Connected

00:00:00 ◼   ► Hello and welcome to Connected episode 578. It's made possible this week by our sponsors,

00:00:14 ◼   ► Solver and Squarespace. My name is Stephen Hackett and I have the pleasure of being joined

00:00:19 ◼   ► by Mr. Mike Hurley. Oh, hello. I'm excited for today's show. There's some fun stuff to talk about,

00:00:24 ◼   ► but of course we can't do any of that until we have introduced His Excellency, the Ricky

00:00:29 ◼   ► Benchman, Federico Vatici. Hello. Hi. It is my pleasure to join you today. It's always our pleasure

00:00:35 ◼   ► to have you. Yes. Thank you. We're all, we're all a pleasure to be with each other, so to speak.

00:00:41 ◼   ► Oh my word. Moving on. Did you both get that watch band? The nomad band? Yeah. Yeah. I knew it.

00:00:51 ◼   ► I knew it. Come on. What's the problem? Well, well, well. Only get the real ones. That's

00:00:58 ◼   ► what I say. Well, okay. So mine doesn't attach, like it doesn't close anymore. What do you

00:01:08 ◼   ► mean? Like when I put it on, like both ends do attach to the Apple watch. Oh, okay. But

00:01:14 ◼   ► then it doesn't sort of snap onto itself on my wrist. Like the attachment mechanism? Yeah.

00:01:19 ◼   ► it stopped working after like a week. That's less than ideal for, what was it? A hundred and something? Yeah.

00:01:26 ◼   ► I don't know. Fifty maybe? Something like that. So yeah, I'm pretty upset about it. That's my review.

00:01:33 ◼   ► Okay. Stephen, do you have a better experience? Mine hasn't broken. So I got that going for me.

00:01:40 ◼   ► It's, it's, it's, it's not as nice as I hoped it would be. Right. The orange doesn't match the action

00:01:47 ◼   ► button, which is just unforgivable. Like you had one job, make the oranges match. Um, fairly easy to

00:01:55 ◼   ► adjust the size, but here's the thing. I like nomad stuff. I use their phone cases, but I am now

00:02:03 ◼   ► seeing ads for this exact watch band from way cheaper brands on Instagram. Hmm. That doesn't make me feel

00:02:11 ◼   ► good. Well, I mean, that's not nomad's fault. Maybe. Well, it is, if it's not their watch band, right? Like if

00:02:19 ◼   ► someone else is making them and they're just marking it up and slapping their name on it, that's not a good

00:02:23 ◼   ► feeling. Well, yeah. Unless it's the other direction, right? They made it and now people were stealing it. It

00:02:29 ◼   ► maybe. Yeah. I don't know. I don't want to, uh, yeah. Uh, yeah. Don't, don't come at me, nomad.

00:02:34 ◼   ► You know, they should. No, no, they should. Also we have libel insurance. So, you know,

00:02:40 ◼   ► come at us. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah. Go for it. See, let's see what the insurance says. Um,

00:02:46 ◼   ► I mean, people seem to like it in the, in their reviews, but I'm looking at pictures from customers

00:02:51 ◼   ► and I agree that like the, the texture on the watch band, the metal doesn't look the way that I would

00:02:57 ◼   ► want. Yeah. It is really the, the, you know, and I've got the black ultra, um, maybe the,

00:03:06 ◼   ► the, the natural finish is a little bit more different. The blacks a pretty good match, but

00:03:10 ◼   ► the orange not matching, like as soon as I opened the box, like that's the wrong orange. Like

00:03:15 ◼   ► it's the defining characteristic in many ways of the Apple watch ultra design, especially if

00:03:22 ◼   ► you wear it on your left wrist and you see the action button all the time. Right. It's

00:03:28 ◼   ► like, I want this orange to be the same. So not, not a huge win. It's probably going back.

00:03:35 ◼   ► I want to just try and get ahead of some followup for you here. Okay. Because someone's going

00:03:40 ◼   ► to write in to say that, um, it's, what is it? Like safety orange is international, international

00:03:48 ◼   ► orange or something, international safety orange. And that there are multiple shades of that.

00:03:53 ◼   ► Yeah. But you can just go. I know that there's not, I agree with you. I agree. I agree with

00:03:58 ◼   ► you. They should match it. I just want to try and avoid the, the, like the smarty pants

00:04:03 ◼   ► followup where it's like, well, actually it is international safety orange. It's just one

00:04:08 ◼   ► of the other many shades of that color. Yeah. I'm just trying to help, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

00:04:12 ◼   ► But I mean, also just like go buy an Apple watch ultra and sample the color. Yeah. Anyways,

00:04:18 ◼   ► I agree. Um, yeah, it's fine. It's not great. This is why I only ever buy them from Apple.

00:04:26 ◼   ► Unfortunately, your conspiracy was right. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I just feel like that's the

00:04:30 ◼   ► way to go. It's like, I only buy my phone cases. If I'm ever going to buy a phone case,

00:04:34 ◼   ► I'll buy it from Apple. I know that you two buy other phone cases, but if I buy it on a watch

00:04:37 ◼   ► band, I'll only buy it from Apple too. I just, they know how to make the stuff for their stuff

00:04:42 ◼   ► and, uh, they do that. Uh, Stephen, I saw that iOS 26.2 beta two will let you disable the pinned

00:04:50 ◼   ► messages in car play. And I wanted to know if that like alleviates the frustration you had

00:04:58 ◼   ► with this new system. Right. So if people don't remember or don't have car play, the messages app

00:05:06 ◼   ► got redesigned and it puts your pinned messages at the top, like it does on every other Apple platform,

00:05:13 ◼   ► but it doesn't respect the three by three grid. Like, so on the Mac and the iPhone and iPad you

00:05:19 ◼   ► have, and vision pro you have muscle memory of like, Oh, Federico is the top left. Right. And

00:05:25 ◼   ► I can just tap top left. Like Federico is always there on car play. It really feels like a bad

00:05:33 ◼   ► responsive website design because it doesn't respect that. So like on my personal vehicle,

00:05:39 ◼   ► this is a different depending on what size screen you have. I have a row of five icons and then a

00:05:44 ◼   ► row of four icons. I got a, there's a blog post I wrote in August that's in the show notes. You can

00:05:49 ◼   ► see this. I also spent like an hour replacing my friends and family in this screenshot with Apple

00:05:57 ◼   ► executives. Um, I don't know. I need, I need a hobby, I guess, but that was your hobby for the day.

00:06:03 ◼   ► It was. Um, this fixes it in the sense that it goes back to the way that it was where car play just

00:06:13 ◼   ► doesn't have any idea of pinned messages. But if you go to my blog post, you'll see that it's really

00:06:22 ◼   ► dumb because the phone application and car play already solved this. It has tabs across the top

00:06:29 ◼   ► favorites, recents, contacts, numpad voicemail. And all you would have to do is have favorites and

00:06:37 ◼   ► recents, and you could respect the three by three grid. And then you could have recents everywhere else.

00:06:42 ◼   ► Apple is not opposed to tap tab view controllers or whatever in car play. It's just the phone team,

00:06:50 ◼   ► I guess, is hoarding that secret technology. And the messages team is stuck building websites like

00:06:55 ◼   ► it's 2012. Um, so it's better. And I will, I will, I'm not running the beta. I got off the beta train,

00:07:01 ◼   ► but I will flip this switch because the, the favorites being in the wrong place really bothers me.

00:07:07 ◼   ► And I'll just go back to the list, but this is not the way they should have fixed it.

00:07:12 ◼   ► They should have copied what the phone app did.

00:07:14 ◼   ► I wish that there was more than nine pinned messages.

00:07:18 ◼   ► Yes. I could use 12.

00:07:21 ◼   ► Yeah, I would like 12. I had to remove a couple of people from the pin recently.

00:07:26 ◼   ► Who did you remove?

00:07:27 ◼   ► I won't tell you that.

00:07:28 ◼   ► Is it me?

00:07:30 ◼   ► But I can't say, but it's people that I care about, but just don't text with very much. And there are people that I text with more and it's like, well, I kind of need to have them here more context anymore. And it made me, I felt really guilty about it. I felt like really bad. But like what has ended up happening is I've moved more individuals out and more group threads in because that's just the way that I'm communicating with people. And so there's just more group threads in my nine than there were individuals. But I would like another row.

00:07:59 ◼   ► Like that would be ideal, please. I would like more.

00:08:02 ◼   ► Yeah. The other thing I didn't mention it, but I will say it as another way. Another reason they should use the phone layout is the current layout. It will shorten people's names. And I showed this in my mock-up screenshot where you see Craig Federighi and it ends in R-I and then it's dot, dot, dot.

00:08:24 ◼   ► Like now if you use nicknames or, you know, there's a bunch of contact settings where you can just use first names or show nicknames, like maybe you don't have this problem. But if you use full names or someone's name is longer than, you know, a set number of characters, depending on the size of your CarPlay screen, it just looks really bad.

00:08:43 ◼   ► And my argument for this is like, of all places I want to rely on muscle memory, it's the car, right?

00:08:52 ◼   ► I don't want to have to look at my screen and find Federico because he's not on the top left anymore.

00:08:57 ◼   ► That's really, actually, that would be the only one that would stick because it goes in order.

00:09:03 ◼   ► So say that John is in the center, right, because the world revolves around OTJ, then he's not in the center in the favorites.

00:09:10 ◼   ► And I have to like take my eyes off the road longer than I should to find him.

00:09:14 ◼   ► It just makes no sense.

00:09:17 ◼   ► And this is a Band-Aid solution.

00:09:18 ◼   ► I'm glad they're doing it.

00:09:19 ◼   ► But seriously, CarPlay team, seriously, you got to fix this.

00:09:24 ◼   ► Speaking of the world revolving around OTJ, today I filed my vote for the Max Stories Reader's Choice Award, which I don't know if a thing is a thing I'm supposed to do, but I did it anyway.

00:09:37 ◼   ► Well, you are a reader and you have a choice.

00:09:39 ◼   ► Yeah, but you know you get those things where it's like you can't enter a competition if you know someone who works on the thing, you know?

00:09:45 ◼   ► And I know it's not a competition, but it's like, am I, I don't know, like I don't know what happens if I put my vote, but I made my vote.

00:09:52 ◼   ► And I think that there is a clear winner and I think people who make that vote would understand who I would vote for.

00:09:57 ◼   ► Widget Smith.

00:09:57 ◼   ► No, there was, I don't, how are these apps decided, Federico?

00:10:02 ◼   ► It's not like a blanket thing.

00:10:03 ◼   ► There's like five apps, right?

00:10:05 ◼   ► Five or six apps.

00:10:06 ◼   ► We're going to make a short list and then the Discord members are going to vote on the ones that were picked by the, all the other club members.

