{"id":25774,"date":"2019-06-25T16:46:47","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T20:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=25774"},"modified":"2019-06-26T16:45:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T20:45:52","slug":"catalyst-can-rescue-the-mac-and-grow-the-ipad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/25\/catalyst-can-rescue-the-mac-and-grow-the-ipad\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalyst Can Rescue the Mac and Grow the iPad"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Voorhees<\/a>:<\/p>\n

By contrast, Catalyst is a shorter-term initiative<\/a> designed to address two soft spots in Apple’s lineup: the stagnation of the Mac app ecosystem, and the slow growth of pro iPad apps. The unstated assumption underlying the realignment seems to be that the two app platforms are stronger tied together than they are apart, which ultimately will protect the viability of their hardware too.<\/p>

The impact of Catalyst on the Mac and iPad remains murky. It’s still too early in the process to understand what the long-term effect will be on either platform. There’s substantial execution risk that could harm the Mac or iPad, but despite some troubling signs, which I’ll get to in due course, I’m convinced that Catalyst has the potential for meaningful improvements to both platforms, especially the Mac.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

The Mac has always had great productivity apps and still does, which masks the platform’s troubles. While it’s true that I can still get my work done on the Mac with a robust set of first-class apps, it’s also true that the depth and breadth of choices I have are limited. Moreover, every year that passes, I find myself drawn more and more to iOS for specific tools that I can’t get, or which are inferior, on the Mac. On one level, that’s perfectly fine. I’m just as comfortable working on iOS as I am on a Mac. However, I’d rather pick the platform I use for a particular task than be forced to use one over the other because of app availability.<\/p>

I compiled a very long list of iPad apps I’d like to see come to the Mac as I researched this story. I’ll spare readers the full list of over 60 apps and instead focus on a handful of categories that I think would benefit the most from Catalyst.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n