Apple CEO Tim Cook has made it clear that the company has no plans of releasing an iPad / Mac hybrid as some might be expecting. While speaking to The Independent, Cook said the company has a strong feeling that no customers are looking for a converged Mac and iPad.
PCs and Macs are different
Cook said the company is worried that such a device would result in unsatisfied customers. “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,” the CEO said.
Cook believes the iPad Pro is an excellent substitute for the notebook or desktop PC. This does not mean at all that the Mac faces the risk of becoming obsolete. Cook is a firm believer that PCs and Macs are two different devices, suggesting that the iPad Pro could be a good replacement for PCs but not for Macs.
Apple is marketing the iPad Pro as a tablet with a greater focus on productivity, but it wants to make it more than just a consumption device, for which it is relying on software developers. Apple introduced the iPad five years ago, but it has not been able to achieve its goal until now. The iPad might get a push forward with optional accessories such as the keyboard and pencil.
Apple made a good start with iOS 9, which comes with multitasking apps, but the company will need to do a lot more in the future to be able to replace a PC.
Apple won’t go for “diluted”
Last week, Cook described Microsoft’s Surface Book, which a PC / tablet hybrid, as “diluted.” It is understood that Cook will not like using this word for his own company’s iPad Pro device, which shares some similarities with the Surface Book.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 makes a good attempt to be the best of both a laptop and a tablet, but none of the models is perfect. Though Cook has clarified that the company is not working on any such hybrid product at present, this does not mean that it won’t be there in the futurel.
Steve Jobs was the first one to come up with the idea of manufacturing large screen iPhones to compete with Android devices, and later Apple launched the iPhone 6 Plus, which was a great success. Therefore it will not be wrong to expect Apple to create an iPad / Mac hybrid sometime in the future.
