“A year ago, I visited the Apple campus in Cupertino to figure out where the hell the new Mac Pro was,” Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch.I joined a round-table discussion with Apple SVPs and a handful of reporters to get the skinny on what was taking so long.”
“Now, a year later, I was invited back to Apple to talk to the people most responsible for shepherding the renewed pro product strategy,” Panzarino reports. “John Ternus, vice president of Hardware Engineering, Tom Boger, senior director of Mac Hardware Product Marketing, Jud Coplan, director of Video Apps Product Marketing and Xander Soren, director of Music Apps Product Marketing.”
“After an initial recap in what they’d done over the past year, including MacBooks and the iMac Pro, I was given the day’s first piece of news: the long-awaited Mac Pro update will not arrive before 2019,” Panzarino reports. “‘We want to be transparent and communicate openly with our pro community, so we want them to know that the Mac Pro is a 2019 product. It’s not something for this year.’ …I wouldn’t expect to see any more info about Mac Pro at WWDC in June. Maybe Apple will surprise on that front, but I think for anything further about Mac Pro we’re going to have to wait for next year.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Par for the course at Tim Cook’s unfocused, lackadaisical, mismanaged, confused, rudderless and, in this case for sure, utterly laughable and disappointing Apple.
SEE ALSO:
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
No worries, Cook will give us plenty of buggy software updates instead.
All is well. Cook is “personally offended” with this delay.
Parking this here so everyone can see it. First, no excuse for what will be a six year delay. Heads should roll.
Second, I feel a bit better after reading the TechCrunch story here. https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/05/apples-2019-imac-pro-will-be-shaped-by-workflows/
Also tossing this in here so it’s up top.
There is absolutely no excuse for the next Mac Pro to be delayed until sometime in 2019. The way the various articles I’ve read report it, Apple is not even stating *when* in 2019 the next Mac Pro will ship. Apple’s schedule might have it shipping in limited quantities isn December 2019 with full production and deliveries in 2020.
We all remember that Apple stated last year that they had already been working on a new Mac Pro design at the time of their meeting with the press. Let’s say that they started 2 January 2017. It does NOT take two to three years to design a new computer these days. It just does NOT.
The next Mac Pro will use Intel chips. It will use PCIe. It will use USB. It will use ThunderBolt. It will use ECC RAM. It might use 3D Xpoint. It will have standard interfaces for AMD or Nvidia GPUs. It will be based upon macOS and the standard Apple applications that come with macOS. Easily 95% of the next Mac Pro will be based upon things Apple has known since 2 January 2017 or at least mid 2017.
People over the design and development of the next Mac Pro should be fired.
And, with regard to that TechCrunch article, what it really describes is an elaborate case of paralysis by analysis. Apple claims to be spending so much time talking with and working with and hiring a subset of users that have typically used a Mac Pro in the past that Apple has not yet begun to really design the next Mac Pro. At this rate, we’ll be very lucky if the next Mac Pro DOES ship by 31 December 2019.
It is more and more looking like by the time the next Mac Pro ships it will sell out rapidly to a tiny base of users that have been hanging on to Macs. Then its sales will die off to virtually nothing because everyone other than the hard core will have moved on to other hardware & software. Because of that it will become a self fulfilling prophecy — there’s no big user base so it’s good we haven’t done a new Mac Pro every year or so thus we’ll just kill it all together.
If the next Mac Pro does not ship until late 2019 it might be the last Mac Pro ever.
Apple. Such a magical company. With the totally magical, and invisible Mac Pro!
How about a new Mac Mini? I’d even settle for that.
I wouldn’t say that Tim Cook is unfocused, he is simply focused on things other than the MacPro. And Apple in Education. And Apple Music.
Actually, after reading the article, I’m quite a.bit more hopeful.
Just wish they would have started this process 3 years ago.
FYI, it sounds like they have been through the same gut wrenching discovery with Apple Education—the realization that their strategy was miles off course.
Fingers crossed …
Apple should just slash the prices on the current Mac Pro and rebrand it the new Mac mini. That would keep everyone happy until the new Mac Pro is released next year.
What a joke! Six years between updates for Pros is unbelievable. Glad I’m not a pro user.
I guess Tim and Co. really do believe everyone should just use iPads for everything.
Try as I might, I barely use my iPad Air 1. It’s so much easier to grab my MBP and not have to fight the limitations.
Ya know…. I was thinking that if they’re not going to have anything by WWDC that they need to just say so now. 🙂 And here we are!
For anyone… ANYONE that thinks Apple is not solidly in PostPC land, here is likely your last big sign across your forehead to wake up and just move on to something better for you. Next year, if you’re still complaining about “Been waiting for 7 Years”, that really says more about you than about Apple.
Boy, these PostPC discussions just got a LOT easier 😀 Oh, and Mac mini is not going to happen. On the desktop, it’s either iMac or noMac.
I believe Apple could come up with an “Apple Frame” (that they don’t actually expect to update over 5 years or so) that you can plug in your own components into after you’ve outgrown what Apple offers in their configurations. No more needless yearly updates (most pro’s don’t update yearly anyway, they only update every 3-4 years). That allows them the least amount of R&D that would still allow them to make back those costs over the lifetime of the Frame.
