When has there ever been an announcement of someone in upper management taking 6 months to leave one company to move to another? That's not normally done. When the former CEO of HP left to Oracle, that happened VERY quickly. I'm sorry, but I don't do drugs and I would have NO problem tell Angela to her face. What's she going to do if I told her that? NOTHING. She'd probably have to admit that she should have made the transition a lot sooner.
No offense, but I think you might want to go do some research and see what person in Corporate History has ever taken longer than a month or two to leave one high ranking position with one company to go to another high ranking position with another? That's not normal. What's normal is taking less than 30 Days to transition.
HP and Oracle are direct competitors, and there was particular drama related to "the former CEO" having *already left* so of course it happened fast.
Burberry didn't already get rid of Ahrendts; they are trying to minimize the impact of losing their CEO! And Apple isn't trying to outmaneuver Burberry or disrupt its operations in order to get her started as their own chief of retail.
Anyone with a substantial retaining bonus doesn't leave millions of dollars on the table if they can help it. Apple was quite willing to shed Scott Forstall, but allowed him to stay in an advisor position a) ostensibly to help transition, b) to let him keep his huge retaining bonus and c) supposedly to prevent him from joining a direct competitor right away.
So you want a Mac Pro but with the innards of an iMac? Get a fucking iMac. The iPod market is shrinking because people are buying iPhones! Get that through your head. The avg consumer doesnt know/care about 24 bit music.
Oh and F Wall Street. Apple caters to consumers, not analysts. I also say that as a shareholder.
Only fools believe rumor mills. Where is my Apple netbook?
I also notice how you didn't respond to "throughout 2014" note.
They didn't refresh a lot of products in over a year and they haven't entered new markets.
They absolutely did refresh a great number of products in 2013 and entered new markets.
13" MBP refreshed twice that year.
15" MBP refreshed twice that year.
21.5" iMac refreshed twice that year.
27" iMac refreshed.
11" MBA refreshed.
13" MBA refreshed.
The New Mac Pro was introduced after 9 years of the same cue design.
iPad Air was introduced.
Retina iPad mini was introduced.
High-end iPhone was refreshed.
Mid-range iPhone was introduced to tackle more markets and quickly took position number 2 and settled as number 3 for the world's most popular smartphone.
16GB iPod Touch was introduced to tackle more markets.
New AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule with 802.11ac were refreshed and given a new design.
Mac OS X got a new name and a major overhaul, not to mention it was made free.
iOS was redesigned from the ground up to be a modern OS that eschews the gimmicky look of the 2007 design.
iWork and iLife suite apps got a major overhaul, and most apps free with purchase of an Apple product.
iCloud had a major overhaul and more interconnects for smoother accessibility between devices.
Touch ID become the first consumer biometric that was actually useful.
64-bit ARM processor with AArch64 was introduced with an OS, included apps, and IDE that full supported it, not to mention excellent documentation to help get 3rd-party developers to quickly support the better architecture.
It sure seems like they were busy to me, and that doesn't even consider a large part of their business focus.
PS: It's silly to complain about the Apple TV not be refreshed and then using that as part of your argument that Cook can't push Apple when the 3rd generation Apple TV only arrived the year before, Cook was CEIO when he updated to the 3rd gen model after the 2nd gen was only on the market for under 2 years, and that it took 4 years to go from the original Apple TV introduction to the 2nd gen model under Jobs' leadership. So much for that tour de force that Cook can't possibly match¡
So you want a Mac Pro but with the innards of an iMac? Get a fucking iMac. The iPod market is shrinking because people are buying iPhones! Get that through your head. The avg consumer doesnt know/care about 24 bit music.
Oh and F Wall Street. Apple caters to consumers, not analysts. I also say that as a shareholder.
Only fools believe rumor mills. Where is my Apple netbook?
I also notice how you didn't respond to "throughout 2014" note.
I get that people still want an xMac. No matter what Apple delivered there will always be something else they want which will then be the new xMac. What I don't get is why this is now a fault with Cook as CEO that Jobs would have never done despite the design for the Cube to be reborn ever since it was aborted under Jobs.
It's funny how analysts fabricate what they think should be hot, like "wearables" or an AppleTV" and then get all bent out of shape when their fantasies fail to materialize. I guess that makes sense when you are talking about how other people should be spending their money rather than how you spend your own money. If you look back at the tablet market you'll see at least a solid decade of wild swings and misses and flailing as vendor after vendor tried to ramrod their current product capabilities into what they thought the tablet future should be, like Microsoft's tablet editions. Then there were attempts like the Apple Newton that got the form factor and workflows nearly right but couldn't find the right combination of technology and connectivity to make it worthwhile. So there was no shortage of vendors investing in the product catagory but everything needed to really pull it off still wasn't in place until the emergence of the iPhone, good touch technology, mobile app marketplaces, ans several generations of mobile processing improvements made the iPad not only possible but the archetype for the implementation of a class of product that could only be fantasized about up to that point. Wearables haven't hit the point of mainstream viability yet so punishing Apple for not producing a crude prototype like Google Glass or Galaxy Gear seems silly. Duct taping your iPhone to your wrist does not make it a smart watch.
While I deeply admire Apple's commitment to quality I also recognize that their biggest risk is not the continuing oneupsmanship against their competition that drives them to redefine the meaning of luxury. The biggest threat to their quality commitment is the shrinking update and refresh cycles of smartphone buyers. The potential lifetime of an iPhone far exceeds the actusl time that many buyers want to spend with a single phone model. With much of the innovation baked into the product it becomes geek-obsolete fairly quickly, especially as carriers roll out better services and reduce the barriers to more frequent refresh cycles. This creates a competition between great and good-enough when the cycles are short and especially when the value of the devices is based on the services that it delivers more so than what it feels like as a prized possession. Like it or not, over time most consumers tend to gravitate to "good enough" and pure consumption rather than specsmanship and tinkering. How many gearheads even bother to open the hood on their modern cars to see what's really under the hood? As long as the car delivers gobs of right foot joy they are probably not going to be fiddling around in the rats nest of tubing and electronics that are hidden under the hood. A tiny few may care, but they are probably still grieving the loss of HeathKit build-it-yourself products as well.
So the real threat is really around how to keep the landfills from overflowing with 6 month old premuim products. Once that becomes a problem the need for luxury will give way to good enough and disposability.
