“Apple will stop selling its current Mac Pro professional desktop computer in Europe on March 1st, according to our sources,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac.
“According to people familiar with the matter, the Mac Pro will be discontinued in Europe because the current generation of the product does not meet a new European product regulation standard,” Gurman reports. “This regulation, Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition, goes into effect on March 1st of this year. It only affects Europe, EU Candidates, and select surrounding nations (like the EFTA: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Iceland, and Norway.), and Mac Pro sales will continue in all other regions.”
Gurman reports, “Of course, these new standards do not block Apple from selling a new generation of its Mac Pro in Europe. Apple’s next Mac Pro design will surely be built with Europe’s new product standard in mind. Apple CEO Tim Cook, last year, promised that Apple is working on a new ‘Pro’ machine for ‘later’ in 2013.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Sarasota” for the heads up.
Related articles:
New Mac Pro release date, rumors and images – January 4, 2013
Apple’s ‘Made in USA’ computer likely to be Mac Pro – December 8, 2012
Apple’s OS X 10.8.3 beta hints at new Mac Pro – November 27, 2012
Apple OS X files refer to redesigned iMac, Mac Pro models, possibly without optical drives – August 9, 2012
Rush Limbaugh: Okay, Apple, where’s my Mac Pro with Thunderbolt? – June 12, 2012
Tim Cook: Apple is working on professional Mac for ‘later next year’ – June 12, 2012
Apple reportedly confirms NYT report: New designs for iMac, Mac Pro in the works, due in 2013 – June 12, 2012
Apple prepping new iMac, Mac Pro desktop designs; likely due next year – June 12, 2012
Apple unveils updated Mac Pro family with Intel Xeon E5 processors – June 11, 2012
Apple needs to be more transparent for business and professional market. What works for consumers, surprise and hype does not play well with the more conservative pro market. Very little is gained and much is lost by adhering mindlessly to Apple’s veil of secrecy in the pro market.
1
It’s for protecting us humans from getting our fingers caught in the cooling fan.
Sheesh.
A PBX that my outfit was getting type approval for in the UK had to go through all sorts of homologation tests. One of these was what was known as the British Finger test, where a copper doodad shaped like the tip of a finger on the end of an articulated test device was inserted anywhere and everywhere in the rear of the motherboard. If it touched any potential over 12 vdc, it would buzz, and we (the mfr) would have to put a plastic guard over that point.
This “finger” buzzed so much that we decided it would simply be best if we bought sheets of plexiglass and fit it to cover the entire backplane. That satisfied BT and we were able to proceed.
Now you can’t get your finger into the fan? Wow. Just wow.
Big government at its finest. They have to protect you from all manner of your own stupidity.
+10
Excellent post my friend.
Right on. Also Apple must not get complacent with this market. They have rather recklessly treated pro users.
The whole issue is a tragedy, really. If Apple’s OS would run on dedicated 3rd party workstations, the PRO community wouldn’t be so up in arms about Apple’s quest to please grandparents, mobile professionals and the HelloKitty demographic. But lets be serious here; we all know it’s just a matter of time (2-3 years, probably less) until the niche market craving dedicated workstations will be completely eradicated from Apple’s roadmap.
P.S. if you happen to be a wedding photographer with the urge to explain how your iMac is more than enough, please GTFO.
Apple needs to be more transparent for business and professional market. What works for consumers, surprise and hype does not play well with the more conservative pro market. Very little is gained and much is lost by adhering mindlessly to Apple’s veil of secrecy in the pro market.
By surprise and hype are you referring to the iPods (all generations), iPhones and now the iPads that have taken over businesses, corporations as well as consumers?
Totally agree. I sent an email to Tim Cook a while ago saying as much. Obviously I wasn’t expecting a reply btw.
Can you be more specific? What does not match with these regulations? Is it the minimum cord length or what? (It has to be 1,5 meters minimum and not longer than 4,5 meters)
If it’s limp wristed Europe, then it’s for not displaying the white flag of surrender on the Mac Pro casing prominently enough.
Fuck off with your constant racism or xenophobia
Well, rather than have me speculate on the cause of banning the Mac Pro in Europe, would you be so kind as to detail the infringing parts of the specification.
