Unlike several other tablet-designed devices encountered so far, the Apple iPad does not run a traditional operating system (OS) like the Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows. Instead, Apple has made use of a mobile version of the OS X from its unarguably fastest-growing and most successful product – the iPhone.
It is quite apparent that the iPhone OS in the iPad goes a long way in distinguishing it from others in the competition. In a market where iPad alternatives are launched in hundreds every week claiming all possible sorts of added features and advantages, the iPad remains the only tablet-computer that has got an access to the App Store.
The iPhone OS appears like a perfect fit for the iPad in several instances. For example, there are no chances of a traditional computer headache such as files scattered all over your desktop, trying to work out a feasible place for putting your downloaded image, installing extra drivers for third party hardware. Instead, with iPhone OS on your iPad, all the apps are well laid out, arranged in the form of nickel-size icons inside a grid, each of which is sensitive to touch. Whenever you download any email or image from a site, it is sure to emerge in the photo library immediately. In case you wish to make a search result for anything – an email, photo, web page, or song, all you need to do is double-click the Home button to bring up the Spotlight feature that will make a search for nearly everything stored in the device. In the iPad, there is no organizational metaphor of folders, and the result is a feeling of liberation while managing all your work.
Most users are bound to appreciate this reliability and simplicity of the iPhone OS, especially when they compare it to a conventional, inexpensive personal computer. Some, however, may disagree with this and consider the totalitarian control of Apple over its iPad’s OS suffocating.
