But what does that have to do with me (or, it seems, the GP poster)?
I want a great computer on which I can do what I usually do on my computer which is mostly programming, but I guess I could be fancy and say "content creation" instead.
The fact that phones are computers have exactly zero relevance when it comes to me choosing a new laptop.
I used to be a hardcore Mac user, because the computing environment was superior to any other choice, but that's not the case anymore so my next computer will be a Linux laptop.
True. However, creators and developers (who, in my experience, almost always use a desktop) are important for the iOS platform. Someone has to write those native apps. Therefore it doesn't make sense to ignore them for too long.
Those of us who are ios developers will keep bitching about it but have no alternative so will keep on using macs as long as their iOS ecosystem is doing great.
Source: have been a mobile developer for 6 years.
http://bgr.com/2016/07/20/ios-vs-android-developers-profits-...
No matter how great XCode becomes, if everyone starts using Android, people will all jump ship to Android, which means many iOS developers will change to windows.
[0]http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12371006/app-store-50-billi...
Mobile devices are still consumption devices. It's hard to create complex, multi-layer structures on phones: the screen is too small, the processor is too underpowered... take your pick. But creating a good SaaS or a good UX on a phone is darn tough.
Here comes speculation:
Websites/services in developing countries are painfully bad.
This is due to a number of factors outside technology, but it's also true that universities here graduate people who never grew up with big screens and unwalled gardens, never grew up creating rather than consuming, and don't have a sense of what it's like to go from blank screen to working prototype to polished platform.
Neither do most people in developed countries.
But at least computers are widely available in developed countries so that the x% of kids who have an affinity for these things end up getting started early.
Someday mobile devices will match and surpass desktops and laptops. But that day is not today, and meanwhile developing countries are years behind not only in physical infrastructure, but in online infrastructure as well.
Solidworks, AutoCAD, etc. don't run on phones
Photoshop/Lightroom/Illustrator don't run on phones
SPICE, VHDL, Verilog don't run on phones
InDesign and other DTP programs don't run on phones
Emacs/Vi don't run on phones
There are a host of actually-useful programs that are completely unsuitable for run on phone-computers, that do run well on laptop-computers and desktop-computers.
VIM: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.momodalo.a...
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vim/id492668168?mt=8
Emacs: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zielm.emac...
"AutoCAD" is a brand that applies to a large number of different CAD-related programs, some of which are mobile apps.
> Photoshop/Lightroom/Illustrator don't run on phones
Both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom are in the Google Play Store for Android phones.
> SPICE, VHDL, Verilog don't run on phones
Well, I can find circuit design apps that support a subset of verilog, but this is basically right.
> Emacs/Vi don't run on phones
There are ports of both on the Android App Store, supporting phones.
> There are a host of actually-useful programs that are completely unsuitable for run on phone-computers, that do run well on laptop-computers and desktop-computers.
There may be applications that phones don't have the processing capacity for or that work best with certain I/O peripherals that phones aren't often used with, sure. But the array of classes apps that are completely unavailable for phones is smaller than you seem to think.
Not true. I am from India. Developing country. There are 5 working people in my family. None of us can replace our notebooks with our phones. For all of us phone is for communication and notebook for work.
This is like saying trucks are cars, too.
Different form factor for different purpose.
It. Doesn't. Work.
I've written some thoughts about this previously, if you would care for a detailed elaboration: https://guan.sg/apples-2017/
I'm skeptical that this will work for everyone.
Everything is tradeoffs. When "must be tiny" is the top priority, performance and battery life necessarily suffer.
There will always be people - from gamers to video producers - whose top priority is performance. And for computer geeks generally, the weight difference between a laptop and a phone is not compelling, but having four times as many cores would be.
The portability difference between a mainframe and a laptop is immense - it changes your working life. The portability difference between a laptop and a phone is much smaller. It means you can do things spontaneously, because you can always have the phone with you. But if you're planning to work, the difference is minimal. Especially if the smaller form factor means you have to plan to have peripherals wherever you're going.
Eg, I can take my laptop to a cafe or a park and work. I couldn't do that with an "ultraportable" unless I bring my own peripherals. So it's actually less portable for the situations I care about.
Of course they are. So are microwaves at this point. So are toilets at this point.
I fail to believe that you just "missed" the real point, that the form factor and the user interface are (and need to be) quite different from a phone to a desktop.
Consider:
- iPhones will suck if developers stop making software for them.
- You need XCode to make software for iPhones
- XCode only runs on MacOS
If developers start abandoning Mac en masse, that's going to hurt iOS a lot.
Also, if photographers, videographers, animators, designers, audio engineers, etc start championing Windows or Linux as their platform of choice, the average person will follow eventually. "All the pros I know use X" persuades a lot of average people.
And if people aren't using Mac, there's a lot less reason to use iPhone as opposed to Android.
I hate to use the word "synergy", but that seems to be what they're risking here.
For the majority of the population in developed countries, and almost all of the population of developing countries, smartphones are the only computer people have or need.
I agree that Apple have shifted focus away from "making tools for people to create things and solve problems" towards consumption-oriented mobile devices. But those devices are still computers, and they're wildly successful.
If Apple devoted their focus to products in proportion to their revenue, then they would be putting 12x as much effort into the iPhone than they would for the entire Mac lineup.