How the Surface Book Could Change Apple's Lineup

I recently checked out the Microsoft Surface Book, and I have to admit that the reviewers who praised it as the best laptop on the market have a point.

In tablet mode, the Surface Book is thin and light, and the new Pen is quite responsive. In laptop mode, I was surprised how well it worked as a Windows 10 PC, and I loved the idea that I had a laptop and tablet in a solid package with a powerful, desktop-class OS.

The device should give traditional PC vendors a new target from a design perspective. But it should also give Apple pause, and might inspire it to create its first truly convertible PC.

Apple does have a product in this category, although it is more like a tablet with a keyboard accessory, like Microsoft's Surface Pro lineup. The iPad Pro arrives this month, and will play a similar role in the Mac community albeit with iOS as its OS anchor instead of Mac OS X. The Surface Book ($495.00 at Amazon) is such a stellar design that I think it will become the poster child for future Windows PCs. If that happens, it could push Apple in this direction, too.

At the launch of the iPad Pro, Tim Cook said that the iPad does 80 percent of what people need to do when they compute. This is important since Apple has the best touch-based OS on the market. Apple's iOS seems to be the OS it will champion to businesses and consumers in any potential 2-in-1 or convertible.

Microsoft has a different view and says that a desktop-class OS with touch is the best way to go. The touch UI on Windows 8 and 8.1 was weak, but is much improved on Windows 10. 

Apple clearly wants iOS to be the heart of its broader reach into the market and the cornerstone of its business and consumer strategy. Macs will always have a place, especially with power users. But Apple seems to see power users who need a Mac as a much narrower audience, with its larger audience benefiting from iOS and its more versatile ecosystem of 1.5 million apps.

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This leads to two big questions for Apple. First, if Microsoft and its partners are successful in making "convertibles" the standard laptop configuration over time, will Apple be forced to follow suit? How long can it stick with just laptops and tablets if convertibles become something businesses and consumers really want?

Secondly, if Apple does a convertible, which OS will it use? At the moment, Mac OS X is not touch-based and Apple would have to put a lot of engineering dollars into making it competitive. It is more likely that an Apple convertible would have iOS while Windows OEMs will stick with desktop-class OSes.