There may have been reports that Apple is planning to support cross platform apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad but a recent interview with Tim Cook by The Sydney Morning Herald has shed some much needed light on the situation.
Cook explained that Mac and iPad devices are two separate products that serve two different purposes and explained that the idea of merging the two would simply result in “watering down one for the other.”
“We don’t believe in sort of watering down one for the other. Both [The Mac and iPad] are incredible. 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.”
While he did acknowledge that this kind of merger would make Apple more efficient, he was quick to point out that this isn’t the company’s goal. Cook said that both products give users “things that they can then use to help them change the world or express their passion.”
“So maybe the company would be more efficient at the end of the day. But that’s not what it’s about. You know 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.”
To address the implications of a comment he made several years ago about using an iPad as his primary device, Cook explained how he switched between the iPad and the Mac, using the former at home and when he travels, and the latter when he’s at work. “I generally use a Mac at work, and I use an iPad at home. And I always use the iPad when I’m travelling. But I use everything and I love everything,” Cook said.