A suggestion to all: gratuitous correcting of each others' grammar or spelling says more about you than the person being corrected. And what it says is not necessarily flattering. Focusing comments on the substance, not the form, of the argument elevates the level of discourse here. I admire and respect the rules of English as much as anyone, but this is a forum, not a literary magazine.
It was a good campaign, and happening at the same time as the Vista troubles, really got some switching momentum going for the Mac. But I guess these things loose their magic if they're kept around too long.
Untrue: I typed it on a dual-chip, eight-core (total), 16 logical core 2.93GHz Mac Pro.
In my line of work as a creative pro, I will ALWAYS need the most powerful Mac model available, and if Steve deep-sixes the Mac, I will be left with no choice but to use a Windows PC (Ug!) which I've NEVER done in 22 years. (I'd rather chew glass.)
The Mac is undergoing a slow death at the hands of Steve Jobs, who loves the iPad and iPhone OS and resents the Mac. Look at his history; he'll suddenly turn on a product he once loved and treat it and its product management team like s***. This is typical behavior for the man. Read some books.
The Mac will eventually be killed. The process is already underway.
Your correct about the process but I don't think you will see Macs "killed", at least not in the short term...Maybe in five to ten years but not anytime soon. Apple was a computer company and is becoming a consumer electronics company, although slowly. The Mac will just be a market segment that Apple has in it's portfolio of products.
Not to repost everything you said, but in general, I agree.
Didn't Jobs once say that he wanted to "Milk the Macintosh for all of its worth until the next great thing comes?" I might have paraphrase a bit, but the point of his comments are true. OS X is that thing... Not many would be shocked to hear that Apple killed the OS X running AppleTV...
Even after going to Intel chips, Apple still takes their sweet old time updating their products to the latest and greatest chipsets. Sometimes their competition has product using newer Intel chips long before Apple releases. Not necessary a product category that screams we are 110% behind our desktop/notebook computers...
defenderjarvis time table is probably wrong, but it will happen. Apple is all about selling great products with a high profit margin... Not necessarily selling anyone one product (including Macs).
Once digital content is stored, distributed, and created in the cloud, then we can come back to revisit the issue...
but the new halo will be using iphone and ipad to draw to mac in general, apple TV
SJ is continuing the "mac universe", "mac environment", "mac community"
this will be the new mac attack
we have yet to see the growth of the mac/ apple cloud/ ATV
can't wait for the verizon iphone this will put downward pressure on plans, and data costs
which we are seeing in the prepaid arena, USA is at i think 90% saturation, growth comes from growing new markets AKA ipad, and shifting customers, eating up the smaller telecoms
i wonder if apple would ever go to its own telecom, then it would control more of the universe.
I think this could be a huge growth potential for them
iphone, ipad, cloud, iAd, apple search, apple tv becomes a smart TV with it built in or maybe a card so any TV becomes apple
I wish they'd done one last ad to say goodbye to those great characters. I always thought it should end with the PC (John Hodgman) saying, "I'm a Mac"...
Justin Long: "No, you're a PC."
Hodgman: "No, I'm a Mac. I switched. Now I just need to get the nerve up to tell my parents."
Apple has never overtly used the snob appeal approach in its computer ads. It hasn't had to, because the opposition uses it regularly as a jab at Macs and Mac users.
It hasn't had to with iPods because there really isn't any competition--nothing worth comparing to anyway.
Now that the smartphone market is becoming so competitive, it might not be a bad idea to turn tables and embrace the snob appeal of the iPhone. Start branding Android phones as wannabes--as cheap imitations of the real thing--and users of such knock-offs as poseurs. Image is so important to many young people, and if they could get a groundswell of buzz over such a campaign it could cut into Android sales.
The beauty part is that with commodity items like phones you can have the real thing for a relatively small difference in price. Not like the difference between, say, Acura and a Bentley. Maybe you can't drive a rich guy's ride, but you CAN have his phone.
A suggestion to all: gratuitous correcting of each others' grammar or spelling says more about you than the person being corrected. And what it says is not necessarily flattering. Focusing comments on the substance, not the form, of the argument elevates the level of discourse here. I admire and respect the rules of English as much as anyone, but this is a forum, not a literary magazine.
Touchy, touchy. "Methinks thou dost protest too much." The length of your response betrayed more than a little insecurity.
