Apple is working on a platform that combines OS X and iOS to boost iPhone and iPad sales, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz (via CNET). He believes that a combo operating system, which he has termed "iAnywhere," would work in tandem with an iOS device docked to a secondary display, running as a full-blown computer.
"While not a new idea, our global tech research team believes Apple could be on the cusp of introducing a new category with iAnywhere, a converged MacOS-iOS operating system that allows an iPhone or iPad to dock into a specially configured display to run as a computer," Moskowitz said. "In our view, this category would be a leapfrog event, potentially jumpstarting iPhone and iPad growth as well as peripherals and cloud-based software and services sales."
Other PC and smartphone manufacturers have experimented with dual operating systems and other hybrid solutions. Samsung, for example, introduced the ATIV Q, an Ultrabook capable of running and switching between both Windows 8 and Android 4.2.2. Motorola experimented with a docking solution for its Atrix 4G phone, but no manufacturer has thus far combined a dock with a converged mobile/desktop operating system.
Moskowitz believes Apple could introduce iAnywhere sometime in the next 12 to 18 months, but during a recent interview with Macworld, Apple executives Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi explicitly said that convergence between iOS and OS X was an "absolute non-goal" for the company.
"To say [OS X and iOS] should be the same, independent of their purpose? Let's just converge, for the sake of convergence? [It's] absolutely a non-goal," Federighi said. "You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS. At the same time, you don't want to feel like iOS was designed by [one] company and Mac was designed by [a different] company, and they're different for reasons of lack of common vision. We have a common sense of aesthetics, a common set of principles that drive us, and we're building the best products we can for their unique purposes.
While Schiller and Federighi noted iOS and OS X would share a common sense of aesthetics and design principles to make it easier for customers to switch between iOS devices and Macs, the two operating systems would remain distinctly "different in those things that are critical to their essence." Given the executives' strong stance on convergence, it seems unlikely the company has plans to debut the iAnywhere system Moskowitz has outlined.
Top Rated Comments
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! :D
A few years ago, the core group of them ran the whole financial machine right to the edge of a cliff, got "our" government to immediately find $700 BILLION to bail them out and, that same year, paid themselves record bonuses. How many were prosecuted?
Remember what had them at the brink of collapse- that so-called "worthless paper" (insurance on bad mortgages) that many argued might be worth 10 cents on the dollar at best. What happened to all that paper? Apparently, the FED is using your tax dollars to buy that "worthless" paper to clean up the banker's books. Do you think the FED is paying more or less than 10 cents on the dollar? Do you think the FED is paying 100 cents on the dollar?
Lastly, remember "too big to fail"? That was the reason they had to be bailed out by the U.S. taxpayer (really by "our" government adding a huge loan onto the already-crushing debt). So naturally, once the bail out was successful, all those big banks that were too big were broken up right? Were any of the "too big" broken up?
Again, "stupid analysts" being stupid all the way to the bank.