“Throughout much of its early life, Apple made printers. They were pretty good! Hell, the original LaserWriter was a groundbreaking advancement in home desktop publishing,” Jason Cross writes for Macworld. “Eventually, third-party printers with razor-thin profit margins flooded the market, and they worked fine with Macs, so it became a fool’s errand for Apple to continue trying to make its own.”
“Apple simply shouldn’t hold on to everything it does forever, even if it’s capable of making a good product,” Cross writes. “There comes a time when the company should re-evaluate the changing technology landscape and cut the dead weight from its product lineup so it can focus on new opportunities and reinforce what really works, just as it did with printers and Xserve rack-mounted blade servers.”
Cross writes, “As Apple continues to grow into new areas (like headphones, streaming TV programming, and…cars maybe?), I humbly submit that it’s time to retire these five products.”
Covered in the full article:
• AirPort routers
• iPod touch
• Mac mini
• iPad mini
• iTunes
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple sure is selling — or, more precisely, trying to sell — quite the coterie of aged, ignored products.
Either update your product lines properly and routinely or pull the plug on them so that you won’t be distracted from creating politically-correct emoji, holding beer bashes for employees who are all obviously not getting their jobs done well or at all, and doling out an endless stream of undeserved RSUs to fat, lazy, uninspired VPs who think their office door handles are more important than delighting customers with up-to-date, feature-complete, state-of-the-art products that ship on time and in quantity.
—
Some might say something about Apple brass being fat and happy after gorging on RSUs. Others might say that Apple has outgrown a management system from a time when they were much smaller with fewer product lines. Or that the company is distracted with moving into their spaceship or other issues that are, at best, exceedingly peripheral to where Apple’s focus should be: Delighting their customers and shipping high quality, dependable products.
Whatever the reason(s) for Apple’s seeming malaise, we’ve said it before, so we’ll say it again: From the outside, Apple, you look lazy and/or somewhat lost. Is that how you want to look to the world, Apple, much less to us “rabid fanboys?”
Excuse us while we go listen to our AirPods. Oops. Operations genius, our collective ass. — MacDailyNews, December 9, 2016
—
Sometimes Apple, the world’s most profitable and most valuable company, still operates as if they only have five guys from NeXT working around the clock trying to do all the work on a shoestring budget.
Can’t manage to have a compatible Remote app or Apple Music-capable Siri for the Apple TV launch… Can’t have enough Pencils and Keyboards for the iPad Pro launch. Seriously? Can’t have any stock on hand for two months after the so-called the Apple Watch launch date. Can’t update their professional Mac for nearly two years and counting?
Why are these amateurish mistakes and lapses happening with startling regularity? You know, besides mismanagement?
Oh, you say, but Apple is making tons of money! Why, yes, they certainly are!
Listen, let’s be honest, Steve Ballmer could’ve generated the same kind of money “running” Apple Inc. given the massive momentum Steve Jobs handed over at his death. Sometimes, in fact, it looks like Steve Ballmer is running Apple. Although, no, it doesn’t really, because even Ballmer would have updated the Mac Pro by now, made sure he had enough Apple Watches ready so as not to pretty much totally kill launch momentum, and also had enough Pencils and Keyboards on hand for the iPad Pro launch…
We’re coming up on two years now (this December 19th) since the Mac Pro debuted with no updates which, along with the rest of the string of snafus (going back to John Browett, Apple Maps, no iMacs for Christmas 2012, no iPad 2 units for launch, etc.), is what understandably prompts this sort of “joke” and “failure” talk and the feeling that Apple is a bit sloppy in recent years.
