Full keyboard and mouse support is in iOS 13.4.
The Surface is just another Windows computer with all the baggage that entails - x86 processors with horrible battery efficiency, an operating system that requires more RAM and storage, an operating system that still has parts that aren’t touch friendly and plenty of apps that still have a UI that doesn’t work well with touch.
Sorry, that was the point I was trying to make. Apple isn't afraid to cannibalize their own product lines by improving their "lesser" product. Rather than being a sign of "big-company-itis", it's a sign of being agile.
> The Surface is just another Windows computer with all the baggage that entails
Microsoft has a history of evolving their products until they are a success, I wouldn't count anything out on it's current iteration.
There's not just the Surface either, the Chromebook could have a future as software moves more and more onto the web and people don't really leave their browsers.
The entire idea of the Surface is fundamentally flawed because of three factors - it’s dependence on backwards compatibility with Windows and using x86 processors.
The Chromebook is already a success in education, but it has the opposite problem than the Surface. Google has no clue in how to create an ecosystem. Android on tablets have been a non starter and Chromebooks are still nowhere as capable as iPads.
Android succeeded because Apple refuses to compete on price and everyone needs an phone. A tablet is a luxury product and Apple competes pretty well on price. The $329 iPad is a very good device with a better ecosystem.
OTOH, another case of big-company-itis is over-segmenting your products and not allowing them to grow organically our of fear of cannibalizing your higher profit margin products.
Apple never letting the iPad get full keyboard and cursor support and saying "that's a Mac thing" leaves them open for disruption from Microsoft instead.
Xcode is likely planned for iPad, but it's a massive ecosystem (not just one app, don't forget there's Instruments, the Simulator, compiler build step scripts, etc etc) and will take a LONG time to port