Over the past few years, I found myself slowly becoming disengaged from the pulse of many things Apple. 10 years ago, scanning the main Apple related sites was a daily ritual. Part that also included perusing some of those sites online discussion forums where you could get a more detailed view of other peoples thoughts/opinions.
This particular piece of news had me checking out some of these sites forums again where some things began to add up as to some of the reasons for Apple’s decision to make this announcement well ahead of being able to show any product.
This particular smaller demographic of Apple’s Mac customer base is comprised of a very wide array of customers. Many of them have also been staunch users of the platform (some from the very start). Some make their livelihood from the platform and had reached the point where their higher ups needed better direction in order to plan out budgets. The point I am making is that I found others who were also reaching the point of having to make a decision to move on from the Mac due to Apple not having an optimal solution.
This part of Apple’s demographic is comprised of many who helped keep the company relevant during their toughest times. That doesn’t mean we’re entitled to anything as we know that Apple is a corporation and not some charity. The point is this particular tiny demographic represents a core strength for the company. We don’t just buy their highest end desktops. We also buy a lot of their other products. And many are also able to act as influencers in terms of recommending products which they are customers for.
I posted before about how many companies including Apple, have leveraged their web/cloud services to create a sticky ecosystem. What Apple has slowly learned is that many of us in this demographic, aren’t as sticky as they thought we were when you have many looking seriously at transitioning away from the Mac.
Apple essentially began taking this demographic for granted to the point where this 2013 Mac Pro was now heading into its 4th year without any major updates all while some had been actively commenting about feeling more or less left behind as Apple focused more on their “mobile” products (mobile meaning iOS devices plus portables like the MacBook). It had all the signs of Apple executives being way out of touch with this segment of customers.
The fact that Apple didn’t have anything to show during this roundtable discussion also gives an inkling as to how recently they all came to the realization that the design and form factor they went with, was a dead end. The issues with the LG 5K display also reminded Apple that sometimes, you need to control the entire widget if you want to maintain the “it just works” user experience. Thus the pre-announcing of a Apple branded “pro” displays (in light of the company moving on from manufacturing and selling their own line of displays which had also been neglected for years). And that realization turned into urgency when they began actually talking to more customers in this demographic, only to learn that some were actively considering transitioning away from the Mac. A company should never want to lose some of their most loyal and staunch supporters because they aren’t able offer a product (emphasizing form over function) that has the ability to scale across multiple demographics based on their needs.
But that is exactly what Apple did when they turned the 2006-2012 Mac Pro (one of their most expandable form factors to date) into the 2013 form factor where it eventually alienated many (self included). The same went for the long in the tooth Thunderbolt Display where they failed to update it while continuing to sell it at the same obnoxiously high price point. And Apple must have finally realized they needed to do something they have stayed away from since 1998…. announce what is vaporware.
Just as they had backed themselves into a corner with the design, they had found themselves backed into a corner when it came to the whole “veil of secrecy” when it came to announcing products when they were ready (or at least in some cases, had a preview to show as they had done with the 2013 Mac Pro when they previewed it at WWDC). Just announcing spec bumps and not saying anything more until 2018 would have probably been taken as the nail in the coffin for those who had been patiently waiting for technology updates. So IMHO, Apple had to make this pre-announcement while trying to come across as being more candid/transparent.
That admission telegraphed to me that they do still consider customers like myself as being very valuable. What modular design they end up coming up with still doesn’t mean it will be an automatic buy though. There’s a lot of questions that won’t be answered for at least a few more months. Will it contain SATA, PCIe slots, internal hard drive space? Or will it be modular in a proprietary way with non-standard interconnects.
As I noted prior, Apple has tended to march forward (ditching things the consider legacy) and they removed a lot of this from the 2013 Mac Pro. This is why I remain cautiously optimistic but also know realistically that when Apple carefully says “modular”, that this new design could likely mean not completely open (if so, hopefully will be a spec that manufacturers can license for free in order to make sure they meet plug-n-play requirements). Apple already has a working blueprint with the 2006-2012 design which they could have quickly drawn upon.
The fact they are designing something new (since they did not even have a prototype to show) telegraphs that they are still going to try and come up with a forward looking design that ditches things they consider legacy. Some of those legacy things might be available as a modular component. My main hope is that form does not trump function and that this desktop allow for the ability for internal “legacy” style storage like mechanical drives. Those aren’t going away for the foreseeable future as flash storage still hasn’t reached that price per gigabyte intersection.
Finally, the multi year neglect of the Mac Pro as well as their sole remaining standalone display, are still things that give me pause. I fully expect this new system and display to be expensive. The modular part will likely contain some hefty premiums. I guess my point is that I am looking at the realistic side of this news where there are still too many unknowns. In the mean time, all we can do is wait; in other words, Apple just bought itself at least another year for some.