Too lazy to do it yourself, BLN? Easier and more useful to be a jerk in this forum? Here you go:
“Apple told Macworld that the amendment to the IEC 60950-1 regulation increases requirements around electrical port protection and the fan guards in the system.”
from Macworld UK (http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/?newsid=3423807)
As I said, the Euros like to focus on the trivial and miss the trees from the forest. It’s trash as far as I’m concerned.
Sure, sure. The world thanks you for your highly regarded opinions. Now go away and play with the other 3 year olds, BLN.
Only if you’re not pissing in the pool while swimming in it.
+1
And oh BTW, fuck you Euroshit.
Fuck off you xenophobic, racist whore of shit.
I don’t recall running up the white flag of surrender in May 1940 or on June 6th, 1944.
And I don’t remember you going to help when the invasions started in Europe and Asia? Just sat on the sidelines and watch the horror.
I don’t recall any US territory being invaded or US interests being infringed. Those territories in Asia were European colonies and the invasion in Europe and North Africa was a purely European affair.
But like in many things, when the Europeans screw up, they expect us to wade in to bail them out, yet, behave vindictively when the occasion suits them.
At least the German Nazis had enough civilized behavior to acknowledge what a white flag of surrender means unlike you know who.
I like how you use the word civilised and Nazi in one sentence. Tell that to 6 million innocents that were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen, Sobibor, Buchenwald.
I’m sure you would have enjoyed spending your summer holidays there.
I said that the Nazis had enough civilized behavior to recognize the significance of the white flag. I have no qualms about saying that they were barbaric enough to do what they did to the Jews.
My point, which you are trying to spin away from is that is takes a much lower level of barbarism to ignore a white flag. The United Hates is the only country that I know that has done this, and you sir, continue to fail to acknowledge it, which is not at all surprising.
Now that your attempt to distract from the main issue is in my view moot, perhaps you can resort to the other arsenal of name calling.
Let’s use WW2 as an example, since we started there.
The Wehrmacht was fighting on two fronts, the eastern front against Russia and its allies, mainly Ukrainians, Belorussians, Siberians. The Germans when confronted by the Siberian regiments would literally quake in their boots. The Siberian regiments were the first to achieve a breakthrough through the Romanian and Italian lines on the flanks on the Volga which surrounded the Sixth Army fighting in Stalingrad.
The Gremans also fought on the western front which constituted Italy and after the D-Day landings, France.
During the last days of the war, General Walther Wenck marched the IX Army to the Elbe to surrender to the Americans rather than to the Russians.
Do you think your rants have any basis in fact?
1. “Let’s use WW2 as an example, since we started there.”
No, I prefer to stick with the original rant you started with: “If it’s limp wristed Europe, then it’s for not displaying the white flag of surrender on the Mac Pro casing prominently enough.”
You can go on denigrating a country that raises the white flag by my retort is at least the white flag and what it meant was respected unlike (and this is my point) another country (i.e. the US) in another war. This failure to respect the white flag and what it meant is part of the American legacy. No amount of spin you throw out will distract from it.
Unless you’re delusional, cite one instance where the white flag was disregarded.
I don’t recall a Nazi blitz crossing our borders either.
You don’t recall anything because you’re on crack cocaine & are a drunk sot most of the time.
I quote you only cause the thread gets a little skinny trying to have a conversation at MDN.
“Unless you’re delusional, cite one instance where the white flag was disregarded.”
With all due respect sir, I feel at this juncture that it would be more valuable to you if you found that out for yourself as it is part of your country’s history. My hope is that it might convince you to cease and desist with painting such a large diverse group with a large brush stroke based on single incident. Every country has their dark historical spots, it should not prevent us from moving forward.
Thanks Mike. He’s got talking penis syndrome and doesn’t know what to do about it. Might as well listen to the sound of a toilet flushing.
I don’t think any prominent display of a white flag would make a difference to a country known to ignore. I won’t name names, but the initials are USA with their Unwanted Surrender Arsenal.
End of summer Apple. Deadline. If you don’t have a new, redesigned, ultra-modern Mac Pro by the end of this summer OR a solid release date for one… I’m building a Hackintosh. I can’t wait any longer.
