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Merging iOS and OS X is a 'waste of energy': Apple's Schiller

Merging iOS and OS X is a 'waste of energy': Apple's Schiller

By Robin Sinha | Updated: 24 January 2014 16:00 IST

It has been revealed that Apple will not be merging its desktop OS X operating system, with iOS, its smartphone operating system, as the company feels it would be a "waste of energy."

Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing executive, on the eve of Mac's thirtieth anniversary, stated that "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," to Mac World in an interview.

"The reason OS X has a different interface than iOS isn't because one came after the other or because this one's old and this one's new," added Craig Federighi, Apple's software head. "Instead, it's because using a mouse and keyboard just isn't the same as tapping with your finger."

Federighi also added that they do not want to create an impression among their users that Mac and iOS is created by two different companies by merging both. "You don't want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS," he said. "At the same time, you don't want to feel like iOS was designed by [one] company and Mac was designed by [a different] company, and they're different for reasons of lack of common vision."

Microsoft, Apple's biggest rival in the PC/ laptops space, has been working towards merging its desktop and smartphone operating systems for a while, with of course, the tablet category the true meeting point of portability and productivity. The Redmond-giant to that end released its desktop Windows 8 operating system with a touch-friendly interface, featuring Metro-style apps, which were first seen on the Windows Phone platform. To aim at ARM-based devices, the company also made Windows RT, or an ARM-compatible version of Windows 8.

However, the much vaunted shared Windows NT kernel between the new Windows operating systems never really bore any fruit, with us not seeing any major Windows software making its way to the Windows Phone platform, or vice versa. Hopefully, the Windows Threshold update, expected to arrive as Windows 9 for desktop in April 2015, will work further towards the convergence of devices. The exact changes in the proposed OS version are not clear as of yet, but the "Metro 2.0" feature in the OS version is said to focus on enhancing Microsoft's new apps and tiles.

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