Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, today tweeted out the following good news:
November 2016 was a record breaker for the #AppStore – the highest monthly sales ever in App Store history!
Growth in Apple’s Services segment, of which the App Store is a component, has increased by 24% and 19% in the last two reported quarters YOY.
https://twitter.com/pschiller/status/806510676147507200
MacDailyNews Take: The Mac Pro complaints responding to Schiller on Twitter are numerous. Surely Apple is noticing that some of their developers aren’t exactly happy with the state of the Macintosh.
SEE ALSO:
New Mac Pro imminent? Trio of new AMD GPU references found in latest macOS Sierra beta – December 7, 2016
Spin the Mac off and let it grow.
Or let OS X run on any hardware?
All I can say is the next Mac Pro better be a spectacular rethink or Apple will end up losing many pro’s to the dark side or Hackintosh. It IS a shame Apple won’t license OS X to others who make killer workstations with loads of options. What Apple can’t forget is pro’s are like kids in a candy store when they have a myriad of build possibilities for their workstation. One size does NOT fit all! Current 2013 Mac Pro is positively tech-claustrophobic.
ditto
I honestly can not understand why Apple can not do radical make overs of Macintosh like Mac Pro was, AND, SIMULTANEOUSLY, keep it refreshed at least once per year in terms of performances improvements.
It is not an “either or” situation, it is an “and”.
It sounds trite, but Apple just isn’t in the “pro” market anymore.
If you go all the way back in Apple’s history to around 1987, look at the future computer movies they were making. Most look like the iPad, not the MacPro. As far back as 1987 Apple was pushing an intelligent appliance connected wirelessly to a network serving consumers.
Fast forward to when Forbes asked Steve Jobs what he would do with Apple if he were to come back. He famously said, “I’d milk the Macintosh for all its worth and move on to the next great thing.” Pretty darned clear about his intentions right there.
One of the first things to happen when Steve did return to Apple… the word “COMPUTER” was dropped from their name. Hello! Are we paying attention here or not!
Later when interviewed at D8 he gave his perspective on the death of the PC. Not Windows PCs, but Personal Computers in general. He was crystal clear on seeing the death of the conventional personal computer and the rise of the iPad and other appliance devices. It’s where the whole car vs. truck analogy started. He said that we would be uncomfortable with it, but that was where he was heading.
He established “The Jobs Doctrine.” For all the crap we give Tim Cook, it is very easy to argue that he is following the Jobs Doctrine to the letter.
Apple is demonstrably unconcerned with the so-called “pro-user.” The sheer neglect of the MacPro demonstrates this. The pro-market is tiny compared to the iPhone market. The iPhone is what turned Apple into the world’s largest company, not the Mac.
Last year Tim Cook slipped up and basically said he doesn’t understand why anyone would buy a PC (meaning PC or Mac). That’s from the current CEO of Apple.
[ Personal computers may still dominate the workforce, but Tim Cook believes their time is almost up.
In an interview with U.K. newspaper The Telegraph, Apple’s CEO was incredulous that anyone would continue to buy a PC in a world where his company’s iDevices are available. And that goes double for businesses.
“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore?” he told the paper during a trip to visit Apple’s flagship store in London for the debut of its powerful big-screen tablet, the new iPad Pro. “No really,” he said, “why would you buy one?” ]
I mean there it is in plain English. As far as Tim/Apple is concerned, PCs are DEAD. PCs meaning conventional personal computers like the Mac.
Apple is not being subtle here. They are in or faces screaming that they are done with PCs.
I’ll tell ya something else. I’m betting that the MacBook Pro is the new MacPro. All Macs will be portable from here on out.
The very people who DO buy computers are the heavy lifting pro’s. How do you expect super-hero movies will be done? Lavish graphics and visual effects? Editing? You can’t do any of that easily or realistically on an iPad. How would Steve Job’s own sold company Pixar get by without powerful Macs, PCs and Linux workstations? I don’t think Jobs was ignorant in this regard.
I hope you’re wrong but I do have a Plan B & C. Guess we’ll find out by mid-2017 if Apple is still in the game. The frustrating thing is it would be so EASY to let others satisfy the pro’s if Apple doesn’t want to. I think they would be surprised by the sales of Macs if they were to become so unbridled.