A lot of these "fantasies" you speak of came from the rumor mill and several things that were eluded to. there were signs of wearables coming out of Apple that wasn't started by the analysts, some of them were started in rumor sites just like this one. How many rumor sites were discussing SmartTV's? I recall many articles on this site and other sites that were starting that. I think it was jobs, or Eddy Cue or someone at Apple that mentioned they were playing around with a SmartTV. That USUALLY indicates something is going to be announced. Apple registered the iWatch trademark name and they've been hiring people specifically for some kind of wearables and there were people (NOT analysts) that were eluding wearables. How many articles did the rumor sites discuss wearables by Apple? Plenty. Wall Street didn't necessarily start those rumors, they just ran with them because there were people in the industry and Apple that were eluding to future products. With all due respect, Tim Cook should be doing a better job informing the public about future roadmaps and if they aren't going to announce something that Wall Street is expecting, then maybe they should have done a little better job with damage control. If Wall Street is talking about Apple going into new markets and Apple clearly isn't going to do that, then they need to give Wall Street guidance to contradict the rumors. It's just called damage control, otherwise if Apple doesn't dispel these rumors, then the rumors continue. That's part of the problem.
Why did Apple buy that sensor company last year that Microsoft uses in their Kinect product? For the F of it? We all know they ere working on SOMETHING that uses that technology. When we'll see it is anyone's guess.
It's perfectly normal for Apple to wait 6 months. When Steve Jobs was at the helm, the only really big announcements were at the Macworld Expo and an event in the fall with WWDC reserved mostly for software announcements. This year they did change things up by announcing at WWDC the MacPro, and have two special events in the fall. For those who want a brief history, you can watch all the videos since 2010 here: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
So typically they announce something twice a year, with WWDC focused on new software (iOS and OS X). So that's 6 months. In 2013, they jammed a LOT of new products at the end of the year, presumably to clear the runway for a new product introduction... something that is VERY Apple-esque.
Why did Apple buy that sensor company last year that Microsoft uses in their Kinect product? For the F of it? We all know they ere working on SOMETHING that uses that technology. When we'll see it is anyone's guess.
They've taken years — under Jobs — to work out how to incorporate an acquisition into a product. NeXT, PA Semi, and FingerWorks come to mind. Cook seems to have moved very fast with Siri, Chomp and AuthenTec.
I think the disconnect is that when someone at Apple eludes to some new product or technology that they should be a little more clear and state something to the effect that they are looking at XYZ technology but no definite product announcements for the next 12 months and we'll revise estimations so that Wall Street doesn't run with a rumor and set expectations too high. I think Apple kind of shoots themselves in the foot with their coyness. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. but the fact remains, Wall Street looks for guidance FROM APPLE. If Apple doesn't squash rumors and their expectations quickly, then Wall Street will run with what they THINK Apple's going to do until they say otherwise. These analysts are in discussions with Apple execs all of the time and Apple should have squashed rumors of a SmartTV from being announced when a lot of people thought they would have entered that market within the last year or two.
The second Apple said they were working on a larger screen iPhone is when I started hearing from other people they weren't going to announce something a lot sooner, but I had to remind them it's going to take them some time to announce anything so don't hold your breath unit a formal product announcement is made by Apple. But from my standpoint, the sooner they kick out the larger screen iPhone, the better their sales will be and it would be best for them to not announce too many models at once to avoid production issues. I think they really need to pay attention and be able to meet demand quicker. Taking almost 6 months to catch up to demand is a little on the long side. It's not normal MO for Apple to take longer than maybe a month to meet demand. I'm surprised it's taking 6+ months for them to meet MacPro demand, hopefully it's because they really do have lot of demand rather than Intel just not being able to spit out decent yields of their XEON processors. I somehow think it's Intel that's not getting decent yields. Apple should give better guidance on that.
Personally, I would release a SmartTV where the guts of the computer section was upgradeable, along with a service contract, so that they can derive additional revenue for the product. I don't see what the problem is why they wouldn't sell a TV for $4000 and have an upgrade every year or two as more computing power is available and charge another few hundred bucks (or whatever the upgrade costs) to upgrade the processing power/storage, etc., so over the life of 8 years or so, the customer is paying more like $6000 or so, but constantly getting better computing power/storage, etc. because it's upgradeable and a lot of people might do that every year/two years/three years, etc.. I would see that as viable alternative to just selling an entire unit every 8 to 10 years. That's why I want an headless computer instead of an iMac, that way I can replace the majority of the guts if the monitor is still useful. Same type of mentality.
I think the disconnect is that when someone at Apple eludes to some new product or technology that they should be a little more clear and state something to the effect that they are looking at XYZ technology but no definite product announcements for the next 12 months…
No, no one at Apple should EVER say this.
…Wall Street looks for guidance FROM APPLE.
What does that matter if they ignore it when they receive it?
If Apple doesn't squash rumors and their expectations quickly, then Wall Street will run with what they THINK Apple's going to do until they say otherwise.
And given that Apple always proves them wrong, shouldn’t they have learned by now not to do that? It’s their fault and theirs alone.
…Apple should have squashed rumors of a SmartTV from being announced when a lot of people thought they would have entered that market within the last year or two.
Why? Who cares? What would it have done for them?
The second Apple said they were working on a larger screen iPhone…
But they never said that.
Taking almost 6 months to catch up to demand is a little on the long side.
How can Apple magically build more factories for technology that physically cannot be created any more quickly?
They absolutely did refresh a great number of products in 2013 and entered new markets.
13" MBP refreshed twice that year.
15" MBP refreshed twice that year.
21.5" iMac refreshed twice that year.
27" iMac refreshed.
11" MBA refreshed.
13" MBA refreshed.
The New Mac Pro was introduced after 9 years of the same cue design.
iPad Air was introduced.
Retina iPad mini was introduced.
High-end iPhone was refreshed.
Mid-range iPhone was introduced to tackle more markets and quickly took position number 2 and settled as number 3 for the world's most popular smartphone.
16GB iPod Touch was introduced to tackle more markets.
New AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule with 802.11ac were refreshed and given a new design.