We hold Apple to a high standard and we expect the company to execute better than they have of late. (read more) — MacDailyNews, November 27, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Where is Apple’s AirPower? – April 25, 2018
Why can’t Apple keep their products up-to-date? – April 10, 2018
Why is it taking Apple so long to update the Mac Pro? – April 10, 2018
Apple’s latest announcements about the modular Mac Pro really ramp up expectations – April 6, 2018
Apple needs to stop promising new products and start delivering them – April 6, 2018
Apple: No new Mac Pro until 2019 – April 5, 2018
Apple reiterates they’re working on an all-new modular, upgradeable Mac Pro and a high-end pro display – December 14, 2017
Why Apple’s promise of a new ‘modular’ Mac Pro matters so much – April 6, 2017
Apple’s cheese grater Mac Pro was flexible, expandable, and powerful – imagine that – April 6, 2017
More about Apple’s Mac Pro – April 6, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Who has taken over at Apple? – April 5, 2017
Apple’s embarrassing Mac Pro mea culpa – April 4, 2017
Who’s going to buy a Mac Pro now? – April 4, 2017
Mac Pro: Why did it take Apple so long to wake up? – April 4, 2017
Apple sorry for what happened with the Mac Pro over the last 3+ years – namely, nothing – April 4, 2017
Apple to unveil ‘iMac Pro’ later this year; rethought, modular Mac Pro and Apple pro displays in the pipeline – April 4, 2017
Apple’s apparent antipathy towards the Mac prompts calls for macOS licensing – March 27, 2017
Why Apple’s new Mac Pro might never arrive – March 10, 2017
Dare we hold out hope for the Mac Pro? – March 1, 2017
Apple CEO Cook pledges support to pro users, says ‘we don’t like politics’ at Apple’s annual shareholders meeting – February 28, 2017
Yes, I just bought a ‘new’ Mac Pro (released on December 19, 2013 and never updated) – January 4, 2017
Attention, Tim Cook! Apple isn’t firing on all cylinders and you need to fix it – January 4, 2017
No, Apple, do not simplify, get better – December 23, 2016
Rare video shows Steve Jobs warning Apple to focus less on profits and more on great products – December 23, 2016
Marco Arment: Apple’s Mac Pro is ‘very likely dead’ – December 20, 2016
How Tim Cook’s Apple alienated Mac loyalists – December 20, 2016
Apple’s not very good, really quite poor 2016 – December 19, 2016
Apple’s software has been anything but ‘magical’ lately – December 19, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016
Rush Limbaugh: Is Apple losing their edge? – December 9, 2016
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Apple may have finally gotten too big for its unusual corporate structure – November 28, 2016
Apple has no idea what they’re doing in the TV space, and it’s embarrassing – November 3, 2016
Apple’s disgracefully outdated, utterly mismanaged Mac lineup is killing sales – October 13, 2016
Apple takes its eye off the ball: Why users are complaining about Apple’s software – February 9, 2016
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Mac Pros
iMacs
MacBooks
That seems to be their plan. This leaves expensive, high profit, disposable electronic devices.
1 useless product Apple should lay to rest is Eddy Cue. He is a $25 million / year pathological gravy train rider
Mind boggeling why he is still there ….
Mr Convoluted Cue !
You could terminate him, but he would just circumnavigate the spaceship and come right back in the door from which he exited.
Apple just needs to update is products. The mini fills a space and is incredibly reliable. I love my airport extreme router. I have had a couple of iPad minis – also great products. I would agree that the iPod touch is probably dead (most kids have phones) and iTunes is a bit of a disaster. iTunes gets more confusing to my with each update – it’s a mess.
Itunes is under Eddy .. what do u expect from the convolution master .
Grrrrr
The “benefit of the doubt” honeymoon period is completely over for Tim Cook and the private (and the buying public) sector demands results. Time for a change of leadership.
Some of those can go away and I’d never miss them, iPod Touch and the iPad Mini, the others on the other hand it would be nice if Apple actually updated them. I know they’ve already killed the Airports and Time Capsules, and I think they should come back. The Mac Mini clearly has a place on the market and should be updated to current processors and enhanced upgradability. iTunes, still needs work or separated into Audio and Video Apps.
Apple IS killing all those products. With neglect.
Fire Tim Cook!
What you call “neglect” they call a roadmap.
This enables Apple, after many years of stagnation, to declare interest in the product has disappeared thus they can drop it.
The Mini interferes with the ever evolving AppleTV.
(never-mind it is incredibly useful in so many more ways)
The iPod Touch interferes with the iPhone.
(never-mind that many parents don’t want their kids to have a full-fledged iPhone at such early ages)
Airport routers lost to mesh routers
(never-mind Apple could’ve securely adopted this method or the fact not everyone needs enough wifi for a 1/2 acre house)
Apple: “Early adopters? We don’t need no stinking early adopters…”
Sad but true. The mismanagement of what was a successful Mac platform is epic. If Apple could walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, the Mac business today would rake in more money than Microsoft and users would have all the best software to choose. All the peripherals that support a healthy ecosystem are being strategically killed so Apple can be a big brother subscription pusher. Sickening.
Why not update the products instead!
Airport routers brought me and a lot of others to Apple because they just worked.
Apple should just make iphones and thats it and be done with it, since they are basically an iphone company.