00:10:15 ◼   ► Oh, because, well, I mean, I, I mean, I had to pick from a list already in the vote.

00:10:22 ◼   ► Oh yeah?

00:10:23 ◼   ► Then I, I don't know.

00:10:25 ◼   ► This is okay.

00:10:26 ◼   ► This is maybe part of what I'm talking about.

00:10:28 ◼   ► So in this form that I, that I filled out, it said like, only vote once, John checks.

00:10:34 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:10:35 ◼   ► Which I thought was funny.

00:10:36 ◼   ► That is, that is my example of the world revolving around OTJ.

00:10:39 ◼   ► But yeah, no, this was a, there was a list.

00:10:41 ◼   ► Maybe it wasn't really sure.

00:10:42 ◼   ► I voted in something.

00:10:43 ◼   ► I don't know what it was anymore.

00:10:45 ◼   ► But I voted in, in an award today.

00:10:47 ◼   ► And it was like a, it was like a form that I filled out.

00:10:49 ◼   ► It is the 2025 Max Stories Reader's Choice Award.

00:10:53 ◼   ► The nominations are in, ah, this is what I did.

00:10:55 ◼   ► The Discord to vote for the Reader's Choice Award.

00:10:58 ◼   ► That's what I voted on today.

00:10:59 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:10:59 ◼   ► So people had already submitted those, but yeah, I made my choice.

00:11:02 ◼   ► Okay.

00:11:03 ◼   ► But yeah, I thought it was funny because it just says John checks.

00:11:05 ◼   ► It says on the form, which I just thought was, that's, I don't know.

00:11:08 ◼   ► That's just the, that's the importance of OTJ.

00:11:10 ◼   ► He's checking, he checks up on all of us, make sure we're doing a good job.

00:11:13 ◼   ► Oh yeah.

00:11:13 ◼   ► This is from, this is the, the, okay.

00:11:15 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:11:15 ◼   ► So this is the new one with the nominees.

00:11:18 ◼   ► Huh.

00:11:19 ◼   ► Hmm.

00:11:20 ◼   ► Okay.

00:11:22 ◼   ► Interesting.

00:11:22 ◼   ► Interesting.

00:11:23 ◼   ► The work just happens, you know, that's, it just happens.

00:11:26 ◼   ► And OTJ is doing it.

00:11:27 ◼   ► I did not know about, I did not know the nominees.

00:11:30 ◼   ► Interesting.

00:11:30 ◼   ► Interesting group.

00:11:32 ◼   ► I love this.

00:11:33 ◼   ► This is how, this is how the Italian sausage is made.

00:11:34 ◼   ► Well, I don't manage this area.

00:11:36 ◼   ► Exactly.

00:11:37 ◼   ► Oh, trust me.

00:11:38 ◼   ► I know this life.

00:11:39 ◼   ► He's got people for that, you know?

00:11:41 ◼   ► He's got a person for that.

00:11:42 ◼   ► His name is John.

00:11:43 ◼   ► I saw a thing on the verge about one password that they're changing their, they're like,

00:11:52 ◼   ► they're, they're changing their kind of security presets.

00:11:54 ◼   ► So you can choose like how often you want to be passworded, right?

00:11:59 ◼   ► So like how often do you want it to say like enter your password?

00:12:02 ◼   ► And they're adding a new, new function where one password locks and unlocks with your Mac or PC.

00:12:08 ◼   ► So if your Mac is unlocked, one password is unlocked.

00:12:12 ◼   ► And I wanted to know what your thoughts were on this as a group.

00:12:15 ◼   ► Would you do this?

00:12:18 ◼   ► So you've unlocked your Macintosh.

00:12:20 ◼   ► So I can enable it.

00:12:20 ◼   ► They haven't added it yet, but it's coming, I think.

00:12:23 ◼   ► Yeah, I will enable it straight away.

00:12:25 ◼   ► Like, because my, my, my reasoning in is like, I have a really strong password for my Mac and I have touch ID.

00:12:33 ◼   ► And if somebody's breaking into my Mac, well, I already have a problem, right?

00:12:37 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:12:37 ◼   ► So I might as well just have one password be unlocked.

00:12:42 ◼   ► Because like, that means that somebody's in my house or knows my password.

00:12:48 ◼   ► And it sounds like if somebody is in my house, then I have bigger problems.

00:12:53 ◼   ► In addition to all of my accounts that are saved in one password, sure.

00:12:57 ◼   ► But like, somebody's in my house, you know?

00:13:01 ◼   ► So I feel like this makes sense.

00:13:04 ◼   ► When my Mac is unlocked, it means because it's under my control.

00:13:07 ◼   ► And if it's under my control, then it's one less annoyance, you know, having to authenticate with one password every once in a while.

00:13:15 ◼   ► Yeah, you see, I have a weak password for my Mac and a strong, strong password for one password.

00:13:21 ◼   ► Well, Don, Don have that, then.

00:13:23 ◼   ► Yeah, no, I think I'm just going to keep mine as it is, where I'll keep using one password.

00:13:28 ◼   ► Because I do like the watch unlock thing or whatever, and so that works, that works pretty well.

00:13:33 ◼   ► But I wonder what you would do.

00:13:36 ◼   ► But yeah, if I had a much stronger password for my Mac, then I would, I would enable this for similar reasons.

00:13:41 ◼   ► I mean, like, my thing about the weak Mac password is a similar thing to what you're talking about.

00:13:46 ◼   ► That, like, if someone's gotten to my Mac, that's bad.

00:13:50 ◼   ► Like, there's lots of bad things happening at that point.

00:13:52 ◼   ► Like, that actually might be the least of my problems.

00:13:54 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:13:55 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:13:56 ◼   ► What about you, Stephen?

00:13:58 ◼   ► No, I'm not going to turn this on.

00:14:00 ◼   ► Okay, so you're going to do, what, strong Mac?

00:14:03 ◼   ► Do you have a strong Mac password or a weak Mac password?

00:14:05 ◼   ► I have an incredible Mac password.

00:14:07 ◼   ► Okay, it's super weak.

00:14:08 ◼   ► It's super weak.

00:14:09 ◼   ► It's just ABC.

00:14:10 ◼   ► Yeah, it is.

00:14:12 ◼   ► Doubling down means it's terrible.

00:14:14 ◼   ► And I have it auto-lock at, I think, an hour.

00:14:18 ◼   ► Wait, you have your Mac automatically lock?

00:14:21 ◼   ► The Mac does, and I have one password automatically lock.

00:14:24 ◼   ► After an hour?

00:14:26 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:14:27 ◼   ► It's keeping all the secrets.

00:14:28 ◼   ► That's if the computer's idle for an hour, not in use.

00:14:31 ◼   ► It's got the military-grade encryption going.

00:14:34 ◼   ► It turns out.

00:14:35 ◼   ► For all the Devon thing and the KBase.

00:14:40 ◼   ► That's right.

00:14:40 ◼   ► Oh, mine locks off to 10 minutes.

00:14:43 ◼   ► I didn't set that up.

00:14:44 ◼   ► I didn't.

00:14:45 ◼   ► Why is that happening?

00:14:46 ◼   ► I don't want that.

00:14:47 ◼   ► It knows your Mac password is bad.

00:14:49 ◼   ► It's like, we're just going to help this guy out.

00:14:50 ◼   ► Four hours.

00:14:52 ◼   ► There you go.

00:14:52 ◼   ► That's what I've done.

00:14:53 ◼   ► Big news.

00:14:56 ◼   ► Okay.

00:14:57 ◼   ► It's membership sale time.

00:14:59 ◼   ► Mike, you want to tell people about this?

00:15:01 ◼   ► Yes.

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00:16:02 ◼   ► I think I would break it down like that.

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00:17:02 ◼   ► I'm expecting that Pro members will be hearing this for the reason that I'm about to say,

00:17:07 ◼   ► Stephen, which is you could also use this as a time to gift a Connected Pro membership to

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00:17:13 ◼   ► Absolutely.

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00:17:21 ◼   ► That's right.

00:17:21 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, you can support multiple shows and, you know, choose your favorite two or

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00:17:31 ◼   ► Yeah, so $56 for an entire year, you know, pay for it yourself or say to someone in your life,

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00:17:38 ◼   ► This is what you can get me for Christmas, right?

00:17:41 ◼   ► And you could give them the link and they can go and buy it for you.

00:17:44 ◼   ► It seems like a great deal for everybody.

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00:18:17 ◼   ► Battery packs.

00:18:19 ◼   ► Can we talk about battery packs for a second?

00:18:20 ◼   ► Okay.

00:18:21 ◼   ► So, this story came across MacRumors the other day about Mophie, who's made battery packs forever.

00:18:30 ◼   ► I think it had a Mophie battery pack for like an iPhone 5 or something.

00:18:33 ◼   ► I'm just going to say a thing that I don't know is true, that Mophie invented the battery

00:18:38 ◼   ► case.

00:18:39 ◼   ► Maybe.

00:18:39 ◼   ► Like, I think that that is probably the case.

00:18:43 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:18:44 ◼   ► Or they at least, like, popularized it.

00:18:47 ◼   ► But I think Mophie created this product category.

00:18:51 ◼   ► It is definitely possible.

00:18:54 ◼   ► But who knows?

00:18:56 ◼   ► No one can know.

00:18:58 ◼   ► It's impossible to tell.

00:19:00 ◼   ► Anyways, it just made me wish that Apple was back in this game.

00:19:06 ◼   ► I mean, they had the MagSafe battery pack years ago, and it did things that no other battery

00:19:12 ◼   ► pack could do.

00:19:13 ◼   ► Paging the EU, I guess.

00:19:15 ◼   ► But, I don't know.

00:19:17 ◼   ► I mean, they got the battery, MagSafe battery for the iPhone Air.

00:19:22 ◼   ► But, I don't know.

00:19:23 ◼   ► Do you guys think this is a business Apple should be in?

00:19:25 ◼   ► Why do you think they should, though?

00:19:27 ◼   ► Like, is your phone dying?

00:19:29 ◼   ► Also, have you looked at this thing?

00:19:32 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:19:33 ◼   ► The Mophie case.

00:19:34 ◼   ► The problem with the Mophie case is it looks the same as Mophie cases have always looked,

00:19:38 ◼   ► right?

00:19:39 ◼   ► So, it's like, would you like your phone to be seven times thicker than it currently is?

00:19:44 ◼   ► I just don't think this is as much of a thing anymore.

00:19:48 ◼   ► Maybe not for most people.

00:19:50 ◼   ► Like, phone batteries last a really long time, and I just think a better option is just to

00:19:56 ◼   ► get, like, a slim MagSafe battery and just, like, throw it in your backpack.

00:19:58 ◼   ► I use and really enjoy the Native Union ReClassic Power Bank.

00:20:04 ◼   ► It looks very nice.

