Cook sees merging of notebooks, tablets as possibility
updated 10:15 am EST, Thu February 16, 2012
Mountain Lion brings OS X, iOS closer together
Although notebooks and tablets will continue to co-exist, further convergence of the two is a possibility, says Apple CEO Tim Cook. The comments stem from an interview with the Wall Street Journal, made in the wake of the announcement of OS X Mountain Lion. "We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here [in the iPhone]," Cook comments. "Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac."
Mountain Lion will increase the links between iOS and OS X, for instance bringing iMessage to the Mac. The CEO says he already considers iOS and OS X "as one with incremental functionality," and suggests that it is not impossible that Mac and iOS devices might end up using the same processors. "We think about everything. We don't close things off." Some recent rumors have had Apple testing MacBook Airs equipped with ARM-based processors, like those in iPads, instead of ones from Intel. The company would however face major obstacles in making a switch, such as building ARM code into OS X, and supporting third-party apps and hardware.
Elsewhere in the interview Cook mentions that he doesn't think anything Microsoft does puts pressure on Apple, and rather suggests that any pressure is "self-induced." Regarding the MacBook Air, he comments that "The industry at large is trying to copy it in some way, but they will find that it is not so easy."
Junior Member
Joined: Jul 2006
No UI convergence
Having apps share a common name and function doesn't mean there'll be a convergence between laptops and tablets, particularly in the UI. Apple is being wise not to muddle the waters between the two with Mountain Lion. In contrast, Microsoft is being foolish to think that sensible people using a keyboard and mouse want to touch-like interface on the current Office for Windows.
Convergence between the two makes about as much sense as making boats, cars and planes have an almost identical set of controls. They're built differently and used for different functions, so they need different ways of interacting with us.