Oh, and looking at the iMac Pro, it’s conceivable that Apple could START Frame prices at the top end of the iMac Pro… (because if you’re a Pro, and the iMac Pro’s top configuration isn’t enough power, why would you offer a LOWER powered Frame as an entry option?) so, let’s say $15,000. Then, just price up from there, to the stratosphere!
Yes, once again you are wrong again. “PostPC land” DOES NOT MEAN THE END MACS. No one at Apple has said that. That is your clueless interpretation, nothing more.
“Been waiting for 7 Years”, that really says more about you than about Apple.”
Wrong again. Waiting seven years for Apple to fulfill a promise and commitment says MORE about Apple. YOU are too easy …
What are you going on about? Did you not read the article?
They created a group dedicated to “Pro” Mac users, they just released the iMac Pro AND they are working a new Mac Pro. That doesn’t sound like a company that is “solidly in PostPC land”. Sounds like a company that screwed up and are trying to get things right again.
And before we go blaming Tim Cook, the current Mac Pro was more than likely given the go ahead by Steve Jobs. I mean they built an entire factory for producing just that computer – it was years in the making.
Tim Cook was left to figure out how to reasonably upgrade the damned thing. They probably spent a couple of years doing that before throwing in the towel.
They’re only saying 2019, so it will be toward the end on 2019 to beginning of 2020 before it ships. Apple needs to split the company, Consumer products, software and computers. None of this is funny.
So early in 2017 they said 2018 and everyone was like WTF? Why so long? Now it’s not 2018, it’s 2019. And like you said, probably late 2019. Can we start calling Apple beleaguered again?
False. Apple NEVER said that the new Mac Pro was arriving in 2018. All Schiller said was that it wasn’t arriving in 2017 and that Apple was serious about the project. The 2018 arrival was paraded by a bunch of 3rd rate over-zealous bloggers who don’t know how to interpret what they read.
Go look back at the interview where Phil Schiller first mentions the new Mac Pro. You won’t find anywhere that he mentions 2018 as a launch time frame. That’s BS
Correct. From Daring Fireball:
“These next-gen Mac Pros and pro displays “will not ship this year”. (I hope that means “next year”, but all Apple said was “not this year”.)”
So it’s “sucks” or “sucks a little more”. What’s the point? Pro users that want OSX are Apple’s hostage. And Windows is a viable alternative, with multiple vendors and available upgradable configurations.
OSX now has too much “Apple Baggage”, that’s a shame.
Ok. Apple didn’t say 2018. Got it. But Apple clearly does NOT understand it’s customer base. All the pros (myself included) wanted was an updated workhorse machine along the lines of the cheese grater Mac Pro; not something “magical” that would take 2+ years to create. And believe me, after waiting that long, the new Mac Pro better be some super amazing magical piece of hardware to justify this ridiculous delay.
This is what happens when you have a ONE VENDOR ECOSYSTEM!
They’re only saying 2019, so it will be toward the end on 2019 to beginning of 2020 before it ships. Apple needs to split the company, Consumer products, software and computers. None of this is funny.
WTF?!?!?!
So 2 years from when they said they were going to make a new Mac Pro. Geez. They could have spiffied up the cheese grater and put something out 6 months ago that would have pleased a LOT of pros. Instead, a 2 year wait. Does Apple even know what it is doing anymore?
“They could have spiffied up the cheese grater”. They wouldn’t have had to even spiff it up. Most of us are adults who need things to work well as opposed to being silly hipster styling statements.
In fact, seeing it come out in the same case as old would have been a reassuring sign that adults might be back in charge.
Too much to ask for, I know. LONG LIVE MAC TRUCKS!
Well, by spiff up, I meant the insides: CPU, Drives, RAM, Ports, etc.
Some? That would have SURELY pleased all 233 Pro’s that see the iMac as “not enough”. Thing is, the tooling packaging and shipping is not worth it for only 233 computers. Well, not if profit is the goal. And it is.
!!!!
Makes me think more than ever the G5-sized box will contain 10-50 nano/micro/mini (whatever) blades with the new A13 chip(s) inside each.
What other technology requires this delay? They aren’t waiting on Intel. Some new I/O? Storage? What, they need another year to design a new box (lol)? It has to be the new chip and it has to be a rack for blades housing the new chip.
Thunderbolt 4?
You know, I think I get your point and it’s interesting. If they make a hardware “ecosystem” where all the parts are authenticated and connected via a fast interconnect, it will make some really special things possible. And, it’s precisely the sort of “Modular” that would NOT satisfy the current pro’s that are looking for expandability. BUT, it’s the kind of modular that would make a large section of that population “settle” for it.
The introduction has to include all of what you say and more. This should include all pro software that is native and from 3rd parties at the get go to quell all of the clamoring, agonizing, and comiserating which is giving Apple a bad, but perhaps a deserved, rep.
really?
do they really need another year to design the dam computer case?
it must be some secret road map.
they should just sell the old cheeze grater mac pro
No, they’re hoping the last folks that care just move on. Then, they can say “there’s no market for it.”
Wrong again. You pulled that number out of your arse like the rest of your disrespectful posts …
A new Mac Pro before 2020, fantastic. It’s a good thing that Apple is focused, determined, incredibly well managed, and with a clear game plan. You don’t get to the top of the mountain otherwise.
I’ll be expecting an innovative exciting upgrade.
