Not shocking at all. It's a saturated and likely falling market for Apple computers.
• The Mac mini hasn't seen an update in a long time and is suffering from high cost and not being bleeding edge. Plus:
• Apple sells no displays of their own for Mac minis.
With the price point of Apple displays, it really didn't make any sense to get a Mac mini with an Apple display. It would cost you just as much if not MORE in the end versus just buying an iMac. Perhaps this is why the Mac mini never really took off.
My take on the Mac mini really is its there for the sole purpose of a cheap Mac so Apple always has the argument of we do make a cheap(er) Mac if you cannot afford a $1200 iMac. This is the exact same reason I think Apple keeps the MacBook Air around. It serves no other purpose other than for Apple to say we have a sub-$1000 Mac laptop. Once the 12" MacBook goes $999 or below the MacBook Air is history. It's no longer necessary in Apple's lineup.
Price, price, price. Apple is more and more positioning itself as a luxury upscale Rolex or Mercedes type product. Under Jobs they were just a quality electronics company that sold at a premium. Their entry level devices are the same price as others premium products. I've said before that Jobs knew the value of having a quality product that could reach a wider audience. Under current management, it is margins, margins, margins.
You obviously don't know much. Margins were about the same under Jobs. Remember when Jobs released the high-priced and under-spec' MBA? Remember the original cost of the iPhone? I could go on...
Ok, you don't seem to know much about history. The MacBook Air was critically acclaimed for its cutting edge technology but sold poorly until the price dropped precipitously a year later. The original iPhone suffered from bad press related to its high price resulting in a large $200 price cut and a $100 store credit given to early adopters. If you do a little research before you type, you would find that Apple's margins have (with a few blips here and there) steadily increased since 2007. I would suggest that it is actually you who knows little about margins. I could go on...
Profit margins at each quarter. Notice profit margins increased starting in 2007. Pretty sure Jobs was in charged back then. Notice how many times margins hit 40% in the era of Jobs. About the same as cook. So like I said, margins are about the same as they have been under cook and jobs.
The final tally makes no sense whatsoever. 63876 for 2016 and 61105 for 2017. How could that translate to 4.3% growth?
it's missing the minus sign -4.3%, but it's not exactly right.
Myself and no one I know bought the MacBook Pro redesign even though we used to buy the new model every year. The problem is the ports and the touch bar. We disagreed with Schiller who said the new MBPs are selling great.
Anecdotal at best. The numbers clearly show that new machines sold, just fewer than the previous year. Besides, most people don't buy a new machine every year and Macs generally last a long time. I bought a new MBP in late 2016, but my previous MBP was from late 2008. And with more and more people relying upon their phones more of the time, people who don't need a computer for work or content creation don't really need a computer anymore.
IMO, the problem with the new Macs isn't the Touch Bar (even though I find it almost useless) or the ports. The ports aren't really an issue: stick an adapter on the end of the USB cable and make believe it's always been part of the cable. It's the price, especially once one adds decent sized storage. 2.8G with 1TB is $3000. $4400 with 2TB. I think that executives at Apple have been making the big money for so long, they've forgotten how most of the world lives. While I realize Apple doesn't want to be a low-margin, low-end vendor, they want to be a mass-market company, but by charging they way a high-end niche company does. That doesn't work. And if the rumors are true, they'll be making the same mistake with the next, supposedly much higher priced iPhone. The iPhone was not a market success until AT&T started the subsidized phone program. It would serve Apple well to remember that unless they want to be a luxury niche player.
Unless Apple changes their ways, this will be my last Mac. And if the next iPhone is ridiculously priced, my current iPhone may also be my last.
We're talking here about Q2 2017 not about Q2 of Apple's financial year 2017. You do know the difference?
Ooops. you're right. Brain fart. That's what I get for doing this on my phone. That said, when I look at Gartner's Q1 estimates they are still off vs actuals compared to what HP and Dell reported.
Prices are $300 too high for the notebooks across the board.
The regular MacBook should have better than a 480p FaceTime camera — a $300 Chromebook has a better camera for Christ's sake! So put a better camera in the MacBook and start it at $999.
The non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro should start at $1,199 with 8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with touch bar should start at $1,399; the higher end config with more SSD should also include 16GB of RAM for $1,699. The 15-inch model should start at $1,899.
There, I've fixed Apple's problems on the MacBook line-up. The iMacs need a redesign, the aesthetic is getting a little long in the tooth even though they are still good machines. I don't necessarily have any qualms with their pricing, however, that Mac mini needs to either be updated or scrapped. I mean 1,000 days without an update is embarrassing! We all know that the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro are forthcoming in 2018 so that's kind of a moot point for now.
Comments
With the price point of Apple displays, it really didn't make any sense to get a Mac mini with an Apple display. It would cost you just as much if not MORE in the end versus just buying an iMac. Perhaps this is why the Mac mini never really took off.
My take on the Mac mini really is its there for the sole purpose of a cheap Mac so Apple always has the argument of we do make a cheap(er) Mac if you cannot afford a $1200 iMac. This is the exact same reason I think Apple keeps the MacBook Air around. It serves no other purpose other than for Apple to say we have a sub-$1000 Mac laptop. Once the 12" MacBook goes $999 or below the MacBook Air is history. It's no longer necessary in Apple's lineup.
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q2FY17DataSummary.pdf
4.199M units in Q2 2017
4.034M units in Q2 2016
Up 4% YOY in unit sales.
We're talking here about Q2 2017 not about Q2 of Apple's financial year 2017.
You do know the difference?
IMO, the problem with the new Macs isn't the Touch Bar (even though I find it almost useless) or the ports. The ports aren't really an issue: stick an adapter on the end of the USB cable and make believe it's always been part of the cable. It's the price, especially once one adds decent sized storage. 2.8G with 1TB is $3000. $4400 with 2TB. I think that executives at Apple have been making the big money for so long, they've forgotten how most of the world lives. While I realize Apple doesn't want to be a low-margin, low-end vendor, they want to be a mass-market company, but by charging they way a high-end niche company does. That doesn't work. And if the rumors are true, they'll be making the same mistake with the next, supposedly much higher priced iPhone. The iPhone was not a market success until AT&T started the subsidized phone program. It would serve Apple well to remember that unless they want to be a luxury niche player.
Unless Apple changes their ways, this will be my last Mac. And if the next iPhone is ridiculously priced, my current iPhone may also be my last.
The regular MacBook should have better than a 480p FaceTime camera — a $300 Chromebook has a better camera for Christ's sake! So put a better camera in the MacBook and start it at $999.
The non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro should start at $1,199 with 8GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with touch bar should start at $1,399; the higher end config with more SSD should also include 16GB of RAM for $1,699. The 15-inch model should start at $1,899.
There, I've fixed Apple's problems on the MacBook line-up. The iMacs need a redesign, the aesthetic is getting a little long in the tooth even though they are still good machines. I don't necessarily have any qualms with their pricing, however, that Mac mini needs to either be updated or scrapped. I mean 1,000 days without an update is embarrassing! We all know that the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro are forthcoming in 2018 so that's kind of a moot point for now.