Head of Marketing for iPad and Mac: No merger planned
The question of equipping a Mac with a touchscreen or an iPad with macOS is regularly asked. Apple's head of marketing does not believe in it.
The iPad Pro M4 with 11 and 13 inches.
(Image: Apple)
Anyone who hoped that Apple would one day merge tablets and Macs has for years now been disappointed with the manufacturer: Macs with touchscreens (or iPads with macOS) do not seem to interest the company. This has now been confirmed once again by a senior Apple manager.
Complementary, not competitive
Tom Boger, who as vice president of marketing is responsible for marketing both the iPad and the Mac, told the Wall Street Journal that the two device categories are "complementary" offerings. "We don't see them as competing devices," he said. While the iPad is a "touch-first device", the Mac is intended for "indirect manipulation" with input devices such as a mouse or keyboard. Apple does not want to move away from this separation, although there is a definite desire for it among customers.
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The first tests of the new iPad models Air M2 and Pro M4 showed once again that increasingly powerful hardware is held back by an operating system that is only partially optimized for it. For example, when using Final Cut Pro 2 for the iPad, you still have to wait until the export process is complete and cannot simply switch to other apps. True multitasking with windows is missing.
iPad more and more desktop, Mac still no touch
Lately, Apple has repeatedly upgraded desktop elements, introduced trackpad control and window management with the (rather unpopular) Stage Manager. But a real macOS does not run on the tablets, just as there are no Macs with touchscreens yet. Steve Jobs once said that touch-sensitive surfaces should not be vertical. "Because after a while your arm will fall off." With the iPad Pro M4, Apple has now gone one better with a newly improved keyboard and (even larger) trackpad.
The industry is now eagerly awaiting Apple's plans for iPadOS 18, which will be unveiled at the WWDC 2024 developer conference on June 10. Apple provided virtually no details about the operating system last week when it unveiled the new iPads.
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