Tim Cook: ‘Watering down’ iOS and macOS by combining them is a bad idea

For years, rumors have claimed Apple is planning on merging macOS and iOS somewhere down the line. At the very least, Apple intends to integrate enough macOS features into iOS to effectively make it a replacement.

But if you ask Tim Cook, that’s not happening anytime soon.

When asked about the divide between macOS and iOS in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, the Apple CEO said his company’s products were so good because of that chasm. Here’s the relevant quote:

We don’t believe in sort of watering down one for the other. Both [The Mac and iPad] are incredible. One of the reasons that both of them are incredible is because we pushed them to do what they do well. And if you begin to merge the two … you begin to make trade offs and compromises.

So maybe the company would be more efficient at the end of the day. But that’s not what it’s about. You know it’s about giving people things that they can then use to help them change the world or express their passion or express their creativity. So this merger thing that some folks are fixated on, I don’t think that’s what users want.”

At first glance, this seems to run counter to some of recent reports that Apple is planning to allow developers to create apps that work on both iOS and Mac devices, much like Universal Windows Platform apps on Microsoft’s side.

Still, the ideas aren’t totally opposed. Such a platform would make it easier for developers to share code between iOS and macOS versions of an app, but it doesn’t mean the operating systems themselves would be compromised in interface or functionality. For that matter, reports suggest Apple is also planning to use its own chips in future Macs. If future Macs and iOS devices have more similar hardware, sharing code between the two would presumably be easier as well.

At least Cook isn’t picking a favorite child: “I generally use a Mac at work, and I use an iPad at home. And I always use the iPad when I’m travelling. But I use everything and I love everything.”

Via MacRumors

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