What is next or What is to be expected from Apple for Macs?
WWDC happened last week and it definitely put out a statement, at least to me. The Mac isn’t going anywhere and why would it? Apple has been making Mac since 1984, that is a long time and the amount of investment done on the Mac with inflation in mind can reach in billions (it is an approx only and I am not a mathematician). So it doesn’t make sense why a company leave the Mac so soon. But at the same, not everyone wants to get a Mac. I ask several friends of mine and their responses range from “It looks weird in terms of software” “It can’t handle the games or software I use on Windows” “I am so used to Windows, I don’t know how am I gonna change to Mac”. All these are fair statements and it does prove that the user base for Mac is a niche number and only few like it. Personally, I have been watching Apple since 2009 and only got a Mac in 2013 because I just wanted to see what’s deal with it. Without surprise, I love it. From 2013 onwards, I have seen huge and minor changes to the software that has sorta given a relationship to my Mac and iPhone which has only made me use both more. So most of them didn’t like a Mac so how did they overcome this?
Unintentionally, the iPad was launched back in 2010 for a good tablet experience when compared to the other contenders in the market. That’s what Steve Jobs thought of (I assume so) and went ahead to make one. But with every iteration of iOS for iPad, it didn’t seem like the iPad was being pushed to its maximum output. It still felt like a big sized iPhone with some additional space and a entertainment device. But in recent iOS updates, the software team has been smart enough to understand the potential of it which has led them to do more on iPad. This is all great news as there is an influx of people buying an iPad with such changes and conveniently making their primary compute device. So the iPad has increasingly become another ‘computer’ for those that do not need a Mac or a PC. Due to which, it has given Apple such motivation to provide iPad its own OS — iPadOS (iPadOS is not so different than iOS but it has more pro features). A lot of them started speculating that Mac was going to be phased out because of iPad picking up momentum and being sold more than a Mac on average. However, despite making the iPad more like computer it still lacks the ultimate computer experience which does not makes sense for one to invest heavily in an iPad and it does create a position of dilemma and confusion on what to get from Apple. Here’s the main takeaway: iPad and Mac have a different experience in their own levels and both have learned from each other in terms of software & now hardware too. That leads us to the next chapter of the Mac.
The Mac has been able to ‘port’ (Catalyst) over some of the iOS apps to their OS but it hasn’t been all rosy for both Apple and Third-Party Developers. MacOS 11.0 Big Sur is yet again another attempt in changing that for all. But that’s not all. Mac OS 11.0 is the challenge that Apple has taken towards shifting their Mac hardware wise by implementing their own SoC, Apple Silicon. For uniformity as well, the Mac OS team had make sure the icons are matched with their other OSes as well. This is quite important for many to watch for. As the transition occurs, a lot of us will have to keep an eye on how other apps will perform on this OS. Luckily for most of us, we will not have to worry about using our current Macs with Intel chips as it will still have updates coming in. There are Macs still lined up with Intel chips to be launched soon and Apple Silicon represents the future that we all shall jump into. Till then, we can still enjoy our Macs of the old.
I think that as much as one shall be concerned about the future of technology. It has only become more unpredictable and too fast for a common person to catch up with. If a product or tech works for you, then by all means use it till it is rendered obsolete.
