Tim Cook throws shade at Microsoft’s Surface, says Apple won’t combine a Mac and iPad

Apple CEO Tim Cook noted in a recent interview that the company doesn’t intend to stop making Mac computers anytime soon and has no plans to create a ‘converged’ MacBook and iPad.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Cook said:

We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad. 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.

Cook is clearly making known his lack of enthusiasm for Microsoft’s Surface, which offers laptop-grade performance and runs Windows 10 while maintaining a tablet-like form factor.

He also clarified his statement to The Telegraph from last week, in which he seemed to be implying that the days of the personal computer were numbered.

Cook was likely referring exclusively to Windows machines and not Apple’s Mac computers: “We don’t regard Macs and PCs to be the same,” he said.

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Hot off the launch of the immensely powerful 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Cook said that he believes both Macs and iPads have a strong future:

It’s true that the difference between the X86 [personal computer] and the A-series [Apple iPad architecture] is much less than it’s ever been. That said, what we’ve tried to do is to recognize that people use both iOS and Mac devices. So we’ve taken certain features and made them more seamless across the devices. So with things like Handoff we just made it really simple to work on one of our products and pick it up and work on the next product.

He added that he’s “bullish” on reversing iPad sales declines in the past six years: by the end of July, Apple’s share of the tablet market had fallen below 25 percent. Cook said that he now only carries an iPad Pro and an iPhone when he travels.

It’ll be interesting to see if Cook sticks to his guns on the issue of developing a Surface-like device. Apple has changed its tune in the past, most recently introducing a stylus to its touch-based iPad Pro after Steve Jobs derided the idea years ago.

➤ Tim Cook: Apple won’t create ‘converged’ MacBook and iPad [The Irish Independent]