00:20:06 ◼   ► Like, I just think it is a nice design for especially a product like this.

00:20:10 ◼   ► And it is incredibly thin, and it gives me, I don't know, like, they say on the thing it

00:20:15 ◼   ► will charge an iPhone 15 Pro to 100%, so I'm not going to get that much, but I get, like,

00:20:20 ◼   ► a decent top-up with it, and it's small enough and light enough that I can just throw it in

00:20:23 ◼   ► a bag.

00:20:24 ◼   ► Like, I don't need Apple to be making this product anymore.

00:20:28 ◼   ► Like, I don't, I just don't really feel like it's necessary, and because these things

00:20:33 ◼   ► are, it's relatively commodity in that way, right?

00:20:37 ◼   ► Like, it's, it doesn't require anything special.

00:20:41 ◼   ► These, it's Qi2 certified, this one that I'm talking about here, so it'll do a 15-watt

00:20:45 ◼   ► charging.

00:20:46 ◼   ► I think it's fine.

00:20:48 ◼   ► And, like, there, and also, it's, like, pick your poison.

00:20:50 ◼   ► There's so many product companies that make products like this.

00:20:53 ◼   ► I don't, I don't really need Apple to do it.

00:20:57 ◼   ► Like, Apple only did it for the Air because I guess they were embarrassed about the battery

00:21:03 ◼   ► life or something, right?

00:21:05 ◼   ► Like, they wanted to have a story, so when they put the slide up, it was a better number,

00:21:11 ◼   ► so they made the product.

00:21:13 ◼   ► And you can tell that's the case because they made it very specifically to work for that one

00:21:20 ◼   ► product.

00:21:20 ◼   ► They didn't have to make it like that.

00:21:21 ◼   ► And only that product.

00:21:23 ◼   ► They could have made that product differently, and it could have worked with more things.

00:21:27 ◼   ► Like, no, we're just doing it for this one because we want to have the full story to tell, like,

00:21:32 ◼   ► hey, it can get up to 40 hours battery life, asterisk.

00:21:36 ◼   ► Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't need, I don't personally need Apple to be making battery packs anymore.

00:21:41 ◼   ► Okay.

00:21:42 ◼   ► Federico, what do you think?

00:21:43 ◼   ► I use and like the Apple one for the iPhone Air.

00:21:49 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:21:50 ◼   ► I've tried them all.

00:21:52 ◼   ► We have a, we have a, we have a small drawer in the living room where I keep all of my MagSafe

00:21:58 ◼   ► or MagSafe compatible battery packs.

00:22:00 ◼   ► Every once in a while, Silvia goes in there, grabs one, uses it for the day, and then comes

00:22:05 ◼   ► back to me and says, charge this.

00:22:07 ◼   ► And so I recharge it and I give it back to her.

00:22:10 ◼   ► But me, I just use the Apple one now.

00:22:12 ◼   ► And not even every day.

00:22:14 ◼   ► I've gotten so used to the iPhone Air lifestyle where when I'm not using the iPhone Air and

00:22:18 ◼   ► I'm working, I just keep it topped up on my MagSafe charger.

00:22:21 ◼   ► And then when I leave, it's always a 95%.

00:22:25 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:22:26 ◼   ► So I used to have really strong opinions about battery packs.

00:22:31 ◼   ► Now I just like the Apple one for those times when I need it.

00:22:34 ◼   ► So kind of boring, but also I like the simplicity of it.

00:22:38 ◼   ► The iPhone Air, if you have an iPhone Air and you want a battery pack, this is obviously

00:22:42 ◼   ► the one to buy because Apple have built it to fit it perfectly.

00:22:45 ◼   ► But I don't think that they need to make these for the iPhone Pro or whatever.

00:22:49 ◼   ► Like I just don't, it just doesn't feel like a market that Apple really needs to be in to

00:22:56 ◼   ► be like to differentiate in any way.

00:22:58 ◼   ► Like they're all just batteries.

00:23:00 ◼   ► Some people are, I want to say weirdly, but who am I to judge?

00:23:05 ◼   ► Some people are really into this sort of style.

00:23:07 ◼   ► Like they get the biggest, baddest possible iPhone.

00:23:11 ◼   ► And then they also like to get the rugged option for like maximum protection, maximum battery

00:23:18 ◼   ► life.

00:23:18 ◼   ► I don't know what those people are doing.

00:23:19 ◼   ► Like Otter Case?

00:23:20 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:23:21 ◼   ► Like the Otter Box, like military style protection.

00:23:24 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:23:25 ◼   ► Some people have this weird like power fetish, I think, when it comes to these things, especially

00:23:30 ◼   ► and it tends to be men.

00:23:32 ◼   ► I mean, let's face it, it's all men doing this.

00:23:34 ◼   ► But more power to them, you know, if they want that sort of aesthetic, I get it.

00:23:39 ◼   ► There are some legitimate use cases like what if you're out into the wilderness for a couple

00:23:43 ◼   ► of days?

00:23:43 ◼   ► Sure.

00:23:44 ◼   ► I get it.

00:23:44 ◼   ► Get the rugged case with the extra battery life.

00:23:47 ◼   ► Some people just do it.

00:23:48 ◼   ► And then you realize how they live in an apartment and they have, you know, two dogs and their wife.

00:23:53 ◼   ► And they're absolutely don't need to be out in the wilderness for 48 hours with an iPhone.

00:23:57 ◼   ► But they still go for the rugged military option.

00:24:00 ◼   ► Whatever.

00:24:01 ◼   ► I think they're ugly.

00:24:03 ◼   ► I think there are few actual use cases.

00:24:06 ◼   ► Most people just like to have, you know, the masculine look for whatever reason.

00:24:12 ◼   ► Hmm.

00:24:14 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:24:15 ◼   ► So that's my hot take.

00:24:16 ◼   ► Okay.

00:24:17 ◼   ► Yeah, it works.

00:24:21 ◼   ► I look forward to balancing that one out later on in the show.

00:24:23 ◼   ► This episode of Connected is brought to you by Solver.

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00:26:01 ◼   ► That's S-O-U-L-V-E-R.

00:26:04 ◼   ► Solver.app.

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00:26:08 ◼   ► Try it out for 30 days with no commitment.

00:26:10 ◼   ► Our thanks to Solver for their support of the show and all of Relay.

00:26:14 ◼   ► It has been 10 years since the iPad Pro launched, which is wild.

00:26:25 ◼   ► It was five years after the first iPad.

00:26:29 ◼   ► Also wild.

00:26:30 ◼   ► We got some links in the show notes from back in the day.

00:26:33 ◼   ► I will always remember this really clearly because we did an episode of the show where,

00:26:38 ◼   ► Federico, you had one.

00:26:40 ◼   ► It was an embargoed episode.

00:26:41 ◼   ► We recorded it really early my time one morning, and it was a whole adventure.

00:26:45 ◼   ► Oh, I forgot about that.

00:26:47 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:26:48 ◼   ► Hey, Federico, this is when you came to London, right?

00:26:50 ◼   ► Yes.

00:26:50 ◼   ► For the first time.

00:26:52 ◼   ► Remember that for the first time?

00:26:52 ◼   ► I forgot that was the iPad Pro.

00:26:54 ◼   ► Like, I knew it was an iPad.

00:26:56 ◼   ► I forgot it was the Pro.

00:26:57 ◼   ► And I touched Gray's Apple Watch, and you gave me a bad look.

00:27:01 ◼   ► Oh, my God.

00:27:02 ◼   ► Yes, he came too, didn't he?

00:27:03 ◼   ► And he had the, he had the, he had the, like the, the stainless steel, no, it was, I think

00:27:12 ◼   ► it was the first Apple Watch, right?

00:27:13 ◼   ► And they had DLC coated something, like the band, like the Apple Watch band.

00:27:21 ◼   ► It was black.

00:27:21 ◼   ► It was black.

00:27:22 ◼   ► It was shiny black something.

00:27:24 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:27:24 ◼   ► And you'd reached out and touched him, which is like, which was hilarious.

00:27:30 ◼   ► Absolutely normal behavior, but sure.

00:27:34 ◼   ► Yes.

00:27:35 ◼   ► Not for him, though.

00:27:36 ◼   ► You know what I mean?

00:27:37 ◼   ► Like that, that, that was why it was funny at the time.

00:27:39 ◼   ► It's just like, you just reached out and grabbed him and like caressed his arm.

00:27:43 ◼   ► It was incredible to see.

00:27:44 ◼   ► He loves, I'm sure.

00:27:45 ◼   ► And then, and then I took you back to the airport and you showed me the iPad on the train.

00:27:50 ◼   ► I feel like statute limitations have passed on that.

00:27:52 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:27:53 ◼   ► It's been 10 years.

00:27:54 ◼   ► I broke my embargo.

00:27:54 ◼   ► So, yeah.

00:27:55 ◼   ► I remember, I remember us having a real conversation about like, what do I do about airport security?

00:28:04 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:28:06 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:28:06 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:28:07 ◼   ► There was a whole thing because Apple at the time told me, well, you're going to travel back

00:28:11 ◼   ► to Rome with these packages.

00:28:12 ◼   ► When you go to ETHRO, you want to request a private security screening.

00:28:16 ◼   ► And I told you this and you were like, absolutely do not do that.

00:28:19 ◼   ► Do not go to, do not go to a security officer at ETHRO and be like, sir, I would like to have

00:28:25 ◼   ► a private security screen because I am carrying unreleased products in my backpack.

00:28:30 ◼   ► There is no world in which that is a good idea.

00:28:35 ◼   ► No.

00:28:35 ◼   ► Like there just isn't.

00:28:37 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:28:37 ◼   ► So anyway, everything was fine, but hey, it's been 10 years.

00:28:41 ◼   ► So yeah, totally, totally wild.

00:28:44 ◼   ► I, uh, I rewatched the introduction yesterday, just kind of in the background at work.

00:28:49 ◼   ► And it's, I mean, I, I didn't have had, I hadn't forgotten all this, but like in hindsight,

00:28:55 ◼   ► it was so much change.

00:28:57 ◼   ► It was obviously a much bigger iPad, but it was the smart keyboard.

00:29:02 ◼   ► It was the Apple pencil, all that for the first time.

00:29:05 ◼   ► Uh, Phil Schiller kept saying this was going to unlock new types of apps, which we're going

00:29:10 ◼   ► to circle back to.

00:29:11 ◼   ► Um, that really wasn't true.

00:29:13 ◼   ► Um, software demos included Microsoft office, some Adobe apps, including one where the presenter

00:29:20 ◼   ► was like, this woman isn't smiling enough in this picture.

00:29:23 ◼   ► Let me fix it.

00:29:24 ◼   ► Not a great demo Adobe.

00:29:25 ◼   ► Not a good look.

