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Comment by criddell | Hacker News Reader

None of that really matters though. It's all about the applications. If you need to run Windows software, buy a Windows machine. If the applications you depend on require iOS, buy an iPad.

Other non-software features (like battery life and weight) matter as well.

Price doesn't really matter though.

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If you need to run Windows software, buy a Windows machine. If the applications you depend on require iOS, buy an iPad.

The Surface Pro and iPad Pro is where you'll see the whole "app gap" story inverted. The Surface will have "all the apps" (apps in this case meaning all existing Win32 applications and Enterprise software) and iOS trying to play catch up through partnerships like their one with IBM.

lol not going to happen. Did you see Microsoft on stage? MS can't really survive long term without iOS right now and they now it. Very soon iOS apps will match and/or exceed most desktop apps.

How many offices are using iPads as their workstations?

>Very soon iOS apps will match and/or exceed most desktop apps.

I expected that to be true, but we're coming up on 10 years of the Apple App Store and I'm still waiting.

A surprising number of them actually. Depends on the industry but the medical industry in particular makes heavy use of iOS. I'm not saying Microsoft is going to disappear tomorrow but I think it's pretty clear that iOS is trending upwards will windows growth has flatlined and is shrinking in certain markets.

Also I'd actually argue that a ton of iOS apps are better than the desktop equivalents. Touch screen is a new paradigm that is taking us a while to truly master IMO. Also the app store has only been out 7 years so it hasn't been 10. It launched July 2008.

>Depends on the industry but the medical industry in particular makes heavy use of iOS.

In what context?

Lots of businesses build their own software. Do you think it's easier to deploy private software onto an iPad or a Windows machine?

Probably the same. Apple[1] has done a lot of work on this the last few years and IBM[2] is making huge bets on iOS.

[1] http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/it/management.html

[2] http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst/us/en/mobilefirst-for-ios/

Ok. Easier to build for? In a business environment that's running all Windows servers and workstations? I don't know any small or medium sized businesses that employ iOS devs in-house...

You need Macs to build iOS software. Meanwhile, you can find Visual Studio already being employed in most business IT shops to build custom desktop and web software. I can't remember the last time I saw a job ad for an iOS developer that wasn't for a one-off gig or a mobile apps shop (or a marketing agency).

I've found that most servers in business environments are Linux-based, not Windows-based. It's significantly cheaper to spin up CentOS licenses for cost centers.

Shipments of Windows servers has been dominating for years - http://www.computerworld.com/article/2469469/network-softwar...

Those statistics are old and useless. How many linux servers are "sold" before use?

They're better than bullshit anecdotes.

Business environment is not Windows servers and workstations anymore. It's web apps, services and APIs. If it all Windows & MS stack, you better be worried.

iPad also has the advantage of being sexy these days even to more old fashioned types. See the push to use them in 1:1 programs in high schools, even though the amount of writing/typing involved in most high school classes would seem to recommend something with a good keyboard...

If you're building your own software why pick one or the other when you can just build a web app and call it a day? When you're building a new app from scratch for your company why on earth would you go native unless you absolutely had to?

On a large scale, an iPad. Enterprise certs make this easy.

What professional applications require ios?

I had an insurance adjuster at my house to evaluate hail damage earlier this year and he did everything on an iPad. My doctor uses an iPad for Medscape (? not sure if that's right) and some other mobile point of care app. My mother in law is a real estate agent and her office uses iPads for everything.

There's a ton of them and it's a very hot area right now. It's a great time to be an iOS developer.

It's worth noting that some (probably most) of these aren't iOS exclusives; I've had Medscape on quite a few of my Android devices over the last couple years, for example.

Oh for sure. Many are fairly thin wrappers around web api client.

Not even iOS - there are thousands hybrid apps being built on business platforms like Salesforce.

iOS development is becoming 'just another' language in your stack.

Alright, I see now. Thanks.

Plenty of point of sale apps. Really common in smaller retail stores. Also waiters in restaurants using iPad minis

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