Ahead of Marzipan's debut at WWDC 2019 on June 3, interesting new details just surfaced regarding some of the planned capabilities for Apple's upcoming software framework that promises to help developers write cross-platform apps which run across iPhone, iPad and Mac.
macOS 10.15, the next major update to the desktop operating system powering the Mac, will rock standalone apps for Music, Podcasts and TV, plus a redesigned Books app.
Software developers will soon be able to design universal iOS/macOS apps that work with a touchscreen or a mouse/trackpad, depending on whether they're running on the iPhone and iPad hardware or on a Mac. The app merger initiative, dubbed Project Marzipan, comes as Apple is reportedly planning replacing Intel chips with its own Mac processors.
Addressing a long-standing question of potentially merging the iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems into one with a “no,” Apple did provide a sneak peek at upcoming new frameworks designed to help developers port their iOS apps over to the Mac without too much fuss.
Tim Cook is (again) saying MacBooks and iPads won't converge into a new platform.
Apple's recently said it would push back some pretty major new features in iOS 12 to 2019, including an overhauled Home screen with a redesigned grid of app icons, but the rumored ability for Macs to run iPad apps is still on track for this year's software updates.
Apple will provide new developer tools that will for the first time let app makers design, engineer and compile a single app binary which will run across iPhone, iPad and Mac devices.