I make typos and misspellings, too. My aim was instructive, not to embarrass you. And funereal is a great choice of words.
But you assume that that was all I focused on and didn't give due consideration to your well-thought-through remarks in that post.
It's just that we simply don't see eye-to-eye on 100% of things.
A lot of posters who have basically "flamed" me in their replies, I believe, are engaged in some "Wishful Thinking."
Believe me, I'd love it if I was able to delude myself into thinking that Steve Jobs won't gradually drain the Apple personal computer well until he has a convincing and data-backed argument for the Board of Directors, large shareholders, institutional investors, The Street and large Apple personal computer customers (who buy Apple personal computers in the thousands, and Apple gives them careful "care and feeding") for discontinuing Apple's personal computer line.
I've read so much about Jobs that I have a handle on some of his less-positive habits, actions and beliefs.
It took me a loooooooong time to finally (and reluctantly) conclude that Steve Jobs will slowly, almost unnoticeably, drain Apple's personal computer line until a consensus exists that it should be discontinued from Apple's product lines.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a long time until it became impossible to do so any longer.
The evidence just kept adding up, and it would be foolish to ignore it, or plug your ears and whistle your favorite tune.
• This year, 2010, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference which always gives out ADA awards (Apple Design Awards) in key categories, will have no categories for the Mac or OS X apps. All ADA awards will be given to iPhone OS apps only. Plus, the apps eligible will have to be Apple-approved and for sale on the App Store. (I don't remember ever seeing a Mac app on Apple's App Store.)
• The focus on Apple mobile devices, software and development tools will come at the expense of the Mac and its OS. If the Mac were on the "marquee," it would detract attention from Apple's intended focus on mobile devices running iPhone OS, and Apple doesn't want to do that. (Detain the Mac at the entrance because his ID badge looks faked.)
• At the iPad introduction keynote, Steve Jobs said, "Apple is now the largest mobile device company in the world." So that's what Apple is now. They changed their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc." and is now a mobile device company.
• At a Goldman Sachs technology conference address, Apple's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook (you know, the guy who did such a stellar job running Apple during Steve Jobs' leave of absence) said, "Apple is a mobile device company now."
• Steve Jobs wrote in an email (that he probably didn't want spread all over the Internet) the following: "traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."
Does this tell you anything? Does it offer even a scintilla of support for what I'm saying?
• The most recent figures show that Apple is selling 200,000 iPads a week -- about twice as many Macs it sells per week. Further, Apple sells about 246,000 iPhone 3GS's a week. So Apple sells about 4 1/2 x as many iPads and iPhones as Macs -- oh, and then there's the iPod.
• Apple makes money on the sale of a Mac at the time the transaction takes place, and that's about the extent of it. Some Mac buyers do buy a few Apple-made Mac software apps. But long after the product purchase transaction, iPod owners send a steady stream of revenue to Apple as they buy songs, TV shows, movies, apps, games and other content off the iTunes Store.
Long after the product purchase transaction, iPhone owners send a steady stream of revenues to Apple in shared telephone plan fees with AT&T, apps from the App store, and media content on the iTunes Store. In similar fashion, iPod touch users send a steady stream of revenue to Apple. And now iPad owners send a continuous revenue stream to Apple as they buy apps on the App Store, music, video and other content from the iTunes Store, etc.
Unless a Mac buyer faithfully subscribes to MobileMe, buys every new milestone release of Mac OS X, every new release of iLife, iWork and maybe even a prosumer app like Final Cut Express, what steady, infinite revenue stream travels from the Mac to Apple's bank account after the point-of-purchase?
If there was a Mac App Store, there would be such a revenue stream, but that would necessarily involve Steve Jobs supporting the Mac! Heaven forbid!
• In Apple's just completed 2Q 2010 earnings call, someone from Apple (possibly Tim Cook or Peter Oppenheimer) obliquely referred to a "future product transition." But when pressed by analysts participating, this person wold not elaborate. I have my suspicions as to what that enigmatic "future product transition" will be.
• In the same article, the author noted, "Not much was said about the Mac."
• In previous Apple quarterly earnings conference calls, Apple participants have made it no secret that high-end Mac models and high-priced Apple Pro apps are disappointing in their sales.
