Apple's Magic Trackpad confirms what many of us already suspected: iOS, or something very like it, is coming to the Mac.
It's not just the Mac, either. I'm willing to bet that it's coming to the Apple TV, too.
Apps would make Steve Jobs' hobby much more appealing, and it would mean that all of Apple's consumer products - iPod, iPhone, iMac, iPad and Apple TV - would share the same interface, the same apps and the same data.
That data will be stored centrally, either via the cloud or on a shared network storage device such as a Time Capsule. Remember Apple's enormous, billion-dollar data centre? That's for the cloud bit.
Don't believe me? Ask the developers. When Ars Technica put together a panel of Apple devs, they were unanimous: Mac OS X will eventually be subsumed by iOS. "Developers are seeing iOS influencing Mac OS X instead of the other way around", Chris Foresman reports.
Cabel Sasser from Panic's prediction rings true: "I could see a gradual, slow merger between iOS and Mac OS X styles and approaches," he says. "It doesn't make sense for them to be developing two of everything, one good, one not as good - two calendars, two address books. It's got to merge somehow."
This isn't going to happen overnight, but it's going to happen. The reason it's going to happen is that for very many things, iOS is better than OS X, let alone Windows or desktop Linux.
Unlike traditional operating systems, iOS is immediate. Every iPhone or iPad owner with young children has watched their kids pick up the device, launch a few apps, delete all of Daddy's data and run up enormous credit card bills: there's no learning curve whatsoever, no time spent learning the operating system before you can actually do something. It's an operating system that gets out of the way.
You might call it "computing for the rest of us".
The vision is this: iPods, iPhones, iPads and Apple TV for everyday stuff; iMacs for editing and other tasks that need proper horsepower; Mac Pros for content creation.
Steve Jobs recently spoke about cars and trucks. In the near future, i-devices and Apple TV are the cars, and Mac Pros are the trucks.
By bringing out the Magic Trackpad, Apple has given the mouse its marching orders: don't be entirely surprised if there's a Magic Trackpad Pro to offer pen-based input for artists and anyone else who'll miss the precision of mouse input.
But for the rest of us, Apple clearly thinks fat-fingered fun is the future. I think it's right.
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Your comments (14) Click to add a new comment
mbb
July 30th 2010
14. @gary and duskrider
There were mumblings at WWDC that Cocoa and Obj-C are on their way out in 10.7, but no one would confirm it. Goes well with the unified codebase idea.
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garymarshall
July 29th 2010
13. jetheridge:
> Steve'o has already said there is no OSX style app store coming to the mac
Ah, but every steveologist knows to read things very carefully. If you mean the "nope" email, that was his response to "there's a rumour that there will be a Mac app store and no software without authorisation will run on Mac OS X. Is that true?"
So does the nope mean:
* Nope, there will not be a Mac app store?
* Nope, there will be a Mac app store but OS X will still run unauthorised software?
* Nope, there will be a Mac app store but older versions of OS X will still run unauthorised software?
* Nope, that rumour isn't true because we haven't made a final decision yet?
And so on :) Previously Jobs has appeared to rule out ebooks, video ipods and the iPhone, so I'm taking nope with a pinch of salt.
> However what I could see happening is iOS apps becoming like the widgets are on the mac
Yeah, I could see that too. Dashboard, except useful.
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jetheridge
July 29th 2010
12. Steve'o has already said there is no OSX style app store coming to the mac. Plus I can't see Apple ditching OS X.
However what I could see happening is iOS apps becoming like the widgets are on the mac, mini apps that are cheap and functional and just sit on the desktop.
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garymarshall
July 28th 2010
11. Duskrider: yep, I think unified codebase too.
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gamzino
July 28th 2010
10. I own an iMac for music production, and would have to agree that the OSX can be a bit of a hinderance... Maybe iOS is the way forward.
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duskrider
July 28th 2010
9. With Mac sales higher than ever thanks to people starting with an iPhone or iPod and buying into Apple's whole product line, more likely it will end up being a unified code base than an actual iOS on a Mac scenario. this would let app devs "write once, run anywhere" much like the iPad apps that have been converted from the iPhone and now run on both. That leaves Apple room to keep OSX working well in the desktop paradigm but leverage all the apps out there.
