Microsoft’s new Surface Book sure does seem to be weighing heavily on the minds of Apple executives these days. Just a few weeks ago, Apple executive Phil Schiller was quick to dismiss the market for hybrid laptop/tablet devices altogether, categorizing it as “incredibly small and niche” and unlikely to grow “to anything significant.”
Not to be outdone, Tim Cook a few days ago went so far as to call the Surface Book a “diluted” product that can’t figure out what type of device it wants to be.
Now, in a new interview with Independent.ie, Cook once again took a few minutes to throw some shade at the Surface Book while reaffirming, yet again, that Apple has no plans to release a hybrid Mac/iPad device at any point in the near or distant future.
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“We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad,” Cook explained. “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.”
Cook also took some time to clarify his remarks from a previous interview where he seemed to throw the Mac under the bus in an effort to prop up the recently released iPad Pro.
The quote in question reads: “I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?”
But as it turns out, Cook in this instance was referring solely to Windows PCs.
“We don’t regard Macs and PCs to be the same,” Cook explained.
Duly noted, Mr. Cook. Duly noted.
Of course, with Cook taking time to keep calling out Microsoft’s Surface Book by name, one has to wonder just how closely Apple is keeping an eye on the device. As we pointed out last week, Apple has a storied history of disparaging rival products before choosing to copy them later on down the line. We saw that dynamic play out with the 2012 iPad Mini, and more recently, with the larger-screened iPhone 6 models Apple rolled out last year.
