Microsoft has hinted that it wants to merge Windows RT and Windows Phone into a single platform. The move could also be part of a larger plan to eventually offer a single code base for all of its operating systems. It now appears that Apple has no such plans to merge iOS and Mac OS, its own mobile operating systems. In a MacWorld interview, Apple executives downplayed the idea.
Asked about such a merger given that he oversees both groups, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President for Software Engineering dismissed the idea, “To say [OS X and iOS] should be the same, independent of their purpose? Let’s just converge, for the sake of convergence? [It’s] absolutely a nongoal.”
Philip Schiller, Senior Vice President for Worldwide Marketing, echoed that sentiment: “We don’t waste time thinking, ‘But it should be one [interface]!’ How do you make these [operating systems] merge together?’ What a waste of energy that would be.”
Apple believes that there is still a need for laptops as well as smartphones and tablets. “It’s not an either/or,” Schiller explained. “It’s a world where you’re going to have a phone, a tablet, a computer, you don’t have to choose. And so what’s more important is how you seamlessly move between them all.”
To support this vision, Apple will continue to make it as easy as possible to switch between devices as needs require. “We have a common sense of aesthetics, a common set of principles that drive us, and we’re building the best products we can for their unique purposes. So you’ll see them be the same where that makes sense, and you’ll see them be different in those things that are critical to their essence,” said Federighi.
The Mac just celebrated its 30th birthday yesterday and there is no cause at this point that it won’t be around to celebrate its 60th in the future.
Source : Macworld