Mac OS X got a new name and a major overhaul, not to mention it was made free.
iOS was redesigned from the ground up to be a modern OS that eschews the gimmicky look of the 2007 design.
iWork and iLife suite apps got a major overhaul, and most apps free with purchase of an Apple product.
iCloud had a major overhaul and more interconnects for smoother accessibility between devices.
Touch ID become the first consumer biometric that was actually useful.
64-bit ARM processor with AArch64 was introduced with an OS, included apps, and IDE that full supported it, not to mention excellent documentation to help get 3rd-party developers to quickly support the better architecture.
It sure seems like they were busy to me, and that doesn't even consider a large part of their business focus.
PS: It's silly to complain about the Apple TV not be refreshed and then using that as part of your argument that Cook can't push Apple when the 3rd generation Apple TV only arrived the year before, Cook was CEIO when he updated to the 3rd gen model after the 2nd gen was only on the market for under 2 years, and that it took 4 years to go from the original Apple TV introduction to the 2nd gen model under Jobs' leadership. So much for that tour de force that Cook can't possibly match¡
What new market did they enter?
They didn't update the entire iPod lineup which has been done YEARLY right before Christmas, because iPods are big sellers during the Christmas time. If they updated them to 24 bit last year, Pono wouldn't have happened and there would have been more iPod sales.
They didn't refresh the MacMini, which is why MacMini sales are down.
They haven't refreshed the AppleTV in over a year now. What's the holdup? Now, more players are getting in trying to take market share away. It's the you snooze, you lose concept.
They dropped the 15 inch MacBookPro, the MacBookPro didn't get 32GB RAM ability, which is an oversight. I've talked to lots of users that want 32GB of RAM in their MBPRetina. Otherwise, it was a good update.
The iMac didn't get TB2, like the MBPRetina. an oversight.
IWork didn't have a lot of features, they didn't do as good of a job in that refresh. Sorry, how many posts from people saying that the new version of iWork didn't have a lot of features the older one has? Poorly executed.
They didn't put 2GB of RAM in their 64Bit models, I thought that should have been done to better enable 64 bit computing. I almost bought an iPad Air last year to replace my iPad 4, but since it didn't have 2GB of RAM, I saw no real benefit, yet. I'll wait until they kick up the RAM first. Sorry, but I think they are slacking in the RAM for iPhones and iPads. 2GB is what it should have, at least from my perspective. I can wait, but others won't, so they might opt for Samscum. These are some of the reasons why someone will opt for another platform, more RAM, or larger screens. I agree that they kicked butt on 64 bit, but it's still going to take them 2 years for the full transition of iPhones.
The rest I acknowledge, but they didn't enter into new markets. I know they are doing this car implementation, but I've not seen any monetization from it. I think they need to add another slice of the pie in their revenue/profits chart to show some new market that's growing.
ICloud? Come on, what they really introduce that was MAJOR that was a big deal? Adding the ability to use iWork through a browser? Well, I tried it soon after they announced it, but I'm not sure how much it's actually done. I didn't get a free copy of iWork because I didn't buy a new computer, so I'm still using Office and I haven't seen any reason to use that from a browser when I have my computer right in front of me. i think that was a needed enhancement, but it's not a major deal breaker for Apple. I might be a little more enthused by it, if they just handed out a new version of iWork to everyone, so the people that didn't upgrade it's not really that big of a deal. How many times do you use iWork through a browser?
16GB IPod wasn't announced last year. What are you smoking? The last iPod Touch was announced in 2012, go look it up.
Sorry, but these product announcements are mostly normal stuff that could have been done throughout the year rather than cramming everything in at the last minute causing long lead times. They can lose a sale if they product isn't in someone's hands before Christmas, because people like to buy something they can give to someone else on Dec 25th. If they know that they are going to have production issues, they need to kick the products out sooner and catch up BY Christmas, not 3 to 4 months later.
I didn't see the MBP get refreshed twice in 2013. What dates? Nothing got announced until June of last year. I think you are confused.
Just because it may not have happened before doesn't mean it can't happen now. Contracts can state people need to submit a reasonable notice time. Isn't an Apple employee being sued by BBRY for leaving early?
Hurd left to go to Oracle, you are thinking about the other schmuck Apokether, or whatever his name was. A CEO that leaves to go to another company usually leaves shortly after the announcement, getting fired or retiring is different. But Hurd left HP to go to Oracle and he left within a short period of time. Mostly because Oracle is a competitor to HP. but normally, a CEO leaving to another company is done almost immediately. Firing is done immediately, retiring is done ahead of time to get a replacement. Please do more research before you type something that's misleading.
No, there was an article which I posted that mentioned that Angela COULD have left within 30 days. It's just the right thing to do to the new employer and if she left money on the table as a result, then she should have left the money on the table and not hold up her new employer. I know several Apple Store employees that are eagerly awaiting her arrival because they do need someone to give direction out in the trenches.
@drblank - you are moving the targets here. Now you want them to enter new markets every 3 months or something? How did that work out for MS?
I remember all the time that announcements from Apple came twice a year. And new product lines?
iMac, 1998
iPod 2001
Macbook 2005-6
iPhone 2007
iPad 2010
Mac Pro 2013
That's not a new market every 3 6, or even 12 months. That's 3 years on average.
No one even cares about the iPod any more, it's a dead product walking. Does anyone even compete in that submarket any more? A music player that's not also a phone?
You also claim that Apple had 50% growth for a while. Well, guess what? It's a might bit easier to have 50% growth when you are close to 0, and a bit harder when you are selling 50M units. Every time you add another 50M (and only 50M) your percentage growth drops:
100 - 50 - 33 - 25, etc etc. This is what is the farce of Wall Street, that if you are not expanding at a faster rate than you had been before, then you are failing, or even becoming less profitable, which is not the case.
They didn't update the entire iPod lineup which has been done YEARLY right before Christmas, because iPods are big sellers during the Christmas time.
Not true.
If they updated them to 24 bit last year, Pono wouldn't have happened and there would have been more iPod sales.
So no Pono is a threat to Apple? I guess if they had created a smartwatch last year then Samsung and Sony wouldn't have created their DOA devices.
They didn't refresh the MacMini, which is why MacMini sales are down.
1) I didn't say they did but the Mac mini being updated in 2012 is still well within it's average for that device.