Oh they have a clear game plan. They’re playing chess while those waiting on a new Pro are playing football… and wondering when the other 10 guys are gonna show up! 🙂
Even if Apple were to start from scratch today designing their first alleged pro desktop, it shouldn’t take all of 2018 to do so.
Has everyone who actually designs computer hardware left the company?
What the hell is Apple doing? Why does it take so long to get a product out to market? The stagnation of their computing lines is astounding. Any other PC company would most likely be out of business by now. Is it really that hard to build a PC and get it out on sale? I guess Apple is basically just an iPhone company now.
Most of Apple’s efforts appear to be going to the iPhone which is somewhat understandable as that’s where most of Apple’s profits are. It seems as though Apple would rather sell iPhones than desktop computers. I don’t entirely like that attitude and neither does Wall Street. Unfortunately, even as a shareholder, I have no say in the matter.
I don’t believe desktop computers will ever go away completely, so Apple should continue updating and selling them just like every other computer manufacturer. How is it hurting them? Apple being too sexy for computers is just narrow-minded thinking.
Most of Apple’s efforts are going towards mobile devices (laptops, phones, tablets, wearables, etc.) and IoT (HomePod / HomeKit) and rightfully so.
They are killing a market segment that, honestly, should already BE dead.
!
Wrong again.
WTF is your problem with MacPros!?!?! You are obviously totally CLUELESS in every post you make on the subject.
Drunk, fat, stupid and DISRESPECTING the most powerful computer users of ALL TIME is no way to go through life son ..,
I don’t have a problem with Mac Pro’s, Apple does. I mean, really, is there ANY other company that could treat their pro customers this way and still HAVE Pro customers? Their Pro market should have disintegrated around the time of the trashcan Mac Pro… maybe even before.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Apple’s actions HAVE led to pro’s moving on. The few pro’s that are hanging on… if Apple REALLY wants their business, I think we can agree that this is not how they should go about trying to get it.
You made several valid points and Apple is indeed at fault by treating the power users like second class citizens …
I’m not saying a lot of thought shouldn’t be put into designing the new Mac Pro but I wouldn’t think it would be rocket science. Apple had the experience with the cheese-grater model and that was a well-designed box. Apple would only have to look at any number of aftermarket motherboards to get a starting point and then increase the bandwidth as much as possible. How is it that other computer manufacturers can turn those things out year after year without much effort? What’s Apple going to come up with that is going to make their pro computer better than any high-end Windows computers?
Apple should basically build a pro computer that uses all the industry-standard connectors and cards and make it easily user-upgradeable. It’s not as though anyone is asking for custom RGB lighting or a see-through case.
All Apple had to do was upgrade the cheese-grater Mac Pro with modern parts but instead Apple chose to go with something totally radical which was a step backwards with the trash-can Mac Pro. I’d love to know who made that decision and the reasons behind it. Just being different isn’t always the best solution to a problem. A pro machine doesn’t need to look good. It just has to work well without thermal throttling under load. Let users crank the fans up if they don’t mind the noise.
I repeat. If a company can afford to build a reliable beast of a pro computer, they should do it. I’m sure pro users will be willing to pay for it.
“I’d love to know who made that decision and the reasons behind it.”
I’d love to be in a position to FIRE their sorry ass(es).
“How is it that other computer manufacturers can turn those things out year after year without much effort”
Because other computer manufacturers REALLY have no other option than to do so. What else are they going to sell?
Wrong again.
Thanks for another CLUELESS DEFLECTION and not bothering to properly answer the post …
I double-check to see if this was a horrible April fools joke. Nope, it would have been four days late.
If this article is true (and it sounds very solid and official in terms of sources), then I have to admit that I was wrong and Apple truly let down its pro community. They had two years since their promise to deliver a functional Mac Pro. It did not have to have a fancy shape. It did not have to include a T2 chip or an AI interface. It just had to be user upgradable and freaking fast in terms of CPU, bus, and graphics. It needed a big power supply, multiple internal drive bays, a reasonable number of fast expansion slots, and room for lots of RAM. In other words, Apple could have upgraded the cheeegrater design with a new motherboard and a few other tweaks and it would have been a major hit.
Instead, Apple has delivered nothing. For the first time in many years, I am going to consider selling some of my AAPL stock. That represents a huge shift for me.
I did sense this delay coming. When Apple did their mea culpa, they were not making a product announcement but merely trying to reassure a restive audience of pro users. It seemed obvious that Cook ordered those engineers to buy time, nothing more. They revealed no details whatsoever about a promised Mac Pro redesign, which I read not as secrecy-as-usual but as a sign they had next to nothing on the drawing-board. **heavy sigh** But, they actually had been working on iMac Pro and it was ready by Christmas so I bought that. Instead. Not wanting to wait any longer. It is a very capable machine but after so many years using upgradeable towers, one feels somewhat boxed in..
Why would you sell any AAPL stock? As a statement of disgruntlement, an act of spite? Think it over, Melvin. You don’t cancel your newspaper subscription to protest a disagreeable editorial, do you?
Well, I can see why you’d want to sell your stock, but I’d say think about it. You can either be mad that Apple is no longer focusing on your needs and get out. OR you can rejoice in the fact that the folks they ARE focusing on are getting you a decent return.
You are going to sell your hypothetical AAPL stocks based on profits made from a MacPro?
That was a little mean, sorry.
