While I agree with the sentimonies, I'm leery of anything under a headline that starts, "Apple needs ..."
Apple *should* do a lot of things, in our opinion(s). They don't need to do jacksquat.
I don’t think Apple pays much attention to the opinions of bloggers or forum comment sections anyway. Certain bloggers, like Jim Dalrymple, do have their ear because they trust him. But the rest of us are just farts in a wind storm as far as Apple is concerned. Apple is going to do what Apple does, take it or leave it. I’ve taken it since 1982 (that’s 35+ years for those who can’t do the math) and have no plans to do otherwise.
I disagree. It’s nice to know for a change that products are finally coming instead of just wondering endlessly.
We’re not talking about a few weeks or a couple months notice. We’re talking about self-imposed timeframes that are already far away and then woefully missed. We still don’t even have a price or timeframe for AirPower. It makes Apple look incompetent.
As a brand new accessory, this is altogether inconsequential. There's no great dilemma here.. Want wireless charging today? Buy a crummy third-party. Want a better solution, wait a little longer. It's not a critical use case so it's no skin off anyone's back.
AirPower was announced like 8 months ago. There’s no way Apple intended to announce something that wouldn’t ship for at least 8 months. Clearly there was/is an issue with engineering or manufacturing. Perhaps that’s why Apple didn’t pre-announce in the past because they didn’t want to run into these situations.
Damn if you do and hell damn if you don't people are never happy no matter what.
Face it there is a strategy for all the various method Apple is using. Most notably, pre-announcing allows Apple to do things in public which they could not do otherwise. Also the things they pre-announces does not hurt them, it may hurt the competition since people may hold off on buying a competing product until they see what Apple is doing.
Are you saying that their "strategy" was to announce something that they knew they couldn't possibly deliver within the timeframe they stated simply to keep customers hanging on?
Personally, I think they poor estimated what it would take to bring several of their products to market within the self-imposed time schedule, but that may because I'd rather believe Apple made an honest, albeit clumsy, mistake, rather than believing they've turned into the shady Microsoft of the 1990s that would keep making longterm promises they knew they could never deliver just to hinder any potential completion from carving out a small niche.
Microsoft sold slideware, they promise lots of things they never delivered on. There were things they showed off which they never intended to make, it was proof of concepts but present as being a real products.
The time line is not the strategy that is the tactics and in some cases they are working through issues which may have been harder to solved than they original thought. The strategy is to pre-announce, and when and how to do it. Time lines are fluid especially if they know the demand for the product will not change. Apple has one advantage most of its competitors do not have. The demand for their products are not perishable, meaning if it not on the store shelf when a consumer walks in the door, the consumer will buy a competitor products. Apple consumers will wait. I waited for the watch and Homepod, I could have easily got fit bit or something similar and I was looking but I knew waiting would give me a better product. Apple is one of a few companies who have this market power and it plays into their product strategies. I personally did not care the watch or the Homepod took longer, in the big picture it made no difference.
We could add Airplay 2 to the list... also the original iPhone falls into this category (despite someone saying it's completely different. It isn't, and here's why...
Steve Jobs said at the time that the reason for the announcement being so early is because they had to go through a 6 months regulatory review of the phone, and it would inevitably be leaked and Apple didn't want the FCC announcing the iPhone. Leaks today are inevitable, and add pressure to announce things early before pictures and production leaks occur. Having said that, the original iPhone was far from complete in January 2007 and yet they still managed to get it on sale on time.
I would love to have some data on how many people actually use wireless charging. It’s been a nerd self-pleasuring topic used to bash Apple when iPhones didn’t have it. I don’t see the big deal personally. You still have to place your device on a stand or pad and leave it there to charge and I don’t see the convenience factor being that much of a game changer versus plugging the device into a wired charger and leaving it sit on the same table while charging. I’ve never seen any wireless charging going on at an airport, that’s for sure.
I agree with the article, the lead times to these products are starting to look like the long "pre-announce to damage others' sales" that MS used to use (Longhorn anyone?).
However, I also have more selfish motives: I think the Apple surprise announcements, followed by shipping a week or two later, are fun; I enjoy the showmanship and watching the rumour mill (with Apple's gentle, unofficial direction and uninformed speculators' total misconceptions). For that reason, I also regret the many supply chain leaks that smack to me of the party pooper that tells you whodunnit. There is also the benefit to Apple of not having either publicly to miss deadlines or to ship manifestly unfinished products (cough, APFS, cough).
