Tim Cook on Apple and Microsoft partnership: 'It's what customers want'
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Sep 30, 2015
Cook said despite this lack of cutting-edge mobile business use, the positive in this is that because no-one is leading the way, no-one had been left behind either.
The enterprise on the other hand, wants to see Apple and Microsoft working together, and not fighting.
With Apple's strong financial performance of almost $200 billion in revenue over the past year, Levie asks why Apple doesn't just "throw down the mic" and declare victory, Cook notes "we haven't started yet", pointing to potential in enterprise, Apple Watch, television, and more. "You want to pick the best product", Cook said, speaking at the BoxWorks conference. For example, with Handoff iOS and Mac users can start a project or conversation on one Apple device and continue it on another.
While an Apple Plane would likely revolutionise the skies with insane battery power in a thinner and lighter frame that would go twice the distance of any Android or Windows Plane, while delivering unheard of levels of in-seat amenity and genius-class customer service, all of that plainly remains a "what-if" scenario Apple might one day deliver in any case.
Apple is best known as a consumer company, releasing products like the iPhone and iPad that changed the face of everyday technology. In an extended riff on operating systems, the Apple CEO argued that having a single operating system for both mobile devices and personal computers is futile.
It's "shocking" how low the penetration of mobility is in the enterprise, Cook said. And Microsoft past year finally made its widely used Office software work on iOS.
Apple's move to partner with longtime rivals - including IBM and Microsoft - indicates how important business users are for the company.
While corporate budgets are an attractive target for global technology companies, they weren't always a focus for Apple. There were areas that his company probably wouldn't dive into, to which Cook remarked: "What we don't bring is deep knowledge of the different verticals of the enterprise".
"We still compete today, but frankly Apple and Microsoft can partner on more things than we could compete on", he said. "If you think of all the great things that are happening at companies, we're happy to play a small part of that". "That's the reason we do it. I'm not a believer in holding grudges". The 12.9-inch tablet comes with an optional keyboard and stylus, allowing designers and others to do more with their iPads. Specifically, Apple's push to make its products appeal to large companies.
Cook added that Apple's mindset has been the same since late 1997, when its late co-founder Steve Jobs returned to take control of the company. According to Cook, trying to build one operating system for desktop, and mobile productivity leads to a lesser experience on both.