These days that’s all LINUX and Windows. You’re right. Apple isn’t pushing the iPad to so called “PROs.” These days when I go into a design firm or television studio or special effects shop, I still see Macs, but they are in the hands of executives, creative directors, clerical staff, etc. The heavy hitters are using LINUX and Windows.
To be honest, it’s been like that for quite some time.
I also hear many younger video editors say that they do most of their work on MacBook Pros now.
I can’t remember the last time someone called for a high end Mac-based video editing suite.
So what happens when your MacBook Pro, which already has all USB-C, matches the throughput of the MacPro in your workflow? Some say it already does.
Yeah there’s still a lot of Macs in production. Depends on where you go. But yeah it’s dominated by PC’s. (We used Linux boxes at Laika.) Processor’s & other options are still LITE in the new Mac Book Pro. No question though you can do some level of pro work on a MBP – preferably on some large high-res monitors. 15″ screen, well, fohgedaboudit. I’d say iMac has a better shot, especially with more cores and a way to add GPU’s externally effectively. If it were me I certainly wouldn’t give up on “trucks” but just work at making them more appealing.
and apple will be shooting themselves.. not in the foot but in the head by following that strategy…
maybe it would be viable in about 5 to 10 years….. but macs are the real work horse for now. … soecially the Pros !
you cant adopt a strategy when technology is no anywehere near ready for it. ……that leaves a biiiiig hole …
you know who will fills the hole… ? and prosper!
Once upon a time “Pros” would say the same thing about Macs and PCs vs. Million dollar Quantel systems. Where is Quantel now?
Even if Macs were still the “work horses,” it wouldn’t make Apple any difference. If Apple never sells another MacPro it won’t make them a damn bit of difference.
It’s time to embrace the changes. Where Macs are still in play, people are smoothly editing 4K video on MacBook Pros. They are doing 3D work on MacBook Pros and rendering in the backroom on Windows and LINUX.
Things change, whether we like it or not.
Apple wants to see lots and lots of Apple logos on all the cars that people buy. They don’t care if they see DELL and ASUS on the few Trucks that still get purchased.
“Where Macs are still in play, people are smoothly editing 4K video on MacBook Pros. They are doing 3D work on MacBook Pros”
Jony Ive’s studio late last year. They are using Cheese graters under the tables (maybe they need the GPUs?)
Apple’s Brand New India Research Centre.
Bunch of iMacs, don’t see iPads being used…
“They don’t care if they see DELL and ASUS on the few Trucks that still get purchased.”
I sort of care if Apple announces “Apple Hardware and Software Designed on Windows”.
We should also not forget the prospect of 2 stage creative computing. Design done on laptop and portable machines, and rendering/finishing done in the cloud.
Oh that sounds real appealing. Let’s force ourselves to use two different computers, running different operating systems and therefore different software, in order to perform one task.
Nobody here yet has offered a rational explanation why Apple refuses to produce the best personal computers anymore. The only logical explanation is bad leadership. Resources and lack of market opportunity are certainly not getting in the way. Users are clamoring for better user options, but Slow Cook and Thin Ive ignore their formerly loyal Mac users.
It’s much easier these days to say A isn’t into the “pro” category, but it’s more than a little challenging to say that A’s not into the “creatives” and I’m not talking about generia posted on the socials. With that in mind, I fully expect and predict Apple will show support for the pro/creatives. Obviously, A has very poor timing for this customer and I can only say that it better be soon.
Steve said that “Milk … ” comment in 1996 when the Mac was being run into the ground by incompetents at Apple.
THEN later when he RETURNED he did an about face:
He went gangbusters on the iMac (pushing dozens of mac models iMac : plastic, lampshade, flat , MacBooks : Clamshell, White, Aluminium, etc)
He did did the fantastically difficult transition from OS9 to OSX and PowerPC to Intel. It’s hard to imagine how difficult this was as OSX is based on Nextstep and not the original MacOS etc. He had to change the base of the Mac and get all the developers on board.
Every chance he got he pitted Macs in shootouts with Photoshop against Windows Machines with fans cheering 4,5,6 as the seconds ticked…
Then like I said he ran a HUGE number of ads: 66 different ads in 4 years is no joke. These ran until Cook became CEO.