Breaking news! Hey Melvin, I totally agree with you. Most excellent post …
This speaks to a level of sheer incompetence and tone-deafness at Apple’s upper ranks that’s utterly mind-boggling.
There can only be one reason for this delay: some high-level idiots decided to get fancy with the “modular” aspect of they promised and force the engineers to devise ways to piece it together like a puzzle (like an external GPU). And once that modularity was decided on, of course Jony Ive would get his paws on it and decree certain aesthetics which force further design restraints.
They could’ve re-used a tower concept with expansion ports built-in. Put aesthetics around that if you have to. But no. The worst PC assembler out there could’ve designed, assembled and released to production the most amazing Mac Pro tower in the time Apple has wasted to date.
It’s not even all that. You’re assuming they actually WANT to make something and that something they decided to make was hard. It’s much more likely that sales of the iMac Pro are looking pretty nice to them, the Mac Pro sales are falling off nicely and they want to see if they can force the whole thing to dry up in another year or so.
“It’s much more likely that sales of the iMac Pro are looking pretty nice to them”
Wrong again.
Do you have hard facts and numbers to backup your statement, hmmm?
“the Mac Pro sales are falling off nicely and they want to see if they can force the whole thing to dry up in another year or so.”
Again, where are the hard numbers?
That said, when your flagship overpriced artistic designed supercomputer has NOT been updated for five years, is barely painfully upgradable with clinging spaghetti wire peripherals, and the competition offers twice the speed for HALF THE PRICE — what do you expect — sales skyrocket???
I blame Apple and you don’t care because you are clinging to an underpowered thin slab that you MISTAKE for the future because you are an Internet and e-mail user, nothing more.
You have NO IDEA what Pros can do with the proper equipment not exactly coming from Apple at this CONFUSED time …
The idea that Apple seeks to maroon a market segment so that they can later justify abandoning it is the epitome of conspiracy theories. Promoting the idea is the epitome of fake news.
I like numbers and enjoy unravelling their patterns on my own. I dislike anyone forcefully telling me what they mean.
Agreed and I believe the numbers will be favorable to Apple …
At one point, Apple had a strong WiFi access point and monitor market. Then, they went some number of years without making updates and likely had some bottom point where if they sell below a certain amount, they’ll make the announcement that the market segment is dead. I have no idea IF that happened in Apple, but they do have a track record of halting updates to products before announcing their end-of-life.
I guess it’s also possible they could have been selling wildly well, and they just had the plan to retire REGARDLESS of sales. Without having any access to sales numbers or the internal workings of Apple, though, the real world outcome is the same.
“what do you expect — sales skyrocket???”
Um… no. I expect sales to fall off significantly which I expect they have. Apple doesn’t break out those numbers separately, though, so only someone IN Apple that’s not cleared to talk to me about such matters would know for sure.
The facts on the ground are: No New Mac Pro until sometime in 2019. Which, as others have said, could mean announced in 19, delivered in 20.
Now, knowing that Apple plans things far in advance, I’m left thinking that this MUST be intentional by Apple for WHATEVER reason. Others say Apple’s just accidentally neglectful, but ONLY accidentally neglectful on just ONE product line. Maybe two if you count the Mac mini. I find it difficult to believe that updating the Mac mini or providing a Mac Pro solution just slipped their collective minds.
Try fashionista gadgets and post-PC clueless bias …
No surprise.
New Emojis are a lot of hard work.
And what’s REALLY funny, is that those emoji’s are likely used more times in a day than hours spent on all “Pro” Macs in the world in a year 🙂
and there are more cockroaches alive then there are people. Does that mean they are more important?
I can go for 50 years (or 10,000) without a new emoji…….
To Apple, anything that is NOT mobile is more important… I’m kinda split on whether or not roaches or people are more mobile…
You mean to Apple, anything that IS mobile is more important.
Hmm, looks like that PC Workstation box available RIGHT NOW running Linux and Windows is looking better and better – as opposed to ZERO Mac Pro alternatives that aren’t 5-8 years old.
This is insanity. I can’t take much more of this.
They keep saying their committed to the pro market, but keep failing to back those words up with regular hardware updates to their pro machines.
Being realistic, many Pro’s are well suited by the MacBook or MacBook Pro’s… their research showed that. For those that want more power, they can get an iMac (a Photo Pro I know LOVES his) or spend $15,000 on a really really REALLY fast iMac… the fastest macOS system ever made. And that has satisfied a big chunk of most of the folks left. The only few people left have a vision of something they want that doesn’t align with what Apple makes and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple just waited them out.
“Being realistic, many Pro’s are well suited by the MacBook or MacBook Pro’s… their research showed that.”
Please provide the link to “their research”, otherwise more conjecture and bloviating opinion from someone who is proud to be Wrong Again.
“And that has satisfied a big chunk of most of the folks left.”
Again, please provide the rest of the class with hard numbers and facts to backup your OPINION. I’m still here and countless others lusting over the most powerful computer in the world to come from Apple!
