How do they know they're chipping away at Apple, rather than their own partners?
It seems far fetched that someone would go from being a Mac user back to Windows. As you say, more likely it's just taking a sale from a Win OEM.
I used to agree, but once a companiy's machine start getting generations behind and still charge a massive premium it is not a surprise anymore that people jump ship. I my self am waiting for the next iMac as the video card in my machine has died, but if it doesn't hit it out of the park I will move to the dark side, and I have been buying macs since 1985.
M$ will never make any money out of hardware. It is the OS and office sales that drive them. The subscription / cloud offering is saving their butts and it appears to make it easier for IT to transition better. I know at my small company they have moved to Office 365 but still typically install windows 7. Win10 is around but still limited. Security is another reason why IT is having to move off legacy platforms.
They don't make money on Xbox?
Its been said here and there that Microsoft doesn't actually make any money off the Xbox hardware. Its sold at a loss (or a very very minimal profit). Where they may make some money is off the Xbox games.
I don't really see what the fuss is about the all-in-one desktop. Its really overpriced and the hardware really isn't much better than the current 27" 5k iMac. Okay, you can touch the screen but in the end, who really does this? How does this actually help these so called professionals?
With no meaningful upgrade to the desktop or workstation Mac lineup, this news is hardly a surprise. As a Motion Graphic company looking to reinvest in new kit that traditionally would've been Macs without even thinking about it, we're now looking at Windows. Apple clearly are targeting the consumer market now, not the professional. I really can't run my high-end applications from a laptop, I need good workstations with a guarantee of future commitment from Apple.
Our design firm is in the same boat. We have several new iMacs to get us by - but we are looking at new Windows hardware as a path forward - a first in over 18 years. As Adobe CC is easily cross platform, fonts etc, as well as Office... the switch shouldn't have too many hiccups. If the next revision of Windows isn't complete garbage like 10 is, - and Apple continues to give Pro's the middle finger - we will have no choice but to consider a move.
How do they know they're chipping away at Apple, rather than their own partners?
It seems far fetched that someone would go from being a Mac user back to Windows. As you say, more likely it's just taking a sale from a Win OEM.
You underestimate the pro market. We need powerful computers with options to upgrade, expand and adapt to new tech. Apple has gone in the complete opposite direction - and has shared zero about a road map forward - giving pro's zero confidence to continue investing in their platform. Especially if the new Macbook Pro is any indicator. Half the design community I know has switched already. Us loyal diehards are now forced to start thinking the unthinkable.
Clever spin doctoring, but since Microsoft abandoned its smartphone efforts this is rather meaningless since Mac sales are such a small percentage of overall PC sales. They're not hurting Apple nearly as much as they're punishing their former hardware partners who were sold a bill of goods about the value of commodity hardware built for the Windows operating system. "Umm, we forget to tell you that your profits will be in the toilet part of the story."
Folks trumpeting Microsoft's alleged resurgence in this thread would do well to reread the article.
The 5% was in NON-PRO versions of Windows... in other words, the bottom feeders that Apple are not chasing.
If there had been any notable increase in PRO versions, that surely would have been mentioned.
No, they don't. What they need to do is make the iPad more useful and push people toward that. Apple really hasn't done much with the iPad itself lately. Sure they have a pencil and a better screen but for quite a while an iPad is an iPad no matter what version you have. It seems to me that the iPad just stuck as a tablet that does the same things it did 4-5yrs ago. Apple needs to really do something with the iPad if they want to succeed in any kind of touch based device. There's a reason why iPad sales decline every quarter.
Also, macOS is not setup for touch and they don't need to be trying to make it that way. This is why we have iOS. It makes no sense to have macOS be touch and iOS. You might as well merge the two together. They've already stated many times (even when Steve was alive if you want to down that road) that they don't see a touch based Mac succeeding and they don't want to get into this area of hybrid devices. I'd like to know how many people actually use the touchscreen on their Surface Tablet/Laptop as its supposed to be used? Typically, from what I've experienced with touchscreen computers is they sound really cool, but in the end you just don't use it as a touch device. It ends up getting used as a regular computer. I think Apple sees this and its not worth the effort to even attempt a touch based Mac.
With no meaningful upgrade to the desktop or workstation Mac lineup, this news is hardly a surprise. As a Motion Graphic company looking to reinvest in new kit that traditionally would've been Macs without even thinking about it, we're now looking at Windows. Apple clearly are targeting the consumer market now, not the professional. I really can't run my high-end applications from a laptop, I need good workstations with a guarantee of future commitment from Apple.
