Because, and maybe I’m being grandiose, but I think those who are doing “real work” from their iPhone and iPad, are, in a small way, helping steer the direction of the personal computer.
Interesting thoughts from Shawn on this debate. I linked to just one quote from Mathis’ post (which is what Shawn is responding to), but there’s a lot in that post that I disagree with.
(This is cherry picking, I know.) Mathis’ example of taking notes while on a Skype call is comical. You can do that on the iPad, just switch away from Skype to a note app — you even get the benefit of not seeing the shitty, ad-laden, Skype interface too. Of course, other things I simply cannot do — or only can do within the confines of one app — on the iPad.
My stance on this has remained pretty steady: it doesn’t so much matter which tablet OS you use, as much as it matters what apps are on each of those tablets.
And that’s why I’ll always put my money on iOS. Yes, Windows 8 on Surface Pro 2 can run legacy Windows apps, albeit in a shitty non-touch-UI way. But guess what? So can my iPad, I do it weekly. I just boot up iTap RDP, log into my Windows machine and work in a really annoying fashion — which is pretty close sounding to how it is on the Surface. ((And if you don’t have a Windows machine, Amazon has you covered with their virtual machine program.))
I’m not saying that my solution is better, just that there is a solution on the iPad. Ultimately, somethings could be much better on iOS, but I’d argue that iOS has less to improve on than Windows 8, or Android has to improve on.
If I were forgoing a laptop, that’s when I might consider something like the Surface, but if I just want something that can stand in for my laptop here and there — iPad all the way.