> You’d think that Apple would have seen the launch of the M1 as a clear moment to maximally delineate between MacBooks and iPad.

It's been a long-term goal of Apple for the iPad to eclipse and replace the Mac, in the same way the Mac eclipsed and replaced the Apple ][. Or the Lisa[0]. In fact, I would not be surprised if it turned out a driving goal of the Apple Silicon transition was just to make the Mac more like an iPad so that they'd consume less engineering resources to release.

That, of course, backfired, because Apple suddenly started releasing actually compelling laptops again. Oops! But the original design intent is clear: the Mac is a legacy platform. I mean, app developers don't even pay 30% on it. Apple doesn't design platforms like macOS anymore, due to a combination of toxic max-security[1] and not wanting to be embarrassed by third-parties out-innovating them on their own turf.

This is where I start to disagree with the author, though. The clear separation between mouse software and finger software was a mandate from Steve Jobs intended primarily to force developers to make apps that are finger-friendly. But nothing prohibits you from writing software that respects both modes of input. Furthermore, the only clear path for the iPad is for it to become more like a Mac.

The problem is that Apple also wants to obfuscate the issue by pretending like the capability gap has been met with better windowing. The real problem are all the things Apple considers non-negotiable: i.e. there are going to be apps that will never fit into Apple's sandboxing restrictions, and apps whose economies of production do not afford handing off 30% of revenues in commission to Apple. Whether or not those apps happen to let you plug in a keyboard and mouse into a tablet is a different question.

But at the same time, of course the tablet should support a mouse if you plug it in, and of course if I plug in a touchscreen into a laptop that should work too.

[0] TBH, you develop apps for the iPad in the same way early Mac apps were developed on a Lisa.

[1] I am stealing this term from tom7.