1983

Since when is a matte surface less grippy than a glossy one? A strange remark by the reviewers. Even though such a surface picking up more dirt is logical. 

xbit said:

StrangeDays said:

I have to imagine the market for people who both care about this and are willing to pay for it is quite small. 

Smaller than the market for 4K/HDR? Probably but not significantly so I'd wager.

chasm said:
The end result for most people -- unless they've invested heavily in VERY pricey headphones or speakers -- will be indistinguishable from "Mastered for iTunes" tracks for 99 percent of the audience.

There's a noticeable difference in quality between Mastered for iTunes and "HD" audio tracks with my $350 Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones. I wouldn't call $350 very pricey in today's headphone market. There's a big caveat to that statement though - the difference is only noticeable using a wired connection. Over Bluetooth, the difference is negligible.

I have a pair of B&W PXs (and P7s) too. Indeed over Bluetooth I can’t tell much of a difference between an iTunes track or any of my 24bit/96 kHz ALAC ones. The only difference is that the former sound louder and fuller at any given volume compared to the latter, probably due to compression. I wish they would introduce a standardized wireless audio format that has the bandwidth to handle uncompressed or hi-res audio. Bluetooth is not it! Even if the convenience of it is stellar. 

The iMac Pro was likely released as a stop-gap until the upcoming modular Mac Pro becomes available. After which it’ll probably stick around for a while with no technical upgrades before quietly being phased out. Like the current dustbin Mac Pro (even though it won’t hang around as long as that overpriced antique has, hopefully) After which Apple will likely introduce a completely redesigned iMac for the masses. As for the new upcoming Apple monitor, it’ll probably be priced like some current iMac versions, so maybe won’t hit sales of those so much.The timeline for all this? Who knows...

Ah so that might of been a reason for her to leave...I didn’t realize she left her family in the UK while at Apple across the pond. 

Come to think of it, putting an HR person in charge of retail while still retaining her former duties, seems liked a rushed panicky decision. So maybe Apple was caught off guard after all?