Apple to Halt Mac Pro Sales in Europe Effective March 1 Over Regulatory Requirements

[MacRumors]

Apple today issued a notice to European distributors indicating that it will halt sales of the Mac Pro in Europe and select other countries as of March 1 due to new regulatory requirements going into effect on that date. The move will affect all European Union countries, as well as EU candidate countries and the four European Free Trade Association countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

As of March 1, 2013, Apple will no longer sell Mac Pro in EU, EU candidate and EFTA countries because these systems are not compliant with Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition which becomes effective on this date. Apple resellers can continue to sell any remaining inventory of Mac Pro after March 1.

Apple will take final orders for Mac Pro from resellers up until February 18th for shipment before March 1, 2013.

Countries outside of the EU are not impacted and Mac Pro will continue to be available in those areas.

It is currently unclear exactly what aspect of the regulation the current Mac Pro will fail to meet.

Apple has uncharacteristically announced that a redesigned Mac Pro is due in 2013 after a lackluster update in June 2012 that included still-outdated processors and no other seemingly obvious improvements like USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt.

Update 10:17 AM: Macworld provides a bit more detail on where the current Mac Pro fails to meet the new regulation.

[U]nfortunately for EU customers, the Mac Pro does not comply with this standard, due to issues with power provided to its I/O ports and the placement of its fan guards. The Pro is the sole Apple product to fall under this ruling, likely due to its build - the desktop computer hasn't had an overhaul since 2010, with a minor speed bump last June.

Update 10:21 AM: Apple has issued a statement to The Loop confirming the halt for Mac Pro sales, but not offering any additional detail on the situation.

"Due to evolving regulatory requirements, Apple will stop selling Mac Pro in EU, EU candidate and EFTA countries on March 1, 2013," an Apple representative told The Loop. "After that date, resellers can sell existing inventory but Apple will no longer ship Mac Pro in those countries."

Update 10:24 AM: Macworld UK has even more on the issue:

"The Mac Pro met the previous standards prior to the amendment 1 addition. Obviously it's a very safe and very reliable product," added the company.

At issue are the large fans within the Mac Pro. Since they are unprotected, it would be possible to touch the fan blades.

"The new requirements necessitate fan guards and some increased protection on the ports on the electrical system," explained Apple.

Apple representatives also confirmed to Macworld UK that the company will continue supporting existing Mac Pro machines after March 1, including replacement parts.

Article Link: Apple to Halt Mac Pro Sales in Europe Effective March 1 Over Regulatory Requirements

[ipedro]

This makes it ever more urgent for Apple to release their Mac Pro 2013 soon!

[MMOTotal]

At first thought I thought they were axing the Mac Pro "halt sales" etc.. the 2013 model can't come soon enough for a lot of people.

[SmileyBlast!]

Yikes! It's not easy to run a hardware company is it?

[ThisIsNotMe]

Originally Posted by SmileyBlast!

Yikes! It's not easy to run a hardware company is it?

Its not easy to run ANY company when you have progressives in charge.

[JHankwitz]

Originally Posted by SmileyBlast!

Yikes! It's not easy to run a hardware company is it?

It's not easy to run any company with all the unreasonable government regulations. I wonder how many reports there have been for people being injured by a Mac Pro cooling fan. Compare this to the over 8,000 reported laserations in the USA alone each year while using vegetable slicers. Yet I don't see slicers being removed from the market.

[manu chao]

Originally Posted by JHankwitz

It's not easy to run any company with all the unreasonable government regulations. I wonder how many reports there have been for people being injured by a Mac Pro cooling fan. Compare this to the over 8,000 reported laserations in the USA alone each year while using vegetable slicers. Yet I don't see slicers being removed from the market.

If you can make a product safer by fairly cheap and simple means, what is wrong with that? If you can change a battery such that the risk of it catching fire is reduced, is that not a good thing? Just because the risk is fairly low, does not mean that if it is possible to reduce it further by simple means, this is not worth it.

And it is not that this regulation caught them by surprise, they knew for years that they would have to change it.

[till213]

Originally Posted by SmileyBlast!

Yikes! It's not easy to run a hardware company is it?

Yes. Especially since that amendment addition "evolved" for about 8 years (it was announced in the EU in 2005!).

[James Craner]

Jonny Ive is rubbing his hands - 'So the next Mac Pro needs to be a sealed unit, like all our other products'

[DanielCoffey]

Well... not sealed, per se, but maybe we could fit some *really* proprietary screws, sir?

[Razzerman II]

Originally Posted by James Craner

Jonny Ive is rubbing his hands - 'So the next Mac Pro needs to be a sealed unit, like all our other products'

I don't think you need Jonny for this one. I reckon I could do it.

'Oi, Cooky, chuck us that super glue.'

[SmileyBlast!]

Originally Posted by till213

Yes. Especially since that amendment addition "evolved" for about 8 years (it was announced in the EU in 2005!).

Lol. Well they've been busy working on the iPhone and such. It's the thing that heralded in the Post PC revolution after all.

I guess its more affordable to be reactive than proactive on EU regulations.

----------

Originally Posted by JacobBaldwin

Oh god! What am I going to use to grate my cheese now?

You could use your Mac Pro Cooling Fan.

[Solomani]

Originally Posted by SmileyBlast!

Yikes! It's not easy to run a hardware company is it?

Nope. Not when that hardware company does business in over 50 countries, and is obligated to follow all the little laws and regulations from each of those countries. Even worse when those laws and regulations get changed every few months, and the regulators do not give a reasonable amount of (transitional) "grace period" for the company to adjust to the new rules.

