Late last year, rumours started to appear that Apple was looking to unify their macOS and iOS apps. That was all under the mysterious codename “Marzipan”. But inside information, gained by long-time Apple watcher John Gruber, suggests the project is much like Monty python’s famous parrot – it’s not dead, just resting.
We reported on some inside scuttlebutt that Bloomberg got their hands on last December. In that report, it was expected that iOS and macOS apps would become universal with software developed for one platform working on the other.
It makes some sense given iOS is actually a fork of macOS’ predecessor OS X.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber has pulled back some of that saying that while Project Marzipan is a real thing, it’s not likely to see light of day at this years Worldwide Developer Conference, with a more likely scenario. being the release of mac OS 10.15 and iOS 13 in 2019.
Microsoft had a crack at universal apps that ran on mobile and traditional personal computing devices but the total failure of Windows Phone pretty much put that to rest. Apple is coming at it from a stronger position and has the added benefit of controlling all the software and hardware – particularly if they also roll out devices with bespoke Apple CPUs.
While Gruber’s sources seem to be in agreement that this won’t be the year when iOS and macOS applications will become universal, the dominoes are lining up for Apple to change the way they develop and deploy software at some point.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.