In some cases, of course, some level of pre-announcement is unavoidable: regulatory announcements of an iPhone going into the approval process being an obvious example. But in general, I much prefer the approach of don't make promises that may get broken and do go for the big reveal demonstrably based on fact because it ships next week!
Apple constantly gets crucified for not mentioning anything or timelines and/or products, and now people are complaining that they are being more transparent?
Seriously, I think Apple is the only company where it is in a no-win scenario. There's always that one person...
I personally don't have one issue with it. I think those people waiting for products like the iMacPro or MacPro appreciate the transparency and gives them choice in the matter. That can't be bad.
Either way, this is first-world problems for many.
I bought an iMac. Why? Because Apple's tower options sucked.
Apple have let the Mac wither on the vine. Gotta feel for Apple's Tower customers.
Mini, mini Tower? Mac mini. Old components. Overpriced. Sealed shut and quad core gpu canned. How many years without an update?
Mac Pro. Old components. Overpriced. They even jacked the price £500 here. That's a first on ancient technology! Thought better tech' came at the same price of lower? It used to!!!
Dat's what I got a problem with.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm insane? Right? My first Mac tower (a clone) cost me £1995. Used it to death. (1997...) But I remember being able to price a rig the way I wanted it. And I remember Apple moving to better value and standard components bar the PPC G3. That's what I remember. Twenty years ago. How have we progressed?
We have lots of tech' experts writing lots of candy floss and buying into Apple's management nightmare and PR fluff.
So?
You know. There's a lot of crap written about the 'Pro' market. Let's hear from Apple's very own creative visionary and genius. What did HE have to say on the subject?
Under Jobs return, the Mac was an all out priority, the creative and edu markets were a priority and a laser precision on the Mac consumer with the iMac...which they DROVE DOWN in price and IT was the product that put Apple back on the map. It was simple. Under 1k? iMac. Over 1k? B+W G3 Tower. Gorgeously simple.
Configure to wallet busting proportions if you wanted to. From Low pro...to medium pro to high pro. Wanted to max out? Bust your wallet. Wanted to get your foot on the ladder and add components AS YOU COULD AFFORD TO...and you could(!)
In case anybody has forgotten the legendary G3 Tower intro'... EXPANDABLE, DROP DOWN CASE, BLISTERING CPU, STANDARD and LEADING GPU and a FAIR and SCALEABLE PRICE POINT ACCESSIBLE BY ALL(!!!) not the province of some mythical 'Pro ELITE' designed by a company who has lost touch with their CORE BASE.
Here's a reminder by the RING MASTER SHOWMAN who 'GOT IT.' (Apple's 'executives' should re-watch this and burn it to memory.)
A masterclass. 20 years later on it's anniversary? Apple haven't bettered this...and are clueless to their core creative market, ...
'Our customers want access to that technology...' ... 'It's called a 'Door.' :P Steve Jobs.
$1599 to $2999! Four models in the price range! Pricing the entry model, with superior design and blistering CPU technology the SAME as the prior desktop model. (Job's own words...how about that.)
'Value engineering.' The most loaded system at $2999! 'To bring these products to you at these aggressive prices.' Two systems actually below $2k!!!
'...and they're available today!' Steve Jobs. (See the intro' tag line.)
Also, take note.
'We want to be the best and most respected gaming platform in the world.' Steve Jobs. '...and today, I'm going to show you 12 of the hottest games on the market.'
'I'm here today, because Apple finally has their act together with 3D graphics acceleration...both hardware and software. ...on the G3's they have state of the art 3D cards.' John Carmack.
...yes. And that's Uncle Phil playing games at a 'Mac' show.
Note the 800k iMac sales back then! Because it was affordable! $1195. And they went on to make it even more affordable.
See? Gaming and Pro benchmarks on the same stage! Touting the tower's flexibility. It was priced above the iMac. But the iMac was the affordable desktop.
I disagree. It’s nice to know for a change that products are finally coming instead of just wondering endlessly.
I think it's nice to know what's coming, so I'm glad Apple is pre-announcing things. I'm not so sure it's good for Apple, though. After hearing about the HomePod features, I doubled down on Alexa.
In any case, I think they need to give themselves a little more leeway so they're not consistently missing just about every deadline they make.
'A lot of our markets...want 3D graphics.' Steve Jobs (See slide, 'Education, Science, Websites, Design, CAD, Business.')
