WHY IT MAY FINALLY BE STARTING TO
LOOK LIKE A ‘LAPTOP ALTERNATIVE’While the announcement of a new-
generation iPad was one of the less expected
developments of Apple’s recent big keynote
at Steve Jobs Theater, it would be a mistake
to imagine that the long-running tablet line
isn’t a significant focus for the Cupertino
firm these days. Indeed, you could argue the
opposite – that the venerable device is actually
now primed for a new lease of life, thanks
to a combination of hardware, software and
cultural developments.
WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE
TALKING ABOUT?Well, you might have noticed that iPads soon
won’t even continue running on iOS – the
operating system they have long shared with
the iPhone – for much longer.
Instead, the tablet is getting its own platform
by the name of iPadOS, thereby signaling the
seriousness of Apple’s intention to graduate the
iPad beyond the status it has long held among
many observers as a mere ‘big iPhone’.
THE iPAD’S REALIZATION OF ITS
POTENTIAL HAS BEEN A LONG
TIME COMINGA question that has been asked by many people
almost from the moment of the original iPad’s
launch in 2010, is to what extent the device can
be regarded as a convincing laptop alternative.
You might think that such a question is actually
founded on a misunderstanding of what the
iPad has always been – a highly versatile “third