I'm trying to let the iPad be its best self

I sometimes feel like I'm a minor villain in the iPad enthusiast world. It probably doesn't help that I'm pretty outspoken for wanting a touch screen tablet-style Mac or that I recently titled a post "Apple will kill iPadOS." But I honestly think that the world we would be in if Apple did these two things would be better specifically for iPad users.

Bring on the tablet Mac

Inevitably during an iPad review, especially in an iPad Pro review, you are going to get to the part where the reviewer says that while the hardware is amazing, they can't do everything they want to do with it because iPadOS is too limiting for their needs. As a former iPad-only person I understand the fire this lights in iPad fans. "What do you mean you can't do real work on an iPad? I'm doing it!"

I think it's pretty clear what reviews like this are indicating, which is that they adore the hardware; the hardware in an iPad Pro is outstanding. It feels really great. The OLED screen is outstanding and it has plenty of performance, being powered by Apple's latest generation of chips. All they want in the world is to be able to use this device for their needs but they can't.

This is where iPad fans will say, "just get a Mac then. You clearly don't want an iPad." And yes that is literally what I am arguing for when I'm asking Apple to build a tablet-style Mac. There are plenty of people out there who lust after the iPad hardware and the adaptability that the tablet form factor brings. They just have needs for different software and workflows than the iPad supports. They quite literally want an iPad that's running macOS. iPad fans may say this is something to be criticized but I would say it's a clear message of intent from customers as to what product they wished they could buy.

Now imagine a world where in addition to the iPad Pro Apple also sells a comparably priced and spec'd Mac tablet that people can buy instead. Those people who don't find the iPad to be sufficient for their needs but really love having a tablet device that they can bring around, well now they can have exactly what they want. When the new iPads come out they don't need to ask those to be more than they are, they can simply recognize them as a different operating system for different people with different needs.

I will say that I posted this poll to Mastodon recently to get a vibe in the room for what people thought the impact would be of Apple releasing an iPad that ran macOS. It's a small sample size, but I know a few iPad lovers follow me, and the results still showed that 45% of people thought that it would have the large impact on iPad Pro sales. Maybe this isn't the case but I do get the vibe that iPad fans like that Mac users don't get a touch device. At some level they believe that a touch-based Mac with comparable hardware would cannibalize iPad users.

Kill iPadOS, make it all iOS

I haven't written anything in quite a while that got as much of a reaction as my post about Apple unifying the naming back to iOS across the iPhone and iPad. I think the idea in that post, that the iPhone Fold would share the same split-screen and multitasking interface as iPads, is a really powerful idea that would just be good news for iPad users. iPad users are very familiar with the idea that some years they get a lot of updates and other years they get what feels like nothing. I think a lot of us remember Stage Manager coming out in 2022, people having lots of issues with it, and it not getting any love for several years after that.

iOS is clearly Apple's most important operating system. If something is wrong in iOS, Apple has a very real incentive to fix it as soon as possible. Making the folding iPhone, Apple's flagship product, and the iPad more directly share UI will make the iPad's experience the most important thing to Apple, and help ensure it has a bright future.

Number one iPad fan

I fully recognize that there are people who love the iPad for how it's different than the Mac. My intention is not to take away what these people love, it's to give more people the computer that they want and to make the operating system that iPads run more important to Apple so that the experience can be as incredible as possible. The iPad is a really cool piece of hardware, and Mac users want a version that runs their OS of choice, and I want iPad users to get the software updates they want as quickly as possible.