One Apple rep said Apple's high-end (as described above) remains "economically challenging" for Apple. This has to displease them.
• Apple has laid off 40 people from its Final Cut Studio team, and has announced that the software will be repurposed from the creative pro market to the prosumer market.
• Mac sales break down into about 80% notebooks and 20% desktops. Which form do you think would be more likely to be killed?
• It is the worst kept secret that Apple "gutted" the Mac OS X team of key talent and reassigned them to iPhone OS. Email someone on the Mac OS X team; they aren't even diplomatic and cautious as they don't go out of their way in their responses to disguise implications of bitterness at the fact that their all-star team has been poached of its MVPs. They feel dissed. (Though they do exercise some caution in writing; Steve Jobs is always "sniffing" everyone's emails for signs of sedition.)
• The Mac OS X team is severely deficient right now. Don't expect 10.7 for another 2 to 2 1/2 years. You need brilliant, talented, breathing engineers with fingers on keyboards to create a new milestone release of OS X. Their chairs are empty now because they're over at the iPhone OS department.
• If this is evidence that an effort is underway to derail the Mac project, by one method, poaching its best talent, it is backed up by the fact that Apple has $40 billion of cash in the bank. They certainly have the means to attract and hire the best engineering talent in the world for the iPhone OS team. Poaching the Mac OS X team was not their only option -- though they acted like it was. It seems more oriented toward weakening the Mac project than simply putting key talent on iPhone OS.
• Lastly, I buy a new top-of-the-line tower Mac every time a new model is released (which has for years been every year). It's been a year-and-three-months and counting, and no new Mac Pro.
I had foolishly hoped a new Mac Pro would be unleashed at WWDC, but now, recognizing that Apple wants to do nothing to distract the focus from iPhone OS, mobile iDevices and the new iPhone HD, I won't see my next Mac Pro between June 7-11th like I'd hoped. That's IF Apple doesn't cease further development of the Mac Pro line, but continues to market existing models until demand dries up.
• The visionary Steve Jobs sees the personal computing era drawing to a close. If he's right, he should just let it happen naturally -- hands-off. But proactively undercutting Apple's personal computer offerings in an effort to hasten or catalyze the process is indefensible.
• If Apple one day decides to cease selling the Mac, they should at least license Mac OS X to any clone makers who want to take a crack at selling personal computers running Mac OS X.
Viva Mac!
P.S. To gain the best insight, read a biography of Steve Jobs, then you'll understand.
P.P.S. Feel free to correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Learning is a lifelong process.
P.P.P.S. Don't be too disappointed when the "Get a Mac" TV ad campaign is not succeeded by another Mac TV ad campaign. There will be no Mac TV advertising.
It took me a loooooooong time to finally (and reluctantly) conclude that Steve Jobs will slowly, almost unnoticeably, drain Apple's personal computer line until a consensus exists that it should be discontinued from Apple's product lines.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a long time until it became impossible to do so any longer.
The evidence just kept adding up, and it would be foolish to ignore it, or plug your ears and whistle your favorite tune.
Since Apple is in business to earn profits then it makes sense that they focus on the most profitable products. In the land of TV often really good shows with OK ratings are cancelled because they cost too much to produce. One example I remember was "The Bionic Woman". Its viewership was growing but it was cancelled. I think the fact that the executive in charge of programming killed it and put a show in its place that he personally earned extra money from because he produced it was a big factor too.
If Apple kills PCs (Macs) then the iPad and other devices will need to function as stand alone devices. As it is the iPad needs to connect with a computer.
My prediction of the end of Apple notebook computers by 2012 makes sense to me. The demise of their desktop computers wasn't something I considered. If they truly can't earn a big enough profit with desktops then it makes sense to shift to other products. This would mean that Apple better find a way to have a prestige product. Without the cachet of the Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro lines Apple would seem to become just another phone/mp3 manufacturer. Leopard stands out in the software world more than the iPhone OS does. The iPhone isn't as awesome as it originally was now that competitors have much improved phones.
It would be cool if all the former OS X programmers got together and built a great Linux OS. Even if they charged a small fee for it I'd buy it if it were as good or better than Leopard.
