The Independent:
Speaking to Independent.ie , Cook denied that the death of computers such as the Mac was imminent and said that there would be a market for such traditional personal computers for the foreseeable future.
“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” said Cook. “Because what that would wind up doing, or what we’re worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants. So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either. You’d begin to compromise in different ways.”
Amen.
Being a long time (admitted) fan boy of Apple products, I always feel uncomfortable when I read “we will never” type statements from Apple. It just provides ammunition to anti-Aplle trolls in the future if Apple ever does it when market pressure forces a shift in that direction. Remember “no one’s going to buy a big phone?” We all know how that turned out. And what about Steve’s view on a stylus? Enter… the Apple Pencil. I would personally love to see the best of tech integrated into all of my products. I have an iPhone, iPad, Air, Watch, TV, etc. and love them all. But I also constantly find that when I am using my Air, I reach out to touch my screen to move something around only to go “doh!” and remember I’m not on my iPad with an attached keyboard case. I would HAPPILY pay extra to have a touch screen on my laptop. I just don’t want it to be running Windows. :/
wrong, wrong, wrong. you should have been paying closer attention… jobs statement was if a tablet required a stylus, they blew it. he obviously was not speaking about an optional drawing accessory.
his take on large phones was also relative to the display resolutions of the day and the display panels available to iphone competition at the time, which he said were poor.
they wont be making OS X laptops touch. while you think it would be neat, the realty of testing shows that its very uncomfortable to reach up to manipulate the screen all day. a mouse is more ergonomic.
” I would HAPPILY pay extra to have a touch screen on my laptop. “
But OS X and similar UIs are designed for more precise pointing devices and would not work well with big, clumsy fingers. That’s the point (see what I did there…?) really – the two use cases are fairly dissimilar. When it makes true sense to be on a touch UI you want to be in an environment where the environment works well with touch (the OS and the apps you’re using). When you’re using something that makes more sense with a keyboard and mouse (say, a spreadsheet), you want everything to work well for THAT.
Sure, they could have something where your screen detached and became a tablet that ran iOS… but then people would say “But i want it to magically know that as I raise my finger it should morph to iOS but when I move the mouse….”
I get your confusion – I’ve done the same thing. But mushing everything into a single tool is rarely the best solution – look at the spork. 🙂
I used to work at an Apple Specialist store where this would occasionally happen. We discovered two things that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere regarding this concept:
Any modern laptop, especially something like an MBA makes an annoying tap, tap, tap… The base of the machine is too light to counteract the press on the screen. It’s lifted off then re-connects with the surface/desk/table.
If you are able to overcome issue 1, then you’ll be constantly re-adjusting the angle of your laptop display.
These are admittedly small annoyances. However, so was having to charge the battery on a new device after it was unboxed.
He never said the iPad wouldn’t evolve and become more Mac-like. You don’t have to turn the iPad into a Mac to get Mac-like workflows and productivity. You can come up with new workflows that might even be superior to current desktop workflows. Its just a matter of whether Apple can solve this problem with something new and iPad-like.
The problem with Cook’s position is his insistence that the Mac and PCs are distinct. But this is not true from the customer perspective. Users see them Macs as a non-Windows PC, and use them as such. They expect to see the same key apps. While there are tremendous use differences, the fact is that customers use Macs and PCs for the apps, the same reasons. So for him to say that the iPad Pro can replace a PC but not a Mac just doesn’t make sense. But then, he also contradicts himself by saying that he doesn’t mind cannibalization. This is what happens when one talks too much. Contradiction is inevitable.