Though the iPhone and iPad run on a common operating system, the version of OS installed on iPad will not be compatible with an iPhone. The reasons are evident: With a different screen size and variant features that the iPad will come with, the OS on iPhone will require a significant overhaul to match the capabilities presently available on the iPad.
While there is no doubt that future versions of the iPhone OS will be compatible on both the iPhone and iPad, the question is if this will happen with the upcoming launch of iPhone 4G later this summer. According to John Gruber from Daring Fireball, this is most likely. In his blog post yesterday, Gruber says apps like Stocks and Weather, which have been removed from the iPad could be relaunched with iPhone OS 4.0 when both the devices will see a unified operating system.
But is such a platform unification workable in the timelines specified? Jim Dalrymple from the Loop disagrees. He says that with the launch of iPhone OS 4.0 expected to happen around June of this year, Apple may not have time on their hands to offer a unified platform in this version. He writes:
"iPhone OS 4.0 will include lots of new features, just like you would expect to see from Apple. However, It doesn’t make sense for Apple to unify the two operating systems for 4.0 with the timeline they are working with. Rather, I expect Apple to release OS 4.1 in September or October. It will not only address issues with the 4.0 release, but also unify the operating systems."
Dalrymple's arguments about timelines are interesting. However, considering that the iPad has been in the works for quite sometime, it is possible that Apple's work on iPhone OS 4.0 may have happened concurrently with work on iPhone OS 3.2 that runs on the iPad, which could mean that a unified iPhone OS 4.0 platform for iPhone and iPad is still a possibility.
What are your thoughts?
[via The Loop]
All I have to say is that whenever is 4.0 comes out it better work on the 3g & 3gs… I'd feel raped if iPhone 1.0 could run 3.1 but my 3gs couldn't run 4.0… Don't let us down apple!!!
The iphone and ipad variations of OSX are so limited in what you can do (comparatively), that I'm not seeing there's much to care about.
When two "yawns" merge, you just get a bigger yawn.
I like my iphone. But I'm not happy with Apple's craptastic control-freakism and my next phone will very likely be something else. I'm tired of having to jailbreak just to use it how I want. I don't run much, but what I run matters. Heck, I'd forgotten how lame an unmodded iphone is until I pick up my wife's. I've been using Winterboard for so long, I'm just used to a better GUI experience
And there's no way my next tablet will be an ipad. It fails in nearly every way, except a few Industrial Design cues. It fails on HW (fatally) and OS (critically).