Apple needs Microsoft for iPad, and vice versa – Computer Point

Rome – “Who knows more productivity of Microsoft?”: The question with which Tim Cook has taken the stage at the Apple keynote what once had been the arch-enemies of Windows is a sort of litmus test for the development of the two companies. Microsoft choosing the event Apple to make an announcement about Office , which uses Apple to Microsoft to show the capabilities of its iPad Pro and its Pencil $ 99.

For both companies is a crucial time: under the guidance of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has abandoned the habit of considering Office and similar products as an exclusive right to be reserved exclusively for users of operating systems for home, and for the past several months has Office It made its debut on iOS and Android. In particular iPad is available one of the best implementations of Word, Excel and Powerpoint after those for Windows , and the changes introduced yesterday show a degree of attention to the platform.

new versions of Office for iOS app, designed to equip iOS 9 and of course to make the most of iPad Pro, are enriched with specific functions: support for multitasking, and especially the technology needed to make the most of electronic ink issued by the new Pencil Apple. A choice that must be proved too complex for Microsoft, since some time in the house has a solution very similar to the iPad with Apple Pencil Pro: that the Surface Pro.

On closer inspection there is not much difference between the two products: both mountain UHD a screen 12-inch, both have a magnetic coupling for a keyboard-outer cover, both among the options count a stylus. In addition, the surface also has a rear support orientable, while iPad requires an internal mechanism. The real difference between the two is of course made up of the operating system: Windows 10 for Microsoft, now with full compatibility with the universe of desktop x86, iOS for the iPad that keeps him confined to the app and the mobile world .

Even in this light, the use of Apple to Microsoft is not an accident. The only real novelty presented by the Cupertino tablet is made from the iPad Pro, while the rest of the range is unchanged except for the new iPad Mini 4, which is practically an iPhone 6 last year reduced the screen diagonal. Sales of tablets are no longer those of the past, and the moves by Apple are obvious: reduce the investment in development to maximize margins with established products, seek new forms of employment for existing technology.

The most obvious step is to go to the formula 2in1 , who are fighting for a long time many brands that focus on Windows, and that Microsoft has raised with its Surface. Pencil, stylus that Steve Jobs had mocked at the time of the launch of the first iPhone, it is useful in this sense: the needs of users have changed since the tablet was announced first, and the Pencil offers just a public that until now has been monopolized from other manufacturers and products.

When you are told the official prices for Italy’s new iPad will also discover how this competition between PC and post-PC products will or less equal terms. No doubt, we can say already now that PCs have stood once again the onslaught of new formats and tablets are finishing to resemble more and more in shape and function to the good old laptop.

Luca Annunziata