And no one would blame you for it. This has gotten ridiculous.
I know several people in the same boat. Although they don’t really care about it being redesigned or “ultra-modern”, they just want it to have some up to date specs.
Hackintoshes can be a bit inconvenient for updates, etc, but if you need the power to get your work done, I don’t blame anyone for doing it. “This year” makes it difficult for professionals to wait – Apple should at least say what quarter it will be released to help them plan.
As far as the state of, and demise of Mac Pro, it ended with Final Cut Pro X.. That P.O.S. was devastating to my industry. I’ve been saying this since June of 2011 with no response/solution form APPLE. As an editor, I was marveling at how great I thought the Nat GEO “Wicked Tuna” spots looked. So reading about them I found the director/editor saying this in a national mag about FCP X and APPLE:
Q: What else was unique about this project?
JE: This project was the first time we completed a campaign start to finish in Adobe Creative Suite. We had picked up and started merging to Premiere Pro CS6 right after the verdict was in on FCPX. Like many post houses and editors, we still were using FCP7. It was a great program, but it’s also a sinking ship, so we’d been integrating Premiere Pro slowly. Turned out it was a fairly simple process, since it works so well with the other programs we were using all the time, like After Effects and Photoshop. We’re actually very proud of the fact that we did the whole project in CS6 and were finally able to put down FCP7. There’s no going back. While CS6 is a little buggy on a few of our older workstations, the pros far outweigh the cons. Creative Suite is the future for us.
Now that is how I feel as well about FCPX, and considering Premiere is available for Windows PC, everything for APPLE was UPHILL from here. A “SINKING SHIP” The pros are gone. SO now race to the Middle. SO all the kids and consumers Apple brings to their ecosystem have no way to be the BEST.. APPLE COULD BUY ADOBE like I buy a big mac.. APPLE KIDS want to aspire to be the BEST, not the MIDDLE and I will repeat this OFTEN hoping that some APPLE employee finally GETS IT… ( I want a mac pro with Final CUT 11!!!!!! make it go to 11 please…or FCP 8. and I want a 17″ MBP.. ) So that’s it. And it is ALL perception with wall street too. So strive for the middle you get the middle.
And maybe 50 something year old men in product release videos with grey hair and black turtle neck shirts with eyes that have the dubious honor of NOT having to look both ways to cross the street is not that cool to bright young kids.. especially girls.. Step up the simplistic androgynous advertising. Show some NUTS. And can we finally get rid of
AL GORE as a board member?? Who’s HORRIBLE idea was that..???
Hey, if someone knows a direct line to an APPLE suggestion box, can someone give it to me… someone who can do something.. I’ll check back. ok I’ve had a few.. whew.. that feels better… BUT THE FACTS REMAIN..
Probably wishful thinking, but maybe this will speed up Apple’s release of a new model Mac Pro.
Tim, I’ve worn holes through the varnish on my desk, drumming my fingers waiting for a new Mac Pro. My manicurist is not amused.
This guy is supposed to be a supply chain genius and yet, and yet…
It can’t that difficult surely to get a redesigned Mac Pro out of the door. I could do it in a couple of weeks. 🙂
Get on the ball, Cook. Enterprise should be a huge chunk of Apple’s business, but you keep treating it like an unwelcome guest to your iOS patch release party.
LOVE IT.. exactly!. been saying that for years.. Apple could be huge in enterprise. Design something rather than individual work stations. Take on Windows.. Why is OFFICE still a necessity, (and it is).. What did they make some kind of promise to MS when they took the 100 mil 14 years ago? CRUSH. And Go for GOOGLE’s throat. Do search with advertising and watch Google stock PLUMMET. IF ad $ makes money for Google, make money for AAPL. I’ll take it. Open a Monitor plant somewhere and crush Samsung. CRUSH. Are stereo speakers on an IPAD too much to ask for? How dumb. I love Apple, but when it’s easy to pick on the Surface Kickstand, it’s easy to pick on certain obvious IPAD features. STEP IT UP. Why can WALMART offer an inexpensive, (BUT profitable to them) carrier service, ($49/mo all-in) but apple can’t??? STEP IT UP. they could buy SPRINT, Virgin, or any… It’s all data, it’s all relevant. CRUSH.