THIS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT IPOD WAS MAKING HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY THEN, growing so fast that analysts said Apple should change into an “audio company”.
Does this look like …
“The PC wars are over.” ???
NOPE, Jobs CHANGED HIS MIND
Steve jobs WENT TO WAR, armed loaded and determined like a Patton on Nitro. Every action he took showed that he LOVED the Mac AFTER his 1996 comment. The giant ad campaign like I said ran until he gave up his CEO post.
Steve Jobs as Tim Cook admits could change his mind, turning on a dime at opportunities.
who knows what Steve Jobs would have done today?
seeing Win 10 resurgent with 300 million shipped with Msft saying they are aiming for 1 billion and with iPad stalled (sales for YEARS to now HALF peak) Macs make more money than iPad and several times Watch , Jobs might have DOUBLED DOWN ON PUSHING MACS.
typo:
iPad stalled (sales for YEARS to now HALF peak)
should be “iPad stalled (sales DROPPING for YEARS to now HALF peak) ”
—-
the Mac ads Jobs did I referred to were the Mac PC guy series, ONE NEW ad a month (66 different ads over 4 years).
Exactly, they milked it. Now they are moving on.
Here is the complete quote:
“If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it’s worth — and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago.”
so were the ‘wars done’ etc to him when he returned?
SO all the things I said AFTER that statement showed he had CHANGED his MIND.
What, because he cranked out fruity colored iMacs? Everything up until now has been effectively “Milking the Mac.” The innovation, the effort, the revolution and evolution has been on the iOS side of things. Macs? Every once in a while a speed bump, and a few changes to OS X. The writing isn’t just on the wall, it’s chiseled with a damn jackhammer. Apple is marching away from conventional computers with a steady drumbeat and doing everything except drop leaflets.
If you think he changed his mind….
” The innovation, the effort, the revolution and evolution has been on the iOS side of things. Macs? Every once in a while a speed bump, and a few changes to OS X. ”
eh?:
did you read what I wrote or familiar with Mac history at all?
“all the evolution on the iOS side” ???
The transition of OS9 to OSX and Power Pc to Intel arguably the biggest changes in Apple OS software was done AFTER his 1996 “PC wars over ” announcement. Jobs oversaw THAT humongous REVOLUTION.
Has iOS seen that amount of change?
Also saying that OSx hasn’t much changes RECENTLY doesn’t prove anything, it could just be NEGLECT and not that Mac software can’t improve.
As for video
1) At that time iPad and iPhone sales were an upward trend, Cook said he had never seen anything like iPad growth . But now for YEARS 8-9 quarters in spite of iPad Pro etc iPad sales have declined and is now about HALF (likeI said) peak sales numbers.
2) Jobs also said very clearly in the video “who knows” what will happen.
Like I pointed out and from HISTORIC example of his 1996 quote and then doing the REVERSE, Jobs can change his mind.
Who knows what he would have done today seeing Msft moving 300 million Win 10 units projecting 1 billion future and iPad stalled.
Is 300 million a market not to be exploited? Is the milking over ?
Note also one of the reasons Apple stock is so low (if it had Google’s PE it would be 300) is that big investors say it’s a dangerous ONE PRODUCT iPhone company. Considering that Cook has spent TENS OF BILLIONS on stock buybacks to boost the stock, ignoring Macs (which actually as I endlessly point out make more money than iPads, Watch, Beats , Music) is stupid. Not only are they forsaking the profits from mac they could also save some money perhaps billions from buybacks if the Mac line was healthy as it will help dismiss the one product idea, (Apple has just 10% market share, imagine if they increased it taking from that 1 billion market Msft sees. If Apple had not neglected Mac — no marketing all through the Win 8 fiasco years, slow updates — perhaps the market share could be much larger now).
The problem with you all who put down the Mac potential is that you JUST STRING A FEW JOBS quotes usually like the 1996 one OUT of CONTEXT and INCOMPLETE while people like Me can show that Jobs CAN CHANGE HIS MIND ( you all assume his ideas are FIXED) :
Then we also have actual FACTS vs ‘hypothesis’
Photos of Macs of use even in Apple offices today vs hypothesis that ‘Macs are over’.
