Is the barrier between the MacBook and the iPad eroding?

Apple launched its famous tablet iPad in 2010 to build on the success of the iOS operating system, and move that experience to the tablet environment, which was a new and growing class of popular devices at the time.

Over the years, the image of the electronics market in the world has changed at various angles. On the one hand, smartphones have acquired bigger screens and new functions than the traditional mobile phone concept. On the other hand, laptops have lost weight and size to become lighter, slimmer and lighter. Together, these variables have contributed to the shrinking of the tablet market, with many of its uses being taken by lightweight laptops and large-sized smartphones.

While some computer and tablet makers have tended to offer touch-screen PCs to replace traditional tablets and offer more productive functions, Apple has kept the iPad's identity largely unchanged without making radical changes to what this tablet can offer.

At the end of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, Apple introduced two new iPad models, the most prominent of which is the ability to connect a real keyboard and use the pen to draw on the screen. While the new device did not offer a large package of added benefits in terms of productivity, the reason was not as much about the device as it was for the iOS system, which until then had been carrying the spirit of mobile phones rather than being a virtual machine .

With the launch of the 11th edition of the iOS operating system through the WWDC conference yesterday and a new version of the iPad Pro, the company has for the first time actually taken serious steps to upgrade the iPad from being just an auxiliary tablet to getting closer to the notebook category. Operating system updates included a new iPad interface for the first time, the Dock on Macs, and Files for File Management, which allows for the first time since the launch of iOS to control, classify and arrange device files as with any operating system For mobile computers, as well as many modifications that make the experience of use in general more close to the use of laptops.

By completing that step, Apple, in my opinion, has found the right path that may keep the iPad a real market share in the near future. Today, the user no longer searches for the largest number of electronic devices, but has become more interested in unifying the tasks he can do in a smart device with high productivity. Today, the barriers between the iPad and the MacBook are already fading, and the next few years may see the iPad joining the MacBook family as a lightweight touch-screen laptop.