00:29:26 ◼   ► Now we just, now we just asked the computer to do it for us.

00:29:29 ◼   ► That's right.

00:29:29 ◼   ► Even don't amend the old lady.

00:29:31 ◼   ► Just create a new lady.

00:29:32 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:29:33 ◼   ► You know, from nothing.

00:29:34 ◼   ► Isn't that bad?

00:29:35 ◼   ► And then stop.

00:29:36 ◼   ► And then the scary one where, uh, it was like a medical app and they showed the inside

00:29:43 ◼   ► of a knee and like how a knee works.

00:29:45 ◼   ► And that made me very uncomfortable.

00:29:46 ◼   ► Um, but yeah, just, just a monumental moment.

00:29:51 ◼   ► And Federico, you wrote this review called a new canvas that I also reread for this.

00:29:57 ◼   ► And it it's, it's a good post, man.

00:29:59 ◼   ► Be proud of it.

00:29:59 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:00 ◼   ► Nice.

00:30:00 ◼   ► Thank you.

00:30:01 ◼   ► Does it hold up?

00:30:02 ◼   ► I think it does.

00:30:03 ◼   ► Um, well, let's see, I pulled a couple of quotes out of your conclusion that I thought

00:30:07 ◼   ► would be good to read, uh, to set, to kind of set you up, Federico, because I think of

00:30:11 ◼   ► all of us, you're going to like, I was just saying before I did my, my kind of feeling about

00:30:15 ◼   ► this product, it brought me back to the iPad, like in a very serious way, like I'd stopped

00:30:18 ◼   ► using the iPad.

00:30:19 ◼   ► And then, uh, I loved the iPad pro, um, and was very excited about it.

00:30:24 ◼   ► And it, it, it started a love affair for the lasted for many years for me of using my iPad

00:30:29 ◼   ► as my main computer and a Mac just for recording.

00:30:33 ◼   ► Um, so, you know, that's where this started.

00:30:36 ◼   ► So I'll read from Federico.

00:30:37 ◼   ► Those who will only compare the iPad pro to a laptop will miss the big picture.

00:30:42 ◼   ► This is a large tablet that can be used at a desk and that runs iOS.

00:30:45 ◼   ► The richness of the iOS ecosystem is what sets the iPad pro apart.

00:30:50 ◼   ► And the reason why ultimately people like me will prefer it over a Mac book.

00:30:55 ◼   ► It can be used at a desk, but it's also portable and it runs iOS.

00:30:58 ◼   ► For developers, it's time to be bold with their iOS apps and understand that they can be more

00:31:03 ◼   ► than single purpose utilities by letting me see more and do more while still being portable.

00:31:08 ◼   ► The iPad pro offers a new way to work from iOS with the heart of a computer, the body of

00:31:13 ◼   ► a tablet, more powerful and still liberating.

00:31:16 ◼   ► The iPad pro is the iPad.

00:31:18 ◼   ► I didn't know I was waiting for.

00:31:19 ◼   ► I mean, yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's good writing.

00:31:25 ◼   ► It's the pros.

00:31:26 ◼   ► Um, yeah, unfortunately it didn't quite pan out that way, especially the developers.

00:31:35 ◼   ► It's time to be bold with your iOS apps.

00:31:38 ◼   ► Um, I mean, it was still the time.

00:31:40 ◼   ► It was the time.

00:31:41 ◼   ► It was the time.

00:31:43 ◼   ► It was the time, but it's been 10 years.

00:31:45 ◼   ► Do we think they've been bold enough?

00:31:46 ◼   ► Um, no, no, um, look, I, I have been through, um, multiple waves of, uh, love, hate affair

00:31:59 ◼   ► with the iPad pro, especially since the introduction of stage manager a few years ago.

00:32:05 ◼   ► Um, and Apple has gone through these phases too, right?

00:32:09 ◼   ► With their, you know, they, they were announcing features for the iPad and then they would put

00:32:14 ◼   ► it on the back burner for a couple of years.

00:32:16 ◼   ► And then they would come back with the new take on multitasking.

00:32:20 ◼   ► And this year we saw that repeat itself with a big new promise of we're listening to our

00:32:26 ◼   ► pro users.

00:32:26 ◼   ► We want to make this better.

00:32:28 ◼   ► We're going to lean into the past, but also remember what makes the iPad unique.

00:32:32 ◼   ► Um, and so far in the iPad iOS 26 cycle, we have seen Apple actually listen to early feedback

00:32:40 ◼   ► and improve upon those things like slide over returning local capture being improved already.

00:32:47 ◼   ► So it's all, you know, all good signs, but this has been a platform of many signs over the

00:32:53 ◼   ► years.

00:32:53 ◼   ► Um, and so these things only, you know, can be judged in hindsight years after, um, I think

00:33:02 ◼   ► big picture, um, I have become a different person from what I was in 2015 when I wrote that.

00:33:09 ◼   ► Uh, we've spoken about this on connected, um, I, and especially for the past year, um, to the

00:33:18 ◼   ► month, even, uh, I've been trying to diversify what I do and, and the computers that I use to

00:33:24 ◼   ► the point where I now live a pretty healthy computing lifestyle that is equally split between the iPad

00:33:31 ◼   ► Pro and the Mac.

00:33:32 ◼   ► Um, and the reason is not that the iPad Pro is not great is that, um, if you're the kind

00:33:40 ◼   ► of person who likes to live on the bleeding edge of software, especially, and particularly now with

00:33:47 ◼   ► artificial intelligence and all these new apps, it's easier to be that kind of tinkerer on the

00:33:53 ◼   ► Mac than it is on the iPad.

00:33:55 ◼   ► And fundamentally, it all comes down to the software, not the software now, because Apple

00:34:00 ◼   ► is doing all the right things now with the platform, right?

00:34:03 ◼   ► Well, almost all the things, right?

00:34:07 ◼   ► The problem is the baggage of, of 10 years of iPad Pro, 15 years of iPad altogether.

00:34:15 ◼   ► And it's the fact that there's just not enough apps on the iPad.

00:34:19 ◼   ► And when you look at macOS, when you look at how you can install apps on macOS, at the choice

00:34:25 ◼   ► that you have on macOS from, you know, installing apps from the web, um, you just have so many

00:34:32 ◼   ► more options.

00:34:33 ◼   ► And when you do have the same options between the Mac and the iPad, still to this day in 2025,

00:34:40 ◼   ► most likely 95% of the time, the iPad version of something is worse than the Mac version or the

00:34:50 ◼   ► web version, right?

00:34:51 ◼   ► And I wrote about this months ago with my tongue in cheek headline of the iPad's sweet solution.

00:34:57 ◼   ► And after iPadOS 26, that still holds true.

00:35:02 ◼   ► Like, sure, we have better windowing.

00:35:04 ◼   ► We have better multitasking.

00:35:05 ◼   ► Um, I can do my podcast on the iPad still does not change the fact that if I want to

00:35:11 ◼   ► use Slack, that if I want to use Notion, that if I want to use ChatGPT or any popular piece

00:35:17 ◼   ► of software, if it exists on the iPad, it's like a baby version of it, right?

00:35:23 ◼   ► Better windowing isn't going to change that.

00:35:26 ◼   ► Isn't going to change the fact that it's been 15 years of iPad, 10 years of iPad Pro, and

00:35:31 ◼   ► developers are no longer under this delusion that making a fantastic iPad version of their

00:35:37 ◼   ► apps is going to, you know, get them 2 million more users.

00:35:41 ◼   ► It's not going to happen.

00:35:43 ◼   ► And so if you are, you know, I am generalizing here.

00:35:48 ◼   ► If you are an artist, if you are a heavy Final Cut user, if you are a 3D artist, sure, you have

00:35:55 ◼   ► all the professional tools that you need, uh, to, to exclusively work on an iPad Pro.

00:36:00 ◼   ► But if you are like hundreds of millions of people these days, what they call a knowledge

00:36:07 ◼   ► worker, meaning some, a person who just sits in front of a computer and types text or works

00:36:12 ◼   ► in a browser or Notion or Google Docs or whatever, you get a better experience of macOS because

00:36:18 ◼   ► you have more apps.

00:36:19 ◼   ► And of those apps, you get the real version of it, right?

00:36:22 ◼   ► Um, and so that's where, that's where I am today.

00:36:29 ◼   ► I love my iPad Pro.

00:36:30 ◼   ► I, I love what it represents and I love it for what it is in practice.

00:36:35 ◼   ► Uh, the hardware is great.

00:36:37 ◼   ► The display is amazing.

00:36:39 ◼   ► The, I like the magic keyboard.

00:36:41 ◼   ► I like the new multitasking.

00:36:43 ◼   ► But if I want to get a bunch of work done with Notion or with Claude or, or, or with Superhuman,

00:36:49 ◼   ► my email client, all of those are better on macOS.

00:36:53 ◼   ► All of those are better in Safari for macOS than Safari for the iPad.

00:36:58 ◼   ► Right?

00:36:59 ◼   ► Yeah, but that's always been the case.

00:37:02 ◼   ► It's always been the case, right?

00:37:03 ◼   ► So like, why is it, why is it hitting you so much harder now?

00:37:06 ◼   ► Because it's been 10 years, you know, when you are in any relationship and, and, and the

00:37:13 ◼   ► other partner has a, refuses to change and it's been 10 years.

00:37:18 ◼   ► You're like, Jesus, man, it's been 10 years, you know, and, and, and there's that.

00:37:25 ◼   ► And there's also the things, the features that are still not here.

00:37:30 ◼   ► Clamshell mode is one of them.

00:37:33 ◼   ► Now we have a menu bar on the iPad and it's still kind of half used.

00:37:39 ◼   ► There's still only one USB-C port on the iPad.

00:37:43 ◼   ► I just mentioned Safari.

00:37:45 ◼   ► Safari on the iPad is still not as reliable as Safari on macOS.

00:37:49 ◼   ► Sometimes I want to use a web app on the iPad and I just ran into this today.

00:37:54 ◼   ► I wanted to use a web app on the iPad in Safari because I was working in my car, waiting for

00:37:59 ◼   ► my girlfriend to run an errand.

00:38:01 ◼   ► And, and I was using Safari on the iPad and I needed to click on this, on this button and

00:38:07 ◼   ► it kept jumping around when I was using the pointer.

00:38:10 ◼   ► I used my finger and it worked.

00:38:12 ◼   ► Absolutely no idea why.

00:38:14 ◼   ► Um, these random issues with Safari on the iPad, they occur all the time.

00:38:20 ◼   ► Um, I think, I think, I think I have developed the skill to be content with the iPad for what

00:38:31 ◼   ► it is.

00:38:31 ◼   ► Uh, I have come to peace with the idea that I can live a happy life accepting the iPad for

00:38:40 ◼   ► what it is.