Facts of Mac being produced, OS9 to OSx transition (to show that Jobs changes his mind)
Facts that iPad sales declining , Mac make more money and Macs actually growing until recently when they started not updating them regularly.
Mac naysayer also say Apple needs to husband SCARCE resources, no time etc to work on Mac. Fact is Apple has billions , 100,000 staff and SVPs are designing furniture for charities, Christmas Trees, Coffee table books, mini series on Dr.Dre’s life, and sponsoring fashion shows like Met Gala.
As for abounding the Mac as it makes less than iPhone , so why don’t they the abandon Watch, beats, Music, software etc as they ALL make less than iPhone?
The Main reasons I believe Apple is neglecting the Mac is that:
years back when iPad was booming (it’s now as I said declined to about HALF peak sales) they miscalculated and as hardware takes years to plan they have been wrong footed with Mac.
Also there has been disinterest in certain segments of the design group as I think they believe that Macs are ‘boring’ to design. they tried to replace the tower mac with the cylinder as it was more interesting but impractical with its non upgradable GPUs etc. The design group also wants small thin soldered etc (as I believe Ive is more into fitting Macs into his ‘fashion’ ideas ) and no one wants to dispute Ive. (the design issues are too large to discuss here but note there is NO REASON to make the Mini ram non upgradable as an inch or two more is irrelevant to a DESKSTOP — there are powerful design pressures at Apple detrimental to certain parts of Mac which have nothing to do with ‘profits or resources or market share’ etc ).
3) Lastly even as we don’t know what Jobs would have done with the Mac we don’t know what he would done with iOS. It’s been years since his death, perhaps iOS would be MORE POWERFUL today if he was around? With a pro filing system etc? Perhaps then maybe iPads could actually replace Macs for pros?
Who knows ? What we do know as I pointed out is are the financial, technical , demand issues (falling iPad etc) which is the reality.
“What, because he cranked out fruity colored iMacs? ”
just fruity coloured iMacs?
(actually maybe you shouldn’t argue about Mac or their importance as your knowledge seems very shallow)
Just the KEY Macs (there are many more Jobs macs)
All done AFTER his “PC Wars are Over” quote:
–
IMac :
bondi blue,
multicoloured,
Graphite IMac
Lampshade flat Panel
G5 Flat Panel
Intel Aluminium
Macbook:
iBook Colored Clamshell
Powerbook g4 Plastic
iBook White
Powerbook G4 Aluminium
Macbook Intel White
Black Macbook
Macbook Intel Aluminium
Macbook Pro
Macbook Air
Macbook Aluminium Unibody
Desktops:
G4 Cube
Mini G4
Mini Intel
Unibody Mini
Tower:
G4 Graphite Plastic
G4 Silver Plastic
Power Mac G5 Aluminium
Mac Pro Intel
(like I said each of these might have several different models and in-between models which I didn’t list)
Note also as I said before the massive OS change of OS9 to OSx (different base altogether as OSX is based on Nextstep ) and the Intel transition.
Just ‘fruity iMacs?”
“PC wars over” for Jobs?
Not to mention you’ve got the current CEO of Apple echoing all this stuff by saying he doesn’t see why anyone still buys a Mac or PC.
It’s no different than Apple dropping the enterprise which they have also done.
Apple is not interested in backroom IT, or large data center IT, or so called enterprise computing of any kind, which is ironic considering all the IBM and CISCO attention. IBM recently got rid of all their Windows machines and moved to Macintosh. Then again, the IBM effort is built around mobile. MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and iOS devices. IBM is treating the MacBook/MacBook Pro just like an iOS device, i.e. with strong Mobile Device Management.
When IBM says “Mac” think “Mac Laptop.” IBM isn’t buying iMacs and MacPros or MacMinis. Obviously they see the direction things are headed in.
When Apple says they are committed to the Mac, they are saying smaller, thinner, lighter, notebooks. I.e. Mac appliances. And whether we like it or not it’s brilliant.
I’ve been buying a lot of software off the AppStore recently too. Some of it expensive.
Phil is the SVP of marketing, not of hardware development.