I have been using Apple product since I'm 8 (I had a Macintosh), and I've had lots of iPod and Power/Macbook through my teenage. Also in parrallel I have the chance to study marketing, business intelligence and sociology.
tl;dr: It absolutelly make sense in term of market strategy that Apple won't innovate at all anymore, won't even provide better or even up-to-date specs, because they don't need to (thanks to the new majority of customers of the mainstream market, and the best PR/Marketing strategy to make fanboys accept it) and the need for Apple to grow in number while cutting costs on new markets like Brasil and China to counter Microsoft and Google.
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So whatever hypocritical or noob fanboys say, here is the situation of Apple: Apple built its success on better products for better people. Pretty much like a trend is at first adopted by sensitive, knowledgable, smart people but then it gets adopted by less sensitive, knowledgable, smart people, and less and less...until it becomes mainstream.
That's what's happening: Apple has always been expensive but for good reasons, their products were qualitative in terms of software (more stable and few bugs, snow leopard being the best) and hardware (durable material, I had a Powerbook and old Macbook pro for 6 years) and innovative (they brought tons of new and RELEVANT features for the user experience with each update, and made the design evolve with almost each iteration).
But that was all Steve Jobs, and you must be damn stupid and naive to think it will be the same now. In fact just look at the period when SJ was fired from Apple by stockholders. Well now he is defunct. And the fact that the stockholder didn't choose Jon Ive (design engineer) or Scott Forstall (software engineer) but Tim Cook (stock/distribution manager) should say it all: Apple doesn't do qualititative or innovative products anymore and they don't need to.
Today, Apple has reach the mainstream market and has developed the best PR strategy. Typically the most recent users are dumb, ignorant and influencable to the point where you can make them accept to be screwed by rationnalizing things that would be otherwise indefendable. The market strategy for Apple, in order to counter attack Android or Microsoft strategies who are first on their respective market, is not innovation anymore but mass selling on new markets like China or Brasil. Sell more and innovate less to cut cost.
So if the next iteration of Macbook Pro only had Ivy Bridge (which all laptop now have), Intel HD 4000 but no real graphic card, 2 USB 3.0 (which all computer now have), no SSD, no new design (4 years after this one was released), no retina display, and more over because that's what we forget, no innovation/new thing that other laptops don't have...it doesn't surprise me.
tl;dr: It absolutelly make sense in term of market strategy that Apple won't innovate at all anymore, won't even provide better or even up-to-date specs, because they don't need to (thanks to the new majority of customers of the mainstream market, and the best PR/Marketing strategy to make fanboys accept it) and the need for Apple to grow in number while cutting costs on new markets like Brasil and China to counter Microsoft and Google.
_____________
So whatever hypocritical or noob fanboys say, here is the situation of Apple: Apple built its success on better products for better people. Pretty much like a trend is at first adopted by sensitive, knowledgable, smart people but then it gets adopted by less sensitive, knowledgable, smart people, and less and less...until it becomes mainstream.
That's what's happening: Apple has always been expensive but for good reasons, their products were qualitative in terms of software (more stable and few bugs, snow leopard being the best) and hardware (durable material, I had a Powerbook and old Macbook pro for 6 years) and innovative (they brought tons of new and RELEVANT features for the user experience with each update, and made the design evolve with almost each iteration).
But that was all Steve Jobs, and you must be damn stupid and naive to think it will be the same now. In fact just look at the period when SJ was fired from Apple by stockholders. Well now he is defunct. And the fact that the stockholder didn't choose Jon Ive (design engineer) or Scott Forstall (software engineer) but Tim Cook (stock/distribution manager) should say it all: Apple doesn't do qualititative or innovative products anymore and they don't need to.
Today, Apple has reach the mainstream market and has developed the best PR strategy. Typically the most recent users are dumb, ignorant and influencable to the point where you can make them accept to be screwed by rationnalizing things that would be otherwise indefendable. The market strategy for Apple, in order to counter attack Android or Microsoft strategies who are first on their respective market, is not innovation anymore but mass selling on new markets like China or Brasil. Sell more and innovate less to cut cost.
So if the next iteration of Macbook Pro only had Ivy Bridge (which all laptop now have), Intel HD 4000 but no real graphic card, 2 USB 3.0 (which all computer now have), no SSD, no new design (4 years after this one was released), no retina display, and more over because that's what we forget, no innovation/new thing that other laptops don't have...it doesn't surprise me.
