Good discussion. I always enjoy Federico’s take on things. He is very intentional and thoughtful.
I had listened to @MacSparky’s “lab update” just before this episode and David mentioned he is reading “After Steve: How Apple Became A Trillion-Dollar Company And Lost It’s Soul” by Tripp Mickle. One line in the book grieved David: Apple pushes services because it keeps stockholders happy. This contrasted with the Apple Steve Jobs built because Jobs was always more interested in creating awesome tech and an unmatchable user experience.
Listening to this episode with Federico, much of it was spent mourning the iPad that could be, if only…
This brought me back to a previous post pointing to a video by Linus Tech Talk: “Apple Makes Its Best Products Worse On Purpose. Why?”
The point made in this video is that Apple spends $20 billion a year on R&D, so if there is a simple feature that is missing or lackluster in one of its products, it is because they are intentionally wanting it to be this way.
Like it or not, Apple exists to make money and the folks at Apple do not want to intentionally create a product that will eat into their profit. Stockholders are more important than end users. To create the iPad Pro Federico described would mean users would no longer need to purchase both an iPad and a MacBook. Moreover, to simply add a cellular radio to the MacBook Air means that users would no longer need to purchase an iPad and a MacBook.
The Microsoft Surface has existed for 10 years. It is the iPad Pro Federico described minus MacOS. It is both a tablet and a laptop. It has a cellular radio. You can plug it into a monitor and you have a fully functioning desktop. Moreover, Microsoft offers both its Surface Pro line of tablets and its Surface Laptops. Both can coexist and Microsoft still makes money and keeps its stockholders happy.
If Apple wanted the iPad to function like this they easily could have, but they don’t because they don’t want to.
Perhaps this is the cynic in me, but as I listened to this episode the thought crossed my mind that Apple was intentionally trying to sway Federico towards the Mac. Without a doubt, Federico is one of the biggest iPad Pro evangelists in the Apple ecosystem. If Apple can get Federico to say the Mac is better than the iPad, then this is a step towards Apple’s ultimate goal: to stop making a “Pro” version of the iPad. It’s time is limited. The iPad is a consumer device, and this is where the market is for Apple. There is no need to offer a high-end iPad.
Thoughts?