Yesterday 9 September 2015 a three year old comic became reality:
Jun 19, 2012 source http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/
Apple released the Ipad Pro. It is a larger screen similar to the surface dimensions and a keyboard in the cover like the surface and has pen input like the surface.
26 oktober 2012 Microsoft released the Surface RT. A tablet with pen input, keyboard cover etc. The OS is not the full Windows version (just like the iPad pro now)
The pro edition of the surface did have a full version.
This is not the first time that apple claims to have a new product. Back in 2000 Bill Gates had a Lenovo tablet with monochrome screen:
two years later he had a Fujitsu tablet with a color screen and Windows XP (2002)
Besides tablets, there were mobile devices. PDA’s running Windows Mobile The predecessor of Windows Phone as we know it today.
Pocket pc started around 2000 and became Windows Mobile in 2002. I have had devices with applications to send mail and browse the web. run games etc. before the launch of the first generation of iPhones.
Steve Jobs said back in 2007 when they released the very first iPhone:
“Who wants a stylus? You have to get em', put em' away. You lose them. Yuck.”
But back on topic: the iPad pro is less than I expected. I expected it to run full mac OS X el captain. But the OS is not optimized for touch input. So it seems that Apple will run iOs and OS X side by side for a few more years. Microsoft made the step when moved from Windows Phone 7 to 8 to run everything on the same kernel. It is a hard step. A lot of people fell over it. But it was necessary and really inevitable. But today all (or almost all) Windows Phone 8.x devices will have the Windows 10 update and will run the same apps on their phone as on their laptop/desktop as on their Xbox. This whole concept will be copied by Apple in a year or two maybe three and will be sold like they invented it.
Please do not get me wrong, I like Apple and like their design, usability and the way that the hardware is sold together with the software. The way they update their mobile devices. I like that more then Androids by the way. But the thing that I dislike is that their marketing is so good that less tech aware people believe that Apple invented the wheel and those people share their view with even more tech aware people who assume they are right. But when the Apple fans encounter someone with more technical knowledge they often avoid a discussion.
Let me know your point of view in the comments below.