ter. There's no mouse pointer on the iPhone's screen, and it's not missed because all the Cocoa Touch software developed for the iPhone is designed around direct finger contact rather than pointing devices.
Failing to make the leap
Most other mobile devices have attempted to retain some sort of trackball or directional buttons or stylus to rely upon in order to drive a mouse pointer, because they're trying to run conventional pointer-centric software. This was Microsoft's strategy with Window CE Handheld PCs and Pocket PCs, and its Windows XP-based Tablet PCs and OMPCs. None of those became very successful.
This is also an issue for Flash, because while new touch-oriented content can be developed using Adobe's latest tools, the vast majority of the installed base of Flash apps and other content make pervasive use of mouseovers and other dependencies on a pointer-centric environment. Trying to support this existing content on the iPad would result in a disappointing user experience.
In addition to simply lacking the vision to the migrate toward touch interfaces earlier (in the way Apple very decisively did back in 2007) other vendors have been slow to make a decisive leap into touch because doing so would necessitate a new platform (just as Apple created with Cocoa Touch).
The catch-22 of new platforms
The problem with creating new platforms is that they require a lot of work (and luck) to make them successful. In order to launch a really new platform, a vendor has to get customers to buy it, but users are unlikely to get very interested unless there are a lot of applications available.
At the same time, getting developers on board to create applications is difficult unless there is an existing installed base to sell those apps to, a vicious cycle that has prevented a number of promising new platforms from ever gaining any traction.
With Cocoa Touch, Apple was able to successfully sell the iPhone to a broad audience based solely upon its bundled apps, before ever launching a third party developer program. By that time, there was a significant demand for new apps that could fuel a development gold rush.
The iPad is leveraging that existing interest and expertise among iPhone coders to incite an expectation of tablet adoption that is driving iPad-centric development. If the iPad could run existing Mac software, there would be little new demand for software for developers to address. It would also run that desktop-centric software poorly, resulting in a disappointing experience for users.
Instead, developers have a great incentive to create original multitouch interfaces for their existing Mac apps, as well as more sophisticated versions of their existing iPhone apps. Apple has demonstrated examples of how to do both, showing off a multitouch version of iWork in addition to expanded versions of bundled iPhone apps like Calendar, Mail, and Notes.
On Topic: Mac OS X
- Apple, Inc's double digit U.S. Mac growth contradicts IDC & Gartner reports of a Mac sales slump
- Public beta launch nearly doubles OS X 10.10 Yosemite adoption despite download issues
- Apple makes first OS X Yosemite public beta available on the Mac App Store
- Apple issues new Safari betas for OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion with minor changes
- Apple to release first public beta of OS X Yosemite on Thursday