Apple's Lion Lets the iPad Take the Lead

In an unprecedented move, Apple (APPL) has been showing off its next major Mac operating system, Lion, well before the official announcement at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday. The most striking part about Lion is that the design is obviously inspired by an unusual source: The iPad 2. Even Apple knows that the tablet, and not the home computer, will be driving the computer business forward over the next decade.

Here are some excerpts from the Apple Lion preview page:

We're taking our best thinking from iPad and bringing it all to the Mac with Mac OS X Lion, available in summer 2011. Here's a preview of some of the top features.

On iPad, every app is displayed full screen, with no distractions, and there's one easy way to get back to all your other apps. Mac OS X Lion does the same for your desktop.

Launchpad gives you instant access to your apps - iPad style. Just click the Launchpad icon in your Dock. Your open windows fade away, replaced by an elegant, full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac. It takes just a swipe to see multiple pages of apps, and you can arrange them any way you like by dragging icons to different locations or by grouping apps in folders.

The iPad references were obviously conscious on Apple's part! You really can't blame them: The popular iPad is probably driving the increase in Mac sales, too.

Mac sales up since iPad launch
In just over a year, the iPad has sold more than 15 million units. During this same period of time, Mac computer sales have grown by 27.7 percent. When asked about a possible correlation, Needham analyst Charles Wolf recently told The Guardian: "The key drivers of growth in Mac shipments over the past five years have been the halo effects emanating from the iPad and iPhone."

The iPad halo effect may not have boosted the tablet competition -- it still owns about 85% of the tablet market -- but it has made other companies take the tablet market more seriously. Just this week Microsoft's (MSFT) highly-touted Windows 8 showed a heavy focus on tablet use over home computing.

Lion's design also shows Apple's interest making one unified platform between home and mobile -- and between the two, mobile is proving more popular than ever. As BNET's Erik Sherman said shortly after the original iPad release:

Why support two operating systems when you could move iPhone [and iPad] OS onto laptops and desktops as well as onto Apple TV and have only one? The move saves money, increases efficiency, and free resources to develop new products and features.

The mobilization of the Mac platform makes even more sense with Apple's iCloud service making it easier than ever for the two platforms to communicate. We can expect more unification between Apple's two operating systems - with mobile taking the lead.

Photo courtesy of tomsaint // CC 2.0
Related:

• WWDC: Apple's Big Bet on Content and Service Over Hardware
• Windows 8 to Adobe Flash: We're Just Not That Into You
• Why Apple Will (Eventually) Dump the Mac
• iCloud: Why Apple Disclosed Cloud Service Early
• iPad 2 Review: More of the Same, but Still Better Than the Rest

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.