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Apple must open iPadOS to sideloading within 6 months, EU says

(arstechnica.com)
380 points rezonant | 7 comments | 30 Apr 24 04:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.43s | source | bottom
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DCKing ◴[30 Apr 24 07:36 UTC] No.40208207[source]▶
The iPad App Store is perhaps an even more dysfunctional place than the iPhone in how much it holds hardware and use cases hostage to the manufacturer's vision. Just imagine how much more versatile the iPad Pro would be if only you could run Linux VMs on it in the moments you want to do anything remotely tinkery on an iPad.

Apple's hardware since the 2021 iPad Pro (with M1) has had the ability to do this. The iPads have the RAM (16gb on higher storage models), appropriate keyboard and trackpads, the works. Great hardware being held back by Apple's vision people weren't allowed to deviate from.

A straightforward reading of the DMA suggests that Apple is not allowed to restrict apps from using hardware features. Let's hope that means Parallels/VMware style VMs are possible without too much of a fight.

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1. f6v ◴[30 Apr 24 10:33 UTC] No.40209387[source]▶
I don’t think versatile devices are possible. I love iPad Pro for what it is. I tried Surface Pro and it was a much inferior tablet experience, even though the device is more “versatile”. I just doing think that you can get an excellent tablet by trying to be a laptop at the same time.
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2. cromka ◴[30 Apr 24 10:45 UTC] No.40209484[source]▶
It’s a screen. Add a regular Bluetooth keyboard mouse and you have a PC. There’s no compromise here from hardware perspective, it’s just software that’s in the way.
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3. TheFuzzball ◴[30 Apr 24 11:28 UTC] No.40209815[source]▶
The UI elements on iPadOS are necessarily larger to accommodate touch.

It's just a lot less information dense than macOS, and making it the same scale will make using it as a touch device harder.

4. sseagull ◴[30 Apr 24 11:30 UTC] No.40209835[source]▶
I have a Surface Pro and really like it. But for sure it is 100% a compromise experience, especially on the tablet side.

But part of it was reconditioning myself; the “proper tablet experience” largely comes from limitations of what they let you do with it. And with more features comes some complexity. For me it’s worth the tradeoff.

5. freeopinion ◴[30 Apr 24 13:44 UTC] No.40210902[source]▶
Remember the size of the original iPhone? I have long wondered why nobody makes a universal compute brick in such a form factor without a screen. Then sell 5" or 7" or 10" or 27" screens with and without touch that connect to the little brick.

I can buy a 15" screen right now for under $75. It's the ultimate super-thin laptop if you remove the compute and keep the brick in your purse/backpack/holster.

For extra points, connect two compute bricks for more muscle.

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6. asadotzler ◴[30 Apr 24 20:37 UTC] No.40216014{3}[source]▶
Thermals is why. Closest we get is Mac Mini and NUC.
7. f6v ◴[05 May 24 10:56 UTC] No.40263863[source]▶
I mean, Samsung has DeX. It’s exactly what you describe. I don’t like it, I don’t need it. I’d rather have a focused device than one that tries to be two things at once.