Dell just had an entire refresh of all their computer products with all of the latest hardware. If Dell can do it, why can’t Apple? Apple just keeps sitting on all that cash when it comes to upgrading their computers. I’m not asking for a yearly refresh but three years seems like a relatively long time in such a fast-moving tech industry. Am I wrong about this? I don’t know why Apple abandoned their routers. They’ve always worked well for me and were quite reliable.
If Dell can do it, why can’t Apple?
Apple can. But Apple doesn’t want to.
Windows and Windows-powered PCs USED to the driver behind tech, with its biggest share bought by the enterprise (of which Dell was a major player). But tech has changed, desktops (even laptops) are no longer the darling of the tech world. The darling is mobile and that is where Apple is headed (actually took the lead and never relinquished it with the iPhone).
Smart management puts its money in the future, not the past. Of course, reading the posts here it’s obvious there aren’t many smart (if any) managers among this august group.
Unfortunately for many, this is absolutely the case. For those just getting into the Apple ecosystem, they’re seeing a torrent of updates, innovation, new features and more… but that’s because they have iOS devices. As a result, those things that feed into the iOS ecosystem are the things that get attention.
This is why the iMac Pro is so expensive. You don’t NEED all that hardware to create content for iOS devices, but if you’re willing to spend the money on it, they’ll sell it to you. A talented successful developer can make a decent living selling apps on the App Store using their MacBook Pro or iMac system for development.
Just update what they have with faster chips more often.
You can’t be trusted if you can’t support and maintain your products. That is a longstanding Apple problem, getting worse with Cook every year.
You can trot out this narrative that personal computers are dead, but can you back it up with facts? The installed base is large and the needs for them are not going away among the elite, high margin, computing customer base. Sure, emerging markets are embracing the cheapest portables they can get, but it doesn’t take long before the limitations of ultraportable mobiles becomes clear. The most profitable customers at Apple aren’t the ones who buy $400 Homepods. They are the people who buy $3k + Macs.
Dell, being private, does not disclose its profits. Microsoft, despite being left for dead by the peanut gallery at MDN after two decades of stumbling along, remains in the top 30 global corporations and will not be displaced by industry anytime soon. So while sales aren’t growing strongly, the software sales for PCs is huge. The ASP of personal computers remains well above the ultraportable thin clients, and infinitely more useful. The dream of having everyone on a subscription leash is reprehensible, so as Apple pushes that business model along with the rest of the tech industry, it will lose its edge. Apple today looks fat and lazy collecting profits from iOS games, but has squandered its advantage in all other areas. How does that bode well for Apple’s future?
“can you back it up with facts?”
We could look at how many mobile devices sold versus non-mobile. If you include all the devices running iOS, they outsell the entire PC market.
“They are the people who buy $3k + Macs”
When you consider that the profits from all non-Mac related things combined dwarfs the entire Mac market, and DESTROYS the $3k + Mac market, I’d say the profit numbers disagree with you.
“that bode well for Apple’s future?”
Apple is the undisputed leader of profits in the next wave of computing, and it’s not even really upon us yet!
There’s really no sense left in attempting to justify or trying to rationalize what Apple’s doing as anything more than focusing on where they feel their future will be. The pendulum is not swinging in the other direction, and if the 2019… maybe… introduction of the “modular” Mac Pro isn’t proof of that, then I don’t know what is.
Mac hardware alone, despite years of neglect, makes more than iPad and just as much as Apples subscriptions or its hodgepodge of Other stuff. Much of the services revenue is Applecare for Macs you know.
If Apple bothered to refresh its Mac hardware annually and give app developers a reason to distribute through the macOS store, macs would be an equal size business compared to the easy money Apple makes distributing iOS games and overpriced accessories. It’s apple’s own fault that the Mac business doesn’t capture as great a share of the total app revenue that iOS does.
If you carefully slice the data, you can support almost any point. BUT, the reality is that iOS and all the things that are tied to and enable iOS (Apple Pay, Apple Music, etc.) is driving the vast majority of their profits quarter after quarter.
“It’s apple’s own fault”
Yes, mainly because they’re actively working their way out of the Mac market. Just as they worked their way out of the Apple II market, the router market, the monitor market, etc.
Because Tim does not give a shit about the Mac.
They castrated the Mac mini with a sealed box model with poor CPUs and Vampire Video. They have done the same with much of the iMac line. They abandoned the workstation Mac Pro for the trash can and let it twist in the wind.
The day Apple announces you can develop iOS software on an iPad you can count the Macintosh as dead. That could be as quick as WWDC. Not predicting, but it would not surprise me.
