Snippet: Microsoft Thinks They Invented the iPad Pro ☇

Eduardo Maggio for Business Insider:

Microsoft general manager for Surface Ryan Gavin said that the iPad Pro is a “clear example” of Apple following Microsoft rather than the other way around, in an interview with Business Insider.

“Think about it, if we had been looking at [Apple] we wouldn’t have made a product like Surface Pro or Surface Book,” Gavin said. “We have been learning and perfecting our products in the 2-in-1 category for years now, [but] when Surface initially launched everyone was skeptical, including them. And then they followed, and the iPad Pro is a clear example of that.”

People have been attaching Bluetooth keyboard cases to the iPad from almost the time the first iPad went on sale in 2010. In fact, Apple had offered a desktop-based keyboard accessory for the first iPad at launch (it connected with a 30-pin Dock Connector and the iPad sat in portrait mode). People have also been using styli, arguably terrible ones, for years, too. The fact that some at Microsoft has the attitude that the iPad Pro is playing catch-up to the Surface line is a bit ridiculous.

In the post-Ballmer world, Microsoft has done some great things, notably cloud services and iOS apps. While Surface devices are quite popular, they’re still traditional PCs masquerading as tablets—many users only use them with the keyboard and Windows 10 is still a desktop-first operating system. The iPad has gained more capabilities and power, but has not morphed into a weirdly-convertible Mac. Even with iOS 11, it’s still not macOS. If Microsoft wants to be a leader by Gavin’s argument, they’d find a way to do something completely different with their operating system, rather than trying to support so much legacy items.