The people at Apple read my old blog post and answered with Continuity. This is a far better approach than Microsoft’s Surface Pro, which attempts to physically merge 2 devices into 1. Apple will let each device do what it’s good at, but integrate those devices where possible. It’s a terrific idea, but it’s likely Apple will not open this feature up to developers, limiting integration to that which Apple deigns to give the masses. Microsoft generally does the opposite, granting developers wide access to do as they please. This usually degenerates into a cacophony of half-assed broken implementations by morons. But at least it would be open. 

Microsoft still has an opportunity to leapfrog Apple with it’s Nokia arm. Imagine a new Windows Phone 9 running on a Surface Phone designed by Nokia. You could have integration between desktop & phone apps like WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter, etc. And MS could have deep integration between Office for phone & desktop, something like Tempo. The thing is, MS Research has been working on this stuff for years. For example, take a look at Eric Horvitz’s early publications in HCI. IIRC they had a smarter version of Mac’s Notification Center in the late 90s using similar techniques found in Google Now. They’ve got lots of papers about working seamlessly across devices. They have the know-how, but it’s not making it into their products.