By John Gruber
Streaks: The to-do list that helps you form good habits. For iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Federico Viticci, MacStories:
The iPad is my main computer and iOS is my operating system of choice. […]
The iPad, for me, is a product of intangibles. How its portable nature blurs the line between desktop computers and mobile. How a vibrant developer community strives to craft apps that make us do better work and record memories and enjoy moments and be productive and entertained. The iPad, for me, is a screen that connects me with people and helps me with my life’s work anywhere I am. Transformative and empowering, with the iPad Air 2 being its best incarnation to date. Not for everyone, still improvable, but absolutely necessary for me. And, I believe, for others.
Liberating. The iPad is a computer that lets me work and communicate at my own pace, no matter where I am.
For all the handwringing over the decline in sales of the iPad, it’s worth keeping in mind that iPads are, price-wise and screen-size-wise, equivalent to laptop PCs. Even selling “only” 21.5 million iPads last quarter, add in the 5.5 million Macs they sold and you get 27 million PC-class devices. Imagine going back in time 10 years and convincing someone (a) that Apple would sell 27 million PC-class devices in a quarter in 2014; and (b) that this number was a decline from the year prior. You’d get locked in a loony bin.
Viticci’s details on how and why he chooses to use an iPad Air 2 as his primary computer show the wisdom in Apple’s forked product lineup, with iPads and MacBooks as wholly separate products and software platforms. Me, I feel like a fish out of water every time I try to use an iPad to do my daily work here at DF. But the things I love about the Mac are things that would overcomplicate the iPad.
★ Thursday, 5 February 2015