00:38:41 ◼   ► But that does not mean that it's perfect.

00:38:44 ◼   ► And, and I think, I think there's a lot of, you know, it took me a while to get to this

00:38:52 ◼   ► point.

00:38:53 ◼   ► Um, and so 10 years of iPad pro sure, Apple has made a bunch of great improvements this

00:38:59 ◼   ► year, but it does not change the fact that if the mission was to replace a Mac, they have

00:39:05 ◼   ► failed at that mission, right?

00:39:08 ◼   ► If the mission was to build a hybrid in between, maybe it's still ongoing.

00:39:14 ◼   ► Um, but will it have proper third party support is my big question.

00:39:21 ◼   ► Um, and I don't know the answer to that, but just looking at the facts that we have now, the

00:39:29 ◼   ► strategy is not working clearly.

00:39:31 ◼   ► Nobody, and by nobody, again, I'm generalizing, you know, there are native and exclusive

00:39:38 ◼   ► iPad apps, but by and large, when's the last time you saw an iPad version of something and

00:39:45 ◼   ► you thought, oh my God, like that's so much better than the equivalent on the Mac.

00:39:50 ◼   ► I actually have a story of this, uh, Jason's in the chat room, which reminded me of it.

00:39:54 ◼   ► So we just recorded, um, upgrade.

00:39:58 ◼   ► He was here, uh, Jason was here last week and we recorded upgrade in person.

00:40:01 ◼   ► We did a video version of it and we did a similar thing like we did, uh, in Memphis earlier this

00:40:05 ◼   ► year.

00:40:06 ◼   ► And we used final cut camera.

00:40:07 ◼   ► We set up a bunch of iPhones and we had like a three person shot and Jason was able to edit

00:40:13 ◼   ► it on final cut pro on his iPad in like a multi-cam view.

00:40:17 ◼   ► And it's like really incredible software.

00:40:19 ◼   ► Um, but the iPhones just naturally record in HDR and you can't, don't think to change that.

00:40:31 ◼   ► And some people seemed like in our comments, whoever didn't like watching the HDR video,

00:40:36 ◼   ► like they thought it was too bright, especially for what we were doing.

00:40:39 ◼   ► Can't change that on final cut pro for the iPad.

00:40:43 ◼   ► There's nothing you can do about it.

00:40:45 ◼   ► Like that's just it now.

00:40:47 ◼   ► That's the video you have.

00:40:48 ◼   ► So when Jason got home, he was able to do it on his Mac.

00:40:52 ◼   ► Like that is my understanding of how this went.

00:40:54 ◼   ► Like, like the iPad is incredible technology that enables this wonderful workflow.

00:40:59 ◼   ► Uh, but as Jason said, I could have exported it in SDR and it might've looked okay, but I

00:41:07 ◼   ► wasn't confident in it.

00:41:08 ◼   ► And like when he got home and used his Mac, he was confident he'd get to look right.

00:41:12 ◼   ► So it's like, it's one of these things of like, it's incredible tools functionality wise, but

00:41:18 ◼   ► it's just not the same as using it on your Mac.

00:41:22 ◼   ► And there are workarounds for this stuff.

00:41:24 ◼   ► There are hoops that you can jump through and you can get it.

00:41:27 ◼   ► I am confident that there is like a Chris Lawley type, right?

00:41:31 ◼   ► Who like, they know how to fix this on an iPad.

00:41:34 ◼   ► But there's no way it's like, as, as I just cannot imagine that it is as easy as it would

00:41:41 ◼   ► be to do on a Mac because if Final Cut can't do it, there'll be some utility you can download

00:41:46 ◼   ► from somewhere that will do it for you.

00:41:48 ◼   ► Right.

00:41:48 ◼   ► And it's just like, not really a thing that exists.

00:41:51 ◼   ► And this actually comes back to like a point that I wanted to mention of like Apple, the

00:41:58 ◼   ► iPads issue with software is not a capability problem.

00:42:04 ◼   ► it is a developer problem.

00:42:06 ◼   ► Yes.

00:42:07 ◼   ► Realistically, an example of a developer relations problem, which is app, which is like a specter

00:42:15 ◼   ► that hangs over Apple now.

00:42:17 ◼   ► And it is affecting so much of what they're doing, what they're trying to do and what they're

00:42:22 ◼   ► hoping to do.

00:42:23 ◼   ► Right.

00:42:23 ◼   ► The Vision Pro is another example of this.

00:42:25 ◼   ► Right.

00:42:25 ◼   ► Well, like it's super easy to get everyone to make an iPhone app.

00:42:32 ◼   ► Apple have to do nothing for this because it is indispensable.

00:42:36 ◼   ► You have a business, you have to have an iPad, an iPhone app.

00:42:41 ◼   ► Right.

00:42:41 ◼   ► So Jason's also just pointing out, give us before I close the loop on the Final Cut thing.

00:42:44 ◼   ► Final Cut for iPad doesn't support the iPad OS 26 background export feature still, which

00:42:50 ◼   ► is incredible.

00:42:52 ◼   ► It feels like it was made for Final Cut and they haven't updated it yet.

00:42:55 ◼   ► And I'm sure it's coming.

00:42:55 ◼   ► There's been some rumors.

00:42:56 ◼   ► I think Apple's about to launch something called Apple Creator Studio, which is a new subscription

00:43:01 ◼   ► service that will include Final Cut, Logic and a bunch of other tools.

00:43:07 ◼   ► But that's the story for another day.

00:43:08 ◼   ► But it's easy to get somebody to make an iPhone app because it's like an indispensable thing

00:43:15 ◼   ► that you need.

00:43:16 ◼   ► It works in your favor to have one.

00:43:18 ◼   ► Right.

00:43:19 ◼   ► It doesn't so much work in your favor to make an iPad Pro, so make an iPad app.

00:43:24 ◼   ► And it definitely doesn't work in your favor to make a Vision Pro app because the markets

00:43:30 ◼   ► just get smaller and smaller as it goes on.

00:43:33 ◼   ► One of the ways that you get people to make the software is to have good business relationships

00:43:39 ◼   ► with them and incentivize.

00:43:40 ◼   ► And it just doesn't feel like developers have that feeling en masse for Apple, which just means

00:43:49 ◼   ► that they're less likely to want to jump through the hoops that are necessary to support all these

00:43:54 ◼   ► platforms.

00:43:54 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:43:55 ◼   ► And yes, and I think the way that the industry has gone over the past decade, the best and

00:44:08 ◼   ► most popular apps and services that people use on a daily basis are built with web technologies.

00:44:15 ◼   ► I mean, I know that in our little corner of the internet, we like to talk about, you know,

00:44:23 ◼   ► Mac apps and native UI kit, but billions of people every day are using software built with

00:44:30 ◼   ► for the web and the version of that that you download on your computer, the millions of

00:44:37 ◼   ► people, when they download the chat GPT or Slack or Notion or Notion Calendar or Superhuman

00:44:42 ◼   ► or name any other popular service, it's made with Electron and it's built for the web and

00:44:49 ◼   ► web technologies have made incredible progress over the past decade, right?

00:44:54 ◼   ► And sure, we like to talk about the artisanal, you know, small indie shop.

00:45:00 ◼   ► I mean, I literally gave these folks an award every year.

00:45:05 ◼   ► I love those types of apps, but we also have to be realistic that the most popular, I'm not

00:45:12 ◼   ► saying the best, the most popular and the most powerful sometimes software is made with web

00:45:21 ◼   ► technologies that have allowed, you know, young developers to pick up those languages in high

00:45:30 ◼   ► school and run with it.

00:45:32 ◼   ► And now that is only going to accelerate now that, you know, we have AI coding assistants

00:45:38 ◼   ► that are incredibly good at writing code for the web, whether it's TypeScript or JavaScript

00:45:44 ◼   ► or, you know, HTML and CSS is pretty much a done deal for AI at this point.

00:45:50 ◼   ► And that's only going to accelerate.

00:45:53 ◼   ► And if that's the case, while the iPad doesn't have really a great web experience today, the

00:46:00 ◼   ► Mac arguably does because Safari on the Mac is better, but also because you can install Google

00:46:05 ◼   ► Chrome on a Mac with Chromium, which is not something that you can do on an iPad.

00:46:10 ◼   ► So it's a compounding effect of what the iPad could have been and it wasn't.

00:46:15 ◼   ► And Apple had a late realization that maybe they should have borrowed some of the Mac's

00:46:21 ◼   ► underpinnings, but also the bad business relationships, but also, again, compounding all these problems.

00:46:27 ◼   ► The fact that the tech industry moved in the direction of web technologies and now AI, and

00:46:34 ◼   ► it's all sort of compounding on top of each other.

00:46:36 ◼   ► And it leaves the iPad with what?

00:46:38 ◼   ► Fake Google Chrome and a Final Cut that doesn't match what Final Cut is on the Mac.

00:46:45 ◼   ► And baby versions of apps, popular apps that are not truly optimized for iPad because of

00:46:53 ◼   ► all those problems.

00:46:53 ◼   ► You could make an argument, I would make this argument, that the reason that web development

00:47:01 ◼   ► is so powerful is because the 30% on the App Store exists.

00:47:05 ◼   ► Yes.

00:47:05 ◼   ► Yes.

00:47:06 ◼   ► Yes.

00:47:07 ◼   ► This is actually a bed that they made for themselves, like a long-term view of this stuff.

00:47:12 ◼   ► Yep.

00:47:12 ◼   ► Yep.

00:47:13 ◼   ► But what I will say, there is absolutely no computer better for enjoying media than the

00:47:18 ◼   ► iPad.

00:47:19 ◼   ► No.

00:47:19 ◼   ► For me, there isn't.

00:47:20 ◼   ► Like, there is a lot of computer usage, which this device is absolutely, bar none, the best

00:47:28 ◼   ► at.

00:47:29 ◼   ► So good.

00:47:30 ◼   ► The iPad is so good at content consumption that it is the only option in the market

00:47:37 ◼   ► realistically.

00:47:38 ◼   ► Like, nobody else.

00:47:40 ◼   ► This is interesting.

00:47:42 ◼   ► Like, you know, in other parts of the technology landscape, there's lots of competition, like

00:47:46 ◼   ► viable competition.

00:47:48 ◼   ► It just doesn't really seem to be for the iPad.

00:47:51 ◼   ► Android just does not, has like given up tablets.

00:47:56 ◼   ► Like, they keep trying and it just doesn't work.

00:47:58 ◼   ► And like, you know, people just aren't buying them.

00:48:00 ◼   ► And they absolutely make the best product for this type of use case.

00:48:05 ◼   ► Yes.

00:48:05 ◼   ► There is no, there is no tablet like the iPad Pro.

00:48:09 ◼   ► Period.

00:48:10 ◼   ► Like, I have tried them all.

