Tim Cook Shoots Down Convergence Rumors
- Paul Thurrott
- Apr 19, 2018
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134
Apple CEO Tim Cook pulled his head out of the sand just long enough to dash our hopes and dreams. By which I mean, he just denied that Apple was looking to bring iPad apps to the Mac.
“We don’t believe in sort of watering down one for the other,” Cook told The Sydney Morning Herald. “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,” he continued. “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.”
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But we can at least take heart in the fact that he uses all of Apple’s products.
“I generally use a Mac at work, and I use an iPad at home,” Cook said. “And I always use the iPad when I’m traveling. But I use everything and I love everything.”
You’d love a 2-in-1, too, Tim. Just saying.
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Conversation 134 comments
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264352"><em>In reply to Angusmatheson:</em></a></blockquote><p>If by "medical" you mean, apps used by medical professionals, I suspect those apps would lose their usefulness if they were tethered to a desk. There's no lack of professional medical programs available on the PC (and I would imagine, Macs as well).</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264467"><em>In reply to obarthelemy:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes, I understood what he was saying and my response was consistent with that. I didn't say anything about IPad apps requiring a Mac.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264359"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Apple Is not bringing iPad apps to OSX ok"</p><p><br></p><p>There are three rumors floating around out there. </p><p><br></p><p>1. Apple at WWDC release the ability to make there version of "Universal" apps. This rumor is pretty strong with strong evidence. This would allow iOS apps to run on OS X pretty easily and I see this happening.</p><p><br></p><p>2. Apple get rid of iOS and MacOS in favor of one OS that is basically a more advanced iOS. I do not see this happening in the next 5 years if ever and Tim just said it is not so. At some point iOS might get things like mouse support and other abilities and if and when that happens MacOS might just go away…but not for a long time. They day you can create iOS apps on a iPad would be a good indicator of that time arriving.</p><p><br></p><p>3. Apple is going to make its own CPU's and dump Intel in 2020 or starting in 2020. This far off rumor has lead many rumor fueled bloggers to suggest #2 the merging of the OS because they think it will be a ARM chip. That is a serious lack of thoughtfulness. Apple designs its own ARM chips already, customizing it to improve performance when used with iOS. iOS devices lack both space and active cooling limiting what Apple can design because of the form factor. There is nothing stopping them from making a way more powerful ARM chip or ARM/x86 hybrid when they have more space (MacBook/Pro, Mini, iMac etc) that also has active cooling (fans). Making a 10 core CPU or whatever could be done. If anyone can do it Apple has a mountain of cash to do it, to include licensing x86 from AMD or Intel. All that said I am not sure about this rumor because the cost is high, but if done right then they would control much more of the parts and their advancement which could save/make money in the long run.</p>
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skane2600
<p>What can iOS apps do that can't be done as well or better by MacOS programs (other than those that are specifically designed for mobile scenarios)? What's the business case for Apple allowing iOS apps on Macs?</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264416"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>So, for what period are you claiming that there's not new programs for MacOS? When did that change occur?</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264440"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a></blockquote><p>You can't prove a vague claim about MacOs by referencing an equally vague claim about Windows. </p><p><br></p><p>Of course more new apps are made for mobile because they haven't had decades to build up. I also think most people realize there's a higher percentage of junk apps on mobile than there has been on the Mac and Windows. </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264417"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>So you think your stereotypical young people and "simple" people would be willing to buy a Mac under any circumstances? Now real, non-stereotypical people might buy a Mac but probably to do things that a Mac excels at rather than things they already do on their iPhones.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264436"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>The idea that 50% of Mac users bought one because they HAD to buy Apple is the most extreme of the Apple fanboy theory I've heard expressed. If they really were such lemmings there's no reason why Apple would have to bother altering the MacOS, since their customers will continue to buy Macs regardless because they HAVE to.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264436"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>I agree. My Mom and dad both have Mac's and iPad's. If you gave them mouse support for the iPad I bet they would not use their Mac anymore. Everything they use is on both, but the mouse/keyboard input is more natural to them.