Microsoft's Surface tablet 'compromised' and 'confusing', declares Apple CEO ... - Sydney Morning Herald

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• Microsoft's big gamble with Windows 8

This post was originally published on Mashable.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook took a dig at Microsoft's soon-to-be released Surface tablet during Apple's earnings call on Thursday, referring to it as a "fairly compromised, confusing product".

"I haven't personally played with a Surface yet," Tim Cook said in response to a question about the Surface and the competitive landscape in the tablet market overall.

"What we're reading about it is that it's a fairly compromised, confusing product."

Cook went on to suggest that Microsoft and other competitors have failed to make the "hard trade offs" in their tablets that are necessary to make a successful product.

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

"I could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do all those things really well," he said.

Cook's remarks were reminiscent of another statement he made earlier this year about why it's a bad idea to try to make a tablet/laptop hybrid.

"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator," he said in April, "but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user."

Mashable is the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.

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