Every iPad wants to be a Surface now | The Verge

Final paragraphs from a curiously titled hybrid reality check:

"Coupled with some of the bigger changes in iPadOS coming later this month, it’s clear the iPad is increasingly moving towards more laptop-like tasks than ever before. There’s even mouse support for the iPad, although it’s limited at the moment. Now that every big iPad supports a keyboard we’re a step closer to seeing exactly where Apple will take this device in the future. The software that powers the iPad is steadily moving away from its smartphone roots, and now the hardware is offering iPad fans a way to transform the device into something beyond a tablet.

Microsoft and Apple are at the front of the race to offer tablets that combine laptop tasks. Apple is catching up on the laptop-like side, and Microsoft still has a long way to go to address the tablet experience. Apple’s strength is the touch-friendly apps and simplified OS that exists for the iPad, and Microsoft’s is the three decades of traditional computing experience that has gone into Windows.

The search for the perfect 2-in-1 device has been going on for nearly 10 years. Now it seems within reach. We’ll be watching closely to see how initiatives like iPadOS, Windows Lite, and maybe even Chrome OS bridge the gap between the tablet and PC. One of these, or a combination of approaches, will ultimately address the needs of the majority."

Every iPad wants to be a Surface now | The Verge