Awh, so sorry that upsets you …
Pimping for Apple isn’t going to change their ways. Apologists are professional excuse-makers, in the business of preserving the lustre of a brand, indifferent to improving it. In the real world, better products come into being through the basic process of competition. That being said, a retreat to Windows from macOS would be a spiritual and material loss. Mac is a brilliant idea, one many of us embrace and want to see triumph. It seems that can only happen if Apple tries harder than they appear to be doing on the hardware front. Make them do it! — That’s all we are saying. Maybe they know all this and are working hard on the problems, but they have given the faithful nothing to evidence it! Instead we are expected to swoon over inscrutable millennial rap videos. Damn it! I’m only 51 but feel like 90 in this new world of lowered expectations. I feel like running for political office, on a platform to Make Apple Great Again.
Your comment of “lower expectations” from Apple nowadays, is indeed disheartening.
But as you rightly pointed out, this is the world we NOW live in. Sorry, Cook needs to move on to some SJW institution that would appreciate his high profile liberal celebrity status.
Leave REAL computing to the big boys …
During Apple’s “I PROMISE we’ll do a Mac Pro eventually” talk, some data was provided. 15% of all Mac users use pro apps frequently, another 15% use them a few times a month, so this combined group of 30% is what they consider their pros.
Across all users, the split between notebooks and laptops is 80/20. Even among pros, notebooks are the most popular Macs, followed by iMacs, and then a single digit percentage of Mac Pros. So, that’s a fairly small percentage of people. SINCE then, they’ve released the iMac Pro, which takes a few more folks off off the “Apple makes nothing for me as a pro” list.
Is it ACCIDENTAL that Apple made an iMac that can be configured to be MORE powerful than the Mac Pro? No. Their research likely showed that OF those that were waiting for an expandable Mac Pro, a large percentage of that small group would be satisfied with incredible power at the expense of expandability, and they made a product for them.
Who’s left? We have a very, very small percentage of users with very, very specialized needs and Apple knows that whatever they make won’t please them all. BUT, like the iMac Pro, they are going to focus on a subset that CAN be satisfied with something that Apple is interested in making for the price Apple is willing to sell it for.
Many people read these numbers at the time and stuck on “Apple still cares about Professionals!” I read it and saw it as Apple telling everyone EXACTLY how they’re going to fill the “pro” gaps. And, what they’re planning, a lot of that remaining sliver of pros are NOT going to like. So, I say, if you’re happy with the direction Apple’s headed in, if the iMac Pro fills you with endless bliss, stick around and prepare to be delighted by the future Mac Pro. If not, for you AND your business, start taking steps now to transition to a system where YOU control the features and when it gets updated.
The numbers if true are not a surprise and common sense. Pros as in any profession are not the majority. Obvious Cook’s Apple have ignored the smallest segment particularly because of the low numbers for far too long. Suspect pro users numbers have been relatively steady and about the same. But the difference now is pro neglect and lack of yearly processor updates did not happen under Steve …
Part of that is the slowdown of Intel in upgrading its chips and part of it is the limited yields and timely abundance of Intel’s most advanced chips. The Apple scale of production is gargantuan. Cook was always masterful at locking up component supplies before production runs, and masterful at managing inventories after. But he was at the mercy of Intel. Their roadmap dictated Apple’s roadmap, and when Intel hit a speed bump, Apple’s passengers felt it.
This whole current scandal of delayed upgrades is PowerPC redux. Jobs would never have abandoned that consortium had IBM seriously kept up the research, but they fumbled the ball, forcing Jobs to make a hard decision. To his credit, he did so in ditching the PPC, but also showed a streak of mercy by authorising Rosetta. Because of his unique combination of shrewdness and compassion, I have to say, that man is the closest to Solomon of any tech-era leader.
On-going processor problems led to Apple’s romance with chip design of their own, part of Steve’s long-term goal to own the whole magilla and chart their own technological course. As we’ve seen, with ARM that romance has been blissfully consummated with several generations of A-series processors – beautiful babies, all of them.
I can’t say for sure where we are all going after this, but I have a strong sense that Apple does, and has known all along. But knowing and planning don’t always work out as expected in the real world. Life, and commerce, face unexpected twists and turns all the time. It’s how one adapts that makes the difference between life and death, between success and failure.
Often times I wished Cook had made different choices, which would have made my professional life more productive. I thought the same of Jobs, and of Gates and Ballmer, and a bunch of other CEOs. When I saw crap I would send them notes. That is really all that any user can do. At the end of the day, we must use the tools and materials available to us, and employ our native ingenuity to build the cathedrals we hired on for.
Was not aware of the enlightening details, thanks for sharing … 😊
I actually think that at one point, pros made up a significantly larger chunk of the base. So, products were made for them. I think as they became a smaller and smaller percentage of the base (as Apple became more successful in the consumer space) they got less and less attention. While they ARE showing some love to pros now, it’s to newer pros, they’ve done little to bring those older pros back, and I don’t know if they ever will.
“they’ve done little to bring those older pros back, and I don’t know if they ever will.”
They are working on it RIGHT NOW. The easiest way to bring pros back is so simple and can be accomplished in three easy steps:
1) Make it faster than anything on the PC market the day it DEBUTS by at least 50% FASTER.
2) Make it easily upgradeable and maintain software support for years to come, ten is about right because it is a huge investment.
3: Ditch the Apple tax where the cost is inline with the most powerful PCs, yet faster, and IT will tell in a heartbeat it is the better deal in the long run.