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garymarshall
July 28th 2010
8. Bradavon:
> I really cannot see Apple scrapping all the work done for MAC OS X, which is what this article implies.
That's not the intention. I think the devs are right when they predict the two platforms merging over a few OS generations. I think in UI terms the simpler, touch/gesture-based interface of iOS the Apps model is the one that'll prevail.
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bradavon
July 28th 2010
7. Why would apple dumb down the MAC OS experience by putting iOS on it? It maybe easier but it's also a hell of a lot less powerful.
It makes more sense to take the iOS innovation and add it to MAC OS. Which I'm guessing is more likely. I really cannot see Apple scrapping all the work done for MAC OS X, which is what this article implies.
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garymarshall
July 28th 2010
6. Incidentally, by content creation I mean industrial-strength content creation: architecture, high end recording studios and so on. You can write a novel, bash off a blog post, record a song or take a decent pic on an iPhone. It won't necesssarily be the nicest experience you'll ever have, but it's possible.
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garymarshall
July 28th 2010
5. Jahooba:
> dumb masses that can't be bothered to put forth a little brain power to operate their computers.
You've drank the kool-aid. Many - most? - people don't want to "operate" their "computers", they want to get stuff done. Operating computers is a hobby, not something people should be forced to do against their will. Computers are tools for getting stuff done. The more computer operating we do, the less stuff we're getting done.
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jahooba
July 28th 2010
4. If Apple switches over to iOS then they'll no longer be in direct competition with Windows -- they would have become sort of the Nintendo Wii for computer users: It'll be seen as a joke to the hard-core (content creators), but it'll make billions off of the dumb masses that can't be bothered to put forth a little brain power to operate their computers. Heck, the greatest part about computers is that they make you THINK. Steve Jobs doesn't seem to like that concept -- or perhaps that just doesn't generate enough profit.
Moving into a cloud-based distributive method is also probably good for business, but it's disastrous for consumers. Gone will be the days when you'll own your own software. Instead all your software will only be borrowed.
I'm a proud (jailbroken) ipod Touch owner, and I plan on getting the new one when it's released, but I couldn't say that I like Apple's business model or direction. The irony is that in giving them my money I'm helping that future come about :(
Man, I wish someone would create some new, proprietary operating system for Apple's hardware.
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garymarshall
July 28th 2010
3. Optimaximal:
> I know it's just theory and conjecture
Oh, absolutely. We're reading tea leaves here.
> but how eager do you think Apple would be to drive content creation away from the Mac Mini & iMac and exclusively onto their brand new £4000 Mac Pros?
I think that depends whether Apple sees itself as a computer company or a consumer electronics company - and if the market for iPad-style devices is as big as it currently looks. The iOS numbers combined already dwarf the Mac numbers, and from where I'm sitting Apple doesn't seem particularly interested in Macs of late.
I'm an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro owner (as well as my Windows kit) and it's struck me repeatedly that my MBP is in many ways massively overpowered and overly complicated for what I actually use it for. I don't think there's anything I do in OS X that I couldn't conceivably do in an iOS app. That's pretty amazing.
If the apps are good enough, I suspect the content creators would be happy enough. It's a big if, of course.
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optimaximal
July 28th 2010
2. It's a hideous concept (and I don't just say that as a Windows user).
The worst thing is, if it happens, it'll harm the entire home computing market - Apple will make a ****-load of cash off of App sales and Microsoft n co will be tripping over each other to copy it.
I doubt many of the Mac Evangelists (read: not Apple Evangelists - they'll by anything with a half-eaten piece of fruit on it) would approve of suddenly being left out in the cold if Apple shifted development even further from OSX than they clearly already have (as demonstrated by how underwhelming a service pack Snow Leopard actually was).
I know it's just theory and conjecture, but how eager do you think Apple would be to drive content creation away from the Mac Mini & iMac and exclusively onto their brand new £4000 Mac Pros?
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ibanezlewis
July 28th 2010
1. That's pretty awesome if it's true, just imagine the wealth of apps that you could have available for your Mac as well as your iPhone. One of the major reasons an iPhone appeals to me is because of it's huge quantity of decent apps, something that other companies don't have.
Looking forward to using things like Bebot on my Mac :D
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