Tim Cook Shuts Down iOS, MacOS Merger Rumors

Hoping Apple will one day merge its desktop and mobile operating systems to create one combined experience? Don't hold your breath. Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly shot down the idea.

"We don't believe in sort of watering down one for the other," Cook told The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Wells at Apple's education event last month in Chicago.

"Both [The Mac and iPad] are incredible. One of the reasons that both of them are incredible is because we pushed them to do what they do well. And if you begin to merge the two ... you begin to make trade-offs and compromises," he said. "This merger thing that some folks are fixated on, I don't think that's what users want."

The CEO said he personally uses a Mac at work, and an iPad at home and while traveling.

Rumors of an Apple desktop and mobile merger have cropped up now and again over the years. Most recently, Bloomberg in December reported that Apple was working on a secret project called "Marzipan" to allow apps to work across iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

"Starting as early as next year, software developers will be able to design a single application that works with a touchscreen or mouse and trackpad depending on whether it's running on the iPhone and iPad operating system or on Mac hardware, according to people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg reported.

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Apple Is Ready to Ditch the Mac

Based on Cook's comments, it sounds like Apple has scrapped the idea.

Meanwhile, these types of rumors aren't limited to Apple's ecosystems. There have been similar rumors about Google folding Chrome OS into Android, which appears to have morphed into Fuchsia.