As far as aesthetics, most pro comments here don’t give a damn what it looks like. Only one person in the world will win an industrial design award and he has enough already. The working pro can handle any look when their base needs are satisfied …
Solid point. They won’t bring back the older pros, and they don’t need to, because they’ll have been replaced with newer pros, who as a bonus are less cantankerous. There’s hardly anything more tedious than a broadside by the salt of the earth in a pub after hours, detailing the shortcomings of managers and their sins against humanity. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what I experience here in the MDN comments. Interns, tap the kegs!!!
That’s part of why I take issue with folks that say “This is a great time for Apple Pros” without specifically calling out that it’s only great for SPECIFIC pros. Pros that are still currently unhappy, that haven’t bought new systems and aren’t using new software, have been effectively cut out of Apple’s on campus get together. It’s a good time for pros, sure, but it’s a bad time for pros that were patiently waiting for Apple to “come to their senses” and put those older pros back on the pedestal they were once on. Anyone who read that piece and came away thinking “FINALLY! Next year, the Mac Pro of my dreams!” will be dismayed to find out that it’s only those pros that are already on board, that just want things to be a wee bit more efficient, that will have their needs met with this new Mac Pro.
Those older pros want something that’s faster than, yet still the same price as, all the non-macOS solutions and easily hardware expandable. I doubt Apple’s going to aim for cheap (look at the iMac Pro) and since the pros getting invited on campus have already gotten over needing expandability, Apple’s not likely hearing that complaint from them. So… what we really need to know is… what is THAT group of pros saying they want?
While I don’t doubt that many pros are currently satisfied with iMacs and Macbook Pros, I’d be interested to see how the pros would split along three, concurrently up-to-date model lines (iMac, Macbook Pro, Mac Pro).
This hasn’t been the case since 2013/2014. So any snapshot of the iMac/MBP/MP split now would naturally skew towards the most up-to-date computers…
Right, you need a full line of all three updated pro models to ACCURATELY measure if customers are “satisfied.” They are not satisfied — at best they have NO CHOICE and are settling. I despise these incomplete conclusions and wild speculation from someone on a mission to kill Macs for all time. Customers need CHOICE …
Apple indicated that notebooks are the most popular for pros, followed by iMacs, followed by a small number of Mac Pros. They didn’t provide exact numbers.
And, as you, I also think that the current breakdown artificially emphasizes those systems Apple appears to be interested in updating regularly. Their customer profile simply shows what systems Apple is focused on. Having updated versions of their entire old product mix available, including the mini, very likely would show a different picture.
However, in reality, what we have is what Apple has provided. So, it’s no surprise that what they WANT to see as true (pro’s really love our laptops a lot!), the numbers will show as true.
Yeah,
Talk is talk, but they cannot walk. Stop trying to deceive the consumer (pro) market with your empty promises Mr. Cook.
It seems we’re all blaming Mr Tim, but I think the slacker who should be designing them, is too busy making glossy books & emojis.
I assume you are talking about Sir Jony? If you are, then Apple needs to keep him designing door handles etc and keep him away from computers! Pay him any price to do that!
I think Cook may very well be a double agent, working for Micro$oft. His mission is to destroy the company from within. Interrupt product cycles, alienate die-hard customers, delay updates and be personally offended by world leaders.
Nah, his mission is straight from Mr. PostPC himself, Steve Jobs. Kill anything that’s not mobile and keep the iMac for developers to make more iOS software with.
“Nah, his mission is straight from Mr. PostPC himself, Steve Jobs. “
Wrong Again.
Show the rest of the class where Steve said to kill and no longer manufacture or support Macs. I’ll save you the trouble CLUELESS, it does not exist.
“Kill anything that’s not mobile and keep the iMac for developers to make more iOS software with.”
Although I give you credit for a consistent totally misguided meme — it really amazes me how CLUELESS you are hanging on to two words that you repeatedly take out of context.
I do not despise iPad only users. So why do you despise MacPro users that BUILT the foundation of Apple? …
The commenter expresses disdain for post-pc thinking exemplified by Steve Jobs. But Steve never talked about killing off anything that wasn’t mobile, and that’s where the commenter veers off his rocker. Steve Jobs was level-headed, and had a long view of where computing was going. Jobs was crystal-clear in his prognostications. Cynicism and pessimism are all very well, but misrepresenting his positions is FAKE NEWS.
“Steve never talked about killing off anything that wasn’t mobile, and that’s where the commenter veers off his rocker.”
Indeed. Wrong Again keeps going on about FAKE interpretation of Steve’s words. He’s not only “off his rocker” he is ignorant and obviously hates computers …
Ive’s designers spent a year and a half on door handles of the new Campus, got specially milled paper with ‘silver edges’ for coffee table books, and they have 2013 PC being sold on their website as a flagship product.
Imagine Ford trying to sell a 2013 truck as new while they spent inordinate amounts of effort spiffing up offices for staff.
Where is Tim Cook’s PRODUCT PRIDE? Where is the sense of embarrassment?
????!!!!????
It’d be more like selling that truck by the tens while selling the world’s most desired car by the millions. Nothing embarrassing about that. They’ll get around to updating that truck when it’s worth their time…
15 posts on this subject.
Must have been a slow day in Mom’s Basement.
