Apple’s New Slant on the iPad Pro

Everyone remembers Apple’s infamous “What’s a computer?” campaign that they used to promote the iPad a few years back.

Apple recently released a new iPad Pro, and this is its promotional tagline:

Your next computer is not a computer.

Apple seems to have revised their opinion. Instead of pitting the iPad as a computer, they’re going the opposite direction and saying that it’s something different. Something special. Something unique.

This is what they should’ve done from the beginning. Apple is slowly working their way toward making the iPad a full computer replacement, but with the solid foundation of iPadOS, letting them envision new paradigms for how we should use a computer.

Apple isn’t trying to make the iPad a computer. They’re trying to replace the computer.

Apple is using the iPad as a blank slate to completely rethink the typical computer metaphor. They aren’t saying that they’re making the iPad a computer. If they do that, people will undoubtedly point out how the iPad is not and will never be a computer. Instead, they know the iPad is different. They’re bringing a couple tried and true features from the typical computer, like an optional keyboard and trackpad; while keeping what makes the iPad special, like iPadOS and the multi-touch Liquid Retina Display.

The same is true for iPadOS. Instead of making it more and more like macOS, they’re thoughtful reinterpreting features from the desktop and implementing them on the iPad. The new way that cursors are supported in iPadOS is an example of this. The same can be said of Drag and Drop. They’re both features from the Mac, but they’ve been changed and made better for the unique interface that the iPad provides.

Apple is progressively making the iPad into a device that doesn’t replace your computer in the typical sense but provides entirely new ways to interact with technology.

Thanks for reading!

(All images from newsroom.apple.com)