Apple confirms the iPad has become a computer

That work life balance is even better when you get to work flexibly rather than forced hybrid practises.

In a terse statement shared via TechCrunch Apple has confirmed that its iPad range is growing closer to the Mac than to iPhone. The company will this year ship iPad OS later than iOS 16, and will even skip a version number.

There’s an inevitability to all of this

Apple statement followed recent speculation that it would delay release of the iPad OS in order to improveits new user interface, Stage Manager, which has been fluffing its lines in beta testing.

It does of course make sense to ensure Stage Manager works properly on both Macs and Apple’s tablets, as delivering a second-rate experience on either platform would have an egregiously negative impact on people’s productivity.

Apple told TechCrunch:

• 2022 is an “especially big year” for iPad OS.
• iPad OS has become its own platform with specific features for the device.
• As a unique platform, Apple can also give iPad OS its own release schedule.

“iPad OS will ship after iOS as version 16.1 in a free software update,” the company said.

This also means Apple will not ship iPad OS 16 at all, but will head straight to version 16.1 this fall and confirms the iPad’s unique status as a platform in its own right – one that now has more in common with the Mac than the iPhone.

A work in progress?

The iPad is a PC replacement

What this effectively means is that Apple has confirmed the iPad is no longer a system that wants to become a computer but should now be considered to be one.

Apple has argued this point for years, but by tying the iPad OS release to iOS it sent a subliminal message that the mobile device had more in common with iPhone.

But those days are done, it seems.

In truth, this has been on the cards ever since Apple CEO Steve Jobs (who resigned his position on this day 11 years ago before tragically passing away a few short months later) stood on stage to declare that Apple had become the world’s number one “mobile company”.

He made that claim as he introduced the iPad, saying “Apple is a mobile devices company. This is what we do.”

The Post PC age began right then, c/o Matt Buchanan, Wikipedia

It still is, and the decision to place iPad OS on a unique schedule that likely locks it more tightly to the Mac than to the iPhone underlines a decade of work to bridge the gap between both platforms.

Think about how Jobs introduced the iPad in 2010. During the demonstration he sat back in an armchair to show what the tablet could do. Fast forward to today and the company would be quite as likely to show an iPad in use in an airplane, on a factory floor, retail store or elsewhere.

The product has evolved from being a lean back entertainment product that does email and takes notes into becoming a full-fledged enterprise productivity system you can carry pretty much anywhere.

It’s a PC replacement and Apple just made this news official.

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