What OS X Lion Means

Apple recently announced the upcoming release of OS X 10.7 known as Lion. The announcement led us to a few new features which may change the future of personal computing on the desktop and laptop.

Lion present applications with full screen capability and user interfaces much like the mobile applications found on your phone. Some may even say that they are trying to make desktop apps more like mobile apps. Well....they are.

Make sense. Mobile is the hot spot in technology today. People love mobile and the accessibility, simplicity, and power of mobile apps. People are even using their mobile devices and tablets as desktop replacements because they perform all that they would like. I think Lion is the first sign of this movement.

Hypothetically, lets say that the desktop and laptop computers are on their last legs and information appliances such as smartphones and tablets are the future. Which I believe is quite possible. The apps for these new devices will not appear overnight. It takes time for developers to learn the SDK and build and test these apps. Once these apps are built, the platform takes off.

Apple knows this for a fact. Once Apple introduced an SDK for the iPhone, the platform really took off. I was doing well already, but the 3G iPhone was an overwhelming success because of this, but it was a case where the software came after the hardware. Early last year, Apple introduced their version of a "tablet" computer, the iPad. This has become one of the most lucrative tech devices out there today with sales skyrocketing over estimates. The reason being is simple. Because the iPad was capable of using iPhone applications, which at time of launch had tens of thousands of apps. The success of the iPad was a clear indication that a device which performed similarly to one beloved by the general public with a library of apps can be an overwhelming success.

So...what does this mean for the desktop and laptop. To mean, it means that they are close to falling away from the mainstream and becoming specialty devices. The success of the netbook and the tablets are showing that the general public is preferring devices on a smaller form factor. The higher power devices will be needed by designers, software developers, and media producers. But the general public prefer something smaller and portable. Apple sees this and I think Lion is their first step toward this.

Apple I believe doesn't think that the iPad is the answer, I believe they think is somewhere between a Macbook and the iPad, something small and portable, but powerful, running a OS X - iOS hybrid, something slick, something powerful...

Something like OS X Lion.

If developers develops apps in Cocoa much like Apple would like in Lion, then the next step can become interesting. This can mean Apple can introduce a device more powerful than an iPad and more portable than a Macbook. Something that the general public will embrace...and something with a library of apps thanks to the introduction of OS X Lion. What would that device be....A laptop? an iPad? something in between?

Apple certainly makes interesting.