42 MACWORLD MARCH 2020
iOSCENTRAL THE iPAD AT 1043]) to and use as a laptop, or close to it.
But consider the competition. Microsoft
has brought some tablet features to
Windows, but PC tablets are really just PCs
under it all, with an interface optimized for
keyboard and mouse. And although
Google tried very hard to promote Android
as an operating system for tablets, it has
largely failed—mostly because tablet-
optimized Android apps just aren’t there.
There’s no clearer evidence of Apple’s
wisdom in emphasizing the importance of
developing apps specifically for the iPad
than that. ■You can
draw a line
directly from
this moment
to the
introduction of
the iPad Pro in
- From the
start, Apple
said that the
iPad should be
capable of
doing
computer stuff,
with the implication that
third-party developers
should follow its lead and
dream bigger when it came to iPad
software. (Many developers, most
notably the Omni Group, embraced this
message and set about bringing all
their apps to iPad.)
A WORK IN PROGRESS
Ten years later, the iPad is still a work in
progress. There are still people who view
it as a big iPhone, and don’t understand
why anyone would want to use it to do the
work that could just as easily be done by a
laptop. It’s still a device full of
contradictions, something you use to lean
back and watch a TV show or read a
website, but also something you can
attach a keyboard (and mouse [see page