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What if Apple didn’t own iPadOS?
A thought experiment
In recent years, Apple has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators across the globe: from allegations over allegedly unfair practices in its App Stores to its stance on the right to repair, Apple has faced pressure. Some of the most locked down elements of Apple’s ecosystem are its tailor-made operating systems — iOS (and iPadOS), in particular — allowing Apple to control tightly the customer experience. The following essay speculates on one of the rather less well discussed avenues for potential antitrust measures: if Apple was spin off iPadOS as a standalone company.
Software and Hardware Integration
One of Apple’s longstanding arguments about its ecosystem is the convergence of its hardware, software and services. In other words, each element can work harmoniously with the other because it was designed to do so. This comes back to an old Silicon Valley saying, attributed to Alan Kay: ‘people who are really serious about software should make their own hardware’. Take as an example the miraculous power of AirDrop: the system leverages the bluetooth and wireless chipsets of the host device to allow (mostly) seamless file transfers.
Making software and hardware together is a) difficult and b) forces certain choices. For example, users without an iOS device cannot make use…