I disagree with much of the article in so many ways. The iPad Mini has nothing to do with a large phone screen and everything to do with an iPad that’s just freaking smaller. Maybe, maybe the 9.7″ is small enough, but I love the size of my Mini and won’t buy a 9.7″ until I can’t buy another Mini. Speaking of Minis, the Mac Mini was/is and awesome concept if for no other reason that I’m the proud owner of 5 USB keyboards from previous iMacs. I liked my Time Capsule than finally changed it out to get newer, faster technology. And good as they are, NetGear routers and external hard drives SUCK compared to the simplicity of a Time Capsule (nothing I like better than being in the land of M: and P: drives). The Touch is everything the iPhone is without the phone; since no one actually talks about the phone in an iPhone, that part of the device is secondary. iTunes, on the other hand, is a bloated, ugly, horrible monster; on that, I agree. But don’t hold up iPhone apps as examples of replacements. The Music app on the iPhone, for one, is a piss poor interface and could be SO much better.
Absolutely disagree with:
Ipad mini… very convenient size, completes the lineup, why send customers to the competition
Mac mini… many love to use this as mini servers..
And itunes ( unless they allow purchase of music through apple music , which at this moment is in TOTAL disconnect from itunes…)
After years of having minis as our in house file server for our business. I have given up. We have recently transferred our file serves to stand alone NAS servers. Also gave up on network time machine server. Also gave up on our apple mac server’s print server for the office. Oh, and our shared calendars and contacts, moved all of that to google.
Drip by drip, Apple is chasing us away as a customer.
Increadibly sad and and ignorant of Apple .
On a positive note Though…i remember Tim mentioning that mac mini is an important product to Apple… he mentioned this last summer in an email response to a customer… i believe mdn or macrumors wrote an article about it.
Maybe there is a surprise Comming ?
People over support themselves but bad drives
Work well and having that or backup drives is worth while can better. Another the new memory ss chips to replace internally are better than hard disks that can fail anytime.
SSDs are also not immune to sudden failure.
Next, we are looking into switching our graphic workstations over to windows. This pains me to say.
Recently we started moving our appointment setters away from mac minis over to cheap windows computers.
And we have been Apple customers since the original mac. When I started here, I was put on a Performa. Loyal to Mac during it’s darkest days. But now we have just grown too frustrated.
It’s as if Apple doesn’t want to be a computer company anymore. Just a phone and music company.
Give Apple a chance
They admitted To dropping the ball on pros and powerusers and have been reversing course since.
Imac ptis are great cgi stations.
The modular mac pro should be released in 2019.
2019, now that is funny.
I think everyone here has finally come around to the reality. They may even need to change the site’s name to iOS daily news because in another few years, mac news won’t need to be captured in day size chunks. 🙂
Modular does not mean expandable AND does not mean cheap. Think about the Pros Apple is courting on-campus, currently happy with FCPX, non-upgradable MacBook Pro’s and non-expandable Mac Pro’s. THESE people, who are showing with their dollars, that these are the things they LIKE… THESE people are who Apple is listening to about the next Mac Pro.
They’re not listening to any of the hundreds of thousands that haven’t bought a new system in 5 years. They’re not listening to the folks that have migrated to other platforms. They’re listening only to the folks that love the current state and would just like to see some things tweaked. Simply put, if you didn’t buy a new Mac in the last 5 years waiting for the NEXT thing that would be better… there’s nothing that’s going to be better than what’s out right now. If you like it, great, buy a system and be prepared to be delighted in 3-4 years.
Why? Apple has trillions of dollars and abundant user feedback. The leadership at Apple is blind. While they cash their bonuses from app sale revenues, the foundation has practically rotted away. No servers, no workstations, no cutting edge software on the Mac : there is no reason for a person to entrust their livelihoods to an untrustworthy partner. Apple betrayed us.
No… stop… 🙂 For those people that are dissatisfied with NOW, there’s nothing Apple has plans on creating that will delight them. Apple will continue to move in the mobile space and will get rid of macOS once they define a way to create iOS code ON iOS. OR will just make systems capable of creating code for iOS.
The only surprise coming is “SURPRISE! SOMETHING ELSE THAT’S NOT A EXPANDABLE MAC OR A MAC MINI!!”
now !?
Well things take time to develope.
Apple addmited to droping the ball…. they already released imac pros which are kick ass.
And for those who want an upgradable modular desktop… well mac pro modular is due in 2019
Speculating it is not going to be the right thing or Apple wont care to do the right thing .. is just that; speculation and a negative one at that.
