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Apple To Target Combining iPhone, iPad and Mac Apps by 2021: Report (bloomberg.com)
Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg: Apple wants to make it easier for software coders to create tools, games and other applications for its main devices in one fell swoop -- an overhaul designed to encourage app development and, ultimately, boost revenue. The ultimate goal of the multistep initiative, code-named "Marzipan," is by 2021 to help developers build an app once and have it work on the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers, said people familiar with the effort. That should spur the creation of new software, increasing the utility of the company's gadgets.
Later this year, Apple plans to let developers port their iPad apps to Mac computers via a new software development kit that the company will release as early as June at its annual developer conference. Developers will still need to submit separate versions of the app to Apple's iOS and Mac App Stores, but the new kit will mean they don't have to write the underlying software code twice, said the people familiar with the plan. In 2020, Apple plans to expand the kit so iPhone applications can be converted into Mac apps in the same way. Further reading: Tim Cook, in April 2018: Users Don't Want iOS To Merge With MacOS.
Later this year, Apple plans to let developers port their iPad apps to Mac computers via a new software development kit that the company will release as early as June at its annual developer conference. Developers will still need to submit separate versions of the app to Apple's iOS and Mac App Stores, but the new kit will mean they don't have to write the underlying software code twice, said the people familiar with the plan. In 2020, Apple plans to expand the kit so iPhone applications can be converted into Mac apps in the same way. Further reading: Tim Cook, in April 2018: Users Don't Want iOS To Merge With MacOS.
Later this year, Apple plans to let developers port their iPad apps to Mac computers via a new software development kit that the company will release as early as June at its annual developer conference. Developers will still need to submit separate versions of the app to Apple's iOS and Mac App Stores, but the new kit will mean they don't have to write the underlying software code twice, said the people familiar with the plan. In 2020, Apple plans to expand the kit so iPhone applications can be converted into Mac apps in the same way.
Sounds like a sensible thing to do. Having said that, I am also looking forward to a long list of people chiming in here on Slashdot to explain to us how this is only one part of a vast malevolent Apple conspiracy against the public.
What's going to be the leading platform for capabilities in the software design?
Is this going to be apps designed for Mac OS first and then adapted for iOS and touch interface limitations?
Or is it going to be iOS applications running on Mac OS with all the small-screen, touch interface, single task, single window restrictions of iOS design in the Mac OS app?
I fear it will be the second one, and Mac OS apps will get worse as a result.
I have an iPad pro and I've tried working on it. I'm using a Mac and not an iPad because the iPad is no use for serious, creative work.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
Only this time it'll work! Just you wait and see! I stake your life savings on it!
The hardware, not the software. I want a phone that unfolds into a tablet, then a keyboard will fold out to become a laptop.
Though I don't own any Apple products, I always said they make good hardware and I'd happily use a Mac if they were cheaper to buy, but that all hinges on having 2 things:
- The ability to download and install apps outside the walled garden without having to depend on a jailbreak method.
- Admin privileges with the ability to view/manipulate my own filesystem.
If they sabotage either of those two things, I can't seriously recommend anyone buy a Mac anymore.
Create apps that run on smartphones, tablets and traditional computers?
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Fundamentally I think this is the right idea. Merge the developer experience to the extent possible, i.e. outside of the interface design. Merge the retail experience. Look how much better the iPhone/iPad experience is with universal apps.
But leave the user experience separate. Because a phone is different from a tablet is different from a traditional computer. Trying for the same user experience across the board is not that great.
How knows? Maybe in the process we'll get pointer support on iPad Pros and be able to run Mac-style apps on it. That would be a big bonus in my book.
Sheesh... can Tim Cook possibly innovate something new rather than rebrand inherent Obj-C ability to abstract over multiple platforms?
This capability was built last century by NeXT. Its not simple to update it to iOS. BUT it's an inherent attribute of the language both MacOS X and iOS operating systems share. The two aren't compatible. I don't see the value in masquerading a dingy as a cruise ship. It would be the ultimate undoing of MacOS X desktop to trivialize applications down to iOS thumbnail capability running on a workstation class OS. There's nowhere to go but down. Seriously? I guess AI and AR are just around the corner then. People don't need no stinking power just keyboard and screens!
Welcome to time-share, rent and subscriptions.
Steve Jobs had said that merging Mac and iOS platforms didn't make sense, and he was right... At the time. The technology wasn't available to make a worthwhile product.
But Microsoft introduced the Surface YEARS ago. Apple ceded a lot of "influencer" users to Microsoft, especially creatives who wanted a proper pen tablet computer.
Apple should have been at the front of the tablet (fully fledged) computer movement. Now we see just how long we'll have to wait for them to catch up.
Maybe by 2030 they'll realize that Vulkan is a good idea.
But I have a pretty strong hunch it'll never happen.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Microsoft tried this. And look at all those nice Windows Phones now! I guess I know now when to switch to Android :)
I joined two users too late.
Because we have it already, it's the goddamn web. Which you can build desktop and mobile apps out of
Yeah Apple tried this with the original iPhone. They were going to do everything on the web if you recall. Didn't work. Why? So glad you asked. Because not everything can/should/does need to be done on the web. There are literally countless use cases which are better done locally than on the web. PWAs have their place and will be great for some use cases but they aren't the proper solution for every problem.