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264465"><em>In reply to obarthelemy:</em></a></blockquote><p>Those people who have never used a Mac and for whom an iPhone or an iPad provides all they need, definitely shouldn't by a Mac even if it ran iOS apps. For those people it would be redundant to own both.</p><p><br></p><p>What Apple understands and apparently Microsoft doesn't, is that satisfying your existing customers for a particular product should be the priority. Microsoft tried to leverage their existing customer base to promote their mobile efforts through Windows 8 and it failed miserably. All it did was harm their reputation with their customers. Had MS taken an IOS-like approach, the worst that could have happened was that their mobile efforts failed in that case also, but at least they wouldn't have annoyed their primary customers.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264499"><em>In reply to obarthelemy:</em></a></blockquote><p>Apple tried to do what you suggest. If Jobs wasn't the first one to coin the phrase "Post-PC era" he certainly was the earliest famous person to use it. It's also worth noting that keyboards, mice and small screens were never part of his vision for the iPad. He didn't want to create a laptop-light, he believed that touch was all that was required.</p><p><br></p><p>What he didn't realize (or perhaps, realized but didn't admit publicly) was that a solely touch-based device wouldn't be adequate for some worthwhile tasks. </p><p><br></p>
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dontbe evil
<blockquote><a href="#264367"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>funny that everybody here complains about UWP against Win32… and now suddenly ios apps are the best for everything</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264593"><em>In reply to dontbe_evil:</em></a></blockquote><p>iOS apps exist as in millions of them. UWP apps not so much. </p><p><br></p><p>So yes iOS apps can cover most needs quite well. In fact for most needs you many iOS apps to choose from.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264378"><em>In reply to MikeGalos:</em></a></blockquote><p>Sort of like Windows Phone was killed off? I wonder which company will be impacted greater by these decisions to kill off those projects??</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264421"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>I suspect your "ton of people" are not all that representative of the average user who doesn't see Windows as something to hate. Doing things "the hard way" when you have an superior method at hand (since they already owned PCs) isn't rational, but is consistent with someone who has an emotional issue with their tools.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264430"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>So you've asked thousands of people about how they feel about Windows? Merely being "exposed" to thousands of people doesn't mean much in this discussion.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264908"><em>In reply to Greg Green:</em></a></blockquote><p>Again, it's not simply about how many people one encounters that's relevant to this discussion but rather how many one has asked for an opinion on Windows. Really, should I even have to explain that?</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264975"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>Your personal "feelings" can't be anecdotal. Evidence can be, but since you obviously didn't discuss Windows with all 5,850 shipmates (or you would have asserted that by now) your anecdotal evidence is limited to the number of people you actually discussed Windows with.</p><p><br></p><p>I've been as clear as I can be on this issue, so there's no point arguing with you about it further. I'm done.</p><p><br></p><p>And thank you for your service.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264782"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>It's unclear whether a "neither fish nor fowl" approach would be successful. The trade-off between power and simplicity can't be erased simply by adding a keyboard, mouse and windowing.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264430"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>I could not agree more with what you are saying. </p><p><br></p><p>Everyone in my family on both my side and my wife's side are now on Apple products including Mac's. All of them are in deep. As in they have a iPhone, so type of Mac and a iPad at a min. Most have Apple TV's and some even have the watch. All of them pay for some amount of iCloud storage to sync photos across devices. All of them were Windows users at home at one time. None of them will ever go back. Most of them are completely fine with either Apples iWorks apps or Google's apps to replace Word/Excel/Powerpoint. </p><p><br></p><p>Last night I went to see Hamilton. Since I am in IT and manage my companies MDM solution I tend to look at what people use. It was at least 99% iPhone in that super packed play house from what I observed. </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264468"><em>In reply to FalseAgent:</em></a></blockquote><p>"As far as I can tell, people actually want iOS apps on their Macs. Just like the addition of Android apps to ChromeOS which people are supposedly dying to switch to."</p><p><br></p><p>So, what is your evidence that either of these things are true?</p><p><br></p><p>When you say things like "Time Cook isn't very bright" you're contributing to the "everything on the internet seems to end up like this" problem you seem concerned about. Besides name-calling and worse has been common on this site for years. Just ask Karma.