Umm, 16 🙂
Umm, are you proud to be CLUELESS that many times? …
Actually, 17. 😀
Thanks for the LOL! …
so they made billions from their coffee table book, campus door handles, robotic christmas tree, full grown multi million dollar fruit orchard … etc. ? how many coffee table books did you buy? i’ve got 3 Mac pros in my house.
people like you have bad mouthing macs forever and yet year after year Macs make the most hardware money after iPhone, more than iPad, more than ALL the other hardware like AirPods, Watch , Beats, Tv COMBINED. The mac as a separate business is near a fortune 100!
even if they don’t sell a lot of Mac pros it’s a flagship, you use it for BRAGGING RIGHTS to Sell OTHER MACS (which again is the largest hardware money maker after iPhone) — that’s why car companies have sports car divisions and enter premier car racers, for the marketing — do you think they sell a lot of souped up cars? got the most awesome computer in the world and you’ll sell a boatload more Macbooks, iPads etc.
seriously, how does Tim Cook now:
say WITH A STRAIGHT FACE
“We make the BEST computing devices in the world” ?
someone would just turn to Apple’s OWN website , point to their flagship desktop Mac , and laugh…
Why DO YOU THINK STEVE JOBS had for example shootouts of Macs vs high end PCs ? Why did Jobs want the fastest pro Macs ? Do you think they sold huge amounts of them then?
why didn’t Jobs went all in to iPods (where people with similar thinking as wrong Again were clamouring for him to do). IPods must have sold millions more than Pro Macs then.
Amen!
Facts on our side that CLUELESS Wrong Again will NEVER understand …
in 1996 Steve Jobs said this:
“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.”
THEN he DID THIS:
when he got back to Apple in 1996/97 :
TA-DAH !!!!!! :
–
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
( each of these might have several different models and in-between models which I didn’t list)
ALSO HE DID THE MASSIVE TRANSITION , IMPOSSIBLY HARD , OF MAC OS TO OSX (based on totally different NEXTSTEP) and CHANGED FROM POWER PC TO INTEL !!
AND:
he ran ONE NEW Mac Ad a MONTH !!! (Mac PC guy had 66 DIFFERENT Ads in 4 years). the mac campaign only dwindled and died under Tim Cook.
Get tha? He tossed MILLIONS of bucks into Mac advertising.
DOES ANYBOY LOOKING AT THIS THINK THAT JOBS REALLY THOUGHT the PC Wars were OVER? Shoot, it looks more like he WENT NUCLEAR!!
Tim Cook on Jobs changing his mind : ““He would flip on something so fast that you would forget that he was the one taking the 180 degree polar [opposite] position the day before,””
Awesome post! …
Alex, what are “Ways Steve Jobs milked the Macintosh for all it’s worth while getting busy on the next great thing?” 🙂
And now, that the next great thing (at least, it appears, as Apple thinks it) is here, they’re still milking the Macintosh for the rest of what it’s worth.
Wrong Again.
Take a look at the profit margins of Macs per unit sold. Too hard huh? …
“Imagine Ford trying to sell a 2013 truck as new while they spent inordinate amounts of effort spiffing up offices for staff.”
Well as long as its monochrome white or silver (including the tires) and you cannot determine how to open the doors (seamless, you see) (windows also monochrome white or silver) and you are selling it for $1.5 million, it sounds like a winner!
But you can’t get it until 2023.
Apple is an unreliable partner for Pro users. I switched back to PC because Apple no longer give a shit about high end workflows.
My advice to Timmy is not to order many of those Mac Pros because there won’t be any pro users left to buy them.
I preferred Jobs’s Apple. The classic Mac Pro was the finest desktop ever made.
Hopefully you don’t use editing apps needing ProRes in Windows. It’s an annoying issue still and I don’t want to use Avid codecs or Cineform.
I agree about the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” classic Mac Pro cheese grater model. It’s sorely missed in a newer version.
I use Resolve Studio which supports ProRes. I have not found ProRes to be a limitation on the PC in general. However, I’m enjoying a vastly more powerful computer than Apple can build at about half the cost.
Good call. For a lot of folks, the Mac as it exists is a great machine. For some, it’s just not working for them anymore. Once you realize it’s not working for you, the right call is to do what you’ve done. Sure, there’s some work getting there, but once you’re there, whether they ship a Mac Pro in 2003 or 2023, it just doesn’t affect you!
I think you might be able to BUILD a cheaper PC Workstation but the one’s I’ve priced out at the high end aren’t all that much cheaper, if at all. The main advantages are future upgrading to your heart’s desire and using OS’s with a more stable roadmap and NO architecture changes. And the PC market falls all over itself addressing, accommodating and helping the pro market, unlike Apple’s pathetic recent history.
You have to ask yourself how much more continued abuse, disappointment and frustration can a pro take? If I do switch you won’t be likely seeing me as much or at all on this forum in the future (no cheering please).
No cheering, just a solemn head nod and an acknowledgment of times well spent on an awesome and innovative platform.
From Daringfireball.com:
Sure, I wish the new Mac Pro were coming sooner. But overall this story is fantastic news for pro users — it shows Apple not only cares about the pro market, but that they’ve changed course and decided that the best way to serve pros is to work with them hand in hand.