I've been saying for years that mobile device software is going to gradually merge with PC software. While there are some practical difficulties in doing this, it makes a ton of sense if someone can pull it off. Microsoft has been trying to get the formula right on this for a long time with mixed success. Google is trying to get Android to be more than just a mobile phone OS. It's not an easy problem but there really is no long term advantage to Apple or to their users in maintaining two separate and mostly incompatible operating systems. Nobody has nailed the formula yet but the first company to figure it out is going to rake in a lot of money for their trouble.
I know Apple has historically said they aren't interesting in merging MacOS and iOS but you can tell by their actions that this was just a public relations move so they wouldn't get pushed on it. They've been gradually moving towards consolidating their hardware and systems for quite a while now. The problem with doing so has been A) reconciling the very different user interfaces in a practical way and B) the limitations of the hardware of the day. Over time these problems can be resolved but not before a certain tipping point is reached.
Always funny when Apple discovers Microsoft's strategies from decades past.
Or is it going to be iOS applications running on Mac OS ?
The Marzipan effort is entirely about allowing you to use IOS frameworks for Mac apps.
with all the small-screen, touch interface, single task, single window restrictions of iOS design in the Mac OS app
What the hell man.
The iPad screens are already fairly large.
Yes the UI is touch but also keyboard, or perhaps you forgot that?
iOS apps are far from "single task", and on the iPad support things like side by side apps with a floating window playing video from a third... in reality internally iOS has never been single-task, but a fully multi-tasking system.
So Marzipan apps on a Mac would be no more "single task" than any other desktop app.
I have an iPad pro and I've tried working on it. I'm using a Mac and not an iPad because the iPad is no use for serious, creative work.
I have both as well and prefer photo editing on an iPad, because its way better to have a direct use tablet with a stylus for that task.
Some people prefer writing on iPads because the writing UI really does take over the whole screen.
For other things I prefer the desktop but there is nothing I would not love to be able to do on an iPad as well, and have that choice...
Something you do not seem to have considered, is that as Marzipan is built out, people will clamor for some desktop abilities in those apps, which may flow back and improve the iPad. Wouldn't that be useful? Do not fear change...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Not everything can/should/does need to be done" on a generic unified platform that forces developers to lowest common denominator.
You are arguing that general purpose computers are de-facto a lowest common denominator. Your argument makes no sense and unified platforms are often greater than the sum of the parts. In case you have forgotten both PCs and smartphones are generic unified platforms. My smartphone replaced to varying degrees my (deep breath...) calendar, point-and-shoot camera, PDA, video recorder, laptop (for some use cases), walkman, photo album, flashlight, television, credit card (ApplePay/GooglePay), voicemail machine, remote control, alarm clock, to-do list, GPS, address book, weather station, physical books (kindle app), encyclopedia, and the list goes on. PCs have replaced a similar swath of equipment. Both are general purpose devices that can be programmed to do whatever task we need. There is no objective reason PCs and smartphones have to exist as separate operating systems for the rest of eternity and there are a lot of compelling reasons to want to merge them into a single code base.
Are you seriously going to argue that the smartphone is somehow a "lowest common denominator"? Sure I can schlep around my big heavy SLR camera which can take better pictures (at considerable cost) but at the expense of portability and convenience. It makes more sense to take Good Enough pictures with my phone 99% of the time. On the occasion when I need better image quality I know where/how to get it but that isn't a sane argument against "generic unified platforms".
I'm not sure that having them launch is a good thing.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
We already have a few Marzipan apps in MacOS 10.14, namely the News and Home apps. And your fears are well founded.
Those are basically test apps of a pre-release version of the framework, the final version will have a lot more ability and not be so removed from the system.
There's no reason to think Marzipan apps need be much less featured, when iOS has many of the same frameworks the Mac does for doing just about anything. The reason Marzipan exists is because the Mac UI framework is pretty old at this point and has so much stuff tacked on it can be hard to build out windows that would be easier to make on iOS with the same functionality.
We need to see what comes out of WWDC before we start jumping to any conclusions about what it does or does not mean. One thing I am pretty sure it does mean, is even more companion apps on the Mac for popular mobile apps - how can that be anything but good?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
it's still not going to stop 3rd parties from doing the same thing as Apple did: namely take their iPad app and run it through Marzipan to provide a sub-par experience on the Mac.
That's kind of what Appel did but in part they were limited by Marzipan itself. Third parties (and Apple) have a lot of incentive to make Mac versions of the app better, the same way developers already add things to make iPad versions different and better than iPhone versions. It improves sales and makes people happy, so devs will mostly do what they can to make a Mac version of the app works as well as it can with a Mac...
That is further helped by all iOS developers using Macs to develop, so they'll have plenty of opportunity to test and fix up things they don't like about the desktop version.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Probably doesn't matter as Apple is just preparing the terrain for a complete ARM switch on Macs.
This is the only insightful comment on this thread. The switch has nothing to do with user "experience" or developer ease or any of that other BS nonsense. This is about them wanting to abstract their platform off of a CPU controlled by someone other than them. Why - because they are a bunch of control freak assholes who hate paying anyone else their due - see Qualcomm.
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