Full FeedDoes Apple value the Mac anymore?
Back in the days of PowerPC Macs, when the bestselling iPods had clickwheels and Intel was the laughingstock of the Mac community, Apple was a mysterious company. One would never know when the next product was coming down the pipes, much less what the specs were. If a detailed rumor came out in the open, it was fun to talk about, but there just was no guarantee it was true until Steve unveiled it at the latest event.
Nowadays, it’s pretty easy to see where the Mac product line is going simply by looking at the latest chips Intel has released. Design-wise, nothing revolutionary and exciting has made a debut in quite some time. In fact, every Mac looks the same as it did at the time of the G5, it’s just made out of aluminum and glass now. And the poor Mac Mini and Mac Pro didn’t even get that treatment. They just look exactly the same.
It’s clear that Apple’s innovation is focused on mobile devices and that it doesn’t consider its Mac lineup as important to business success anymore. I’m not saying they think they could drop Macs and still be well-off financially. However, it’s obvious by the evolutionary approach to updating that they no longer need radical new designs and ideas in the Mac area to get people to look at Apple. I guess a side-effect of that 10% marketshare is a whole lot less “wow.”
We’re coming up on half a decade of the same iMac form factor, the computer that once shifted shapes so much that the iMac G4 might as well have been named completely differently from the G3; they shared nothing in common. When Apple stuck the iMac on a metal foot, it did so for the long term. Here’s to hoping we can see some innovation with the next round of Macs, and not just a switch to a new case material.
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It definitely seems like Apple is moving most of it’s new innovations toward the mobile individual.
on February 5, 2009 at 12:00 AM - LINKI think that’s where consumers are heading, anyway, so Apple’s just nudging them along. If they could get away with offering only MacBooks, completely doing away with the mini, iMac and Mac Pro, I’m sure they would. But I don’t think there’s any risk of losing the Mac OS operating system. It’s still the hub of the Mac, the iPhone and the iPod, so it’s safe as long as it’s providing so much functionality to Apple’s devices of the moment.
on February 5, 2009 at 07:08 AM - LINKThis sounds like asking for change for changes sake. Sure, you are a blogger and you want to write about what’s NEW.
The PC market (PC & Laptop) is a mature market - there is no reason Apple should try and reinvent this space. They have the best OS on the market and their computers are gorgeous and work well. The iMacs & Macbooks are a great design and I can’t see (admittedly with my not super creative brain) where Apple could or should go that is very different. Basically, I think they nailed it. Sure, the Mac Mini could use a refresh. The Mac Pro still looks awesome - I don’t know why Apple would mess with that.
It’s complete nonsense to say that “It’s clear .... that it doesn’t consider its Mac lineup as important to business success anymore”. The Apple executives know that the Mac is the foundation of Apple and that they are still fighting an uphill battle in a Windows world.
I hope Apple doesn’t get all wacky in designing the next generation of Mac computers.
on February 5, 2009 at 01:12 PM - LINKI think the point is that before the iPhone/iPod started to shape Apple’s direction, the design changes happened whether something was awesome or not. We all loved that first iMac. It was awesome. But it certainly wouldn’t be now. You think the Mac Pro is awesome and don’t know why Apple would mess with it? Because they could make it BETTER. That’s what Apple does.
None of us are calling for change for change’s sake. We just expect to see innovation and new designs from Apple because they’re always moving forward, pushing us into areas we wouldn’t easily go on our own. Lately, that hasn’t happened with the Mac, and that just feels weird.
on February 5, 2009 at 01:48 PM - LINK