00:48:12 ◼   ► The Androids, the Surface, everything.

00:48:16 ◼   ► I've tried everything.

00:48:16 ◼   ► Like, you can get close on hardware or like Samsung make really good hardware.

00:48:20 ◼   ► Like, you know, it's like super thin and looks super nice and the screen's high quality.

00:48:24 ◼   ► But then the software experience is worse, much worse.

00:48:28 ◼   ► At least the app development experience.

00:48:31 ◼   ► Like, you know, we're talking badly about tablet apps on Apple's devices.

00:48:36 ◼   ► It shines on my Android.

00:48:37 ◼   ► It's like, now we're in a different way.

00:48:39 ◼   ► No, I guess, I guess what I'm trying to say is that after 10 years, if you were to ask,

00:48:43 ◼   ► if you were to tell me, T.C., we're going on a desert island for the next decade, you're

00:48:48 ◼   ► going to have a wall outlet, but you can only bring one computer to get your work done for

00:48:55 ◼   ► the next 10 years.

00:48:56 ◼   ► Assuming that the computer is going to last 10 years.

00:48:58 ◼   ► Would you bring a MacBook or would you bring an iPad Pro?

00:49:02 ◼   ► And today, after 10 years of iPad Pro, I would tell you I would bring your MacBook.

00:49:06 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:49:07 ◼   ► Simple as that.

00:49:09 ◼   ► You know, as a frame of reference for this discussion, I would answer I would bring a MacBook.

00:49:15 ◼   ► It's so interesting because the iPad out of all of Apple's products is the clearest way to see Apple's overall strategy, right?

00:49:26 ◼   ► There was a period of time where they thought it was going to be the computer for everybody and the Mac was on the back burner.

00:49:34 ◼   ► And then at some point that flipped and the Mac got really good.

00:49:39 ◼   ► And now I think as of 26, maybe we're in this middle ground of like, Apple wants the iPad to be powerful for people who want it to be.

00:49:47 ◼   ► But as you said, they can build all the infrastructure they want.

00:49:51 ◼   ► They can build window management and all the menu bar and all these other things.

00:49:55 ◼   ► But if the developers aren't there and the customers aren't there and the energy isn't there, then it's kind of the Vision Pro problem on a much different scale.

00:50:10 ◼   ► Not as bad.

00:50:11 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah.

00:50:12 ◼   ► That's what I mean.

00:50:12 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:50:12 ◼   ► The Vision Pro is like way out on a limb.

00:50:14 ◼   ► But you can at least get iPad apps.

00:50:17 ◼   ► But you see an echo of it, I think.

00:50:18 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:50:19 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah.

00:50:19 ◼   ► I agree.

00:50:20 ◼   ► And, you know, there are people, there are jobs where the iPad, you know, because one thing that has happened since the iPad Pro is the technology the iPad Pro introduced with the keyboard and the Apple Pencil, that's everywhere now.

00:50:32 ◼   ► And you can get an iPad Air or a base iPad and get a keyboard and get a pencil.

00:50:37 ◼   ► And there are people and there are tasks where it is perfect for them.

00:50:41 ◼   ► But it has not replaced, for the majority of people, a general purpose laptop.

00:50:48 ◼   ► Right.

00:50:49 ◼   ► Federica, I'm with you.

00:50:50 ◼   ► One outlet, like I'm bringing the MacBook Pro every time.

00:50:52 ◼   ► And I think a lot of people view the iPad more like what Mike said.

00:50:58 ◼   ► Like, it's great for entertainment.

00:51:00 ◼   ► I agree.

00:51:01 ◼   ► Reading and movies and TV shows.

00:51:04 ◼   ► And some light work.

00:51:05 ◼   ► But when it's time to, like, buckle down and do the thing, most people still are going to reach for a laptop.

00:51:11 ◼   ► And I don't think that's what Apple wanted 10 years ago.

00:51:14 ◼   ► I think they're more okay with it now.

00:51:16 ◼   ► But it leaves, like, the tension the iPad has always had in some ways is worse than ever now.

00:51:21 ◼   ► Because it has features of the Mac on the surface, but not underneath.

00:51:28 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:51:31 ◼   ► It's wild.

00:51:31 ◼   ► I love my iPad, though.

00:51:34 ◼   ► Like, I feel like I just want to make it clear.

00:51:36 ◼   ► Like, I love my iPad Pro more than I've loved any iPad.

00:51:41 ◼   ► I don't use it as much as I've used some of the others.

00:51:43 ◼   ► But the hardware is so incredible.

00:51:46 ◼   ► Like, it's my absolute favorite computer to use at home.

00:51:49 ◼   ► Like, without a doubt.

00:51:51 ◼   ► Like, I enjoy it so much.

00:51:53 ◼   ► But, like, I had this just yesterday.

00:51:56 ◼   ► I needed to do a task.

00:51:58 ◼   ► It's like, all right, let's get the MacBook Air out.

00:52:00 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:52:00 ◼   ► Like, I'm just, I know, like, I have limited time when I'm at home to work now.

00:52:05 ◼   ► Like, if I've got to take care of something, I'm just not going to jump through the hoops.

00:52:09 ◼   ► I'm just not going to do it.

00:52:10 ◼   ► Like, I won't.

00:52:11 ◼   ► I would use that computer for noodling, because that's what the iPad is best at.

00:52:15 ◼   ► It is the best noodling computer there is.

00:52:17 ◼   ► But it ain't for when I need to get something done quickly.

00:52:20 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:52:21 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:52:22 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:52:22 ◼   ► And I think that's fine, right?

00:52:25 ◼   ► Like, I think it's totally fine, because the Mac is also good.

00:52:28 ◼   ► It's fine now.

00:52:30 ◼   ► It was not, I don't think 10 years ago, we would have said, this is fine.

00:52:35 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:52:36 ◼   ► Yeah, that's fair.

00:52:37 ◼   ► Things have changed in the past decade.

00:52:40 ◼   ► And so now we can say, yeah, that's fine.

00:52:41 ◼   ► I love my Mac.

00:52:42 ◼   ► The Mac is great.

00:52:43 ◼   ► Well, yeah.

00:52:44 ◼   ► But one of the key things that has changed, that makes that okay, is the Mac is so good

00:52:51 ◼   ► now.

00:52:51 ◼   ► Like, it's not just the stuff you were mentioning, Federico, which is all completely valid.

00:52:55 ◼   ► The other thing is, Apple Silicon changed this completely.

00:53:00 ◼   ► Like, it changed it for me.

00:53:02 ◼   ► Like, this is when I moved away from the iPad, because the Apple Silicon Macs are unbelievably

00:53:08 ◼   ► good, and have so many of the benefits that iPads have, right?

00:53:13 ◼   ► Like, speed and form factor, battery life, all this kind of stuff.

00:53:17 ◼   ► That is, like, a big reason why it's different now.

00:53:21 ◼   ► Because the Mac is in such a good spot, where when this computer launched, it wasn't.

00:53:26 ◼   ► I think the way that I would, something that I would say at the end of this segment would

00:53:32 ◼   ► be, after 10 years, I think of the name iPad Pro.

00:53:37 ◼   ► Like, the iPad Pro is a pro device, like the iPhone 17 Pro is a pro device, not like a MacBook

00:53:48 ◼   ► Pro or a Mac Pro are true pro devices.

00:53:53 ◼   ► Like, it's the better version of a computer.

00:53:58 ◼   ► And, you know, there's this old article, I think, from The Verge a few years ago, like,

00:54:04 ◼   ► Pro has lost all of its meaning.

00:54:06 ◼   ► But that's the way that I think of it.

00:54:08 ◼   ► It's like, it's the better version of the iPad.

00:54:11 ◼   ► It's just like the iPhone 17 Pro.

00:54:13 ◼   ► It's the better version of the iPhone.

00:54:15 ◼   ► But it means something different on the Mac.

00:54:17 ◼   ► I think when you buy a MacBook Pro, when you buy a Mac Pro, when you buy a Mac Studio, it

00:54:23 ◼   ► means something very different.

00:54:25 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, it means, I think Gruber wrote this, pro either means, like, professional or

00:54:32 ◼   ► it just means the nice one, right?

00:54:34 ◼   ► It just means that it's fancier.

00:54:37 ◼   ► And that's, I guess, I guess that's fine.

00:54:40 ◼   ► But it is, I mean, we can't really get into Apple's naming today, but it does lead to, like,

00:54:48 ◼   ► part of the tension is in the branding, right?

00:54:51 ◼   ► That it's called Pro, also that it costs as much or more than a laptop, right?

00:54:58 ◼   ► Like, you can get an iPad Pro that costs way more than a Mac Pro care.

00:55:02 ◼   ► That's weird, right?

00:55:03 ◼   ► Because it's, in Apple land, price generally is associated with, like, power and features.

00:55:12 ◼   ► But you can't cross the lines between the Mac and the iPad or that breaks down, right?

00:55:18 ◼   ► Like, what was the most shocking thing to me, honestly, and re-watching the intro keynote

00:55:26 ◼   ► this week was that the iPad Pro started at $799.

00:55:30 ◼   ► That's what, I was like, no way.

00:55:32 ◼   ► Like, no way that's actually what he just said.

00:55:35 ◼   ► Because they've gotten more expensive and because you can spec things out.

00:55:39 ◼   ► Now, the Apple Pencil and the keyboard were expensive back then, just the way they are now.

00:55:43 ◼   ► But as it's moved upstream, I don't think it's fully earned its move, right?

00:55:51 ◼   ► And I think that's why, like, when people ask the three of us, like, what iPad should I get?

00:55:56 ◼   ► It's like, the iPad Air is the default answer.

00:55:58 ◼   ► You know, maybe even, like, depending on who it's for, the base iPad, because they're all good.

00:56:03 ◼   ► They're all, you know, they're always USB-C now.

00:56:05 ◼   ► They all, you can have a keyboard with them.

00:56:07 ◼   ► Like, the iPad Pro is the nice one.

00:56:10 ◼   ► And people who want the nice one and they can afford it easily, like, go get it.

00:56:15 ◼   ► But I'm not sure it has earned its pro name in the way that Apple thought it would 10 years ago.

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00:58:12 ◼   ► Big surprise, a couple of days ago, introducing iPhone Pocket, a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone.

00:58:23 ◼   ► This is a collaboration product that Apple has embarked on with Issey Miyake, which is a Japanese design house named after the man, Issey Miyake.

00:58:37 ◼   ► I'm trying my best to say that.

00:58:39 ◼   ► I think I did a decent job.

00:58:41 ◼   ► I watched three different videos today for pronunciations, and they're all different.

00:58:45 ◼   ► Because I always call it Issey Miyake, but I think it's a little bit more pronounced than that, so I'm trying my best.

00:58:54 ◼   ► Okay, so this product is essentially two versions.