[Oletros]

Originally Posted by Solomani

Even worse when those laws and regulations get changed every few months, and the regulators do not give a reasonable amount of (transitional) "grace period" for the company to adjust to the new rules.

In this case, the regulation is from 2.009 and the latest change from December 2.011, ¿almost 18 months is not a reasonable grace period?

[KaraH]

Originally Posted by MagnusVonMagnum

I'd choose the iMac. I don't like the idea of it at all. Shoving a computer into the back of a monitor compromises the entire design integrity of the system and the newest iMac makes this more obvious than ever. You often can't use desktop parts due to lack of space and heat distribution. Upgradeability is fatally compromised both in terms of upgrading existing parts and adding new ones.

The entire idea of the iMac is to get rid of desktop clutter, but to back it up (short of buying a Time Capsule and putting it out of the way somewhere), you have to plug in external junk and clutter up your desk anyway (whereas many computer desks have a nice space in them dedicated for a tower and a good sized tower can house many hard drives, cards, etc. and therefore take up NO DESKTOP SPACE. The iMac has a real problem if the monitor fails as well since you can't just plug in a new one and continue on your way. You have to fix it at some point and that's a PITA.

The biggest problem with the Mac Pro is that it's just a workstation level computer. They could easily expand the line into the consumer level tower arena and offer a sub-$2k machine for things like gaming, etc. with support for SLI and high-end graphics cards at a competitive price to the iMac. But they don't because Steve wanted to push his "neat and thin" concept onto people whether they liked it or not. The problem is that such a design CANNOT function as a reasonable graphics platform where more performance is needed (whether for real-time Pro 3D apps or gaming). Apple has continually ignored this market segment and fan boys have continually spouted that no one games on a Mac (both untrue and a chicken/egg scenario since a lack of gaming hardware discourages gaming development/ports).

Exactly!

As things stand now I get put in the demo for the pro but it is more that I am NOT in the demo for any of their other computers. Sure I love a machine to occasionally compile on, but it is not like my paycheck depends on that.

I currently am on a late 2007 iMac and hate that I would have to perform major surgery/take it to an apple store if something like a battery died. The 2012 iMac is even worse. I would have considered the 2007 form factor with updated specs tolerable .... 'thinner' was on my nogo list rather than a want list.

I want to do things like add am internal 3.5 SSD for the OS (oh, and NOT fusion and/or booting from an external drive TYVM). Put in a full sized nvidia card. Actually have space in here so there can be some real cooling. Be able to pull out bad components when they fail.

BTW, what am I supposed to do with an iMac other than recycle it when I move up to a new machine? In the past I have kept the previous machine as a backup or given it to a family member. I could also plug my old screen into the new machine if I was not buying a monitor.

[derbladerunner]

First the Java blocking debacle, now this. This is one big FU today from Apple to business/enterprise customers.

Remember that Tim Cook only promised new MacPros for "later in 2013", this could leave Europe without a stock of MacPros for a few months.

Exact quote:

Although we didn’t have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today’s event, don’t worry as we’re working on something really great for later next year.

Does sound like third or fourth calendar quarter 2013 to me. Not good if you need a new professional Mac this spring or summer in Europa. High and dry. Ebay might be your last resort.

All iToys all the time. Full steam ahead.

[basesloaded190]

Originally Posted by derbladerunner

First the Java blocking debacle, now this. This is one big FU today from Apple to business/enterprise customers.

Remember that Tim Cook only promised new MacPros for "later in 2013", this could leave Europe without a stock of MacPros for a few months.

Exact quote:



Does sound like third or fourth calendar quarter 2013 to me. Not good if you need a new professional Mac this spring or summer in Europa. High and dry. Ebay might be your last resort.

All iToys all the time. Full steam ahead.

You realize this is something Apple has no control over right? This is a government regulation.

[RT2020]

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

You realize this is something Apple has no control over right? This is a government regulation.

You realize this is because apple has not updated their outdated product to keep up with regulations?

[Wild-Bill]

Originally Posted by RT2020

You realize this is because apple has not updated their outdated product to keep up with regulations?

My guess is that this particular "regulation" states that a computer manufacturer cannot continue selling a product advertised as "new" when its internal components are technologically outdated / obsolete by two or more years.
Sure sounds like the Mac Pro to me!!!

My spidey senses are telling me more and more that I'm going to have to end up building a DP Hack Pro be because Apple is going to let it fade into obscurity in favor of iGadgetry.

[brentsg]

Originally Posted by RT2020

You realize this is because apple has not updated their outdated product to keep up with regulations?

If they have something new awaiting release then why would they bother to retrofit the old one? It would make no sense.

[linuxcooldude]

Originally Posted by RT2020

You realize this is because apple has not updated their outdated product to keep up with regulations?

No, because different countries have different regulations. A new Mac Pro is already in the works.

[Stella]

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

You realize this is something Apple has no control over right? This is a government regulation.

Apple must have known this was coming.. but as yet they haven't announced a replacement product.

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

You realize this is something Apple has no control over right? This is a government regulation.

No it is not, because the EU has no central government.

[milo]

Originally Posted by basesloaded190

You realize this is something Apple has no control over right? This is a government regulation.

You do realize the IEC published this particular amendment in December 2009, right? That's three years of notice for the product to get updated. So yeah, it just might be a little bit apple's fault for not meeting it by now.

[GekkePrutser]

I think this is a bit overblown, it's not like these fans can chop your finger off. They generally run pretty slowly in a Mac Pro anyway.

The airflow is better and it's quieter without a grill infront because there's less turbulence. I'd rather have it without it.