'But the one that pushes it to its limits is games.'
Steve Jobs.
(That's 7 markets that Apple apparently doesn't understand. But Steve did.)
Apple disappeared up their own *rse with the Trash Can...and they're still up it. They built Steve Job's campus in the time it's taken them to realise that they still haven't figured out how to make a Tower which they had figured out 20 years ago...under Steve Jobs.
If I sound barbed or angry. If Apple tower buyers in general sound prickly...they've had the best two decades ago and seen Apple take it away.
Freedom.
Choice.
Affordability.
There's something insidious about Apple post Steve Jobs. They're more about pleasing shareholders. Jobs wasn't. He was all about the product. And the gorgeous G3 tower and the refined Bauhaus G5 were testament to that. State of the art. And it came from Apple. I don't blame 'tower' buyers (because pro covers anybody at any price point who makes a living from their rig...) being incandescent with Rage. (Pun intended referring to their former state of the art...)
But, I always come back to that seminal keynote where Steve Jobs brought us the most kick ass tower with every market covered with four price points, a choice of monitors and a kick ass gaming rig to boot.
I still have my Marathon Infinity boxed set for PPC!
'IO ports. Our philopsohy on IO ports has 3 key components. The 1st. Use industry standards. When we go to device manufacturers we don't want to say do something special on the hardware for Apple. Because we don't want to be six months behind...'
*looks at the 6 year chasm on the trash(!) can. (HOW LONG DID IT TAKE APPLE TO MAKE THE KICK ASS G3 TOWER?!)
...and, 'Plug and Play.' Steve Jobs.
'It's more compact than the unit it replaces and yet packs far more revolutionary technology inside.' Steve Jobs.
'We don't think design is just how it looks...but how it works!' 'Our pro customers want accessibility...to add memory, to add cards, to add drives.' Steve Jobs.
Comments
The time line is not the strategy that is the tactics and in some cases they are working through issues which may have been harder to solved than they original thought. The strategy is to pre-announce, and when and how to do it. Time lines are fluid especially if they know the demand for the product will not change. Apple has one advantage most of its competitors do not have. The demand for their products are not perishable, meaning if it not on the store shelf when a consumer walks in the door, the consumer will buy a competitor products. Apple consumers will wait. I waited for the watch and Homepod, I could have easily got fit bit or something similar and I was looking but I knew waiting would give me a better product. Apple is one of a few companies who have this market power and it plays into their product strategies. I personally did not care the watch or the Homepod took longer, in the big picture it made no difference.
Steve Jobs said at the time that the reason for the announcement being so early is because they had to go through a 6 months regulatory review of the phone, and it would inevitably be leaked and Apple didn't want the FCC announcing the iPhone. Leaks today are inevitable, and add pressure to announce things early before pictures and production leaks occur. Having said that, the original iPhone was far from complete in January 2007 and yet they still managed to get it on sale on time.
However, I also have more selfish motives: I think the Apple surprise announcements, followed by shipping a week or two later, are fun; I enjoy the showmanship and watching the rumour mill (with Apple's gentle, unofficial direction and uninformed speculators' total misconceptions). For that reason, I also regret the many supply chain leaks that smack to me of the party pooper that tells you whodunnit. There is also the benefit to Apple of not having either publicly to miss deadlines or to ship manifestly unfinished products (cough, APFS, cough).
In some cases, of course, some level of pre-announcement is unavoidable: regulatory announcements of an iPhone going into the approval process being an obvious example. But in general, I much prefer the approach of don't make promises that may get broken and do go for the big reveal demonstrably based on fact because it ships next week!
I bought an iMac. Why? Because Apple's tower options sucked.
Apple have let the Mac wither on the vine. Gotta feel for Apple's Tower customers.
Mini, mini Tower? Mac mini. Old components. Overpriced. Sealed shut and quad core gpu canned. How many years without an update?
Mac Pro. Old components. Overpriced. They even jacked the price £500 here. That's a first on ancient technology! Thought better tech' came at the same price of lower? It used to!!!
Dat's what I got a problem with.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm insane? Right? My first Mac tower (a clone) cost me £1995. Used it to death. (1997...) But I remember being able to price a rig the way I wanted it. And I remember Apple moving to better value and standard components bar the PPC G3. That's what I remember. Twenty years ago. How have we progressed?
We have lots of tech' experts writing lots of candy floss and buying into Apple's management nightmare and PR fluff.
So?