Yes. Waiting, waiting for Mac Pro AND new version of LOGIC. Couple more months of this and I’m switching to PreSonus Studio! arggg!
I’ve been waiting a long time to replace my Mac Pros. But Apple doesn’t give a damn. And I understand that. They’re in business. I’m in business. I’m a drop in the ocean to them. I get it. Doesn’t help my situation but until something better comes along I’m stuck waiting. It’s something that few on the site understand. Especially fanboys. Apple is not your best buddy. Apple is just a huge company. Depending upon the day, maybe the biggest. Certainly bigger than Microsoft or Google. It’s just buildings full of people all over the world. Smart, innovative forward thinking brilliant people. As are many other companies. But Apple is in business to make money not friends. And the Mac Pro is the perfect example of this. If you don’t understand that you’re not paying attention. And that’s okay, its a business. And I have used Macs forever. Longer than many here have been alive. I use them because they’re the best and no other reason. And also, I’ve never met an Apple hater. Why would anyone hate Apple? That’s something conjured up by fanboys who think that they are supposed to defend Apple the company. What? That’s insane. And so sad. Get a life. Go outside and enjoy life.
The Mac Pro update is overdue agreed. The issue is apparently getting DisplayPort through Thunderbolt on the Xeon platform. There isn’t an easy solution. When Apple releases this it will be be a clean elegant solution – not a cobbled together patch.
Probably similar to why USB3 support was delayed until it was supported with the Ivy Bridge architecture. When Intel is ready with Thunderbolt support on Xeon – we’ll see it on the MacPro. Apparently later this year.
I wonder how many people really use the Mac Pro to its advantage (12 core dual procs, 64GB RAM, Four 512MB SSD, monster vid. card, etc.) and couldn’t just get by with say a full blown iMac instead? What is the main advantage to the Mac Pro over the iMac? Expandability? Somebody please elaborate.
I am using a Mac Pro: 2 x 512 SSD, 4 x 4 TB HD, 32 GB of RAM, no DVD drive anymore, but a USB 3 card, and 8 cores. This is a real power machine for video editing. Simply impossible with an iMac, not to mention that only the Mac Pro supports a 30 inch display, what still is a difference to 27 inches. Size does matter. Mac Pro still is the best Mac for professional use and I hope Apple will create a new one. Sure I love my 15 inch retina MacBook Pro as well as my 11 inch MacBook Air. But a Mac Pro is the best for real hard work. Since I have it I am much more productive than on the 27 inch iMac. Good choice for office work, not for video editing.
How are you gonna connect 4, 30″ displays on an iMac genius? Eh? What about 2 SSD’s with another 2 drives (4 drives total) ?
Yeah, I need this power because I am a power user!
Geez!!!!!!
The way Apple treats professional users is absolutely disgusting.
Well… I guess it’s time to build a kick-ass Hackintosh that will run circles around my old MacPro1,1 that I sold this past year due to not being able to be updated with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
WIth a certain Gigabyte Thunderbolt-equipped motherboard you can build a Hackintosh with NO hacked drivers using OS X 10.8.2 – works out of the box. By doing this I can put in a Gigabyte NVIDIA video card with 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA has released drivers for OS X 10.8.2, so it will work without any problems.
@ BLN
I’ve been sending Timmy e-mails since he became CEO on what Apple should release for a new Mac Pro. 19 inches tall, five inches wide with a Blu-ray BDXL burner (slot-load). This would allow it to be rack-mountable for musicians, server farms, etc. BDXL burner is for people that have huge data storage requirements.
Personally, I don’t give a damn about watching Blu-ray movies on a Mac – official support for burning BDXL discs would be nice instead of always having to use Toast 11. :/
Thanks for the update.
I have purchased the last of my apple products, a 27″ iMac, back in 2010. As a very early Mac user from Motorola back in 1985, the level of arrogance and ignorance for the customer base is as bad as what Motorola became back in the early 2000s. Apple will erode to a shell of itself when it decides to kill their top technological tour de force.
… another Mac Pro.
