Apple CEO Tim Cook Slams 'Diluted' Surface Book
Apple CEO Tim Cook Wednesday criticized Microsoft's Surface Book during an appearance at Trinity College in Dublin, saying that the company's new laptop fails to fit into either the notebook or tablet category.
Cook's statements came the same day Apple released its newest tablet, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, available in Apple Stores, on Apple's website and through Authorized Resellers.
’It’s a product that tries too hard to do too much,’ Cook said of the Surface Book, while at Trinity College, according to the Irish Independent. ’It’s trying to be a tablet and a notebook and it really succeeds at being neither. It’s sort of [diluted].’
[Related: Apple Partners: iPad Pro Uptake Depends On Apps]
Microsoft representatives made an appearance at the iPad Pro's launch event in September to help demonstrate the enterprise functions of the new tablet. Microsoft did not respond to CRN's request for comment by press time.
The iPad Pro departs from Apple's traditional iPad lineup, flaunting an monster 12.9-inch Retina display, a detachable separately sold Smart Keyboard, and an Apple Pencil stylus.
The iPad Pro was built around enterprise-targeted features, such as iOS 9's split-view screen and picture-in-picture screen viewing capabilities, as well as the $99 Apple Pencil. The Apple Pencil can be recharged using a Lightning connector that plugs directly into the tablet and contains sensors for writing and drawing, according to Apple.
The iPad Pro will run from $799 for the 32-GB version up to $1,079 on the high end for the 128-GB version. The Surface Book, a 13.5-inch laptop with a detachable touch screen, is priced starting at $1,499.
Both devices are hitting the market for the holiday season as the relatively new 2-in-1 detachable space begins to rise in popularity, both among consumers and enterprises.
"The market for iPads and combo tablets and laptops, which cost thousands of dollars, pretty much screams 'niche market.' … Neither company is going to‎ rely on sales of just these high-end devices to hit their revenue targets this year, but they both stand to bite off a huge chunk of the market these devices appeal to," said Douglas Grosfield, president and CEO of Five Nines IT Solutions, a solution provider based in Kitchener, Ontario. "They certainly have a certain cachet, but the Surface and Surface Book have a leg up in the enterprise. [It's a] growing market, but a relatively immature one today, [and the] first miner in gets the gold."
As traditional smaller slate form factors fail to boost the struggling tablet market, vendors are turning their focus to detachable tablets, according to market research firm IDC.
Detachable tablets have held just a single-digit percentage in the overall tablet market, according to an IDC report released Thursday, but the researcher expects sales of these devices to "increase dramatically" over the next 18 months.
The overall tablet market is currently led by Apple with 20.3 percent share, followed by Samsung and Lenovo, according to IDC. But even the Cupertino, Calif.-based company saw sales decline by 19.7 percent during the third quarter.
PUBLISHED NOV. 12, 2015