Amen, I still use my aging 8 core mac pro (with many upgrades like graphics card, usb 3, 1 TB PCI SSD, new bluetooth chipset), but instead of the planned mac upgrade, I bought a top of the line CPU $1400 PC workstation - that is latest 1TB SSD NVMe 3.5 GB/s read 1.9 GB/s write - boots win10 in a second. Believe me I would have spent $2k for an equivalent mac but they don't exist. A worse aging new mac pro is closer to 5-7k, and who knows how long it will be supported (or if will even exist in 3 years!) and it's not upgradable. Apple is not just loosing the pro market, they are doing everything in their power to make it flee! After 30 years of fighting for every scrap of the desktop market just to give it up? I don't understand what the bean counters in Cupertino are thinking!
How do they know they're chipping away at Apple, rather than their own partners?
It seems far fetched that someone would go from being a Mac user back to Windows. As you say, more likely it's just taking a sale from a Win OEM.
I used to agree, but once a companiy's machine start getting generations behind and still charge a massive premium it is not a surprise anymore that people jump ship. I my self am waiting for the next iMac as the video card in my machine has died, but if it doesn't hit it out of the park I will move to the dark side, and I have been buying macs since 1985.
Are the specs of the iMac really that far behind though or is this just an assumption because Apple hasn't updated it in a while? Yes, they may be a processor generation behind but how much does that really make a difference? I think if it really made a difference, you would have seen Apple do an iMac spec update.
I don't really get this notion of well this Mac hasn't been updated in a while so Apple should lower the price. It still costs Apple money to produce that Mac (and all the free software/services that come along with it). Plus, once Apple does release a new iMac customers will expect it to be that same low price. So for example say Apple lowered the price of the 27" 5k iMac to $1299, you know damn well there would be a shit storm if Apple released a new 27" 5k iMac back at the $1799 price tag and we'll be hearing the same crap we did with the 2016 MacBook Pro and its price. I don't think Apple wants to go down the road of doing a clearance sale on brand new "older" equipment.
Macbook Pro came out late in the quarter. The chipping away is probably before it came out. Many financial news are predicting 2016 a record year for MacBook Pro sales. What is the innovation of Surface Pros? MacBook Pro has the real innovation many Windows users are envy.
How do they know they're chipping away at Apple, rather than their own partners?
It seems far fetched that someone would go from being a Mac user back to Windows. As you say, more likely it's just taking a sale from a Win OEM.
I used to agree, but once a companiy's machine start getting generations behind and still charge a massive premium it is not a surprise anymore that people jump ship. I my self am waiting for the next iMac as the video card in my machine has died, but if it doesn't hit it out of the park I will move to the dark side, and I have been buying macs since 1985.
Are the specs of the iMac really that far behind though or is this just an assumption because Apple hasn't updated it in a while? Yes, they may be a processor generation behind but how much does that really make a difference? I think if it really made a difference, you would have seen Apple do an iMac spec update.
I don't really get this notion of well this Mac hasn't been updated in a while so Apple should lower the price. It still costs Apple money to produce that Mac (and all the free software/services that come along with it). Plus, once Apple does release a new iMac customers will expect it to be that same low price. So for example say Apple lowered the price of the 27" 5k iMac to $1299, you know damn well there would be a shit storm if Apple released a new 27" 5k iMac back at the $1799 price tag and we'll be hearing the same crap we did with the 2016 MacBook Pro and its price. I don't think Apple wants to go down the road of doing a clearance sale on brand new "older" equipment.
I don't really get this notion of well this Mac hasn't been updated in a while so Apple should lower the price. It still costs Apple money to produce that Mac (and all the free software/services that come along with it). Plus, once Apple does release a new iMac customers will expect it to be that same low price. So for example say Apple lowered the price of the 27" 5k iMac to $1299, you know damn well there would be a shit storm if Apple released a new 27" 5k iMac back at the $1799 price tag and we'll be hearing the same crap we did with the 2016 MacBook Pro and its price. I don't think Apple wants to go down the road of doing a clearance sale on brand new "older" equipment.
Adding to your point:
1) Because Apple figures out the cost and profits of the machine for its duration, if they altered the price to be lower during its estimated time on the market they would then have to start out with a higher price point to maintain the same profit margin for its distribution cycle.
