Apple's recently released iPad Pro is generating a lot of excitement, but Microsoft's Ryan Gavin says that the device would not exist without Microsoft. 

A Clear Example Of Apple Following Microsoft

While the company certainly has its flaws, Apple has gained a reputation for being an innovator of the consumer technology industry. This reputation, while perhaps a bit exaggerated, is still well-earned as the iPhone and — to a lesser extent — the iPad did revolutionize the industry.

In recent years, though, Apple has seemed content to rest on its laurels. The company made only minor improvements to its line of hardware. Even the iPhone, easily Apple's most important product, received only incremental updates from generation to generation — though that is rumored to change with the iPhone 8. 

Microsoft, on the other hand, has been hard at work creating new products through its popular Surface line. However, we would be lying if we said we didn't think Windows 10 S and the Surface Book weren't inspired by the success of Google's Chromebooks and Chrome OS. 

The recently released iPad Pro, while certainly powerful, doesn't appear to be the game changer that many people were hoping it would be, though iOS 11 will be introducing plenty of new features to the device. Regardless of what iOS 11 brings, the device's hardware isn't anything we haven't seen before and Gavin says we wouldn't be seeing it at all if it's not for the Surface Pro. Calling it a "clear example" of Apple copying Microsoft, Gavin claimed Apple would never have made the iPad Pro without the success of the Surface Pro.

"Think about it, if we had been looking at [Apple] we wouldn't have made a product like Surface Pro or Surface Book," said Gavin. "We have been learning and perfecting our products in the 2-in-1 category for years now, [but] when Surface initially launched everyone was skeptical, including them. And then they followed, and the iPad Pro is a clear example of that."

Did Apple Copy Microsoft?

Obviously, we aren't privy to the internal communications of Apple during the development of the iPad Pro, but Gavin's comments aren't completely without merit. After all, the Surface Pro did launch two years before the iPad Pro and both compete for the same market. Prior to the Surface Pro, the idea that tablets could replace computers as productivity devices wasn't taken all that seriously. Tablets were mostly seen as toys for watching Netflix or browsing the web.

On the other hand, it could easily be argued that the Surface Pro would not exist without the original iPad since that is what popularized tablet computers.