Wall Street Predicts Merge of OS X and iOS

gumbi west writes "One Wall Street analyst predicts what slashdot commenters have predicted for years, that iOS and OS X will merge into a single OS. However the analyst sees this happening because the iOS devices receive a substantial CPU boost from the quad core A6 which can power MBA and smaller devices while following 64-bit ARM processors can bring the remainder of the Apple lineup back to ARM under a single architecture."

He's a Wall Street Analyst

[Anonymous Coward]

Therefore, he's speaking out of his ass.

Never going to happen.

[avihappy]

This is one of those moronic things that will never happen that are being continuously predicted by people who don't understand anything about usability. Apple knows you can't just shoehorn a "one size fits all" OS onto every device you make; that the ways people use different devices are fundamentally different. Keyboard and Mouse apps do not work well with a touchscreen, and vice versa. Just because Lion imported some of the UI features of iOS like hidden scrollbars and an application launcher does not mean they will merge; they are simply implementing ideas from one platform that have utility on another.

Here's my take:

[fyngyrz]

OSX doesn't need -- and never has needed, and likely never will need -- the simplifications and limits that presently show up all over IOS. The current glitch in thinking over at Apple that has informed Lion with IOS like features is, I am confident, in error. On the other hand, the reason IOS needs these limits is because as of this point in time, the hardware itself is extremely limited... fast memory to support real multitasking, video (and main) memory to cache windows, the power budget presently required for same, small space to stuff the OS in, consequent loss of support for things like USB devices and complete bluetooth profiles... these things create IOS's limits; they're not there because they're a better way to do things, they are there because they are one of the only ways to do things, given the present environmental limits.

But electronics, if nothing else, follow a fairly predictable path of increasing compute and display power in less space with a lower power budget. So IOS can -- and therefore should -- leave its limits and its modality behind, bring the capability to do more complex work with it. OSX, on the other hand should continue forward -- not backwards into ISO land.

Finally, since access to Apple's App Store software library isn't open to competing tablet manufacturers, they (the competitors) are likely to strongly differentiate their tablets with USB, broad bluetooth support, a real filesystem and related file management the user can get at if they like, memory cards, and so on... putting some pressure on Apple to do the same (and thereby bringing over already existing OSX capabilities.) And of course consumers like more features -- the more they can do on an iPad, the better they will like it, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the things they could already do. That's the design challenge, but I don't think it is a challenge that Apple will have any trouble at all meeting.

So yeah, we will almost certainly see a merge, eventually. But hopefully it won't be IOS into OSX; just the opposite.

Re:Duh.

[TheRaven64]

AppKit on OS X 10.7 already adopts a lot of the event model from UIKit. The reason that Apple keeps them separate is the screen size. Designing a UI for a small touchscreen is very different from designing one for a laptop or desktop with a large screen and a keyboard and mouse. You can share 90% of the code between a Mac and iOS app, but you have to rewrite the UI. This was a good decision - I own a Nokia 770, and it has a lot of ported Linux apps, 90% of which are horrible to use because they were never designed for such a small screen. Sure, you can use AbiWord on it, but 60% of the screen is filled with UI widgets, with only a small sliver for your document. Meanwhile, Android apps are all designed for the small device, even if they're ports of desktop apps.

Re:Never going to happen.

[drinkypoo]

You're totally wrong, influential sources inside Apple have already said that OSX and iOS will be converging, and it's only a matter of time. There's no reason it can't have multiple interfaces; hell, Apple has done that BEFORE with Classic Mac OS and the alternate launcher interface with the big stupid icons. Didn't last long, but that interface is now back on mobiles, with more eye candy.

What you are saying is contradicted by both Apple and reality.

Re:Stupid and technically ignorant

[chispito]

Apple has stated repeatedly that

computer mice need only one button and no scroll wheel
the Power PC is a faster and better platform than x86
Apple is not going to release a netbook

Re:Never going to happen.

[avihappy]

Remember that Apple, like every single other company out there, has the single purpose of maximizing its profits for its shareholders. Everything else is irrelevant. If you believe otherwise, you need to learn some history.

