<i>Apple decided they needed a tablet that was geared for production versus consumption.</i><p>And don&#x27;t seem to have noticed that this is a requirement that will be all but impossible to satisfy no matter what they do. Almost everything that has made tablets successful in recent years has been because they were devices all about casual consumption and trivial interactions, from the good quality screens and tidy form factors, to the simple interfaces and useful but usually extremely simple and limited apps, via the similarly useful but extremely simple and limited models for installing new software, storing data, and communicating externally.<p>There is a way to convert from such a device to one more suitable for serious use but still very portable, and that is to add proper input devices, more flexible connectivity, and more powerful, more flexible, but inevitably also more complicated software. We call those alternative devices &quot;laptops&quot;, and they are what the grown-ups use when they have real work to do. I&#x27;m genuinely not sure, based purely on the content of this article, whether Gruber actually understands the difference, but I&#x27;m fairly sure the people making purchasing decisions for hundred-person departments do.<p><i>I think for the professional person that is wanting to work on a tablet</i><p>I suspect I&#x27;ve never met that person. Certainly in my entire professional career I have never seen anyone using an iPad at work for the kind of task you would use a general purpose computer for, not even once. Handy touchscreen control panel? Sure. Quick reporting from staff in the field? Maybe. Serious logistics, marketing, accounts, R&amp;D, customer support...? Never.