Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses bringing iPad, iPhone experience to Mountain Lion

The Wall Street Journal sat down with Apple CEO Tim Cook and SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller to discuss some of the reasons Apple chose to bring the iPad experience over to the Mac. During the interview, Cook went over some of the changes we'll be seeing in Mountain Lion and how they plan to allow the iPad and laptops to coexist while merging the user-experience in many ways.

"We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here," said Mr. Cook, 51 years old, pointing at his iPhone. "Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac." [...] Mr. Cook said he already thinks of Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems "as one with incremental functionality." He said both laptops and tablets will continue to coexist, but he didn't rule out that the technologies could converge further.

Cook also touched upon some of the rumors related to Apple using their own integrated SoC (system-on-a-chip) across the the gamut of their products -- from mobile to the desktop -- although he was rather vague on the subject while leaving it open to possibility.

When asked if Apples iPhones, iPads and Macs might run the same microprocessor chips, he said: "We think about everything. We don't close things off."

Phil Schiller also went over some of the reasons Apple is attempting to merge the mobile and desktop experience between iOS 5 and OS X Mountain Lion, indicating they took a "logical pass" at the user-experience in order for everything to make sense to the end user.

When asked if Apple was worried about the iPad taking over Mac sales, Cook tried to calm the concerns by explaining how iPhone and iPad users flock to the Mac after realizing how much better of a user-experience the devices provide, although he did admit Mac sales have been slightly canalization by the iPad in the most recent quarter.

Mr. Cook said the Mac remains an "incredibly important" part of the company and that it is already benefiting from the success of the iPhone, particularly in China, where Mac sales doubled last year. "They know about Apple and what Apple stands for," he said. "Then they search out and look for the Mac."

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be available later this summer, with a developer preview hitting the channel this Thursday.

Source: WSJ