MacDailyNews you need to get off your hating Tim Cook thing. If you think you could do better then you are delusional
Apple has earned all this hate. What in blue blazes have they been doing all these years? Why did they become so out of touch to finally understand what should be an obvious company strategy attending to their markets as PC manufacturers do for their markets. It’s really basic incompetence that Apple didn’t have a Pro Dept. keeping their eye on the ball. All these new initiatives should’ve been in place 7-8 or more years ago, not starting last year! Obviously they didn’t bother to stay in touch and hear customers literally PLEADING for the products they want, not the only one they misguidedly provided. Even the 2013 Mac Pro took a couple years to design and make which shows how far back their cluelessness stretched.
I had money to buy a new Mac Pro a year ago and I’m still waiting and adding insult to injury will continue to wait until maybe close to 2020? Meanwhile making do with a souped up 2010 Mac Pro. I know what I want in a Mac Pro and the 2013 Mac Pro wasn’t it. And I prefer not to spend $8,000 on an iMac Pro that can’t be upgraded.
I feel your anguish. I bought the iMac Pro because I didn’t care to twist in the wind any longer – but I made sure I maxed out the specs. Apple’s arrogance and hubris have become breath-taking in their godlike disdain of mortal concerns, and a company I admired for many years has become ominously threatening.. exceeded only by the grubbiness and mendacity of Facebook and Google. Microsoft looks saintly by comparison.
Yeah how wrong can Apple have gotten to make Microsoft suddenly look really really good?? It just proves humongous amounts of money can’t replace caring, understanding, competence and diligence. ARGH!!
I still believe in Apple. Just not in the same way I once believed in Santa Claus.
And I still do business with Microsoft. But I keep their hand off my knee.
I too was a believer -since 1992. This however is beyond the pale. No legitimate computer company with any sense of responsibility to their markets would ignore it for so long or so recklessly. It just doesn’t make ANY business sense.
I was again looking at the iMac Pro and realized how much I despise being told what components I can or can’t have. Finally having it your way (with external graphics cards, PCIe cards, etc.) also raises the price of ownership considerably and increases clutter. Another dead end.
I may have to take a biblical departure in the Windows wilderness before maybe someday coming back to the Mac (in the way of a Mac Pro). I just hope by then I don’t have a bitter chuckle when I see what Apple has ill-conceived wrought in a 2019 or 2020 Mac Pro that other poor devils waited for. Well the good news is I may be fully retired by then anyway and not give a rat’s ass.
I did retire in 2016, so my opinions about pro Mac users are measured. To me personally, the state of computing really doesn’t matter much any more. However, I care about the young professionals that followed me. They value my insights and opinions, and reach out to me, asking for guidance. I feel treasured. I do all I can to keep them interested and motivated, and I try to keep my rambling anecdotes to a minimum.
It really is extraordinary to have had a career that spanned several generations of technology. But I am humbled when I realise that’s likely going to be the everyday experience of every new techie — the only constant being change, the ground constantly shifting beneath one’s feet. To flourish, you need to be able to dance.
I believe this is an odd message for daringfireball to deliver. This is “fantastic for pro users” in that it’s fantastic for pro users that have already figured out how to do “pro” work using Apple’s CURRENT products. Current products like the iMac Pro, the MacBook (and everything in between) and FCPX. The disconnect I think he’s failing to get is that in that set of “pro users”, there’s still a small group of Pro’s that have NOT found anything to like in Apple’s current lineup. It certainly can’t be said that in a product line where nothing fits their need, that a pro waiting another year or more for hardware is “fantastic news” for them.
The piece reads like “The Mac Pro won’t be out until 2019, isn’t that GREAT NEWS!?” I’m fairly sure that wasn’t the intent.
“it’s fantastic for pro users that have already figured out how to do “pro” work using Apple’s CURRENT products.”
Wrong Again.
You ASSUME all pro users have settled on Apple as it is. WRONG! Beyond your clueless arrogance to speak for EVERY pro user, have you not read the posts here? I know over a dozen pros that have moved on to Hackintosh and Windows because they “have already figured out how to do “pro” work ELSEWHERE.
And yes, the article is “GREAT NEWS” …
“there’s still a small group of Pro’s that have NOT found anything to like in Apple’s current lineup”
Is what _I_ wrote. I don’t know WHERE you got all hat stuff you made up. 🙂
I used your quote at the top of my post which you did not reply too …
Listen all you aholes. This is not a problem with the Apple. This a problem with the Intel. Intel does not have anything to offer for the Apple. The sooner Apple moves away from Intel the better.
Apple has to start designing their own FUs that show the middle finger to the competition.
And we do have the iMac Pro.
So spend $5-8,000 or more on an iMac Pro that’s only good for another year or two after Apple ARMs it’s Mac line?
We need to clearly see what their strategy is to more properly determine what we should do & where we should go. (Even if that means unhappily switching platforms.)
Apple has brought this continuing disaster onto themselves through hubris, inattention, incompetence and carelessness. I used to defend them but circumstances show they do not deserve to be defended or even trusted any longer. Time to make the hard decisions.
Hubris yes, inattention maybe, incompetence no, carelessness not really. Let’s not get carried away. Apple aren’t in the precise business of providing satisfaction to their customers. Their business is competing with other businesses, and in that they are still coming out on top. Sure, Steve Jobs had us with glib marketing koans, and Cook doesn’t have the same gravitas. I don’t know about you but I never took any businessman at his word. You have to accept what they say provisionally, not as gospel. And yes, at times I did have to lock in software based on implicit trust, only to lose out later to the vicissitudes of business. We have all been burnt. That’s life, and more’s the pity.