Originally, Apple was a brand meant for creatives and designers. The brand has been continuously pushing against the boundaries set by other consumer brands, which often paves the way for a battle between design and function. Through it all, Apple has proven time and again that you can have both.

This is exactly what Apple wants to prove with the surprising option of adding a stylus with your iPad Pro.

A stand-off between Apple and Microsoft?

Experts who sell electronics believe that this could be a possible stand-off between Apple and Microsoft, especially when you think about Microsoft’s Surface and their entire Galaxy Note series. After all, Apple has not really shown interest in the stylus market at all. So why this sudden turn of events?

The Surface Pro comes with a stylus too, just like the iPad Pro. If there’s one thing that Microsoft can’t do for the regular non-creative however, is explain what the stylus is for. After all, the use of a stylus for gadgets has been waved off as antiquated and old school by those outside the world of creatives and designers.

Add to that the fact that past Surface ads have been bashed by some online gurus saying that all they did was try to encircle things on the Surface, which did not really explain to people why the stylus is still a very important part of the touch screen technology.

And so, when Apple announced that they were giving people the option to have an Apple Pencil with their iPad Pro, you can imagine the theories running into the heads of tech experts, a lot of them smelling blood once again between the bitter rivals.

A great-looking stylus that comes with a big ‘but’

What do creatives and designers have to say about the Apple Pencil? What was their first impression overall?

Well, everybody though the Apple Pencil was one great-looking stylus. That was a given, knowing that Apple has always made sure that their gadgets were as sleek and as stylish as possible. However, one huge ‘but’ when it comes to the Apple Pencil is the fact that it does not come with a creative software that designers can use. Sure, there are iOS versions of the Adobe Creative Suite, but they’re not as good as other full versions of Photoshop.

In other words, designers see the Apple Pencil as a really, really nice toy, but it’s an expensive one that does not really help them much with sketching and other functions. In fact, a lot of them have agreed that although the Wacom Cintiq does not look as nice, they would still rather use it as they work on Illustrator or Photoshop.

And no, it does not have an eraser, pushing Microsoft to make jokes about it when they revealed the upgraded Surface Pro 4 stylus. According to Microsoft’s Panos Panay, “It’s kind of funny, there’s a Pencil out there without an eraser.”

It still is a really nice pen though.