Apple deviated from its standard closed-door approach to unveiling new software earlier this week and gave a number of media outlets early access to an upcoming version of its OS X operating system for Macs. Apple’s OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will launch this summer, featuring a wide range of enhancements that will see Apple’s desktop platform look and behave more like its mobile platform. Executives from the Cupertino, California-based technology giant even met with reporters personally to demonstrate the new software, perhaps in an effort to help foster the same type of enthusiasm for OS X that iOS enjoys. During one such meeting with The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook shed some light on the PC industry from Apple’s point of view. Read on for more.
From the dawn of the personal computing era, Apple and Microsoft have been huge platform rivals. The companies traded blows over the years and drove innovation that caused the PC industry to grow at a remarkable pace. According to Apple’s new chief executive, however, those days are over.
“I don’t really think anything Microsoft does puts pressure on Apple,” Cook told The Wall Street Journal, raising the question of whether or not the world’s most valuable company even views Microsoft as a rival anymore.
Rivals put constant pressure on each other, driving one another to raise the bar and innovate. With Apple’s core business having shifted to mobile and Microsoft just beginning to regain its footing in the mobile market, it makes sense that Apple’s attention has shifted elsewhere. And with dozens of patent complaints having been filed by Apple around the world against Google’s Android partners, it’s safe to say we know where Apple’s focus has shifted.
Cook wouldn’t say much about Apple’s future plans for its Mac PCs, but he did suggest that the rest of the industry is trailing behind Apple and struggling to catch up. In particular, the executive sees the MacBook Air as a huge accomplishment that the rest of the industry is now trying to duplicate. ”Now, you see the industry at large trying to copy it in some way, but they’ll find that it is not so easy,” the CEO told The Journal.
Apple is expected to launch updated MacBook Air notebooks in the coming months, including a brand new 15-inch model.
