NeoBytes :) is an occasional feature that takes a step back from the big headlines, to take a look at what else is happening in the vast, scary expanse of the tech world - often with a cynical eye, always with a dose of humor.
Apple unveiled the iPad Pro at its "Special Event" yesterday, as a direct competitor to Microsoft"s Surface Pro 3, and later on the Surface Pro 4. The 12.9-inch tablet offers a more productivity-oriented approach, with the inclusion of a "Smart Keyboard" and an "Apple Pen".
While quite a few Apple fans are still claiming (and debating with the non-believers) that the company has offered yet another "innovative" product, which will surely wipe away the competition, others have argued that the iPad Pro is a straight-out copy of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, particularly because it offers a $99 stylus and a $169 physical keyboard as well.
Given Apple"s infamous history of (re)inventing and refining products that had originally experienced difficulties reaching the masses, cartoonist Joel Watson from Hijinks Ensue managed to accurately predict a Surface-like tablet from Apple three years before the iPad Pro was even announced.
DISCLAIMER: The profanities present in the original comic have been blurred.
The humorous comic was created way back in 2012, when no one had even heard of a "Pro" tablet from Apple. It depicts Microsoft"s former CEO, Steve Ballmer, announcing the original 10.6-inch Surface RT tablet. The audience ridicules the device as well as its physical keyboard, claiming it to be an iPad. Enraged, Ballmer"s parody shouts out, "In three years, when Apple copies this, you c*ckwads will think it"s genius!"
Fast forward to 2015 in the last panel, and we see Apple"s CEO, Tim Cook announcing a very Surface-like iPad with a physical keyboard as well. In contrast to the previous scenario, he is met with approval from the audience which claims that Apple invented the "Smart Cover Touch." A smug Cook agrees.
The only inaccuracy found in the panel is that Joel Watson predicted the launch of the iPad Pro at WWDC 15, however, Apple announced the tablet at it"s Special Event yesterday. Given the accuracy of the rest of the cartoon as well as rave comments from Apple fans around the globe, we can only gaze in awe at how the cartoonist predicted the future with such precision.
Image via Hijinks Ensue
Update: The article has been corrected after publication to clarify that the Microsoft executive shown in the comic is in fact Steve Ballmer.