2) Remember that the Mac mini was doomed and guaranteed to be canceled because it hadn't had an update in years. That was all under Jobs; you know, the guy that was able to get things to happen at Apple… unlike Cook¡
They haven't refreshed the AppleTV in over a year now. What's the holdup? Now, more players are getting in trying to take market share away. It's the you snooze, you lose concept.
1) What's the rush to add in a faster processor? Is the UI too slow for you despite being smoother than anything else on the market?
2) Again, Cook has updated it more often than Jobs ever did.
They dropped the 15 inch MacBookPro, the MacBookPro didn't get 32GB RAM ability, which is an oversight. I've talked to lots of users that want 32GB of RAM in their MBPRetina. Otherwise, it was a good update.
1) They dropped the non-Retina MBP with a 2.5" HDD and 5.25" ODD and you're complaining about Apple not progressing :roll eyes:
2) And the moment 32GB gets here they'll want 64GB. Remind me again when Mac OS X could support more than 32GB of RAM and why you think that should be applied to a notebook first?
The iMac didn't get TB2, like the MBPRetina. an oversight.
If they have enough TB2 chips for either MBPs or iMacs (like with Touch ID components) which do you think should get it first? How many people are going to buy an iMac just to then hook up a UHD 4K display to it?
IWork didn't have a lot of features, they didn't do as good of a job in that refresh. Sorry, how many posts from people saying that the new version of iWork didn't have a lot of features the older one has? Poorly executed.
It was poorly executed under Jobs where it wasn't being updated for years on end and yet now it's all Cook's fault for finally taking the reigns and turning it into a unified platform that the average person can use cross platform? If you need something more robust MS Office for Mac is there for you. iWork wasn't likely going to change that with the very small window of time Cook has had as CEO. If you're going to assign blame put it on Jobs for not pushing Pages development properly after it's 2005 introduction.
They didn't put 2GB of RAM in their 64Bit models, I thought that should have been done to better enable 64 bit computing.
You're not considering that tagged pointers eliminate the need for memory allocations for many classes which increase performance as reduce memory use, which is only available with the new ISA.
I almost bought an iPad Air last year to replace my iPad 4, but since it didn't have 2GB of RAM, I saw no real benefit, yet.
You're foolish if you think that there is no performance boost without 2GB RAM.
I'll wait until they kick up the RAM first.
You have that right to make that choice and no one can say otherwise.
Sorry, but I think they are slacking in the RAM for iPhones and iPads. 2GB is what it should have, at least from my perspective. I can wait, but others won't, so they might opt for Samscum.
That extra RAM isn't helping the device beat Apple in tests done by AnandTech.
These are some of the reasons why someone will opt for another platform, more RAM, or larger screens.
And some people like laugh tracks in sitcoms so they know when something's suppose to be funny. There choice.
I agree that they kicked butt on 64 bit, but it's still going to take them 2 years for the full transition of iPhones.
It's going to take them 2 years because they aren't going to retrofit their old products? What kind of argument is that?!
The rest I acknowledge, but they didn't enter into new markets.
Your comment was that they didn't offer a lot of products or enter into new markets. I proven that to be patently false. I had also forgotten about China Mobile. That's a brand new market with the world's largest carrier in Apple's fastest growing market. China Mobile is a market segment just as the iPhone 5C tackles a new market segment.
What you're really saying is you want a brand spanking new product CATEGORY that they've never entered in and you're blaming Cook for it not having happened yet despite it only happening very infrequently under Jobs, who you say would have somehow done better than Cook in the same position despite no evidence to support it.
I know they are doing this car implementation, but I've not seen any monetization from it. I think they need to add another slice of the pie in their revenue/profits chart to show some new market that's growing.
1) Oh yeah, I completely forgot about CarPlay as a new market.
2) I could ask why the **** would you see direct monetization from it this early on but the more important question is why would you care? You said you wanted Apple to work in more markets not to make more money because if it's the latter you'd not be complaining about what Cook has done with Apple since he took over. But as for monetization they could be getting paid from the auto makers and it's certainly a value added to every iPhone once the cars and after-market units start arriving. Note you didn't ask how Apple will monetize iOS, Mac OS X, iCloud or iWork.
ICloud? Come on, what they really introduce that was MAJOR that was a big deal? Adding the ability to use iWork through a browser? Well, I tried it soon after they announced it, but I'm not sure how much it's actually done. I didn't get a free copy of iWork because I didn't buy a new computer, so I'm still using Office and I haven't seen any reason to use that from a browser when I have my computer right in front of me. i think that was a needed enhancement, but it's not a major deal breaker for Apple. I might be a little more enthused by it, if they just handed out a new version of iWork to everyone, so the people that didn't upgrade it's not really that big of a deal. How many times do you use iWork through a browser?
You use some part of iCloud every moment of every day and don't even realize it. That's what cloud services should do for you.
Mail
Photos
iTunes in the Cloud
Contacts
Documents in the Cloud
iTunes Match
Calendar
Backup
iCloud Keychain
Reminders
Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac
Web Apps (iCloud.com)
Bookmarks & iCloud Tabs
Find My Friends
Account & Sign In
Notes
Back to My Mac
Storage Upgrades
iWork for iCloud beta
iMovie Theater
16GB IPod wasn't announced last year. What are you smoking? The last iPod Touch was announced in 2012, go look it up.
I'm apparently smoking something that makes me good at looking stuff up.
Sorry, but these product announcements are mostly normal stuff that could have been done throughout the year rather than cramming everything in at the last minute causing long lead times.
Really? Can you prove the Mac Pro could have been released a year ago last January or that MBP released a year ago last March? Where is your proof the TB2 chips were in mass production 15 months ago to suit Apple's needs?
They can lose a sale if they product isn't in someone's hands before Christmas,
1) True, but you're coming at this as though they have a warehouse of finished products and Cook is simply asleep on the job without any sense of what season it is.
2) What does a company lose when they release a bad product to the world that causes people to stop trusting a company to supply well made and thought out products?
because people like to buy something they can give to someone else on Dec 25th.
1) This is more true at the low end of the scale and not so much at the high end.
2) I's not like Apple isn't selling product until they do the refresh and if you look at their unit sales most people don't care about being an early adopter.
3) Everything but the super expensive Mac Pro was available in bulk well before Christmas last year.
If they know that they are going to have production issues, they need to kick the products out sooner and catch up BY Christmas, not 3 to 4 months later.
