On one hand, I get it. In principle, iOS isn’t well-suited to e-ink. On the other hand, I would HOPE it would run some version of iOS, as Apple seems to have trouble hitting milestones for their current OS platforms - and I wouldn’t want to see effort split in yet another direction.
I know they could theoretically bring on more people just for that platform, but I would predict that the market would be small enough that they either wouldn’t touch it, or that after a short period of time the OS would largely become abandonware.
That’s an interesting point. If Apple did decide to sell an e-ink tablet, they’d probably have a version of the app store tailored to it, with a requirement that apps be designed to work well with e-ink displays, and to provide a good experience on slow-refresh black and white screens.
I don’t really see why. Boox runs on a form of Android, which means you can download any app from the Google Play Store. I don’t expect an Apple device to be any different. Yes, lots of apps wouldn’t work, but I do also think that’s for the user to decide, not Apple. Maybe they’d eliminate the games section of the App Store for e-ink devices, but otherwise they could largely ship with existing OS.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you (there must be a reason they haven’t come to market with one), but this isn’t strictly true. Apple have filed multiple patents relating to e-ink screens in the last 15 years, it’s just that nothing has made it to market.
Apple files patents all of the time, Patents are ideas, there’s no proof that for many of them, that any corresponding hardware has ever existed.
Boox probably use Android for their eink device because it’s minimal cost to do so rather than build their own and they can fork it. Apple have considerably more resource and money to do their own thing, and rarely follow the paths other companies make.
Purely technically, it’s a requirement for a patent that it be a working idea. So if Apple is doing things properly, there should be some e-ink hardware somewhere. But there’d be no requirement that it be a full-blown product with operating system and such.
And of course they could be working on something else other than an e-reader. An e-ink replacement for the touchbar, for example.
Apple would be likely to handle it differently, and only allow apps that are optimized for its own e-ink devices to be offered in a specialized store. Android tablets can run any Android apps, but most of them aren’t optimized for tablets. Apple has a special store for iPads to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I would much rather an Eink Device be “focus oriented” something basically locked down with apps like the iWorks suite, Notes, Journal, Freeform, Books, Music and Podcasts from Apple. Maybe add Kindle/Audible and the Library apps as a good will gesture (You get good press if you do nice things for libraries). I’d rather not have a browser or the full app store. Heck if that was $200 instead of $320 for an iPad I would push for that in the classroom really really hard.
I think I have said this before but I plan on trading out my iPad for a Remarkable and do an Apple Watch/Boox Palma combo for my phone usage. But if Apple got in the game God I would love it.
I’d want it to have an app store and not force people to use Apple-branded software. Despite the limitations of browsers on e-ink devices, I’d also like to see the option to install them even if it didn’t include one by default.
You could still meet your preferences by skipping all that, but other people with different needs could meet theirs, too.
Same here. I’m not a fan of Amazon, but I’m not about to leave my library behind. If Apple produced such a device, I’d be installing the Kindle app on it anyway. And given I can easily send PDFs and ePubs to my Kindle, I’m not sure what Apple ecosystem integration would bring, exactly. And that’s because…
I love my Kindle because it is distraction-free. I rarely have to think about charging it. It’s light and easy to carry. I can read books on it, take notes, and highlight. If an Apple device were just an iPad with an e-Ink screen I specifically wouldn’t want it.
My Kindle has lasted for years, is still supported by software updates, and the per month cost is now so low I don’t have any issues with throwing it in my travel bag and hoping it’ll make it. (It aways has).
I’ve thought about setting up a separate computer as a writing machine, with nothing on it but a writing app and supporting utilities like Espanso.
While it could be completely offline, having it online (or at least on a local network) but with no browser or other apps might be even better, because my files could still sync and get backed up automatically as I worked.
What about a $349, 1 lb, wireless only iPad? Install/set up only your writing app, add a third party keyboard, disable all notifications, and use it in airplane mode? Or block it at your router to avoid temptation?
Sure! Or install a minimal Linux distro on a laptop that’s not eligible for Win 11, or use an obsolete MacBook that’s no longer receiving security updates and delete every app that’s not needed for writing.
Absolutely. I suggested an iPad because we are all Apple users. But today, more than ever before, software is the main thing that separates the ability of one computer to do a job better than another.
I chose a Mac in 2003 because it was the most flexible Unix type OS available, and the hardware was great.
Linux + Waydroid (android app integration) is a compelling offering these days. I just don’t know enough command line tricks to commit to it. macOS remains my favorite OS from Apple though. I am a bit burned out on iOS. If my wife wasn’t all in on Apple Notes and iMessage for life management I would seriously consider leaving iOS for a third party Android rom or a Linux phone
Mine too. I use iOS because it works great as a companion to macOS. If Apple ever locks down macOS the way they lock down their other operating systems, I’ll probably stop buying Apple products.
