This 2012 comic predicted Apple would ‘invent’ the Surface Pro in 2015
If the iPad Pro portion of today’s keynote felt a little bit familiar to you, it might have been because Apple’s new gigantic tablet is in many way a direct copying answer to the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet that was introduced three years ago.
iPad Pro comes with many of the same bells and whistles as the Surface, including a super-compact keyboard built into the cover. We had a great laugh when Steve Ballmer unveiled the Surface back in 2012, but while I was busy panning Microsoft’s tablet, Joel Watson, a cartoonist, accurately predicted Apple was already planning to ‘invent’ the device in its own making.
Fast-forward three years and Watson’s prophetic cartoon turned out to be uncannily accurate. Sure, he predicted Tim would announce it at WWDC and it’d be called the Smart Cover Touch, but the reaction from fanboys was spot on.
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Covered already was the fact that Apple had patents for the Surface’s design and utility, which Microsoft licensed.
"the agreement prohibited Microsoft from building devices using iPhone and iPad designs"
Good thing it was just an accessory.
Covered already was the fact that Apple had patents for the Surface’s design and utility, which Microsoft licensed.
edit coz im an idiot
We were talking about keyboard smart covers all the way back in 2012 too:
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/150240/a-future-without-a-keyboard-and-mouse
"They can print a keyboard on the smart cover and you just tap on the pattern for it to know which keys you are pressing if you prefer tactile feedback or a virtual keyboard can show your finger locations with selection states as you hover your hands around to let you see which key you are about to press and just do a poke gesture to activate it. If you make a mistake, just make a swipe gesture to delete the character."
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/149531/intel-launches-next-gen-ivy-bridge-processors-with-3d-transistors#post_2100874
"Apple could perhaps integrate a keyboard onto the Smart Cover and power it and transmit data via the metal hinge:"
(April 2012)
^ this was before the Surface was announced in June:
http://mashable.com/2012/06/18/surface-keyboard
The reason we laughed (and continue to laugh) at Microsoft's version is because of this:
Apple's one looks like this:
Doing it first is the easy part. Ideally there wouldn't be a keyboard layout at all but it comes down to efficiency, comfort, being intuitive. 3rd parties have been making keyboard docks for the iPads for years.