That statement is full of so many ignorant assumptions that I'll let someone else tackle it as I've been very patient already.
I didn't see the MBP get refreshed twice in 2013. What dates? Nothing got announced until June of last year. I think you are confused.
13"
MacBookPro10,2 — February 2013 to October 2013
MacBookPro11,1 — October 2013 to Current
15"
MacBookPro10,1 — February 2013 to October 2013
MacBookPro11,2 (2.0 GHz) — October 2013 to Current
MacBookPro11,3 (2.3 and 2.6 GHz) — October 2013 to Current
Handbrake developers probably won't be keen on supporting H.265 until WinPCs start getting HW support for it.
With Apple only updating the iPod line, including the iPod Touch every two years lets hope that is this year.
Not to be weird, but when a record label records music, they either do it via analog tape, 16 bit, 24 bit, or now DSD. Then it is up to the label to master it a variety of ways. they are currently converting older analog tape into 24 bit and even DSD and selling downloads in either FLAC, AIFF or ALAC as they've done mostly 16 bit up to now and some were converted to SACD, but SACD was earlier DSD,now they are using double those rates for better sound quality. Apple, I know has been working on their Mastering for ITunes for 24 bit, but nothing has been released on itunes in 24 bit yet. But the market In terms of the masses is JUST beginning and Apple is the only player that can REALLY jump start it so the masses get the ability to get better quality music. This would enable the record labels to slit out both 16 and 24 bit versions and the users can choose. Rght now, we have to buy a DAC, which for portable devices is a little hassle and get our 24 bit content elsewhere. But most 16 bit is done with MP3, ACC or physical CD now. 24 bit was originally done with DVD-A and some TrueHD discs, but let's face it, most people are opting for digital downloads because of convienence DSD can be converted by means of software players like Amarra, Audirvana, Pure Music, etc. to 24 bit PCM so their PCM DACs can recognize it. and those players have additional functionality, better filters to choose from, automatically switch Audio/MIDI settings as the content needs to pass through to an external DAC to handle that playback, etc. iTunes by itself for the people that are playing 24 bit and DSD isn't up to the task, we see it more as just a library to organize content rather than being the player. There has only been a few times when I take a file converter like Xact and take FLAC and convert it to AIFF or whatever I wish. I'm trying to see how someone would need Handbrake.
1) One has some DVD videos they made of their child growing up. These could even have been VHS or an earlier form that was converted to DVD format a decade or more ago. Handbrake will allow you to convert those to a more modern digital format that will then load into Facebook, store in iTunes, playback on any smartphone or smart TV, etc.
2) One is going on a trip and wish to take some DVD media of movies or TV shows as entertainment but don't want to watch on a device with an ODD or would rather not have that loud ODD spinning which uses a lot of power of an internal drive and can make a lot of noise.
3) One wants to create digital backups of their DVD collection for playback on their home entertainment system.
4) One has a bunch of training videos that are encoded with XviD and in AVI containers that they want to make into a more modern format that is supported by websites and smart devices.
I am honestly not sure why I would have to post any of that on this site.
Some moron gets it in his head to use AVI or MKV this side of 2005, you have to convert it. :p
Matroska's container does offer some nifty features not supported by MPEG container but AVI is just junk. Remember wheN Handbrake finally dropped AVI and output format and people complained that they couldn't then burn a disc of that AVI and have their DVD player play it since their DVD player couldn't play it. This is well after you could by a $50 Roku to stream wired or wirelessly to your TV and they wanted to continue to go through the rigamarole of burning a disc and using a poor codec. Sometimes I just want to smack people upside the head.
Comments
When has there ever been an announcement of someone in upper management taking 6 months to leave one company to move to another? That's not normally done. When the former CEO of HP left to Oracle, that happened VERY quickly. I'm sorry, but I don't do drugs and I would have NO problem tell Angela to her face. What's she going to do if I told her that? NOTHING. She'd probably have to admit that she should have made the transition a lot sooner.
No offense, but I think you might want to go do some research and see what person in Corporate History has ever taken longer than a month or two to leave one high ranking position with one company to go to another high ranking position with another? That's not normal. What's normal is taking less than 30 Days to transition.
HP and Oracle are direct competitors, and there was particular drama related to "the former CEO" having *already left* so of course it happened fast.
Burberry didn't already get rid of Ahrendts; they are trying to minimize the impact of losing their CEO! And Apple isn't trying to outmaneuver Burberry or disrupt its operations in order to get her started as their own chief of retail.
Anyone with a substantial retaining bonus doesn't leave millions of dollars on the table if they can help it. Apple was quite willing to shed Scott Forstall, but allowed him to stay in an advisor position a) ostensibly to help transition, b) to let him keep his huge retaining bonus and c) supposedly to prevent him from joining a direct competitor right away.
Oh and F Wall Street. Apple caters to consumers, not analysts. I also say that as a shareholder.
Only fools believe rumor mills. Where is my Apple netbook?
I also notice how you didn't respond to "throughout 2014" note.
They absolutely did refresh a great number of products in 2013 and entered new markets.
It sure seems like they were busy to me, and that doesn't even consider a large part of their business focus.
PS: It's silly to complain about the Apple TV not be refreshed and then using that as part of your argument that Cook can't push Apple when the 3rd generation Apple TV only arrived the year before, Cook was CEIO when he updated to the 3rd gen model after the 2nd gen was only on the market for under 2 years, and that it took 4 years to go from the original Apple TV introduction to the 2nd gen model under Jobs' leadership. So much for that tour de force that Cook can't possibly match¡
I get that people still want an xMac. No matter what Apple delivered there will always be something else they want which will then be the new xMac. What I don't get is why this is now a fault with Cook as CEO that Jobs would have never done despite the design for the Cube to be reborn ever since it was aborted under Jobs.
It's funny how analysts fabricate what they think should be hot, like "wearables" or an AppleTV" and then get all bent out of shape when their fantasies fail to materialize. I guess that makes sense when you are talking about how other people should be spending their money rather than how you spend your own money. If you look back at the tablet market you'll see at least a solid decade of wild swings and misses and flailing as vendor after vendor tried to ramrod their current product capabilities into what they thought the tablet future should be, like Microsoft's tablet editions. Then there were attempts like the Apple Newton that got the form factor and workflows nearly right but couldn't find the right combination of technology and connectivity to make it worthwhile. So there was no shortage of vendors investing in the product catagory but everything needed to really pull it off still wasn't in place until the emergence of the iPhone, good touch technology, mobile app marketplaces, ans several generations of mobile processing improvements made the iPad not only possible but the archetype for the implementation of a class of product that could only be fantasized about up to that point. Wearables haven't hit the point of mainstream viability yet so punishing Apple for not producing a crude prototype like Google Glass or Galaxy Gear seems silly. Duct taping your iPhone to your wrist does not make it a smart watch.