My first was a blue, then a silver, then another silver, finally an aluminum (x2). But that latest aluminum cheese grater is going to a friend’s house in February. It has already been replaced by an extra-buff 27″ iMac. The store-model i7 with the SSD front and the 2GB 680MX. Got tired of waiting.
I feel your pain. But still I look to Apple for deliverance. Especially as in years past I suffered on the rack with Microsoft, and was stretched on the wheel with their Ottoman OEMs. Arrogance, and waiting, I can live with. Torture and pain, not so much.
See. People are paying attention. You can put the absence of a new MacPro at the TOP of the list of reasons of why Tim Cook must go! We’ve seen colossal failure since we lost Steve Jobs. Wall Street finally gave up – I think it happened right after the very embarrassing NBC interview (extraordinary wimp factor) when Cook looked clueless simply repeating a mantra of how great a company and “amazing” products coming out. He was lying.TIME TO GO!
Practice what you preach.
And go.
Why me, Jim? Every day you get to see my position confirmed by (1) a growing number of people who see what I see and (2) stark reality. Get over your denial and go away yourself.
Tired of reading your uninformed opinion I decided to walk back through Apple’s financial history and correlate it to the MacPro, your #1 reason why Tim Cook should go. I spent way too much time doing this but I figure maybe it’ll give you a reason to go harp (elsewhere) on something more worthwhile.
August 11, 2006, first MacPro is introduced. Tim is CFO. AAPL at $63.65. Company reports quarterly results of EPS $0.62
January 8, 2008, MacPro updated. Tim is CFO. AAPL at $172.69. Company reports quarterly results of EPS $1.76
March 3, 2009, MacPro updated. Tim is CFO. AAPL at $85.30. Company reports quarterly results of EPS $1.33
August 9, 2010, MacPro updated. Tim is CFO. AAPL at $260.09. Company reports quarterly results of EPS $4.64
January 11, 2012, MacPro updated. Tim is CFO. AAPL at $580.32. Company reports quarterly results of EPS $7.79.
Dates of intros are from Wikipedia. Note the year+ intervals. Stock prices are from the nearest weekending numbers Google provides. Quarterly results are from Apple press releases.
Conclusion: All the while that Steve is a CEO who doesn’t care about anything but the consumer market the MacPro gets steady if not frequent updates. With Tim driving the finances the company rises from irrelevancy to the world’s largest company by market capitalization. So since it’s clear that the CEO isn’t responsible for commitment to the MacPro market segment, why should the current CEO be held to a different standard?
Your analysis supports part of your conclusion. The MacPro updates of Aug. 2010, and January 2012 were minor tweaks. The machine is substantially the same as it was when the March 2009 update rolled out. So, Apple’s most productive powerhouse is four years old – ancient in today’s tech world. My point is that Tim Cook has had a golden opportunity to recognize the temporary nature of the gadget business and that Apple’s gadgets have been overtaken in stores across the world by inferior plastic with pop culture appeal and far more features. So in my view, and I believe this is what Wall Street has seen, Cook has stood by helplessly when it comes to satisfying a segment of Apple’s market – the pro market – that would pay almost anything to get the power and speed they need from the world’s finest computer, and then failed to see that sophomoric buyers of gadgets only want fashionable junk and will snap it up over and over. The new CEO stood by cluelessly and looking dazed by what was happening. So, he sold all his stock in the company, other Apple top brass did the same thing, thus preparing themselves for the collapse. No right thinking shareholder of any company would stand for such a colossal blunder. That’s my point and that’s why Tim Cook must be replaced. Yesterday’s performance is no indication of the future with him around. That’s the reality.
Since the conversation remains civil I’ll remain engaged.
I would not have called Aug 2010 and Jan 2012 minor tweaks, not based upon how they improved my workflows (Final Cut and Aperture).
As for your characterization of Tim Cook as standing by “helplessly” and “cluelessly” I would ask you to review his job responsibilities and how the market segment you wish he had addressed performed versus the market segment Apple so obviously did pursue.