00:58:58 ◼   ► There's a long version and a short version, two distinct products.

00:59:01 ◼   ► Of easiest to describe it is a piece of fabric with a slit in the middle, and you can slide an iPhone into it and then carry the iPhone.

00:59:14 ◼   ► The long version, you wear across your body, and the short version, you can hold like a bag, you can tie it to things.

00:59:21 ◼   ► This is a very fashion-forward product, obviously.

00:59:25 ◼   ► It's designed in collaboration with a fashion house.

00:59:27 ◼   ► It is a special edition, limited release.

00:59:31 ◼   ► It's going to be available tomorrow as we record this.

00:59:35 ◼   ► The short version is $150.

00:59:37 ◼   ► The long version is $230.

00:59:40 ◼   ► It will be available online and in very specific retail stores, which I am assuming is in a vast selection of fashionable places in the world.

00:59:54 ◼   ► I can say that for the London store, they chose Regent Street, which is, you know, there's lots of shopping.

01:00:01 ◼   ► Are you going to go tomorrow and get in line?

01:00:02 ◼   ► No, I'm not planning on doing that.

01:00:06 ◼   ► I can say that much.

01:00:07 ◼   ► Here's the thing.

01:00:13 ◼   ► This product is bananas, but the press release in particular is bananas.

01:00:22 ◼   ► There's a sentence in here that says,

01:00:24 ◼   ► the design drew inspiration from the concept of, in quotes, a piece of cloth.

01:00:29 ◼   ► This is design-y stuff.

01:00:33 ◼   ► This is the way designers talk.

01:00:35 ◼   ► Yeah, I know.

01:00:36 ◼   ► But this reinforces, like, people who don't like Apple because they think they're too expensive or out of touch or too fashion-forward, like, and there's lots of people out there who think that.

01:00:47 ◼   ► This is, like, the most ammunition Apple has ever given them.

01:00:52 ◼   ► Because this thing is ridiculous.

01:00:55 ◼   ► And I get that, like, I get the fashion exists.

01:00:58 ◼   ► You know, I'm not discounting you that.

01:01:00 ◼   ► This stuff's important and a big part of the world for a lot of people.

01:01:04 ◼   ► But I think for the average person looking at this, including me, it's like, this is so out of touch.

01:01:12 ◼   ► This is so, it's like...

01:01:15 ◼   ► Well, it's out of touch with you.

01:01:17 ◼   ► It's the gold, it's this generation's gold Apple watch.

01:01:22 ◼   ► I absolutely could not disagree more with that.

01:01:24 ◼   ► And it's like, it's like these people took LSD and saw the ghost of Johnny Ive and made this thing.

01:01:31 ◼   ► I just...

01:01:32 ◼   ► I think, I think, I think, and I think going so hard, I was talking to a friend about this the other day, yesterday.

01:01:39 ◼   ► It's like, part of the problem with this is Apple only has one speed when it comes to product marketing.

01:01:45 ◼   ► Like, every press release has the same amount of importance to Apple.

01:01:48 ◼   ► And they can only talk of...

01:01:51 ◼   ► They don't talk about anything humbly.

01:01:53 ◼   ► Like, everything they go hard on.

01:01:55 ◼   ► And...

01:01:56 ◼   ► Well, but they can't, though, right?

01:01:57 ◼   ► They used to.

01:01:58 ◼   ► I think they still can.

01:01:59 ◼   ► Yeah, but now they are one of the biggest companies in the world.

01:02:03 ◼   ► Like, there is nothing...

01:02:05 ◼   ► Like, I'll give you an example.

01:02:06 ◼   ► What happened when they released a polishing cloth?

01:02:09 ◼   ► It became a meme.

01:02:11 ◼   ► Everyone treated it like it was an important thing.

01:02:14 ◼   ► Like, everything they do, everything they do is important, no matter how they would want to spin it.

01:02:23 ◼   ► Because they are Apple.

01:02:24 ◼   ► Like, they cannot have a new product that they have worked on and just be like,

01:02:30 ◼   ► Hey, guys, we just, like, made this little thing, you know?

01:02:34 ◼   ► Like, you do whatever you want with it.

01:02:35 ◼   ► They can't be like that.

01:02:36 ◼   ► Oh, my God.

01:02:36 ◼   ► I would love Apple PR to talk like that.

01:02:39 ◼   ► To be like that?

01:02:39 ◼   ► Yes.

01:02:40 ◼   ► But, like, you see, I get what you're saying, Stephen.

01:02:43 ◼   ► Like, I absolutely do.

01:02:44 ◼   ► But, like, I just don't think they can do that anymore.

01:02:48 ◼   ► Like, I just don't think...

01:02:50 ◼   ► Because anything they do will be written about and spoken about at, like, worldwide news, right?

01:02:59 ◼   ► So, like, they have to treat things as important because people treat everything they do as important.

01:03:05 ◼   ► So, like, that's how I feel about it, anyway.

01:03:07 ◼   ► And I really don't know what to think about this.

01:03:10 ◼   ► On the one hand, I think...

01:03:13 ◼   ► Obviously, it's obviously not a product for me.

01:03:15 ◼   ► At the same time, and I don't personally like it.

01:03:23 ◼   ► At the same time, having spent a little fortune on high-end audio gear and made-in-Italy designer furniture for my apartment...

01:03:36 ◼   ► Yeah, but you're made-in-Italy.

01:03:37 ◼   ► Yeah, but that's a little bit different for you.

01:03:39 ◼   ► Like, if I buy a made-in-Italy sink, it's different than if you buy a made-in-Italy sink.

01:03:45 ◼   ► No.

01:03:47 ◼   ► What I mean is that this sort of, like, high-marketing-speak, like, oh, inspired by a piece of cloth.

01:03:54 ◼   ► Like, I have seen that in furniture stuff, in, like, designer furniture stuff.

01:04:00 ◼   ► This is how designers talk, right?

01:04:02 ◼   ► Exactly.

01:04:02 ◼   ► Like, when Johnny went and did the thing with Montclair, he's like, I wanted to take it to the essence of a button, right?

01:04:09 ◼   ► It's just like...

01:04:10 ◼   ► Yeah, and a lot of people thought that was dumb, or, like, too over-the-top.

01:04:13 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:04:14 ◼   ► Yeah, but this is what design is like.

01:04:17 ◼   ► But this is how the world turns.

01:04:19 ◼   ► Yeah, I mean, there's...

01:04:22 ◼   ► I think when you watch the movie The Devil Wears Prada, do you think that's ridiculous?

01:04:29 ◼   ► Because that's how fashion works.

01:04:32 ◼   ► Like, this world of, you know, designer, designer fashion, it's always...

01:04:39 ◼   ► This is what it is, and now we could have a...

01:04:42 ◼   ► But I can make the argument that Steven, I think, is trying to make, is like, well, they don't have to do that, which I do agree with.

01:04:47 ◼   ► Apple do not have to be in the fashion world.

01:04:49 ◼   ► They don't have to.

01:04:50 ◼   ► That is, I think, the interesting conversation is not, why does this exist?

01:04:55 ◼   ► The question, I think, is, why does Apple want to participate in this?

01:05:01 ◼   ► And that's a different conversation, I think.

01:05:02 ◼   ► Because I have seen people on Mastodon absolutely flabbergasted at the idea that such a product could exist.

01:05:10 ◼   ► I mean, hello, welcome to designers and fashion, right?

01:05:17 ◼   ► I think the question is, why does Apple want to be like that?

01:05:21 ◼   ► And that's a separate conversation.

01:05:23 ◼   ► And I think it comes down to Alan Dye being extremely fascinated by this world, you know?

01:05:31 ◼   ► If you follow Alan Dye on Instagram, which, again, I really recommend people follow Alan Dye on Instagram.

01:05:37 ◼   ► Because I think it gives insight.

01:05:39 ◼   ► This man is super plugged into fashion.

01:05:43 ◼   ► Yes.

01:05:43 ◼   ► And, like, the world of fashion respects him, too.

01:05:48 ◼   ► He is constantly posting on his stories all of the different catwalk shows that he's going to, right?

01:05:56 ◼   ► Like, all the fashion weeks.

01:05:57 ◼   ► Like, he is a fashion person.

01:05:59 ◼   ► Like, he thinks about it, cares about it.

01:06:01 ◼   ► This is a world for him.

01:06:03 ◼   ► He's probably a better fashion person than a software designer.

01:06:07 ◼   ► But that's a separate conversation.

01:06:09 ◼   ► No, I mean, I...

01:06:14 ◼   ► Look, I don't...

01:06:16 ◼   ► Honestly, I don't know.

01:06:17 ◼   ► I feel like this is one of those things where I think it's observing the reactions of people.

01:06:26 ◼   ► It's like a microcosm of the Apple community.

01:06:30 ◼   ► Whatever is left of it.

01:06:31 ◼   ► Whatever that means.

01:06:33 ◼   ► I think a lot of people, including myself sometimes, struggle to accept that Apple is no longer the underdog company making the cool computers from the early 2000s.

01:06:48 ◼   ► And for many reasons, a lot of people have, still have that kind of nostalgia, which is warranted.

01:06:55 ◼   ► And I think that nostalgia is also, it's comfortable, you know, to live in that little bubble and think, oh, Apple is just the fruit company from Cupertino making the computers that I love.

01:07:08 ◼   ► Well, they trade on the nostalgia now.

01:07:10 ◼   ► Like, this is a nostalgia thing, right?

01:07:12 ◼   ► Kind of.

01:07:13 ◼   ► iPod sucks, baby.

01:07:14 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:07:15 ◼   ► This is nostalgic of iPod sucks.

01:07:16 ◼   ► The color is nostalgic of iPods.

01:07:18 ◼   ► The imagery that they've got, this is nostalgic of the iPod marketing.

01:07:23 ◼   ► Yeah, but also something that I personally dislike is when I see some comments.

01:07:34 ◼   ► And look, Apple, I mean, we spoke about this, the iPad and the issues with the App Store.

01:07:40 ◼   ► Apple brought on many of these problems on themselves for their attitude, but there is a group of people who think that anything that Apple does right now is evil.

01:07:56 ◼   ► Just pure evil, evil company, evil corporation.

01:08:02 ◼   ► And I think that's a bit too much for my taste and for my opinion.

01:08:07 ◼   ► And so I think it's interesting, if anything, as a social phenomenon, to observe how a simple announcement, like a fashion accessory, becomes a little petri dish for all kinds of opinions about Apple.

01:08:27 ◼   ► In that vein, this really reminds me of Apple TV, right?

01:08:32 ◼   ► Yes.

01:08:33 ◼   ► When Apple TV was coming about, and everyone would be like, but the Mac is so bad, you know?

01:08:38 ◼   ► It's like, well, but like, they're not the same people.

