According to insider sources, the same app will be able to respond to a mouse, a touch pad or a touch screen, depending on the device it's being run on. Right now, apps must be designed separately for the iPhone and iPad versus for a computer, which explains why you can occasionally find tumbleweeds rolling across the screen when you pull up the Mac App Store. If developers must choose to devote resources to one or the other, the computer apps often get shortchanged.

The change won't come immediately, though. It's planned as part of next fall's iOS and Mac OS updates, according to Bloomberg's sources. Because this is all so tentative, it's also possible that the decision makers at Apple could change their minds and cancel this endeavor entirely. Here's hoping they don't, though. This streamlining would likely be a popular move for Mac users.