Every year, the week after Christmas, I get questions about this at work. I figured I’d do a post on it. If you know anyone who gets an iPad for Christmas (especially older folks), you might want to show them this post.
At work, we distribute third-party tutorial software that was written for PCs. The last week of December, I get a lot of questions like, “I got an iPad for Christmas. I can’t install your software on my iPad. Please help.”
The thing is, iPads don’t run PC software. iPads run apps, which are downloaded from Apple’s iTunes App Store.
“But I’ve heard your software runs on a Mac. So shouldn’t it run on my iPad too?”
It’s true that PC software can run on Macs, if software is installed on the Mac to allow it to run Windows. However, iPads are not Macs. That’s a common misunderstanding. Both products are made by Apple, but they are different products. It’s much more accurate to think of an iPad as a big iPhone, minus the phone capability, than it is to think of it as a little Mac.
“So you’re saying an iPad is not a computer?”
Yes, it is a computer (and so is an iPhone), but it will help you to instead think of the iPad as a mobile device, while thinking of PCs and Macs as real computers.
Similarly, if you receive a Kindle Fire for Christmas, it’s more accurate to think of it as a big Android phone minus the phone, than as a PC. PC software won’t run on it either. You get your Kindle Fire software through the appstore Amazon links to on your tablet, under the “Apps” tab.
Hope this post helps those who are not computer-savvy who become iPad owners this week.