2) There's also an issue with Apple lowering the price and people who bought it for a higher price complaining. We even see this when they drop the price after a Mac update.
Apple is going in the direction of holding off as many upgrades as possible for as long as possible. This is the simplest way for them to keep their profit margins high, without taking huge hit on volumes.
This strategy is clearly visible in how they have reused the form factor in iPhones, the soldered in and non-user-upgradable components in Mac computers, etc. Many specs like wireless charging, OLED displays, etc are quite mature now, but Apple is not at interested in rolling them out. They took over 3 years to push out Touch ID in Macs!
Apple is more intent on doing the least it can possibly do, and still have reasonably high sales. And they know fully well that they can pull many rabbits out of the bag whenever they want. In any case, this year is the 10th anniversary of iPhone, so it's obvious that they will be swinging for the fences on that one. Most customers have avoided upgrading to 6s and 7 because of this one factor. My 6 is quite fine, except for a battery that dies rapidly. I would rather change the battery today, and get an iPhone 8, than get a iPhone 7!
Yes, this is something that pisses me off too. But I can see exactly why Apple is playing the game this way. Their operational risks are already too high with the ridiculous volumes they need to produce - so it's better to have a small drop in volumes if there is a big rise in margins to compensate.
To add to the above post, Apple is also making huge strides in beefing up its ecosystem play. They know that in 12 months there will be 1 billion Apple Pay compatible devices in the market. Apple Pay being available for web shopping from Macs is also a massive game changer. The revenue from Apple Pay is insignificant now, but is geared to explode.
and it isn't just Apple Pay. Apple Music, ITunes, Apps, Maps, iCloud, everything is getting perfected by the day. And Apple knows that the game in the future will not be about hardware but about ecosystem.
Apple's device upgrade program itself is a clear indicator of this strategy. As more and more customers sign up for a program where they have committed to upgrade to new iPhone every 2 years, Apple wins big time by releasing marginal upgrades!
Apple is going in the direction of holding off as many upgrades as possible for as long as possible. This is the simplest way for them to keep their profit margins high, without taking huge hit on volumes.
Yet they keep including huge SW and HW upgrades that no other CE company has the desire to invest in such long-term investments. Do you really think that the W1-chip which runs its own version of OS X based on watchOS that controls the Touch Bar, Touch ID, and Apple Pay, not to mention all the APIs and macOS changes to support the new technologies is created in a fucking bubble?
Most people don't realize - that when Apple makes a minimalistic design, with lighter hardware, fewer ports, etc, it is actually dramatically boosting its profit margins. With the kind of volumes Apple handles, even small shavings in materials and specifications quickly add up to big numbers.
Just imagine, if Apple is saving $2 per iPhone by removing headphone port, and using smaller battery, that nets it about $400M extra for the 200M iPhones made. And that more than covers the profits they make from selling a million extra iPhones!
Most people don't realize - that when Apple makes a minimalistic design, with lighter hardware, fewer ports, etc, it is actually dramatically boosting its profit margins. With the kind of volumes Apple handles, even small shavings in materials and specifications quickly add up to big numbers.
Just imagine, if Apple is saving $2 per iPhone by removing headphone port, and using smaller battery, that nets it about $400M extra for the 200M iPhones made. And that more than covers the profits they make from selling a million extra iPhones!
So the headphone jack removal saves money but you conveniently ignore that they can now add beefier components and new components, but you want us to imagine these cost nothing. You also ignore that the iPhone 7 included a 3.5mm headphone jack, an extra DAC/Amp, and 3x male Lightning plugs instead of just one, which is more complex and therefore more expensive than a simple 3.5mm headphone feeding off the internal DAC/Amp.
A high pressure assembly line, that produces devices at the ridiculous rates needed to meet high demand, also increases cost of production massively.
Some of these costs would be for overtime paid to workers, paying higher prices to secure aggressive component supplies, air freight instead of sea freight for shipping components and finished devices, overworked retail store employees, and even goodwill costs of providing doughnuts and coffee for endless lines of people who will probably not get a device anyway!
If demand is somewhat muted but still very reasonable, all of these extra costs are avoided - and the bottom line is boosted.
When you think about the overall implications, it actually makes immense sense for Apple to engineer a marginal drop in volumes for a few years, till everything is streamlined and the higher volumes are possible even with upgraded specs without paying ridiculous costs.