I might be on my last Apple computer. The newest Ubuntu is closer to commercial grade quality and I'm still annoyed at Microsoft because of Vista. The iPad will be my next new computing device. If Apple would make a Linux compatible iTunes it would take a great swipe at Microsoft which I think would be a great blow to them. I'm still hopeful that one day I won't need any MS OS to do work.
It doesn't make sense that Apple would wait until now, when the Mac is finally starting to be a popular platform, and really growing, to kill it.
That's like raising a purebred kitten to be a show-winner, only to kill her right as she starts winning best in shows!
Macs continue to improve, become more powerful, and are now starting to get a gaming focus with Steam being ported to them. I have heard that Apple is fixing a lot of issues in its OpenGL drivers due to more games coming to the platform.
The Mac has a good future as a successful platform. Why kill it now? This is what Apple has been wanting for years and now it's finally happening.
This whole, "Apple will dump the Mac and make everything iPhone OS," and its variations, such as, "all laptops will become iPhone OS," meme is such ridiculous nonsense. Apple isn't going to dump profitable business lines, that will only become more profitable in coming years, to push just iPhone OS based devices. They didn't invest the effort on Snow Leopard and all the technologies in it just so they could dump it in a couple years. Snow Leopard was a new foundation for Mac OS that will be built on for many years to come, until they build a new, more advanced foundation that they will build on for many years after that.
A lot of this is simply FUD, or people repeating FUD, with the unspoken message of, "Better not buy a Mac, Apple's going to turn it into a giant iPad in a few years and then you won't have a 'real' computer." Some of it is just from people who have no real understanding of what iPhone OS and Mac OS are, how they differ from each other, how they are similar, and how they compliment each other. And some of it is from people who think all touch all the time is the future of computing. This last group is actually a subgroup of the second group.
Mac OS isn't going away because iPhone OS doesn't do, and isn't designed to do, what Mac OS does. Touch, which is just a layer on top of iPhone OS, and could easily become a layer on Mac OS, probably is not going everywhere any time soon, because it's just not appropriate for most workstation uses, especially in regard to ergonomics. (Yes, it would be useful for certain special purpose applications, but I don't think Apple will see this a sufficient reason to implement it across the board.)
So, if you fall into the group spreading FUD (which includes Smallwheels and defenderjarvis), I'm sure you'll keep it up, but you'll just end up looking stupid when your "predictions" don't come to pass, which they won't. If you fall into the second group, a few minutes consideration, and a bit more education, on Mac OS and iPhone OS should make you realize that this isn't actually a realistic, or even, from Apple's perspective, useful scenario. If you fall into the third group, no, all touch all the time is not the future of all computing.
This whole, "Apple will dump the Mac and make everything iPhone OS," and its variations, such as, "all laptops will become iPhone OS," meme is such ridiculous nonsense. Apple isn't going to dump profitable business lines, that will only become more profitable in coming years, to push just iPhone OS based devices. They didn't invest the effort on Snow Leopard and all the technologies in it just so they could dump it in a couple years. Snow Leopard was a new foundation for Mac OS that will be built on for many years to come, until they build a new, more advanced foundation that they will build on for many years after that.
A lot of this is simply FUD, or people repeating FUD, with the unspoken message of, "Better not buy a Mac, Apple's going to turn it into a giant iPad in a few years and then you won't have a 'real' computer." Some of it is just from people who have no real understanding of what iPhone OS and Mac OS are, how they differ from each other, how they are similar, and how they compliment each other. And some of it is from people who think all touch all the time is the future of computing. This last group is actually a subgroup of the second group.
Mac OS isn't going away because iPhone OS doesn't do, and isn't designed to do, what Mac OS does. Touch, which is just a layer on top of iPhone OS, and could easily become a layer on Mac OS, probably is not going everywhere any time soon, because it's just not appropriate for most workstation uses, especially in regard to ergonomics. (Yes, it would be useful for certain special purpose applications, but I don't think Apple will see this a sufficient reason to implement it across the board.)
So, if you fall into the group spreading or unwittingly repeating FUD, I'm sure you'll keep it up, but you'll just end up looking stupid when your "predictions" don't come to pass, which they won't. If you fall into the second group, a few minutes consideration, and a bit more education, on Mac OS and iPhone OS should make you realize that this isn't actually a realistic, or even, from Apple's perspective, useful scenario. If you fall into the third group, no, all touch all the time is not the future of all computing.
