That was an entirely new product. It is unfair to compare it against the already existing MacBooks at that time. That product improved with every iteration from then on and added features, performance and kept its price about the same while doing so.
These days it's just the opposite. MacBook 12" replacing Air is no better than its predecessor, certainly not keeping its price about equal and taking a ton of features like ports and CPU performance. Same can be said for the new MacBook line.
The Gen-2 Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad have magically got a 50% price boost while featuring built-in rechargeable batteries, which I don't find any more convenient than swapping charged batteries and continue to work. With the Mouse can't even continue to work because the charge connector is at the bottom. Great progress that deserves a medal for Ive.
Meanwhile we have disappearing products like Airport Modems, Mac Mini, Cinema Display and the future of the Mac Pro is dubious. Every new MacBook is becoming glued shut and components soldered for non-upgradeability.
Think Different and Just Works are the phrases of the past. Now they "boldly" take things away, increase prices and kill products that don't greatly contribute to the revenue even if they are liked and sought out by traditional Apple users.
Every new product under Tim Cook has not improved or gotten "better" from a spec perspective.
that might be fine in fashion industry, or other industries where form is more important than function,
but at the end of the day, in the computer industry, the very point of "upgrade" is to improve compute power or inefficiencies. you can go down the entire lineup of Apple products, and under Mr Cook, most have gotten no significant updates, or in some cases, have actually had the "function" decreased. Sometimes to fit into forms that make no sense for the purpose, or sometimes just for the absolute sake of it.
The iMac, got marginally thinner, for a desktop computer, where 5mm difference of a tappered edge isn't going to make a difference in any way. Except, where now the iMac's are unable to cool themselves effeciently or properly, leading to Apple's more powerful desktop using a combination of mobile parts and thermally throttled parts.
the Mac Mini went from a really nice, small form factor quad core computer with a little bit of expandibility. To a all soldered, dual core. IN the same form factor.
the Mac Pro, which, was always favoured for it's computer power and scalability, became another small form factor computer with zero upgrade paths. no scalability and then being ignored for 4 years.
the MacBook Air saw very little update and is fundamentally the same machine it was in 2011. showcasing 2011 screen tech! and instead of just upgrading the screen, they came up with the next point
THe MacBook. a weaker, slower, less overall useful computer, that sells for significantly higher featuring the only feature that the MBA was missing. The Display. Forcing users to use either 2011 based display technology, or spend up to $500 more, just for a better display, while potentially sacrificing everything else.
MacBook Pro. Same as the Mac Pro. sacrifice of computer power, scalability and expandibility, for "thinness". not a bad computer. But not worth $500 more than the previous models that offered a good trade off of dependability, scalability and compute power. All are far more important than "thin" to those who base their livlihood on computer power.
Even the watch 2.0 didn't add anything other than a new price tag to the ultimate experience.
This behavior continues across the product lineup
And yet. Apple has increased prices across the board. This stinks of a leadership group that is aiming for profit margins first and foremost before quality, and a leaderhip who doesn't understand the nature of the industry they were once excellent in.
[doublepost=1489931843][/doublepost]
The MacBooks and MacBook pros are fairly new product categories as well. Who is to say the same thing won't happen to them?
Neither of those are new categories.
The Macbooks are "thin and lights", and yes, APple managed to shave a few more MM's off, it doesn't make it a new category. This category has existed since the 00's. While Apple might have been the Ultrabook pioneer, they were not the first, nor nearly even close to the first in the ultra portable or thin and light market. SO apple being newish to it, doesn't make them new categories.
And Laptops were "pro" before Apple named anything "pro". Apple's first ever laptops were aimed at their Pro crowd. Most laptops until the utlrabook crowd was aimed at professionals and businesses, Not consumers. The Pro category has existed since day 1 in the computer world.
This isn't APple inventing new categories. THis is apple coming into existing categories and telling everyone they invented them so they know whats best for them. i's untrue, and it's pathetic.
These are not bad products. But these are not the products you have allowed yourself to believe they are. Again, I'm always happy that they make products and you are able to use them in great and interesting ways. That doesn't change the facts about what they are and how they fit into the rest of the world. your view is very VERY myopic and not based on the actual reality outside of how you use the products.
I believe that Apple still wants to make great products.
While I do to, I no longer thin that "Make great products" is their #1 motivation. I think it's very much "If th e product is profitable, it's a great product". WHich is absolutely crazy. Profitability and popularity don't equal quality. And eventually you have to start sacrificing quality to keep profit while markets mature and profits for that market decline (ALL maturing markets are forced to work on low margins due to high competition)
Apple still aims to make great products, as long as they're also greatly profitable. it's a huge change in their direction while under Cook.