For the record, Apple used to heavily pursue the Pro market, can we agree on that? And how did that benefit the shareholders? When Apple aggressively began pursuing the “sophomoric buyers” how did that benefit the shareholders? I know you feel the “collapse” is because of all manner of things within Tim Cook’s personal control, but the shareholders from 2006 through today have nearly 100% annualized rate of return. Since you’re blaming everything negative on Tim Cook I suppose we should look at shareholder return since he took over as CEO, or whenever it is you think Steve’s wind finished filling the sails, but we’ll still see shareholder value increased in any timeframe that isn’t seriously cherry-picked to bolster your argument.
The market reaction to this last earnings announcement has been reported as analysts worried over Apple’s thinning profit margins. For the following you’ll have to remember the difference between operating income and net income: Expensive high end machines sold to a few result in very low net income. So had Tim Cook focused the way you should have, we’d very likely be facing a call from you to oust him because he let margins slip even further by concentrating on niche markets.
As to Tim and all the other top brass selling “all” their stock did you actually review the insider trading records before you made that allegation? For anyone else who’s been moved by your repeated assertions over time, I’ll provide the link and a simple instruction: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=AAPL If using Safari, hit command-f and type in Tim Cook’s last name. You’ll discover that Tim’s last sale was an automatic sale and it occurred 3/23/2012, long before the high stock price and long before the stock price slide.
I have no doubt you will continue to try and thread disparate and unrelated instances together into a story — heck that how good fiction is created by novelists every day. But in the end it’s still a fictional story you’re writing.
I’m really impressed with your knowledge, research, etc. Seriously. My comments are often offered in the manner customary around the MDN discussions. However, I will always believe the “niche” markets were on the verge of massive conversion into the Mac world via the impressive and king of the mountain MacPro just at the time Steve announced that Apple had become a “mobile device company”. That was gangbusters for a while but always, always destined to be short lived as all pop culture is. My final observation, and I’m happy for you to have the last word, is that Wall Street has never cared about yesterday. It’s always about tomorrow. They don’t see much future in the slipping market for Apple’s gadgets. Hell, Amazon’s earnings dropped by half and the stock soared – they see a future for that company they don’t see for Apple. They also don’t believe Tim Cook is a strong leader, they don’t think he understands what has happened and most of all they don’t think he can fix it and doubt that he is even trying. BTW, and not to be an one upmanship guy, I run four MacPros all 2009 models or later. I really don’t see any difference in them. They bog down with Final Cut rendering commands, and crash with lots of Aperture activity. I really think they don’t know what to do with instructions from Mt. Lion. Maybe if they were an iPhone, the would, but they don’t understand iOS speak. Every day I see the image of Tim Cook on my display when these failures occur and I wonder why he didn’t see this coming and why he didn’t act to prevent it.
I’m not in this for the last word, but thanks 😉
Here’s my analysis: Tim Cook doesn’t need to go, he needs an image consultant to help with his image. I’ve worked with him, not across the conference room table, but at Apple, in dialog, on occasion. He’s an incredibly smart man and far more aware of everything going on than any of these characterizations you and others have been espousing suggest him to be. If you read the blog post by the fellow who worked with Steve both at Next and at Apple then you know that Tim Cook can’t possibly replace Steve’s level of investment in the finer points of an app feature set or a UI layout. That is not Tim, it’s not how Apple today needs the CEO, either, and I seriously doubt engineering would appreciate him if he tried (I would contend that while Steve was so focused on either big picture industry revolution or small details of an app he really wasn’t running the company and Tim was). Steve had force of will that was backed by years of success. When he told engineering their work was, ahem, not representative of what was expected, they knew he was the one person to so judge their work. But similarly, when Tim Cook tells engineering that there’s no profit in the design they’ve come up with, they know he is right. So the real question we’ll never get answered from Apple is exactly who is carrying the torch that Steve carried when he forced teams to rework a detail to get it right? I don’t think it’s Jony Ives, not because he isn’t a creative genius, but because he doesn’t (from all appearances and I’ve never met him) have the same force of will Steve had. But none of that is doom and gloom fodder. Apple has seen many designers come and go, many advertising agencies come and go, many product designs come and go. It’s the nature of change. Let me assure you that Tim Cook is absolutely savvy enough to know where his strengths are and are not, and to supplement his staff with folks who can fill the roles he can’t. He tried with the Retail guy and learned from that blunder. And I’d rather have a CEO at Apple who’s been there a long time and is learning than some outsider who is unknown save for the fact that s/he doesn’t know Apple. And I’d never want Jony Ives to run the company (as others have suggested) because he isn’t a “business person” able to conceive of what to do with $100B in cash that will keep the company running healthily for the long term.
