A Mouse Between an iPad and a Computer

So Apple keeps calling the high end iPads "Pro" and people again try making the case that this can really be a laptop replacements. Unfortunately it cannot.

One way of dealing with this is to stick a finger into a pencil sharpener.

The other is to use a mouse. Or a trackpad. When they are finally supported by iOS.

Controlling a cursor precisely with a finger is exactly where tablets fall short. Regardless of improvements the vendors try to include. Even discoveries like this one do not come close to selecting text with a mouse. Like we all do on laptops or desktop computers.

Lets face it: the iPad continues to be the best content consumption device. I personally use it for several hours every day. And even more when airborne. My favorite apps are:

1. Feedly: the best selection of news I follow;
2. Pocket: works great with Feedly - whenever an item grabs my attention I "pocket" it (note "to pocket is used as a verb here - not many apps get to that level!);
3. YouTube: the offline mode, available with the premium plan in more and more geographies is like the Pocket for videos;
4. Kindle: ebooks, but more than anything a cloud-backed repository of PDF documents (anything on iPad can be converted to a PDF and "sent to Kindle".

But this is all "consumption". Start trying co compose any content, and it start failing at very basic tasks. Selecting a text for highlighting / copying or positioning a cursor within an existing text is a pain. It takes so much time to do right that popping up a laptop, launching a text editor and finishing the job is always faster.

Another area of frustration is multitasking. Content creation always involves multitasking,. And this is another area where tablets fall short. Including iPads.

Finally, despite the introduction of "files" in the iOS, many applications (such as Inbox, that I use for all my emails) still do not support that feature. So simple operation like taking two separate attachments from two emails and adding them to a newly composed email are impossible.

Adding support for Bluetooth mice (or any other type of a cursor-control device) seems like what really prevents the iPad from becoming a computer. And this is a $$$$$$$ question if Apple will do that anytime soon... With the current high-end model prices approaching $2000 (1TB storage, Cellular, with Tax), I don't see the argument of "cannibalizing" the MacBook business stands. And technology-wise its is dead easy. It is just a matter of a product decision to do this.