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't want an iOS/Android device, they want a laptop/desktop with a real OS. No app can solve that, no matter how much funding it gets.
I personally just think it comes down to screen real estate. Small screens are hard to do anything productive. I still remember trying to type up a paper in college on an Acer netbook. Even with a full "laptop experience", it was a horrible and scarring experience.
I suspect that most people who really wanted a hardware keyboard (lots of people don't even want them) for a mobile device will agree with me when I say that if your keyboard case requires a table in order to be used, then you may as well not even have bothered to try.
I purchased a Clamcase Pro for my Ipad, and it's absolutely amazing. I have fairly large hands, but I can still type on the device in a manner that's completely natural and comfortable, at about 90wpm. I've used several different netbooks, and they all felt cramped in comparison. So far, I've completed dozens of essays and reports on the device. I even use it for some light web development. The best part, however, is that the case can actually be used like a normal laptop.
If IOS had better productivity apps, a decent multitasking system, a file system, and sublime text, it would be the best computer I've ever owned.
Writing a paper is full blown work that they know they cant do on a mobile device. But they expected a lot of the micro-moments to work.
> and features that are on a desktop
What led them to draw the conclusion that the productivity app market is on the "cusp of change"? I see only an explanation that the market has a systemic and fundamental problem -- not that there is any definable change in sight.
This article puts into perspective why this could be a potentially huge strategic play.
If you can convince people to use MailBox as their client, saving every attachment to DropBox by default, and continuing to push for DropBox integration in other iOS apps, DropBox could become the unofficial file system of iOS and the solution to the "complex workflows" cited in the article.
iOS isn't going anywhere for the general populace, but I see little benefit for its use in the tech community.
I'm not one of those "iOS is a toy for idiots" 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?
Disclaimer: I'm working on a productivity app.
So from that perspective, I would say retention and engagement are low since not many are willing to put the time and effort to do that tool justice.
"Attach" means charging for something outside of the app store. Dropbox, Uber, Square all do it. I remember seeing a Chris Dixon post about this on HN a few months ago.
My take-away was that I wanted precise pointing and a keyboard and a big screen for those tasks, because I'm fussy about the results.
But like a lot of the HN audience, I'm not very typical, so my experience may mean little ;-).
Regarding payment model, payment wasn't the issue. It was functionality.
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's a ton of minor differences in the slides that are infuriating to deal with.
Even worse: iPad 3 + logitech smart cover keyboard = thicker & heavier than an 11" MacBook Air.
I expected Apple to fix the IAC issue with remote view controllers, and hoped they'd offer a smart cover keyboard to counter the Surface, but WWDC rolled past without any news.
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.
This doesn't address your larger point, given that the switch to lines doesn't mean that they're bringing advanced functionality yet, but it's a sign that they are willing to trade away easy of learning.
For me personally, the keyboard is the most frustrating, second to lack of cross-app integration.
After I bought my keyboard, the next problem I hit was the inter-app communication issue you raised. That's a software problem and solvable.
Also, I figured small screen size would be a bigger issue, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
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'm not alone. See also: my app TapTyping.
Either you don't use proper typing style on a physical keyboard (all 10 fingers, each responsible for a specific set of keys), or you haven't put the effort into adapting that typing style for virtual keyboards.
Typing is about training your muscle memory for each finger for each keystroke it could possible be responsible for. Once your muscle memory is trained, it becomes a subconscious skill that you should not need to concentrate on.
The fact that this muscle memory is being used on a virtual keyboard vs. a physical keyboard does not matter whatsoever. The same concept applies.
Edit: email me adam@flairify.com and I'll give you a free download for my paid typing trainer app. It works.
Entering something like _ is especially poor because it requires two keypresses to get the keyboard into the right mode. So entering even a small bit of code on an iPad is painful if you use underscores in variable names.
Quite apart from the tactile feedback, I think mode switching is very disruptive to getting into the flow of typing -- "where did all my keys go?"
I'm not sure why they call Grid a spreadsheet. It has very little of the functionality that a typical spreadsheet has.