It seems that Apple has decided to take their toys and go home after playing in the technology sandbox with SurfaceInk for the last decade or so. SurfaceInk, a small Silicon Valley design firm, may have helped Apple with many of their successful gadgets. We can’t know because of confidentiality agreements, but it looks like the last straw came when SurfaceInk demoed their own tablet prototype at a trade show.
Eric Bauswell, founder and CEO of SurfaceInk, confirmed the news on Thursday, saying that his company and Apple had “gone separate directions.” Mr. Bauswell wouldn’t give up the details, but did say that “Apple’s growing awareness of our turnkey capabilities. I think they view our capabilities as an opportunity for competitors, “ he said. The company employs 50 people and their “turnkey capabilities” refer to their method of creating products and licensing them to other companies.
Such a general statement doesn’t really seem to make sense as the primary reason for the falling out. SurfaceInk has designed products for Apple’s competitors for some time now. Founded in 1999, the company has designed Palm handsets and Hewlett-Packard computers, both coincide with products they may have collaborated with Apple on.
While Apple has declined to comment, it seems pretty obvious that they’re not too happy about SurfaceInk’s prototype 12.1″ tablet computer. The iPad currently dominates the tablet market, but with Android going strong and so many manufacturers stepping into the tablet arena, it makes sense that they would get a little defensive. The iPad, after all, is wildly popular because it was the first, not the best.
Before display the tablet at the trade show, SurfaceInk mostly relied on word-of-mouth for getting clients. Bauswell says the tablet display was meant only to showcase SurfaceInk’s design skills, but Apple took things the wrong way and perceived them as a threat. What’s even more ridiculous about Apple’s move here is that they just gave SurfaceInk all the publicity they probably needed to become a real threat.
It’s understandable that Apple might get upset about its tablet territory being invaded. They already seem to be losing ground to Android in the mobile device market and still lag behind Blackberry. No matter what Apple does, there will be a plethora of tablet models in the mix within the year. Their stranglehold on the tablet market will go away. They will have to do something drastic to keep up their mystique.