And the way they do that is by making products people want to buy. Running the same UI on both a Mac, tablet, and phone will result in a sub par experience on all three devices and will surely drive away users. iPhones have no business running a windowed GUI, and Macs need to be able to have multiple windows up due to their expanded screens space. Macs use indirect interaction with highly precise input devices, while iPhones and iPads are direct interaction and have a fairly imprecise input mechanism. So many fundamentals are so different that merging the two UIs would make their devices desirable to no one. Not to mention the fact that iPhones have many more sensors than a Mac. If Apple wanted to pursue your strategy, they wouldn't do it by merging their operating systems. They would do it by locking down OS X while still keeping it as a separate platform.

lol

[smash]

The complaints about IOS-ification of lion make me laugh. Apple have taken 3 major features and implemented them in lion: extensive sandboxing of apps (a good security practice), launchpad (meh, its optional - don't like it, don't use it) and auto save (which is a good thing).

And people are crying like its the end of the world.

OS X and IOS are ALREADY mostly the same. The places they are different are for very good reasons (resource usage, small touch interface). If apple wanted IOS and OS X to be the same (which, quite frankly would be retarded), they would have made them that way from the start.

I've actually upgraded to Lion and have lost precisely ZERO features vs snow leopard (well, except for rosetta, but that wasn't related to the implementation of IOS-isms and was already on its way out).

not quite

[mbkennel]

No, the scroll bars are a proxy of "where the display is relative to the document", it is a one-step-cognitively-removed representation.

When you "pull" on the graphics/text you are manipulating the document as a physical thing. When you pull on the scroll bar you are manipulating a controller which is itself a machine which moves the document on the screen. That physical analogy is unnatural.

What would be natural?

Now, *these* are *real* scroll bars:

http://www.earlychurchofjesus.org/images2/torah%20book%202.jpg [earlychurchofjesus.org]

Really, we need a physical "spinner knob" on our devices---that's the most natural. But it's hard to manufacture and the phone won't fit in a sleek case.

Re:Never going to happen.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've said it a few times before: Apple is a Consumer Electronics Phone marketing company.

And as we all know, if Lynwood Rooster says so, it is so!

One single product - the iPhone - accounts for half their revenues and nearly 60% of their profits. EVERYTHING ELSE - iPads, iPods, Macs, iTunes, software, accessories, etc - accounts for the minority of their revenue and profits.

And as we all know, once one segment of a company becomes 60% of its profits, that segment COMPLETELY defines that company to the exclusion of all others! Lynwood Rooster says so!

Apple has evolved in spectacularly profitable fashion to become a literal one-trick pony - the iPhone. They are losing marketshare in all other areas, nothing else has taken fire like the iPhone.

Yes! Because Lynwood Rooster says so, Apple actually isn't gaining marketshare in healthy chunks every quarter with the Mac the way both Apple and independent analysts say they are! Because Lynwood Rooster says so, the iPad is actually a fizzle!

So they are single-mindedly pursuing the iPhone metaphor across all business segments hoping it will ignite those other, smaller segments. But so far - nothing's caught.

Yes! Agreed! If Lynwood Rooster says that success is defined only by iPhone level success, it is so! Apple's other products ALL SUCK and are IRRELEVANT because they are not succeeding JUST LIKE THE IPHONE. Even the ones which are selling at rates which exceed the iPhone's at the same stage in the iPhone's life, like iPad. But they aren't actually selling that fast! Because Lynwood Rooster says so! And that steady growth in Mac sales over the last several years? DOESN'T EXIST. Lynwood Rooster says so!

Apple's big problem is going to be keeping the momentum in the phone market, or replacing it with momentum in another market. The iPhone is losing marketshare in the smartphone world, and its biggest share is in the US and EU markets - which are close to saturation. The growth markets for smartphones is China, South East Asia, and India - and Apple has very little penetration or positive growth in those markets.

Yes! Because Lynwood Rooster says so, Apple is not in fact experiencing significant iPhone growth in markets like China! Please ignore all sources which say otherwise. They are as worms next to the godlike Lynwood Rooster, fount of all knowledge.