Comments
It's "funereal."
A suggestion to all: gratuitous correcting of each others' grammar or spelling says more about you than the person being corrected. And what it says is not necessarily flattering. Focusing comments on the substance, not the form, of the argument elevates the level of discourse here. I admire and respect the rules of English as much as anyone, but this is a forum, not a literary magazine.
Untrue: I typed it on a dual-chip, eight-core (total), 16 logical core 2.93GHz Mac Pro.
In my line of work as a creative pro, I will ALWAYS need the most powerful Mac model available, and if Steve deep-sixes the Mac, I will be left with no choice but to use a Windows PC (Ug!) which I've NEVER done in 22 years. (I'd rather chew glass.)
The Mac is undergoing a slow death at the hands of Steve Jobs, who loves the iPad and iPhone OS and resents the Mac. Look at his history; he'll suddenly turn on a product he once loved and treat it and its product management team like s***. This is typical behavior for the man. Read some books.
The Mac will eventually be killed. The process is already underway.
Your correct about the process but I don't think you will see Macs "killed", at least not in the short term...Maybe in five to ten years but not anytime soon. Apple was a computer company and is becoming a consumer electronics company, although slowly. The Mac will just be a market segment that Apple has in it's portfolio of products.
You watch.
Mark my words. It will be killed.
Not to repost everything you said, but in general, I agree.
Didn't Jobs once say that he wanted to "Milk the Macintosh for all of its worth until the next great thing comes?" I might have paraphrase a bit, but the point of his comments are true. OS X is that thing... Not many would be shocked to hear that Apple killed the OS X running AppleTV...
Even after going to Intel chips, Apple still takes their sweet old time updating their products to the latest and greatest chipsets. Sometimes their competition has product using newer Intel chips long before Apple releases. Not necessary a product category that screams we are 110% behind our desktop/notebook computers...
defenderjarvis time table is probably wrong, but it will happen. Apple is all about selling great products with a high profit margin... Not necessarily selling anyone one product (including Macs).
Once digital content is stored, distributed, and created in the cloud, then we can come back to revisit the issue...
but the new halo will be using iphone and ipad to draw to mac in general, apple TV
SJ is continuing the "mac universe", "mac environment", "mac community"
this will be the new mac attack
we have yet to see the growth of the mac/ apple cloud/ ATV
can't wait for the verizon iphone this will put downward pressure on plans, and data costs
which we are seeing in the prepaid arena, USA is at i think 90% saturation, growth comes from growing new markets AKA ipad, and shifting customers, eating up the smaller telecoms
i wonder if apple would ever go to its own telecom, then it would control more of the universe.
I think this could be a huge growth potential for them
iphone, ipad, cloud, iAd, apple search, apple tv becomes a smart TV with it built in or maybe a card so any TV becomes apple
maybe have the set top box AND smart TV.
why not???
they may come back....
but the new halo will be using iphone and ipad to draw to mac in general, apple TV
SJ is continuing the "mac universe", "mac environment", "mac community"
Could be. Apple invented stars and set about creating a universe for them. Google created a universe and is now creating stars to populate it.
Just another way of looking at it.
I wish they'd done one last ad to say goodbye to those great characters. I always thought it should end with the PC (John Hodgman) saying, "I'm a Mac"...
Justin Long: "No, you're a PC."
Hodgman: "No, I'm a Mac. I switched. Now I just need to get the nerve up to tell my parents."
and so on...
Brilliant.
It hasn't had to with iPods because there really isn't any competition--nothing worth comparing to anyway.
Now that the smartphone market is becoming so competitive, it might not be a bad idea to turn tables and embrace the snob appeal of the iPhone. Start branding Android phones as wannabes--as cheap imitations of the real thing--and users of such knock-offs as poseurs. Image is so important to many young people, and if they could get a groundswell of buzz over such a campaign it could cut into Android sales.
The beauty part is that with commodity items like phones you can have the real thing for a relatively small difference in price. Not like the difference between, say, Acura and a Bentley. Maybe you can't drive a rich guy's ride, but you CAN have his phone.
A suggestion to all: gratuitous correcting of each others' grammar or spelling says more about you than the person being corrected. And what it says is not necessarily flattering. Focusing comments on the substance, not the form, of the argument elevates the level of discourse here. I admire and respect the rules of English as much as anyone, but this is a forum, not a literary magazine.