You know. There's a lot of crap written about the 'Pro' market. Let's hear from Apple's very own creative visionary and genius. What did HE have to say on the subject?
Under Jobs return, the Mac was an all out priority, the creative and edu markets were a priority and a laser precision on the Mac consumer with the iMac...which they DROVE DOWN in price and IT was the product that put Apple back on the map. It was simple. Under 1k? iMac. Over 1k? B+W G3 Tower. Gorgeously simple.
Configure to wallet busting proportions if you wanted to. From Low pro...to medium pro to high pro. Wanted to max out? Bust your wallet. Wanted to get your foot on the ladder and add components AS YOU COULD AFFORD TO...and you could(!)
In case anybody has forgotten the legendary G3 Tower intro'... EXPANDABLE, DROP DOWN CASE, BLISTERING CPU, STANDARD and LEADING GPU and a FAIR and SCALEABLE PRICE POINT ACCESSIBLE BY ALL(!!!) not the province of some mythical 'Pro ELITE' designed by a company who has lost touch with their CORE BASE.
Here's a reminder by the RING MASTER SHOWMAN who 'GOT IT.' (Apple's 'executives' should re-watch this and burn it to memory.)
A masterclass. 20 years later on it's anniversary? Apple haven't bettered this...and are clueless to their core creative market, ...
'Our customers want access to that technology...' ... 'It's called a 'Door.' :P Steve Jobs.
'Most Powerful.' 'Best Graphics.' 'Most Expandable.' 'Best Design.'
$1599 to $2999! Four models in the price range! Pricing the entry model, with superior design and blistering CPU technology the SAME as the prior desktop model. (Job's own words...how about that.)
'Value engineering.' The most loaded system at $2999! 'To bring these products to you at these aggressive prices.' Two systems actually below $2k!!!
'...and they're available today!' Steve Jobs. (See the intro' tag line.)
Also, take note.
'We want to be the best and most respected gaming platform in the world.' Steve Jobs. '...and today, I'm going to show you 12 of the hottest games on the market.'
'I'm here today, because Apple finally has their act together with 3D graphics acceleration...both hardware and software. ...on the G3's they have state of the art 3D cards.' John Carmack.
...yes. And that's Uncle Phil playing games at a 'Mac' show.
Note the 800k iMac sales back then! Because it was affordable! $1195. And they went on to make it even more affordable.
See? Gaming and Pro benchmarks on the same stage! Touting the tower's flexibility. It was priced above the iMac. But the iMac was the affordable desktop.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Lemon Bon Bon.
In any case, I think they need to give themselves a little more leeway so they're not consistently missing just about every deadline they make.
'But the one that pushes it to its limits is games.'
Steve Jobs.
(That's 7 markets that Apple apparently doesn't understand. But Steve did.)
Apple disappeared up their own *rse with the Trash Can...and they're still up it. They built Steve Job's campus in the time it's taken them to realise that they still haven't figured out how to make a Tower which they had figured out 20 years ago...under Steve Jobs.
Ironic.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Freedom.
Choice.
Affordability.
There's something insidious about Apple post Steve Jobs. They're more about pleasing shareholders. Jobs wasn't. He was all about the product. And the gorgeous G3 tower and the refined Bauhaus G5 were testament to that. State of the art. And it came from Apple. I don't blame 'tower' buyers (because pro covers anybody at any price point who makes a living from their rig...) being incandescent with Rage. (Pun intended referring to their former state of the art...)
But, I always come back to that seminal keynote where Steve Jobs brought us the most kick ass tower with every market covered with four price points, a choice of monitors and a kick ass gaming rig to boot.
I still have my Marathon Infinity boxed set for PPC!
Lemon Bon Bon.
Everything they do is to increase their total profits. I am not worried about Apple making any marketing mistakes whatsoever.
if they were if they were selling any significant number of Mac Pros, they would not pre-announce the new model. apple is not Osborne.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Still be waiting for pre announced product ...hehe
*looks at the 6 year chasm on the trash(!) can. (HOW LONG DID IT TAKE APPLE TO MAKE THE KICK ASS G3 TOWER?!)
...and, 'Plug and Play.' Steve Jobs.
'It's more compact than the unit it replaces and yet packs far more revolutionary technology inside.' Steve Jobs.
'We don't think design is just how it looks...but how it works!' 'Our pro customers want accessibility...to add memory, to add cards, to add drives.' Steve Jobs.
Lemon Bon Bon.