answer to the question. Sometimes in the midst of all the speculation we forget about the simplest explanations.
- tejaswiy 13y agoI think TouchID is way more useful on the phone which you unlock tens of times daily vs the iPad which maybe you unlock once or twice depending on your usage.