Touchy, touchy. "Methinks thou dost protest too much." The length of your response betrayed more than a little insecurity.
I make typos and misspellings, too. My aim was instructive, not to embarrass you. And funereal is a great choice of words.
But you assume that that was all I focused on and didn't give due consideration to your well-thought-through remarks in that post.
It's just that we simply don't see eye-to-eye on 100% of things.
A lot of posters who have basically "flamed" me in their replies, I believe, are engaged in some "Wishful Thinking."
Believe me, I'd love it if I was able to delude myself into thinking that Steve Jobs won't gradually drain the Apple personal computer well until he has a convincing and data-backed argument for the Board of Directors, large shareholders, institutional investors, The Street and large Apple personal computer customers (who buy Apple personal computers in the thousands, and Apple gives them careful "care and feeding") for discontinuing Apple's personal computer line.
I've read so much about Jobs that I have a handle on some of his less-positive habits, actions and beliefs.
It took me a loooooooong time to finally (and reluctantly) conclude that Steve Jobs will slowly, almost unnoticeably, drain Apple's personal computer line until a consensus exists that it should be discontinued from Apple's product lines.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a long time until it became impossible to do so any longer.
The evidence just kept adding up, and it would be foolish to ignore it, or plug your ears and whistle your favorite tune.
• This year, 2010, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference which always gives out ADA awards (Apple Design Awards) in key categories, will have no categories for the Mac or OS X apps. All ADA awards will be given to iPhone OS apps only. Plus, the apps eligible will have to be Apple-approved and for sale on the App Store. (I don't remember ever seeing a Mac app on Apple's App Store.)
• The focus on Apple mobile devices, software and development tools will come at the expense of the Mac and its OS. If the Mac were on the "marquee," it would detract attention from Apple's intended focus on mobile devices running iPhone OS, and Apple doesn't want to do that. (Detain the Mac at the entrance because his ID badge looks faked.)
• At the iPad introduction keynote, Steve Jobs said, "Apple is now the largest mobile device company in the world." So that's what Apple is now. They changed their name from "Apple Computer, Inc." to "Apple, Inc." and is now a mobile device company.
• At a Goldman Sachs technology conference address, Apple's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook (you know, the guy who did such a stellar job running Apple during Steve Jobs' leave of absence) said, "Apple is a mobile device company now."
• Steve Jobs wrote in an email (that he probably didn't want spread all over the Internet) the following: "traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."
Does this tell you anything? Does it offer even a scintilla of support for what I'm saying?
• The most recent figures show that Apple is selling 200,000 iPads a week -- about twice as many Macs it sells per week. Further, Apple sells about 246,000 iPhone 3GS's a week. So Apple sells about 4 1/2 x as many iPads and iPhones as Macs -- oh, and then there's the iPod.
• Apple makes money on the sale of a Mac at the time the transaction takes place, and that's about the extent of it. Some Mac buyers do buy a few Apple-made Mac software apps. But long after the product purchase transaction, iPod owners send a steady stream of revenue to Apple as they buy songs, TV shows, movies, apps, games and other content off the iTunes Store.
Long after the product purchase transaction, iPhone owners send a steady stream of revenues to Apple in shared telephone plan fees with AT&T, apps from the App store, and media content on the iTunes Store. In similar fashion, iPod touch users send a steady stream of revenue to Apple. And now iPad owners send a continuous revenue stream to Apple as they buy apps on the App Store, music, video and other content from the iTunes Store, etc.
Unless a Mac buyer faithfully subscribes to MobileMe, buys every new milestone release of Mac OS X, every new release of iLife, iWork and maybe even a prosumer app like Final Cut Express, what steady, infinite revenue stream travels from the Mac to Apple's bank account after the point-of-purchase?
If there was a Mac App Store, there would be such a revenue stream, but that would necessarily involve Steve Jobs supporting the Mac! Heaven forbid!
• In Apple's just completed 2Q 2010 earnings call, someone from Apple (possibly Tim Cook or Peter Oppenheimer) obliquely referred to a "future product transition." But when pressed by analysts participating, this person wold not elaborate. I have my suspicions as to what that enigmatic "future product transition" will be.