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264519"><em>In reply to FalseAgent:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Millions of Windows users don't say anything about UWP because that's how inoffensive it really is."</p><p><br></p><p>Hundreds of millions of Windows users have no idea what UWP is. Slightly less than hundreds of millions of Windows users have never used the store either.</p><p><br></p><p>The typical Windows user is indifferent about Windows in 2018. It is something that some people have to use to do some form of computing, most likely at their job. Outside of the Microsoft fanboys….no one hates or loves Windows, they simply do not care….unless it does not work. </p><p><br></p><p>Now ask those same people about their smartphones and you will see people care because THAT is their primary computing device by far.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264468"><em>In reply to FalseAgent:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Tim Cook isn't very bright"</p><p><br></p><p>So look at your next pay stub, then compare it to his. Who is not very bright?</p><p><br></p><p>Like you said he a business guy with specialty in logistics and supply chain, some say the best there is. He is not a engineer. Under Tim Cook Apple is printing money and in fact growing.</p>
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AmtarcticOasis
<p>I was looking through the apps on my iPad, which I use daily and for extended periods of time. Apart from perhaps YouTube, there isn’t a single app that I have on my iPad that I also want on my MacBook Air. Why would I? I use the MacBook Air for things my iPad can’t do well such as managing my audio library, audio editing, file management, and occasionally light typing work. For everything else I use my iPad and that works very well for me and I suspect works well for just about every other typical user as well. That leaves me wandering who has their hopes and dreams tied in with iOS apps coming to macOS? Certainly not me.</p>
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Stooks
<p>Best approach IMHO. The Surface Pro is a OK tablet with no tablet apps and a OK PC with a funky keyboard that can't handle any kind of real load with out overheating/throttling.</p>
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dontbe evil
<p>like he shooted down surface pro devices few years ago…</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264684"><em>In reply to Ugur:</em></a></blockquote><p>I think their change in approach is really about going from Jobs to Cook. Jobs for example recognized that a small tablet wouldn't cut it as a PC replacement which what his vision for the iPad was. Likewise, he probably thought that adding a keyboard and mouse would simply render an iPad as a kind of crude laptop.</p><p><br></p><p>You may be right that Apple has been working on a convergence option for years but is there really any solid evidence that this is the case? Or are people just projecting their own expectations on to Apple?</p><p><br></p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#264849"><em>In reply to RobertJasiek:</em></a></blockquote><p>There isn't any technical standard for deciding when hardware is good enough for any particular use, but Jobs' marketing wouldn't make any sense if he believed that the first iPad wasn't adequate. To my knowledge he never pitched it as a consumption-only device.</p>
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Stooks
<p>Apple needs to make two changes. The first one is the most important. Allow the "OPTION" for a pointing device on a iPad (mouse/trackpad). Second and less important have floating Windows on a iPad.</p><p><br></p><p>Just allowing a pointing device would kill off another wave of computer users (Windows or Mac) in a hurry. Doing both would increase the number of computer defectors.</p><p><br></p><p>I know many iPad users that love their iPad but when it comes to "real work" do not use their iPad because of the lack of mouse support. They can live with the other major limitation, full screen apps with all of the funky split screen/changing apps etc of iOS but they can't deal with the lack of mouse support.</p><p><br></p><p>I know for me that I would probably only take my 12inch iPad Pro on vacation if it had mouse support and not my MacBook Pro as well.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#264683"><em>In reply to Ugur:</em></a></blockquote><p>Your reply is all over the place. Go back to my post where I said "OPTION" as in don't change the touch UI on iPad's just offer the OPTION of mouse/trackpad.</p><p><br></p><p>The apps for lots of people are already there (on the iPad) the OPTION of a mouse/trackpad is not. Using a word processor on a iPad is available today. Use Pages, Word or Google Docs, all of them work fine for 90% of users and their needs for this type of application. What is not there is the ability with a mouse/trackpad to edit and manipulate those documents. Yes you can do it with touch but not as well as you can do that with a mouse/trackpad.</p><p><br></p><p>To your point there are some apps on the iPad that are not as good or can't be as good under the current iOS/hardware as they are on the Mac. I use OmniGraffle all the time on the Mac for network diagrams. There is a iPad version that can do most, but not all of what the Mac version can do and without mouse support the iPad version is relegated (form me) as a view only/very minor update app.</p><p><br></p><p>For those that still use a computer for those typical consumer computing functions, web surf, email, light photo manipulation etc the computer works but so does the iPad…but the computer has the OPTION to use a mouse which for many makes a difference.</p><p><br></p><p>Apple just needs to add the option.</p>