(ethereal music)
- Apple's annual developer conference is next week,
and if you've been watching my videos, you know
that I have a unhealthy obsession
with the future of computers.
That's why this year is such a big deal for me,
because Apple's expected to do two things
that just hit me just right in the heart.
The first is we're expecting them to fix multi-tasking
on the iPad, and the second is we're expecting them
to put iPad apps on the Mac.
You know what, the second one is a bigger deal
and I'm going to explain why, because I have
what might be an unpopular opinion.
I think Apple shouldn't just double down on iPad apps
on the Mac, I think Apple should go all in, it should make
all of its consumer Mac apps in this new way, and I think
I might be able to convince you.
(electronic music)
So, okay, let's just back up a minute.
Last year, Apple announced a sneak peek
at a multi-year project at WWDC.
The idea was to take an app that was developed for iOS
and let it work on the Mac.
The codename for this project was Marzipan,
and maybe you've heard of that.
Which means that we're gonna get iPad apps on the Mac.
Now, does that mean that iOS and the Mac are merging?
Well, Apple's Craig Federighi answered that exact question
last year.
- No.
Of course not.
- Does it mean that every single iPad app is gonna
suddenly become available on the Mac?
Well, here's my guess.
- No.
- Does it mean that Macs are finally
gonna get touch screens.
- No.
- Does it mean that iPad apps are gonna be, I don't know,
just dumped on the Mac and feel like weird alien programs
that aren't really Mac-like at all?
Yeah, we don't know the answer to that yet.
But right now, the answer actually is totally, yes.
The apps are bad.
See, Apple started testing Marzipan last year
by just trying out on a few of its own apps,
so let's look at those apps
and see how Mac-like they really are.
Come to your launcher, everyone has an Apple Junk folder,
and let's start with News,
'cause it's the most egregious example.
First of all, it takes a second to load,
but I wanna open this in a Tab, I can't.
Maybe I wanna open it in, like, Safari, for later.
I could copy the link and paste it, I guess.
Also, honestly, resizing here, this needs some work.
This is not great re-flowing,
but whatever, maybe we can give that a pass.
So, let's look at another app, how about the Home app.
This app is hilarious, like, first of all,
this wants to be touched, it just does.
Second of all, there's more stuff underneath here
that you wouldn't know, unless you resized the app,
but this is just ridiculous.
So, they're bad, right.
But if they're so bad, why on Earth would I say
that I think Apple should make more of them?
What gives, well, let me try to explain.
First, I trust that Apple's gonna make it possible
to make better Marzipan apps, I mean,
they can't get much worse.
And making better Marzipan apps might actually end up
being easier than you think.
So, there's this Apple developer named Steve Troughton-Smith
and he has been experimenting with iOS apps
and a bunch of Marzipan code and Tweeting his results.
So let's take a look at some of the stuff he did.
So at first, we'll just start with Twitterrific,
and here it is, you don't see much, it's just the info app,
but the point is, he was able to make an iOS app
for the Mac really, really easily.
Here, we're looking at Overcast, and what's fascinating
about this, is he got a traditional Mac
three-column layout, so it feels like a Mac app,
even though he didn't have access to the source code
for the original app, he was just able to make this work.
Here, of course, we just have a nice little weather app,
actually, I would love to have this weather app on my Mac.
And then here, if you're concerned that apps
that are developed for the ARM processor won't work
on an x86 Intel processor, you got a video showing
compiling an app to Intel, really, really easily.
Steve built his own system, called Marzipanify,
and even though these are just experiments, they really do
look like successful experiments, so I think we can assume,
mostly, that Marzipan apps are going to be better
than what we've already seen.
But we don't know yet whether they're gonna be really,
truly, Mac-like, in the way that people who care
about Macs really want them to be.
To all those people, I say, relax.
I think it's gonna be fine.
If Marzipan apps don't work exactly like the traditional
Mac apps that you love, maybe it doesn't matter than much,
as long as they just work well.
Or, at least as long as they feel more Mac-like than
Electron apps do, wait, Electron apps,
what's Electron, okay.
It's actually how a lot of the apps you're probably already
using on the Mac work, they're basically little web browsers
for a single app, like Slack, or Gmail, or whatever.
They also have a bunch of other code, piled on top of it.
They slow your computer down, but they're very easy
to make and easy to update.
I use Electron apps, and I think a lot of them
are actually pretty great.
I also use a lot of Web apps, which basically takes
a browser tab and makes it its own separate app.
I mean, I would say that 80% of the time,
I'm using my MacBook kind of just like it's a ChromeBook,
and I bet Apple hates that.
So, do you see where I'm going here?
iOS apps could save the Mac, from memory- and processor-
hogging Electron apps, and it could get a bunch of people
actually using apps, and buying apps, again.
So, all of that said, here we go.
I think Apple should make most of its consumer apps
with Marzipan, it would force Apple
to make the Marzipan apps better.
I mean, heck, I will go further, I think Apple
should seriously consider freezing development
on some of its apps and move all of that effort
into Marzipan versions.
iTunes, photos, mail, messages, contacts,
safari, wait, no, not Safari,
Safari on the iPad kinda sucks.
Leave Mac Safari alone,
Anyway, I want Apple to force itself to be like, okay,
the iPad version of Mail is the only version of Mail
that Mac users inside Apple get to use,
and if they don't like it, they have to fix it.
I think they should do the same for as many apps
as they can stomach, because if they don't, everyone's
just gonna use the regular Mac apps that they've had before.
I mean, ask Microsoft how keeping the Windows
classic version of Office around, when they're trying
to change apps over to Windows 8 and Windows 10 land.
It didn't go well.
Will this transition be painful for Apple?
Yes, but I think it'll be worth it, and maybe
they could ease the pain by making those Marzipan versions
available just as betas right now, and then make them
the official versions like a year from now.
But if Apple goes all in, they've gonna end up showing
other developers the best way to make these Marzipan apps,
for themselves.
It's gonna force Apple to make these apps
really full- featured, and if they do that,
you know what else?
It'll make those same apps better for iPad users,
and so the iPad could get closer to becoming a real,
proper primary computer for people.
So, come on, Apple, go for it.
All it's gonna take is just a little courage.
Hey, thank you so much for watching.
That's what I'm hoping for at WWDC,
but what are you hoping for at Apple's Developer Conference?
Let me know in the comments, and then, of course,
keep it locked to The Verge, 'cause it's gonna be
a huge conference and we're gonna cover it all of next week.