01:08:41 ◼   ► And like, maybe this is some of the same people that are working on iOS 26, right?

01:08:47 ◼   ► Like, this is probably a product that has come from the design team.

01:08:53 ◼   ► Like, I don't know which part of it, right?

01:08:55 ◼   ► But like, this is clearly a design collaboration.

01:08:58 ◼   ► So Apple's probably involved in color and thought.

01:09:01 ◼   ► But like, obviously, it's something like, I'm making this.

01:09:04 ◼   ► Apple's not making this.

01:09:06 ◼   ► And then Apple is kind of like, lending their marketing to it.

01:09:10 ◼   ► And like, this will probably show up in more marketing.

01:09:12 ◼   ► To me, this just like, why does this exist?

01:09:16 ◼   ► Like, it's kind of like what I was saying at the beginning.

01:09:18 ◼   ► I just think this is the kind of thing that just really excites industrial and visual designers.

01:09:24 ◼   ► Like, and it comes to the thing which Stephen said, which is ridiculous.

01:09:29 ◼   ► When you write it down and say it out loud to people that don't care about these.

01:09:32 ◼   ► Like, we were inspired by a piece of fabric.

01:09:36 ◼   ► It's like, in a design meeting, right?

01:09:39 ◼   ► Or like, when you're brief, like, you can talk about that, right?

01:09:42 ◼   ► Like, you'd be like, oh, and everyone's like, oh, yes, yes.

01:09:44 ◼   ► It's a piece of cloth.

01:09:45 ◼   ► Yes, yes, yes.

01:09:45 ◼   ► But like, when you just put it like, in black and white to the world.

01:09:50 ◼   ► Don't put it in the press release.

01:09:51 ◼   ► It looks ridiculous.

01:09:53 ◼   ► It's ridiculous.

01:09:53 ◼   ► Like, what they shouldn't say inspired by the concept of a piece of cloth.

01:09:57 ◼   ► They should say inspired by and like, the reason it exists, right?

01:10:02 ◼   ► I think like, they should talk about like, the function over the form in this essence of

01:10:08 ◼   ► like, why does this product exist?

01:10:10 ◼   ► Because like, you don't, for the world, I think at large.

01:10:14 ◼   ► You don't want to start with, we were just thinking about cloth, right?

01:10:18 ◼   ► You start with, we were inspired by the way that people carry their phones and wanted to

01:10:23 ◼   ► think about new and interesting ways that they could do that.

01:10:27 ◼   ► And then Apple could very clearly tie it back to, they have an obsession with phone wearing

01:10:32 ◼   ► this year.

01:10:32 ◼   ► Like, clearly, someone at Apple is obsessed with phone wearing.

01:10:37 ◼   ► They put holes in every case they make.

01:10:39 ◼   ► So you could put a strap through it, right?

01:10:42 ◼   ► Like, they are really focused on that, right?

01:10:45 ◼   ► And this could be like, for people that don't want to wear a case on their iPhone, this is

01:10:51 ◼   ► an option for them to wear their phones.

01:10:54 ◼   ► And we've also got the short version, which is a different way of holding it, which some

01:10:59 ◼   ► people may find interesting.

01:11:00 ◼   ► Like, they're clearly, they have an interest in this.

01:11:04 ◼   ► And I think that that is interesting in itself, right?

01:11:07 ◼   ► Like, Apple is trying to get people to think about wearing their phones as fashion.

01:11:15 ◼   ► Like, that is interesting, I think.

01:11:17 ◼   ► Like, I understand why people are dunking on this, because it's easy to dunk on.

01:11:23 ◼   ► Like, why would you not dunk on it?

01:11:25 ◼   ► I did a little post, because I think I'm uniquely qualified as a person that owns both a crossbody

01:11:31 ◼   ► strap and an iPod sock, that I put them together, you know?

01:11:35 ◼   ► Like, it was an easy thing to do.

01:11:38 ◼   ► But I, look, boys, I got to tell you, I think this is great.

01:11:41 ◼   ► I love it.

01:11:42 ◼   ► I think this is fun and weird.

01:11:44 ◼   ► I like it when Apple does weird stuff.

01:11:46 ◼   ► I don't want them doing the same stuff all the time.

01:11:49 ◼   ► I want them to do things that I don't understand, because I find that to be interesting.

01:11:54 ◼   ► And I'm going to buy one for the content.

01:11:57 ◼   ► I just want you to know this.

01:11:59 ◼   ► Tomorrow, I am going to go to the Apple store, and I'm going to buy on the web, and I'm going

01:12:06 ◼   ► to buy an iPhone Pocket, so I can bring my thoughts back to the show.

01:12:10 ◼   ► Because someone has to do this.

01:12:12 ◼   ► I love this, yes.

01:12:13 ◼   ► And I have decided that I will perform the tribute, and I will buy one of these.

01:12:18 ◼   ► I will say, just for my own purposes, I love the name and the colors of somebody who makes

01:12:24 ◼   ► a product called Sidekick Pocket, which is available in bright orange, bright yellow, and

01:12:28 ◼   ► bright blue.

01:12:28 ◼   ► Like, I think that's really fun.

01:12:30 ◼   ► But yeah, I think this is a fascinatingly strange product that...

01:12:36 ◼   ► I want to experience some.

01:12:38 ◼   ► I will be making an order tomorrow.

01:12:40 ◼   ► All right.

01:12:42 ◼   ► Beautiful.

01:12:43 ◼   ► Okay.

01:12:43 ◼   ► I hate it.

01:12:45 ◼   ► I know you do.

01:12:47 ◼   ► Can you expound on it any more while you hate it, or is it just a feeling?

01:12:54 ◼   ► I mean, I think it goes back to it reinforces what a lot of people think is wrong at Apple.

01:13:00 ◼   ► And I think in the world that we live in currently, a $250, like, knit iPhone thing for a company

01:13:11 ◼   ► that makes devices, or they say they make devices for the masses, and they do, it just feels really

01:13:17 ◼   ► out of step with that.

01:13:18 ◼   ► And that makes me uncomfortable.

01:13:20 ◼   ► I see it, but I also just, I struggle to, like, it's a choice, right?

01:13:29 ◼   ► Like, no one's making you buy it.

01:13:31 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah.

01:13:33 ◼   ► And it doesn't take away from something else.

01:13:36 ◼   ► No.

01:13:37 ◼   ► But yes, I get it.

01:13:38 ◼   ► It is, for lack of a different word, and because I'm choosing not to use one, a trophy of sorts.

01:13:46 ◼   ► You know?

01:13:47 ◼   ► Like, an award of sorts.

01:13:49 ◼   ► An emblem of an issue.

01:13:52 ◼   ► Like, it is that.

01:13:53 ◼   ► Like, I see it, but also, it's a piece of cloth.

01:13:58 ◼   ► Well, it was inspired by a piece of cloth.

01:14:00 ◼   ► And it also is one, you know?

01:14:02 ◼   ► A 3D printed piece of cloth.

01:14:04 ◼   ► I don't really know what that means exactly, but let's see.

01:14:06 ◼   ► That's 3D knitted, sorry, not 3D printed.

01:14:08 ◼   ► I think this is a very strange product.

01:14:11 ◼   ► You know what I'm, like, intrigued about?

01:14:12 ◼   ► What's the packaging like?

01:14:14 ◼   ► We'll find out.

01:14:16 ◼   ► Is this Apple packaging?

01:14:17 ◼   ► Is it Issey Miyake packaging?

01:14:18 ◼   ► Is it a combo?

01:14:20 ◼   ► It is also, I know I'm going super long on this.

01:14:23 ◼   ► I've been thinking a lot about this.

01:14:23 ◼   ► Why is this even a collaboration between the companies as well, right?

01:14:27 ◼   ► Like, why isn't this just a product available in the Apple store?

01:14:31 ◼   ► You know?

01:14:32 ◼   ► Like, this isn't a thing that, like, Apple does.

01:14:38 ◼   ► You know?

01:14:39 ◼   ► It's like, hey, here's another company that made a thing, and we want to make a press release

01:14:42 ◼   ► about it, because we're really excited about it.

01:14:44 ◼   ► Like, they collaborate with, quote-unquote, lots of companies, right?

01:14:49 ◼   ► Like, get advanced access to things, but it's, I don't know.

01:14:52 ◼   ► Maybe they do.

01:14:53 ◼   ► Like, maybe they show off Logitech stuff a lot, like, when they work together on things,

01:14:56 ◼   ► or Belkin things.

01:14:57 ◼   ► But it feels like they've really gone hard on this one.

01:15:00 ◼   ► Do you think there's going to be in reviews?

01:15:02 ◼   ► Like, embargoed reviews?

01:15:04 ◼   ► Do you think anyone's getting this in advance?

01:15:06 ◼   ► No.

01:15:07 ◼   ► No.

01:15:08 ◼   ► See, I would expect within the next 48 hours, a celebrity is photographed wearing this.

01:15:15 ◼   ► Maybe.

01:15:17 ◼   ► And if I was going to pick someone out of the air, I'm going to say Ariana Grande.

01:15:29 ◼   ► Okay.

01:15:30 ◼   ► Okay.

01:15:31 ◼   ► Within the next 48 hours, Ariana Grande is photographed with an iPhone pocket.

01:15:36 ◼   ► That is my bet.

01:15:37 ◼   ► That's the bet that I'm making.

01:15:38 ◼   ► Okay.

01:15:39 ◼   ► Okay.

01:15:39 ◼   ► Well, if you want to find out how that goes, I guess, tune in next week.

01:15:45 ◼   ► Mm-hmm.

01:15:47 ◼   ► Until then, you can find more of us online.

01:15:50 ◼   ► You can find Federico at macstories.net.

01:15:53 ◼   ► And he hosts a bunch of podcasts over there.

01:15:56 ◼   ► Go check him out.

01:15:57 ◼   ► Mike hosts a bunch of podcasts over here.

01:15:59 ◼   ► And you can find him at theenthusiast.net.

01:16:03 ◼   ► My writing is at 512pixels.net.

01:16:06 ◼   ► And I co-host MPU here on Relay.

01:16:09 ◼   ► Again, we are running our annual membership sale.

01:16:13 ◼   ► Go to giverelay.com and get 20% off an annual plan.

01:16:17 ◼   ► Connected Pro is the longer, ad-free version of the show.

01:16:20 ◼   ► And we do extra content before the main episode.

01:16:23 ◼   ► We would love to have your direct support.

01:16:25 ◼   ► So go check that out.

01:16:26 ◼   ► I'd like to thank our sponsors this week, Solver and Squarespace.

01:16:30 ◼   ► And until next time, say goodbye.

01:16:32 ◼   ► Adios.

01:16:33 ◼   ► Cheerio.

01:16:34 ◼   ► Bye, y'all.