And we know who won that one. I think Apple is probably right to just double down on bare hands and voice as the input mechanism for spatial computing. I'm just also saying that controllers do have some advantage, so Meta should probably try to leverage it where they can.
(BTW, I myself do use the iPad primarily with the stylus, now that you can use handwriting everywhere just like the Newton MessagePad of yore... but I concede that probably very few people do this.)
Jobs made the stylus wisecrack in 2010. In 2023, that statement remains dead on the money. Lots of things Jobs said didn't age that well. This one did.
What I meant was that probably someday Apple will be happy to sell us super high tech controllers for spatial computing, but for launch they are taking the same stance as they did with the iPhone, and going all-in on designing the whole experience to just use your hands.
(And, yes, this is probably the correct decision here, just as it was then.)
The Apple Pencil is only available for the iPad devices:
iPad navigation relies significantly on gestures that require multiple fingers, which is frustrating when holding the pencil.
The iPads are much larger in size then phones and it's often awkward to use the pencil as a primary input.
The pencil is kinda annoying to keep with the iPad, it magnetically sticks and is prone to falling off. My previous pencil fell and hit the nib, immediately breaking the tiny sensor that sits behind it.
They onscreen keyboard is too big to use with the pencil, and although you can use (a multi-fingered) gesture to make it smaller, it still isn't great.
For reference, I loved using the stylus as my primary input device for my Samsung Note. There were a bunch of quality of life features built around the stylus and you could stick it back in the phone to keep it safe.