While I deeply admire Apple's commitment to quality I also recognize that their biggest risk is not the continuing oneupsmanship against their competition that drives them to redefine the meaning of luxury. The biggest threat to their quality commitment is the shrinking update and refresh cycles of smartphone buyers. The potential lifetime of an iPhone far exceeds the actusl time that many buyers want to spend with a single phone model. With much of the innovation baked into the product it becomes geek-obsolete fairly quickly, especially as carriers roll out better services and reduce the barriers to more frequent refresh cycles. This creates a competition between great and good-enough when the cycles are short and especially when the value of the devices is based on the services that it delivers more so than what it feels like as a prized possession. Like it or not, over time most consumers tend to gravitate to "good enough" and pure consumption rather than specsmanship and tinkering. How many gearheads even bother to open the hood on their modern cars to see what's really under the hood? As long as the car delivers gobs of right foot joy they are probably not going to be fiddling around in the rats nest of tubing and electronics that are hidden under the hood. A tiny few may care, but they are probably still grieving the loss of HeathKit build-it-yourself products as well.
So the real threat is really around how to keep the landfills from overflowing with 6 month old premuim products. Once that becomes a problem the need for luxury will give way to good enough and disposability.
A lot of these "fantasies" you speak of came from the rumor mill and several things that were eluded to. there were signs of wearables coming out of Apple that wasn't started by the analysts, some of them were started in rumor sites just like this one. How many rumor sites were discussing SmartTV's? I recall many articles on this site and other sites that were starting that. I think it was jobs, or Eddy Cue or someone at Apple that mentioned they were playing around with a SmartTV. That USUALLY indicates something is going to be announced. Apple registered the iWatch trademark name and they've been hiring people specifically for some kind of wearables and there were people (NOT analysts) that were eluding wearables. How many articles did the rumor sites discuss wearables by Apple? Plenty. Wall Street didn't necessarily start those rumors, they just ran with them because there were people in the industry and Apple that were eluding to future products. With all due respect, Tim Cook should be doing a better job informing the public about future roadmaps and if they aren't going to announce something that Wall Street is expecting, then maybe they should have done a little better job with damage control. If Wall Street is talking about Apple going into new markets and Apple clearly isn't going to do that, then they need to give Wall Street guidance to contradict the rumors. It's just called damage control, otherwise if Apple doesn't dispel these rumors, then the rumors continue. That's part of the problem.
Why did Apple buy that sensor company last year that Microsoft uses in their Kinect product? For the F of it? We all know they ere working on SOMETHING that uses that technology. When we'll see it is anyone's guess.
It's perfectly normal for Apple to wait 6 months. When Steve Jobs was at the helm, the only really big announcements were at the Macworld Expo and an event in the fall with WWDC reserved mostly for software announcements. This year they did change things up by announcing at WWDC the MacPro, and have two special events in the fall. For those who want a brief history, you can watch all the videos since 2010 here: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/
So typically they announce something twice a year, with WWDC focused on new software (iOS and OS X). So that's 6 months. In 2013, they jammed a LOT of new products at the end of the year, presumably to clear the runway for a new product introduction... something that is VERY Apple-esque.
They've taken years — under Jobs — to work out how to incorporate an acquisition into a product. NeXT, PA Semi, and FingerWorks come to mind. Cook seems to have moved very fast with Siri, Chomp and AuthenTec.
I think the disconnect is that when someone at Apple eludes to some new product or technology that they should be a little more clear and state something to the effect that they are looking at XYZ technology but no definite product announcements for the next 12 months and we'll revise estimations so that Wall Street doesn't run with a rumor and set expectations too high. I think Apple kind of shoots themselves in the foot with their coyness. sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. but the fact remains, Wall Street looks for guidance FROM APPLE. If Apple doesn't squash rumors and their expectations quickly, then Wall Street will run with what they THINK Apple's going to do until they say otherwise. These analysts are in discussions with Apple execs all of the time and Apple should have squashed rumors of a SmartTV from being announced when a lot of people thought they would have entered that market within the last year or two.
The second Apple said they were working on a larger screen iPhone is when I started hearing from other people they weren't going to announce something a lot sooner, but I had to remind them it's going to take them some time to announce anything so don't hold your breath unit a formal product announcement is made by Apple. But from my standpoint, the sooner they kick out the larger screen iPhone, the better their sales will be and it would be best for them to not announce too many models at once to avoid production issues. I think they really need to pay attention and be able to meet demand quicker. Taking almost 6 months to catch up to demand is a little on the long side. It's not normal MO for Apple to take longer than maybe a month to meet demand. I'm surprised it's taking 6+ months for them to meet MacPro demand, hopefully it's because they really do have lot of demand rather than Intel just not being able to spit out decent yields of their XEON processors. I somehow think it's Intel that's not getting decent yields. Apple should give better guidance on that.
Personally, I would release a SmartTV where the guts of the computer section was upgradeable, along with a service contract, so that they can derive additional revenue for the product. I don't see what the problem is why they wouldn't sell a TV for $4000 and have an upgrade every year or two as more computing power is available and charge another few hundred bucks (or whatever the upgrade costs) to upgrade the processing power/storage, etc., so over the life of 8 years or so, the customer is paying more like $6000 or so, but constantly getting better computing power/storage, etc. because it's upgradeable and a lot of people might do that every year/two years/three years, etc.. I would see that as viable alternative to just selling an entire unit every 8 to 10 years. That's why I want an headless computer instead of an iMac, that way I can replace the majority of the guts if the monitor is still useful. Same type of mentality.
No, no one at Apple should EVER say this.
What does that matter if they ignore it when they receive it?
And given that Apple always proves them wrong, shouldn’t they have learned by now not to do that? It’s their fault and theirs alone.
Why? Who cares? What would it have done for them?
But they never said that.