• In the same article, the author noted, "Not much was said about the Mac."
• In previous Apple quarterly earnings conference calls, Apple participants have made it no secret that high-end Mac models and high-priced Apple Pro apps are disappointing in their sales.
One Apple rep said Apple's high-end (as described above) remains "economically challenging" for Apple. This has to displease them.
• Apple has laid off 40 people from its Final Cut Studio team, and has announced that the software will be repurposed from the creative pro market to the prosumer market.
• Mac sales break down into about 80% notebooks and 20% desktops. Which form do you think would be more likely to be killed?
• It is the worst kept secret that Apple "gutted" the Mac OS X team of key talent and reassigned them to iPhone OS. Email someone on the Mac OS X team; they aren't even diplomatic and cautious as they don't go out of their way in their responses to disguise implications of bitterness at the fact that their all-star team has been poached of its MVPs. They feel dissed. (Though they do exercise some caution in writing; Steve Jobs is always "sniffing" everyone's emails for signs of sedition.)
• The Mac OS X team is severely deficient right now. Don't expect 10.7 for another 2 to 2 1/2 years. You need brilliant, talented, breathing engineers with fingers on keyboards to create a new milestone release of OS X. Their chairs are empty now because they're over at the iPhone OS department.
• If this is evidence that an effort is underway to derail the Mac project, by one method, poaching its best talent, it is backed up by the fact that Apple has $40 billion of cash in the bank. They certainly have the means to attract and hire the best engineering talent in the world for the iPhone OS team. Poaching the Mac OS X team was not their only option -- though they acted like it was. It seems more oriented toward weakening the Mac project than simply putting key talent on iPhone OS.
• Lastly, I buy a new top-of-the-line tower Mac every time a new model is released (which has for years been every year). It's been a year-and-three-months and counting, and no new Mac Pro.
I had foolishly hoped a new Mac Pro would be unleashed at WWDC, but now, recognizing that Apple wants to do nothing to distract the focus from iPhone OS, mobile iDevices and the new iPhone HD, I won't see my next Mac Pro between June 7-11th like I'd hoped. That's IF Apple doesn't cease further development of the Mac Pro line, but continues to market existing models until demand dries up.
• The visionary Steve Jobs sees the personal computing era drawing to a close. If he's right, he should just let it happen naturally -- hands-off. But proactively undercutting Apple's personal computer offerings in an effort to hasten or catalyze the process is indefensible.
• If Apple one day decides to cease selling the Mac, they should at least license Mac OS X to any clone makers who want to take a crack at selling personal computers running Mac OS X.
Viva Mac!
P.S. To gain the best insight, read a biography of Steve Jobs, then you'll understand.
P.P.S. Feel free to correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Learning is a lifelong process.
P.P.P.S. Don't be too disappointed when the "Get a Mac" TV ad campaign is not succeeded by another Mac TV ad campaign. There will be no Mac TV advertising.
It took me a loooooooong time to finally (and reluctantly) conclude that Steve Jobs will slowly, almost unnoticeably, drain Apple's personal computer line until a consensus exists that it should be discontinued from Apple's product lines.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for a long time until it became impossible to do so any longer.
The evidence just kept adding up, and it would be foolish to ignore it, or plug your ears and whistle your favorite tune.
Since Apple is in business to earn profits then it makes sense that they focus on the most profitable products. In the land of TV often really good shows with OK ratings are cancelled because they cost too much to produce. One example I remember was "The Bionic Woman". Its viewership was growing but it was cancelled. I think the fact that the executive in charge of programming killed it and put a show in its place that he personally earned extra money from because he produced it was a big factor too.
If Apple kills PCs (Macs) then the iPad and other devices will need to function as stand alone devices. As it is the iPad needs to connect with a computer.
My prediction of the end of Apple notebook computers by 2012 makes sense to me. The demise of their desktop computers wasn't something I considered. If they truly can't earn a big enough profit with desktops then it makes sense to shift to other products. This would mean that Apple better find a way to have a prestige product. Without the cachet of the Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro lines Apple would seem to become just another phone/mp3 manufacturer. Leopard stands out in the software world more than the iPhone OS does. The iPhone isn't as awesome as it originally was now that competitors have much improved phones.
