Apple CEO Tim Cook caused a minor
kerfuffle recently while promoting the
iPad Pro in an interview when he asked,
“Why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why
would you buy one?”
The question baffled Mac users, and seemed to
suggest that Apple might one day phase out the
Mac – or combine it with the iPad to make a hybrid
device similar to Microsoft’s new Surface Book.
Cook clarified the meaning behind his question in
an interview with the Irish Independent, telling the
newspaper that Macs and PCs are not the same. Dig
on PCs aside, Cook said he understands that some
people need desktops and notebooks, while for
others, a powerful tablet like the iPad Pro will suffice.
“We feel strongly that customers are not really
looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” Cook
said. “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.”
The differences between Mac and iPad chips
are dwindling, as Apple’s A-series line gets more
and more powerful. But that doesn’t mean an iPad
will eventually replace a Mac, even if Cook now
uses a Pro as his everyday work machine.
“What we’ve tried to do is to recognise that
people use both iOS and Mac devices,” Cook told
the Independent. “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.”
Why this matters: Apple’s core business is
hardware, and Macs remain a key piece of this. Mac
sales were up 3 percent year-over-year in 2015 as
the rest of the PC market continues to decline. While
Apple wants to boost iPad sales by launching the
Pro as an alternative to smaller notebooks, Cook
made it clear the Mac isn’t going anywhere.