I believe Apple has heard the pro/powe users… they admitted so themselves.. and addmitted to having dropped the ball.
Good things take time to develope…
For ‘now now’ yes there is no modular/upgradable mac pro…….. there will be in 2019
But there are then imac pros.
So i say lets see what apple brings to the table with their new macpro initiative.. before giving up and abandoning.
It seems to me that WHATEVER Apple comes out with, you’ll just say, “Well, no this isn’t good either but just wait until the NEXT thing, you’ll see!”
“Upgradable modular desktop”
They did NOT say upgradable. They said modular. The two terms can’t be interchanged. In fact, if it was upgradable, you can bet they would have likely used that term as that’s what pros would want to hear. That might even be worth WAITING for if you could afford the luxury of waiting (as your clients consider turning to other folks that can crank out their jobs much faster). The current trash can Mac Pro is modular. 🙂 The current mini is modular.
If Apple would release an iPad mini with the latest CPU/GPU and an app for VoIP telephony- plus links to the Apple Watch- I would drop my iPhone for it in a skinny NY minute.
An iPad mini and an Apple LTE watch combo would eliminate any need for the Jesus Phone.
There is merit to that.. for some it would be a great solution !!👍
Sorry my friend, the Mac mini is a good workstation especially in the graphic industry
It’s a reasonable price to pay for a Macintosh without screen, unless you want to pay for iMac that start over thousand dollars. Not everybody does make movie work but for desktop publishing and print shops it’s does the job.
You have way too much patience. Mac mini costs too much for such a slow limited machine. You may have accepted a workflow at your business where you tolerate 5 year old computing speeds, but you should not have to. Your productivity could improve with faster more capable machines. If only Apple cared.
I don’t agree with your opinion especially for printers who still do desktop
Publishing. You don’t have to spend that thousand dollar price point. You can use standard display especially for type.
My 5
Beats headphones & speakers
Apple Music & Book Store
Jony Ive
Eddy Cue
Any media productions to include the fake radio station.
If Apple is interested in services, why not a MVNO/ISP?
And, if Apple is going to ignore the Mac, why not license the OS out. I really do not give a shit about Jony’s Super thin Macs with ever fewer ports and no path to upgrade. If Apple has put battery compartments on the iPhone, they would not have masses of people lined up like lemmings to get a new battery- they could have mailed them out with a return box for the old battery.
Apple hasn’t dropped anything but doesn’t carry
As many products as they did in the past. But I don’t see them discontinuing Mac OS. And if you think that they would drop Apple Music that’s crazy. Do you love getting amazon or other music servers and having limiting selections. I rather purchase from Apple VS any other servers because they rarely pay the artists. I might not get there music service but still choosing from them is still ok.
BS article. Every one of those products needs an update, not an axe.
These are the things Apple needs to lay to rest:
1. Eddie Cue
2. Tim Cook
3. Angela Ahrendts
4. Jony Ive
5. Dan Riccio
6. Craig Federighi
7. Almost the entire Board
….
“• AirPort routers
• iPod touch
• Mac mini
• iPad mini
• iTunes”
Cute list, but there is only one item that might need to go – the iPod touch. Now it Apple is using the iPod touch as mill fodder then it should probably stay.
The router being on the lists was a surprise to me. Why would Apple want to send customers to competitors when they can keep them in the store? Apple traditionally believed in controlling the experience and, really, how hard is it for Apple to continue with the routers?
The Mac mini is another important product in that it services customers who cannot afford anything else. As long as they are selling they should continue in the product range, in the same format or a new design.
The iPad mini is another interesting product in that it is a perfect size for little kids. I can remember a YouTube clip of a toddler trying to turn the page of a magazine with iPad movements. That young market leads to loyal customers as they age.
The other important factor to remember is that slower sellers also help fund corporate overheads, and that makes the best sellers more profitable as they don’t take the hit of those overheads.
I love Apple Airport Routers. It would be a shame and a bad business decision to get out of the router business, at least right now. They are — or were — magical pieces of hardware that “just worked.”
I also like Tim Cook primarily for one huge reason — his seemingly ironclad commitment to privacy. Think of what the tech landscape might look like without Apple’s privacy commitments. He also inherited a very hard gig — following Steve Jobs. I too wish there was more emphasis on the computing side of Apple. I think that is the foundation of everything else. However, all in all, I think Tim Cook has done a good job with the situation he inherited. We could easily have gotten worse…
Don’t look in the news today then. Quite a few articles like this one:
https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/26/apple-airport-cancellation/