How can Apple magically build more factories for technology that physically cannot be created any more quickly?
They absolutely did refresh a great number of products in 2013 and entered new markets.
It sure seems like they were busy to me, and that doesn't even consider a large part of their business focus.
PS: It's silly to complain about the Apple TV not be refreshed and then using that as part of your argument that Cook can't push Apple when the 3rd generation Apple TV only arrived the year before, Cook was CEIO when he updated to the 3rd gen model after the 2nd gen was only on the market for under 2 years, and that it took 4 years to go from the original Apple TV introduction to the 2nd gen model under Jobs' leadership. So much for that tour de force that Cook can't possibly match¡
What new market did they enter?
They didn't update the entire iPod lineup which has been done YEARLY right before Christmas, because iPods are big sellers during the Christmas time. If they updated them to 24 bit last year, Pono wouldn't have happened and there would have been more iPod sales.
They didn't refresh the MacMini, which is why MacMini sales are down.
They haven't refreshed the AppleTV in over a year now. What's the holdup? Now, more players are getting in trying to take market share away. It's the you snooze, you lose concept.
They dropped the 15 inch MacBookPro, the MacBookPro didn't get 32GB RAM ability, which is an oversight. I've talked to lots of users that want 32GB of RAM in their MBPRetina. Otherwise, it was a good update.
The iMac didn't get TB2, like the MBPRetina. an oversight.
IWork didn't have a lot of features, they didn't do as good of a job in that refresh. Sorry, how many posts from people saying that the new version of iWork didn't have a lot of features the older one has? Poorly executed.
They didn't put 2GB of RAM in their 64Bit models, I thought that should have been done to better enable 64 bit computing. I almost bought an iPad Air last year to replace my iPad 4, but since it didn't have 2GB of RAM, I saw no real benefit, yet. I'll wait until they kick up the RAM first. Sorry, but I think they are slacking in the RAM for iPhones and iPads. 2GB is what it should have, at least from my perspective. I can wait, but others won't, so they might opt for Samscum. These are some of the reasons why someone will opt for another platform, more RAM, or larger screens. I agree that they kicked butt on 64 bit, but it's still going to take them 2 years for the full transition of iPhones.
The rest I acknowledge, but they didn't enter into new markets. I know they are doing this car implementation, but I've not seen any monetization from it. I think they need to add another slice of the pie in their revenue/profits chart to show some new market that's growing.
ICloud? Come on, what they really introduce that was MAJOR that was a big deal? Adding the ability to use iWork through a browser? Well, I tried it soon after they announced it, but I'm not sure how much it's actually done. I didn't get a free copy of iWork because I didn't buy a new computer, so I'm still using Office and I haven't seen any reason to use that from a browser when I have my computer right in front of me. i think that was a needed enhancement, but it's not a major deal breaker for Apple. I might be a little more enthused by it, if they just handed out a new version of iWork to everyone, so the people that didn't upgrade it's not really that big of a deal. How many times do you use iWork through a browser?
16GB IPod wasn't announced last year. What are you smoking? The last iPod Touch was announced in 2012, go look it up.
Sorry, but these product announcements are mostly normal stuff that could have been done throughout the year rather than cramming everything in at the last minute causing long lead times. They can lose a sale if they product isn't in someone's hands before Christmas, because people like to buy something they can give to someone else on Dec 25th. If they know that they are going to have production issues, they need to kick the products out sooner and catch up BY Christmas, not 3 to 4 months later.
I didn't see the MBP get refreshed twice in 2013. What dates? Nothing got announced until June of last year. I think you are confused.
Wasn't that HP guy fired?
Just because it may not have happened before doesn't mean it can't happen now. Contracts can state people need to submit a reasonable notice time. Isn't an Apple employee being sued by BBRY for leaving early?
Hurd left to go to Oracle, you are thinking about the other schmuck Apokether, or whatever his name was. A CEO that leaves to go to another company usually leaves shortly after the announcement, getting fired or retiring is different. But Hurd left HP to go to Oracle and he left within a short period of time. Mostly because Oracle is a competitor to HP. but normally, a CEO leaving to another company is done almost immediately. Firing is done immediately, retiring is done ahead of time to get a replacement. Please do more research before you type something that's misleading.
No, there was an article which I posted that mentioned that Angela COULD have left within 30 days. It's just the right thing to do to the new employer and if she left money on the table as a result, then she should have left the money on the table and not hold up her new employer. I know several Apple Store employees that are eagerly awaiting her arrival because they do need someone to give direction out in the trenches.
@drblank - you are moving the targets here. Now you want them to enter new markets every 3 months or something? How did that work out for MS?
I remember all the time that announcements from Apple came twice a year. And new product lines?
iMac, 1998
iPod 2001
Macbook 2005-6
iPhone 2007
iPad 2010
Mac Pro 2013
That's not a new market every 3 6, or even 12 months. That's 3 years on average.
No one even cares about the iPod any more, it's a dead product walking. Does anyone even compete in that submarket any more? A music player that's not also a phone?
You also claim that Apple had 50% growth for a while. Well, guess what? It's a might bit easier to have 50% growth when you are close to 0, and a bit harder when you are selling 50M units. Every time you add another 50M (and only 50M) your percentage growth drops:
100 - 50 - 33 - 25, etc etc. This is what is the farce of Wall Street, that if you are not expanding at a faster rate than you had been before, then you are failing, or even becoming less profitable, which is not the case.
Already stated.
Not true.
So no Pono is a threat to Apple? I guess if they had created a smartwatch last year then Samsung and Sony wouldn't have created their DOA devices.
1) I didn't say they did but the Mac mini being updated in 2012 is still well within it's average for that device.
2) Remember that the Mac mini was doomed and guaranteed to be canceled because it hadn't had an update in years. That was all under Jobs; you know, the guy that was able to get things to happen at Apple… unlike Cook¡
1) What's the rush to add in a faster processor? Is the UI too slow for you despite being smoother than anything else on the market?
2) Again, Cook has updated it more often than Jobs ever did.
1) They dropped the non-Retina MBP with a 2.5" HDD and 5.25" ODD and you're complaining about Apple not progressing :roll eyes:
2) And the moment 32GB gets here they'll want 64GB. Remind me again when Mac OS X could support more than 32GB of RAM and why you think that should be applied to a notebook first?