It would be cool if all the former OS X programmers got together and built a great Linux OS. Even if they charged a small fee for it I'd buy it if it were as good or better than Leopard.
I might be on my last Apple computer. The newest Ubuntu is closer to commercial grade quality and I'm still annoyed at Microsoft because of Vista. The iPad will be my next new computing device. If Apple would make a Linux compatible iTunes it would take a great swipe at Microsoft which I think would be a great blow to them. I'm still hopeful that one day I won't need any MS OS to do work.
That's like raising a purebred kitten to be a show-winner, only to kill her right as she starts winning best in shows!
Macs continue to improve, become more powerful, and are now starting to get a gaming focus with Steam being ported to them. I have heard that Apple is fixing a lot of issues in its OpenGL drivers due to more games coming to the platform.
The Mac has a good future as a successful platform. Why kill it now? This is what Apple has been wanting for years and now it's finally happening.
Viva Mac.
A lot of this is simply FUD, or people repeating FUD, with the unspoken message of, "Better not buy a Mac, Apple's going to turn it into a giant iPad in a few years and then you won't have a 'real' computer." Some of it is just from people who have no real understanding of what iPhone OS and Mac OS are, how they differ from each other, how they are similar, and how they compliment each other. And some of it is from people who think all touch all the time is the future of computing. This last group is actually a subgroup of the second group.
Mac OS isn't going away because iPhone OS doesn't do, and isn't designed to do, what Mac OS does. Touch, which is just a layer on top of iPhone OS, and could easily become a layer on Mac OS, probably is not going everywhere any time soon, because it's just not appropriate for most workstation uses, especially in regard to ergonomics. (Yes, it would be useful for certain special purpose applications, but I don't think Apple will see this a sufficient reason to implement it across the board.)
So, if you fall into the group spreading FUD (which includes Smallwheels and defenderjarvis), I'm sure you'll keep it up, but you'll just end up looking stupid when your "predictions" don't come to pass, which they won't. If you fall into the second group, a few minutes consideration, and a bit more education, on Mac OS and iPhone OS should make you realize that this isn't actually a realistic, or even, from Apple's perspective, useful scenario. If you fall into the third group, no, all touch all the time is not the future of all computing.
This whole, "Apple will dump the Mac and make everything iPhone OS," and its variations, such as, "all laptops will become iPhone OS," meme is such ridiculous nonsense. Apple isn't going to dump profitable business lines, that will only become more profitable in coming years, to push just iPhone OS based devices. They didn't invest the effort on Snow Leopard and all the technologies in it just so they could dump it in a couple years. Snow Leopard was a new foundation for Mac OS that will be built on for many years to come, until they build a new, more advanced foundation that they will build on for many years after that.
A lot of this is simply FUD, or people repeating FUD, with the unspoken message of, "Better not buy a Mac, Apple's going to turn it into a giant iPad in a few years and then you won't have a 'real' computer." Some of it is just from people who have no real understanding of what iPhone OS and Mac OS are, how they differ from each other, how they are similar, and how they compliment each other. And some of it is from people who think all touch all the time is the future of computing. This last group is actually a subgroup of the second group.
Mac OS isn't going away because iPhone OS doesn't do, and isn't designed to do, what Mac OS does. Touch, which is just a layer on top of iPhone OS, and could easily become a layer on Mac OS, probably is not going everywhere any time soon, because it's just not appropriate for most workstation uses, especially in regard to ergonomics. (Yes, it would be useful for certain special purpose applications, but I don't think Apple will see this a sufficient reason to implement it across the board.)
So, if you fall into the group spreading or unwittingly repeating FUD, I'm sure you'll keep it up, but you'll just end up looking stupid when your "predictions" don't come to pass, which they won't. If you fall into the second group, a few minutes consideration, and a bit more education, on Mac OS and iPhone OS should make you realize that this isn't actually a realistic, or even, from Apple's perspective, useful scenario. If you fall into the third group, no, all touch all the time is not the future of all computing.
You don't know Steve Jobs.
You don't know Steve Jobs.
You don't know jack.
You don't know jack.
We'll see.
We'll see.
Yes, we will.
Yes, we will.
Yes, we will indeed.
Yes, we will indeed.
An important part of creating an impression that you are an oracle of inexorable, impending doom is knowing when to stop. You went one post too long.