Comments
As Adobe CC is easily cross platform, fonts etc, as well as Office... the switch shouldn't have too many hiccups.
If the next revision of Windows isn't complete garbage like 10 is, - and Apple continues to give Pro's the middle finger - we will have no choice but to consider a move.
Apple has gone in the complete opposite direction - and has shared zero about a road map forward - giving pro's zero confidence to continue investing in their platform.
Especially if the new Macbook Pro is any indicator.
Half the design community I know has switched already. Us loyal diehards are now forced to start thinking the unthinkable.
The 5% was in NON-PRO versions of Windows... in other words, the bottom feeders that Apple are not chasing.
If there had been any notable increase in PRO versions, that surely would have been mentioned.
Also, macOS is not setup for touch and they don't need to be trying to make it that way. This is why we have iOS. It makes no sense to have macOS be touch and iOS. You might as well merge the two together. They've already stated many times (even when Steve was alive if you want to down that road) that they don't see a touch based Mac succeeding and they don't want to get into this area of hybrid devices. I'd like to know how many people actually use the touchscreen on their Surface Tablet/Laptop as its supposed to be used? Typically, from what I've experienced with touchscreen computers is they sound really cool, but in the end you just don't use it as a touch device. It ends up getting used as a regular computer. I think Apple sees this and its not worth the effort to even attempt a touch based Mac.
I don't really get this notion of well this Mac hasn't been updated in a while so Apple should lower the price. It still costs Apple money to produce that Mac (and all the free software/services that come along with it). Plus, once Apple does release a new iMac customers will expect it to be that same low price. So for example say Apple lowered the price of the 27" 5k iMac to $1299, you know damn well there would be a shit storm if Apple released a new 27" 5k iMac back at the $1799 price tag and we'll be hearing the same crap we did with the 2016 MacBook Pro and its price. I don't think Apple wants to go down the road of doing a clearance sale on brand new "older" equipment.
1) Because Apple figures out the cost and profits of the machine for its duration, if they altered the price to be lower during its estimated time on the market they would then have to start out with a higher price point to maintain the same profit margin for its distribution cycle.
2) There's also an issue with Apple lowering the price and people who bought it for a higher price complaining. We even see this when they drop the price after a Mac update.
This strategy is clearly visible in how they have reused the form factor in iPhones, the soldered in and non-user-upgradable components in Mac computers, etc. Many specs like wireless charging, OLED displays, etc are quite mature now, but Apple is not at interested in rolling them out. They took over 3 years to push out Touch ID in Macs!
Apple is more intent on doing the least it can possibly do, and still have reasonably high sales. And they know fully well that they can pull many rabbits out of the bag whenever they want. In any case, this year is the 10th anniversary of iPhone, so it's obvious that they will be swinging for the fences on that one. Most customers have avoided upgrading to 6s and 7 because of this one factor. My 6 is quite fine, except for a battery that dies rapidly. I would rather change the battery today, and get an iPhone 8, than get a iPhone 7!
Yes, this is something that pisses me off too. But I can see exactly why Apple is playing the game this way. Their operational risks are already too high with the ridiculous volumes they need to produce - so it's better to have a small drop in volumes if there is a big rise in margins to compensate.
and it isn't just Apple Pay. Apple Music, ITunes, Apps, Maps, iCloud, everything is getting perfected by the day. And Apple knows that the game in the future will not be about hardware but about ecosystem.
Apple's device upgrade program itself is a clear indicator of this strategy. As more and more customers sign up for a program where they have committed to upgrade to new iPhone every 2 years, Apple wins big time by releasing marginal upgrades!
Just imagine, if Apple is saving $2 per iPhone by removing headphone port, and using smaller battery, that nets it about $400M extra for the 200M iPhones made. And that more than covers the profits they make from selling a million extra iPhones!
Some of these costs would be for overtime paid to workers, paying higher prices to secure aggressive component supplies, air freight instead of sea freight for shipping components and finished devices, overworked retail store employees, and even goodwill costs of providing doughnuts and coffee for endless lines of people who will probably not get a device anyway!
If demand is somewhat muted but still very reasonable, all of these extra costs are avoided - and the bottom line is boosted.
When you think about the overall implications, it actually makes immense sense for Apple to engineer a marginal drop in volumes for a few years, till everything is streamlined and the higher volumes are possible even with upgraded specs without paying ridiculous costs.