If they have enough TB2 chips for either MBPs or iMacs (like with Touch ID components) which do you think should get it first? How many people are going to buy an iMac just to then hook up a UHD 4K display to it?
It was poorly executed under Jobs where it wasn't being updated for years on end and yet now it's all Cook's fault for finally taking the reigns and turning it into a unified platform that the average person can use cross platform? If you need something more robust MS Office for Mac is there for you. iWork wasn't likely going to change that with the very small window of time Cook has had as CEO. If you're going to assign blame put it on Jobs for not pushing Pages development properly after it's 2005 introduction.
You're not considering that tagged pointers eliminate the need for memory allocations for many classes which increase performance as reduce memory use, which is only available with the new ISA.
You're foolish if you think that there is no performance boost without 2GB RAM.
You have that right to make that choice and no one can say otherwise.
That extra RAM isn't helping the device beat Apple in tests done by AnandTech.
And some people like laugh tracks in sitcoms so they know when something's suppose to be funny. There choice.
It's going to take them 2 years because they aren't going to retrofit their old products? What kind of argument is that?!
Your comment was that they didn't offer a lot of products or enter into new markets. I proven that to be patently false. I had also forgotten about China Mobile. That's a brand new market with the world's largest carrier in Apple's fastest growing market. China Mobile is a market segment just as the iPhone 5C tackles a new market segment.
What you're really saying is you want a brand spanking new product CATEGORY that they've never entered in and you're blaming Cook for it not having happened yet despite it only happening very infrequently under Jobs, who you say would have somehow done better than Cook in the same position despite no evidence to support it.
1) Oh yeah, I completely forgot about CarPlay as a new market.
2) I could ask why the **** would you see direct monetization from it this early on but the more important question is why would you care? You said you wanted Apple to work in more markets not to make more money because if it's the latter you'd not be complaining about what Cook has done with Apple since he took over. But as for monetization they could be getting paid from the auto makers and it's certainly a value added to every iPhone once the cars and after-market units start arriving. Note you didn't ask how Apple will monetize iOS, Mac OS X, iCloud or iWork.
You use some part of iCloud every moment of every day and don't even realize it. That's what cloud services should do for you.
I'm apparently smoking something that makes me good at looking stuff up.
Really? Can you prove the Mac Pro could have been released a year ago last January or that MBP released a year ago last March? Where is your proof the TB2 chips were in mass production 15 months ago to suit Apple's needs?
1) True, but you're coming at this as though they have a warehouse of finished products and Cook is simply asleep on the job without any sense of what season it is.
2) What does a company lose when they release a bad product to the world that causes people to stop trusting a company to supply well made and thought out products?
1) This is more true at the low end of the scale and not so much at the high end.
2) I's not like Apple isn't selling product until they do the refresh and if you look at their unit sales most people don't care about being an early adopter.
3) Everything but the super expensive Mac Pro was available in bulk well before Christmas last year.
That statement is full of so many ignorant assumptions that I'll let someone else tackle it as I've been very patient already.
13"
MacBookPro10,2 — February 2013 to October 2013
MacBookPro11,1 — October 2013 to Current
15"
MacBookPro10,1 — February 2013 to October 2013
MacBookPro11,2 (2.0 GHz) — October 2013 to Current
MacBookPro11,3 (2.3 and 2.6 GHz) — October 2013 to Current
(source: MacTracker)
You know, on some websites, you get warned for making a post like that. Point for point rebuttals of what people say are a no-no.
Not to be weird, but when a record label records music, they either do it via analog tape, 16 bit, 24 bit, or now DSD. Then it is up to the label to master it a variety of ways. they are currently converting older analog tape into 24 bit and even DSD and selling downloads in either FLAC, AIFF or ALAC as they've done mostly 16 bit up to now and some were converted to SACD, but SACD was earlier DSD,now they are using double those rates for better sound quality. Apple, I know has been working on their Mastering for ITunes for 24 bit, but nothing has been released on itunes in 24 bit yet. But the market In terms of the masses is JUST beginning and Apple is the only player that can REALLY jump start it so the masses get the ability to get better quality music. This would enable the record labels to slit out both 16 and 24 bit versions and the users can choose. Rght now, we have to buy a DAC, which for portable devices is a little hassle and get our 24 bit content elsewhere. But most 16 bit is done with MP3, ACC or physical CD now. 24 bit was originally done with DVD-A and some TrueHD discs, but let's face it, most people are opting for digital downloads because of convienence DSD can be converted by means of software players like Amarra, Audirvana, Pure Music, etc. to 24 bit PCM so their PCM DACs can recognize it. and those players have additional functionality, better filters to choose from, automatically switch Audio/MIDI settings as the content needs to pass through to an external DAC to handle that playback, etc. iTunes by itself for the people that are playing 24 bit and DSD isn't up to the task, we see it more as just a library to organize content rather than being the player. There has only been a few times when I take a file converter like Xact and take FLAC and convert it to AIFF or whatever I wish. I'm trying to see how someone would need Handbrake.
Explain why a user would need Handbrake.
Some moron gets it in his head to use AVI or MKV this side of 2005, you have to convert it.
1) One has some DVD videos they made of their child growing up. These could even have been VHS or an earlier form that was converted to DVD format a decade or more ago. Handbrake will allow you to convert those to a more modern digital format that will then load into Facebook, store in iTunes, playback on any smartphone or smart TV, etc.
2) One is going on a trip and wish to take some DVD media of movies or TV shows as entertainment but don't want to watch on a device with an ODD or would rather not have that loud ODD spinning which uses a lot of power of an internal drive and can make a lot of noise.
3) One wants to create digital backups of their DVD collection for playback on their home entertainment system.
4) One has a bunch of training videos that are encoded with XviD and in AVI containers that they want to make into a more modern format that is supported by websites and smart devices.
I am honestly not sure why I would have to post any of that on this site.
Matroska's container does offer some nifty features not supported by MPEG container but AVI is just junk. Remember wheN Handbrake finally dropped AVI and output format and people complained that they couldn't then burn a disc of that AVI and have their DVD player play it since their DVD player couldn't play it. This is well after you could by a $50 Roku to stream wired or wirelessly to your TV and they wanted to continue to go through the rigamarole of burning a disc and using a poor codec. Sometimes I just want to smack people upside the head.