bubblefree

Some interesting stories after Apple released the new ads praising the Mac.....

https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-of-macintosh-hardware/

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/15/17467232/behind-the-mac-behind-the-competition

I agree wholeheartedly.....

GeorgeBMac said:

As to why has Apple "stopped introducing hardware?".    First, they haven't.  They just haven't been rolling new Macs out as fast as the Mac fans would like. 

 Second, I think it is consistent with their overall philosophy:   Apple doesn't roll out new 'stuff' just to roll out new 'stuff' like other, lesser companies do.  Their focus is on the customer and, unless they can make a meaningful improvement in the way things are, they just leave it alone.  One could argue that they have left certain products alone too long (like the MacPro, MacBook Air and the MacMini), but not that they have stopped introducing new hardware.

A 32Gb MacBook is a good example:  There is a tiny fraction of users who would actually benefit from this.  The rest who would buy it mostly just like the comfort of the latest & greatest from Apple.  But, if the latest & greatest doesn't make any difference or any improvement for them, the magic will quickly wear off.... 

Sorry these are weird statements. "They just haven't been rolling new Macs out as fast as the Mac fans would like." Er, really..... They have had 1 introduction in the last year, the iMac Pro..... While all other major manufacturer have machines based on Intel's 8th gen chips, Apple has none. I think waiting for over a year for simple chip refreshes is a little long! That's without even talking about the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.

 "Second, I think it is consistent with their overall philosophy:   Apple doesn't roll out new 'stuff' just to roll out new 'stuff' like other, lesser companies do." Yeah, I get that but it doesn't make them immune from competitive forces and the reality that the world has moved along quite a bit in the last year. if you look at the link I provided to the Wikipedia page it will show that in previous years there were multiple hardware introductions a year, the timing of which which I presume were based on chip availability and other manufacturing concerns. If this was their overall philosophy then, what has changed now for no significant product introductions since WWDC 2017? (apart from the iMac Pro).

Not having any major product introductions in over a year is unprecedented in Apple's history. Hey, maybe they will have a huge introduction next month and maybe nothing will appear until October or even later. Whatever happens it doesn't take away from the reality that hardware introductions have slowed considerably given what was happening in the last 10 years. Why... that is a good question. But don't take my word for it follow the link and look for yourself......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Apple_Inc._products

nht said:

Jesus.  Its only been 6 months since the last Mac was launched.  Many times they push new Macs toward the fall and the current Mac line up is about a year old.

They didn't announce anything at WWDC because they weren't ready to.  Claim the sky is falling if no macs get introduced in 2018 at all.

Er if you call the iMac Pro a regular update...... To me its 100% for the Pro market which is a great stepping stone to the Mac Pro update but does nothing for your consumer base. If you look at the link I sent it shows that Apple updated MacBooks and iMacs at WWDC 2017 and apart from the iMac pro nothing since. So it isn't just 6 months, its now been over a year since either the iMac family or Macbooks (Pro, Air or regular) were updated at all. Since then Intel has introduced multiple variants of 8th Gen chips which are now common in PC's.

I think it fair to call this out as this is not normal or progressive, especially when you look at what happened in the 5 years before that with multiple Mac introductions happening multiple times a year. I am not claiming the sky is falling, those are your words. However it is important given Apple's previous statements that they are committed to the Mac Platform. Actions speak louder than words and regular refreshes of the line up are a necessary element in communicating to their customer base that they are actually committed here. Otherwise what do we have? Mac Mini - No update since 2014. Mac pro - No update since 2013. MacBook family - No update since June 2017. iMac family - 1 update in Dec 2017 otherwise no update since June 2017.

And no my name isn't Jesus.....!  

GeorgeBMac said:

TOLD YA SO!

And, boy did I get hammered by the hardware freaks!  To them, I spoke blasphemy! 

I feel so bad that they were so f_n wrong!   LOL....

Can't speak for those people but what should be concerning to everyone in the Mac community is that Apple have announced zero hardware this year..... If you look at every single year for the last 10 years Apple has introduced hardware either before or at WWDC. There is a continual refresh cycle and this has now stopped! This is exceptional and should concern all of us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Apple_Inc._products

So the question could be were the people who talked about hardware and WWDC concerned specifically about hardware being at WWDC or simply that Apple hasn't introduced anything for the last 6 months and that WWDC was the perfect venue given this......?

AI seems fixated on this issue of WWDC being a developers conference only. The question of hardware introductions there is relatively non sensical if you look at history as these introductions have come and gone.

The real question AI should be asking on behalf of the Mac community is why has Apple stopped introducing hardware? Irrelevant of your views of WWDC the reality is that hardware and software need each other. You can't drive Mac software investment without Mac hardware sales and the way to keep older hardware current is with software updates.

asdasd said:

There is no chance apple will close the Mac like that. It may default to only launching App Store applications, but it wont enforce that. A setting will change that.

Lots of devs use iPhones. There are a minority who care about openness, whatever that means. ( Conversely only a minority care about privacy too). 

And I would have said there was no chance that Apple would fail to introduce any Macs in the whole 1st half of this year!

I hope you are right however my gut feeling is that this is definitely the way they are thinking given the path they have taken in the past and the precedent set by what they have done with iOS where they created a new product family which was only accessible to apps from their own app store. There is no doubt in my mind that they will introduce some kind of Apple processor for non iOS type machines (whether it is MacOs or a new variant we shall see). The move to their own graphics and recent story about the Oregon facility are examples that this is what they are thinking. Using their own processor family in MacOs will allow them to redefine the Mac in ways which are both good and bad. The general direction they have taken with the Mac is to begin to restrict how apps can be used and with their focus on services and security I can only see this trend continuing.

Regarding developers using Android vs. iPhones I can only tell you what I have experienced. We are involved with a lot of development work outside of iOS / MacOs, mainly for html type interfaces and big data back end systems. With the different developers we work with I would say its 75% use Mac and 25% Windows (this used to be less but has grown recently). Of the same developers its 85% Android phones and 15% iOS phones. I was surprised and when I asked why, the common response was that iOS is a closed platform.

My general point was that if Apple wish to survive future cycles then closing themselves off will not work but only hasten the long term problems. The only reason Apple is around today is that SJ bet the farm on the iPhone which was a risky but brilliant move. I don't see Apple being risky on anything right now and reducing hardware intros to a couple a year is reducing their risk not playing with it to see what sticks. They are terrified to try anything new that doesn't involve thinner, lighter and less ports and seemingly they are terrified to even think of failing occasionally..... even for the right reasons.