A concept video of a 13-inch "iPad Pro" running a full version of OS X has been posted by Italian consulting company SET Solution (via Funky Space Monkey). The iPad in the video is depicted as having a large form factor with very thin bezels, and is shown displaying OS X Mountain Lion with touch controls. The video also shows off the ability to easily connect an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse to the iPad, enabling a full desktop-like environment.
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The possibility of Apple combining OS X and iOS into one unified platform has been a popular topic of discussion recently, as both have begun to share a common sense of design principles. However, an interview with Apple executives Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi in Macworld last month revealed that the company sees the combination iOS and OS X as a "non-goal", with the former saying that the effort would be a "waste of energy" and the latter saying that Apple is focused on building the best products for unique purposes.
Despite this public dismissal, J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz predicted earlier this month that Apple is indeed working on a platform that combines OS X and iOS, which is termed as "iAnywhere." Specifically, the analyst states that the combo operating system would work in tandem with an iOS device docked to a secondary display, running as a full-blown computer. Various other companies have experimented with dual operating systems and other hybrid solutions in the past, but mostly to no acclaim from the general public.
Overall, it is unlikely that Apple will debut a tablet running a full version of OS X as seen in the video or a combo operating system anytime soon. However, recent reports do point to Apple releasing a 12.9-inch iPad running a next-generation version of iOS sometime in the future, with a launch projected for late this year or early next year.
Related Roundup: iPad Pro
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- Tim Cook, 22nd October 2013 (on Apple's PC competitors' lack of direction).
#Fail.
I'm sure they have. I'm also sure this envisioned device is (thankfully) never happening.
All they did was prove they can insert some 3D model in a video.
Yet they did nothing to address what actually needs to be conceptualized: the software.
OS X as it is cannot properly be used with a touchscreen. We all know Apple would never release such thing. Try minimizing a window and you risk closing it every single time.
So what do you do to address this? Make OS X clickable targets bigger when no mouse is connected? Have a second iOS-like interface for touch displays, basically a hybrid OS like MS is doing? Have some kind of magnification feature, a bit like when you select text in iOS?
Those are the questions that need to be answered, and those possible answers should be conceptualized. Not just upscale some iPad Air 3D model.