IOS productivity app market on the cusp of change?

The displayed workflow is horrendous. And that&#x27;s just one aspect of the sub-par experience of doing &quot;real work&quot; on pure touch screen devices.<p>The poll sums it all up nicely. What users want is real multitasking, a keyboard, and features that are on a desktop. Seems pretty clear that the users don&#x27;t want an iOS&#x2F;Android device, they want a laptop&#x2F;desktop with a real OS. No app can solve that, no matter how much funding it gets.

I agree with the statements presented by the article (i.e doing real work on iOS sucks), but I don&#x27;t really see what the title of the article has to do with its content.<p>What led them to draw the conclusion that the productivity app market is on the &quot;cusp of change&quot;? I see only an explanation that the market has a systemic and fundamental problem -- not that there is any definable change in sight.

I&#x27;m unsympathetic. The only thing that held back non-Apple mobile platforms was the app ecosystem. The Play Store has definitely caught up with the App Store. Even if you don&#x27;t think it does, the versatility of Android really does beat that of iOS.<p>iOS isn&#x27;t going anywhere for the general populace, but I see little benefit for its use in the tech community.<p>I&#x27;m not one of those &quot;iOS is a toy for idiots&quot; detractors, but not even iOS7 delivered on some really requested features. If we have to pine every year for Apple to build something bloggers keep asking for, is this the kind of model for a software platform that we want?

To get someone to pay, you need to prey on their impulses. Games accomplish this with instant gratification and addiction. For productivity apps, people can justify a purchase because their productivity is worth at the least that price. These are typically pay per downloads and then involve a user to switch to a completely new system. I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised if engagement &amp; retention are very low despite these high revenues.<p>Disclaimer: I&#x27;m working on a productivity app.

I use a bluetooth iPad keyboard (the logitech one, with the smart cover magnets) and it made me much more productive on the iPad for emails and note-taking, but the next immediate problem is a near-total lack of inter-application communication. URL Schemes are a blunt, primitive, under-supported tool.<p>The final problem was round-tripping. i.e. if I work on a slide deck in Keynote for iPad, which is pretty fabulous as a stand-alone, and then take it to the desktop (via many steps as described in the linked article) to edit it, there&#x27;s a ton of minor differences in the slides that are infuriating to deal with.<p>Even worse: iPad 3 + logitech smart cover keyboard = thicker &amp; heavier than an 11&quot; MacBook Air.<p>I expected Apple to fix the IAC issue with remote view controllers, and hoped they&#x27;d offer a smart cover keyboard to counter the Surface, but WWDC rolled past without any news.<p>Apple did expend a lot of effort to solve problems no one actually had but would help guarantee platform lock-in (i.e. SpriteKit). Sigh.

Better app switching and text selection would solve a lot of the complaints. Users can already get a physical keyboard for their iDevice, but standard text selection and editing is incredibly annoying. Also alt-tab to switch applications plus a group of apps that are &quot;running&quot; would make life good.

iOS gives priority to ease of learning over efficient workflow for power users. I agree this gave them a HUGE advantage early on, but as users become more sophisticated in using mobile devices this &quot;priority to beginners&quot; philosophy is going to let Android slowly eat their lunch.

I&#x27;m finding myself using my iPad for certain type of work a lot more with a keyboard attached. Apps like HaikuDeck are simply better at what they do than any app I have on my Mac, and with OS X app Type2Cell I can use my Mac keyboard to control the iPad. (both highly recommended)

A really good assessment of the situation. I really enjoyed the qltv and qtv analysis - but this being HN part of me was hoping there was an actual solution.<p>For me personally, the keyboard is the most frustrating, second to lack of cross-app integration.

There is no such thing as a tablet or phone that is exactly the same as a desktop or laptop computer. Surface claimed to be that solution but no one wants them. Small screens don&#x27;t work for productivity apps like spreadsheets and word processors no matter the platform. If Apple came out with a 15&quot; iPad it wouldn&#x27;t be an iPad anymore it would be an Air. One device can never fit all needs no matter how much you want it too. You can whine about not being able to put freight in a tiny sports car but that&#x27;s what a pickup is for.

I feel that the article highlights an interesting problem, with some good insights. For me, building a productivity app that charges perhaps, $5-$10, may be worth it. But it would have to solve the <i>entire</i> problem, not just one step of their flow diagram. I can&#x27;t make an app that is good at just editing the document, I should also include the other essential steps the user needs to do once done editing (or before). But this adds to the complexity...<p>Also, I figured small screen size would be a bigger issue, but that doesn&#x27;t seem to be the case.

Typing is such a widely voiced complaint because <i>it&#x27;s new and difficult at first and requires practice</i>. Instead of putting in the effort, almost everyone assumes the virtual keyboard paradigm is broken and simply throws their hands up in the air in frustration. It baffles me.<p>Typing on the iPad virtual keyboard is fine. Just like when you were learning to type on a physical keyboard, it takes practice up front. I can easily type 50 WPM on the virtual keyboard, and I&#x27;m not alone. See also: my app TapTyping.

After trying iOS7, and being an iPhone user since its inception, I finally had enough. I switched to Android and now I am in love with my new phone like I was with iPhone 1 back in the day. Shit like &quot;no file system&quot; and no ability to change the default apps for various actions are why I left. It&#x27;s too stupid.

&gt; A number of productivity software startups are creating great new apps that are mobile-first, solving specific problems like...spreadsheets (Grid).<p>I&#x27;m not sure why they call Grid a spreadsheet. It has very little of the functionality that a typical spreadsheet has.

I found this article completely unreadable due to Helvetica Neue Light body font. The Helvetica Neue Ultra Light header is also ridiculously unreadable.

inkmobility.com is selling developer products that may solve some of the pain points that they talk about.

The font in this post isn&#x27;t legible at all.

Productivity will only become better once users regain control of their hardware. Apple will only let its customers be a fraction as productive as they are internally.