> Again: we only need to look forward another couple years.
Two years is a very long time in tech. By then Windows 8 and a wide range of hardware it enables will be in full swing, not to mention Ubuntu on Android.
Also much of what you said is still speculation, since Apple seems to be the opinions that allowing OS X apps on the iDevices will made the experience and battery life worse. OS X applications expect to be running all the time and multitask unlike App Store apps.
They talked about how the post-PC world of iDevices will relegate PCs to be the trucks of computing. So their strategy seem set in stone for a while and they're selling boatloads of iPads, so I doubt they're going to pivot anytime soon.
Of course: anything said about the future is "speculation"; stating as much is pointless, as it is impossible to say otherwise. ;P We can only speak of the trajectory of things we can observe, such as market behaviors or patent filings.
To comment on "OS X apps on [] iDevices", that is still a notion that comes from the (I argue flawed) way of thinking that extrapolates a few isolated variables from today without taking into consideration how they will affect each other.
In this case, the performance and battery tradeoffs of multi-tasking are already changing in hardware: I do not feel like my 11" Air (again: nearly the same dimensions as the original iPad) is drastically worse for supporting multitasking.
Meanwhile, OS X /is/ moving in a direction of more restricted applications: it would not be surprising to see most normal software start being suspended when in the background, in exactly the same manner with the same exceptions as on iOS.
As for the "post-PC world", I fail to see how any of this is a "pivot": in fact, it seems to be exactly where they are going based on both their behavior (looking at the changes they are making to their product lines) and their patent filings.
Apple is explicitly bringing iOS features to OS X, where they are actively dropping Mac branding. Meanwhile, the performance of the iOS devices is increasing and they are bringing an ever more complete programming experience to it.
During all of this, they are actively evaluating hardware that combines the benefits of both of the platforms (specifically: keyboard and touch). Seriously: if I had a touchscreen on the MacBook Air, I'd question the entire point of having an iPad.
Given all of this, it would be shocking if they were not intending to unify the two platforms, and that is why this is relevant to this article: the author is stating that he doesn't want to have an iPad+keyboard, and it seems highly likely that Apple agrees.
(Finally, I fail to see why it is relevant to say that "two years is a long time in tech", and then bring up competition; it is certainly and obviously true that everyone is seeing this same vision, but the article was about people and their iPads.)
Two years is a very long time in tech. By then Windows 8 and a wide range of hardware it enables will be in full swing, not to mention Ubuntu on Android.
Also much of what you said is still speculation, since Apple seems to be the opinions that allowing OS X apps on the iDevices will made the experience and battery life worse. OS X applications expect to be running all the time and multitask unlike App Store apps.
They talked about how the post-PC world of iDevices will relegate PCs to be the trucks of computing. So their strategy seem set in stone for a while and they're selling boatloads of iPads, so I doubt they're going to pivot anytime soon.