I won’t argue your point about Wall Street not caring about yesterday. And while I won’t argue it, I’ll note with frustration that neither Steve nor Tim ran a company as big as Apple until they made it that big. And to do that successfully year after year, size threshold after size threshold should say a lot about these two men. I think that kind of history is a far better predictor of future success than any other measure you might use.
What if Apple isn’t focusing on the low end plastic phone market because right now they are, really are, riding this iPhone craze until they perfect the next revolution to some other industry? Wouldn’t that be better for the shareholders than staying “stuck” in this rapidly maturing smartphone marketplace? Tim has been through that, twice. Who else who you might pick to replace him has?
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Perhaps the “jingoistic”, “Godwin’s Law-proving” BLN has inadvertently uncovered a fresh analogy that may help explain the spectrum of anger surrounding Apple.
Fighting on many fronts can have disastrous consequences, if leadership fails to correctly assess its military intelligence in light of its objectives. And the long-term goal is not victory, not survival, but final dominance of an idea that takes root and eventually evolves into what we call common sense.
The passions in these platform wars have variously reminded me of partisan letters and essays from wounded veterans, journalists, and non-combatants in the American Civil War, World War II, and the campaigns of Alexander the Great.
Even though the stakes are higher in shooting wars, the human psychology at play is, of course, the same in the platform wars and arouses the same primitive responses, blood loss being thus far the only real difference.
PP : You’re certainly right about the last two Mac Pro updates. But as I said before, Apple has other priorities. And it’s not professionals. As for Tim Cook, I don’t know that this is his fault. I don’t know that it would be any different if Steve Jobs were still there? It’s a command decision that has been made and all I can do is say that Apple not an individual is at fault. Apple the company is at fault. But they will come up with a new Mac Pro sometime this year and they think everything will be forgotten. They’ll tell everyone who will believe it, that it was just a long arduous process to develop such a fine machine. Most will believe it. Professionals will know better. We’ll just have to move along until we can find something better someday. I’m not happy but I don’t hold a grudge. Nor do I ever defend Apple like it’s my best buddy. Why would I? Why would anyone? It’s just the largest company out there. A money printing machine.
Sheez… Peter Oppenheimer was & is CFO. Tim was COO. Y’all were too polite to correct me, eh? 😉
This thread is proof of Godwin’s Law and by definition should be locked.
Those with jingoistic axes to grind (BLN) should find somewhere more suitable for their viewpoints.
Make it a time capsule, since iCal may or may not exist in 2014. A year from now we’ll open it and compare these archived analyses with the historical account. My personal belief about how it will play out is that the product pipeline will write the story, irrespective of the names on the leadership roster. The Apple DNA itself is deeply embedded and will assert itself.
My only dog in the fight is the defeat of Google, who got too big for their britches. Microsoft has already been pilloried, RiM humiliated, HP a suicide, Nokia sabotaged, Palm suffocated, Samsung exposed. Other players in the mobile space are defecting from Android.
We should keep in mind that Apple is a changeling and has an eye on new industries out there to disrupt, for frontiers are where the most lucrative opportunities are found. Imitators who follow may succeed, but with lower-grade ore.
II meant to reply to a different post. Darn all these confusing indentations!
All I can say is that I am getting tired of constant OSX updates that are less and less functional and are only designed to increase profit, less attention to Pro Apps, and the neglected Mac Pro. I am really glad I bought into the 2010, 5,1 Mac Pro as it has not changed substantially since. Snow Leopard 10.6.8 will remain my go to OS as it is stable and sane in its operation. I have Mountain Lion on one internal boot drive for those companies like Adobe that only really care about the latest release for stability in their apps. Multiple boots, not very easy on an iMac. Please, a Mac Pro in the future so developers keep developing for pros. I love my iPhone and my iPad, but I’m not buying another one soon, and can only do my work on a Mac Pro level machine. Please, GIVE US A TIMELINE, or get off the pot!