There are some good points in the video, but in reality, it's nowhere near as clear cut as you might think.
Naturally. Corporate strategy is one thing, execution is another. Just ask Microsoft and their how original surface tablet endeavour went.
However, I think the video does a very job of deconstructing Apple and explain how its people think and work. Which, I notice, is what a lot of people continue to get wrong about Apple. A lot of complaints stem from them not understanding Apple and then being disappointed when Apple doesn't do something the way they had hoped.
Which is why I like to say "It's like going into a Japanese restaurant and then complaining that it doesn't serve Italian food." It was never meant as a dig or insult, but that there is a fundamental misalignment in expectations between what you want Apple to do, and what Apple will do.
Which brings me back to me original point - Apple is a design-led company. Their goal is to make technology more personal, not necessarily more powerful in an absolute sense.
Apple is always going to keeping trying to make their products as thin and light as possible, whatever your views may be on that matter. Maybe you think that we have now reached a point of diminishing returns and you would rather have a slightly thicker laptop in exchange for say, more battery life or ports. Maybe you don't mind a Mac Pro the size of your closet. But also recognise that the very things you want (ports, buttons, bezels) are also the exact things Apple views as the enemy.
What this also means is that some product categories naturally lend themselves to being made thinner, lighter and more portable, and others less so. So you can in turn expect Apple to focus more of their resources on the products which can be made more portable and more personal (such as mobile devices and wearables), and less attention on the products which can't (desktops and to some extent, laptops). Which is precisely what they are doing right now.
When you think along this line, the radical MBP redesign now makes more sense. Apple was betting on making computing more intimate for users, rather than focusing on raw specs, and that bet backfired (between users not appreciating many of the design decisions, from being limited to USB-C ports, to failing keyboards). But it was never about profiting from sales of additional dongles and adaptors.
That's likely why Apple replaced Touch ID with Face ID. When people complain about Touch ID being faster, they aren't wrong, but they aren't getting the point either. It's not about speed, but about the need for a conscious action on the part of the user vs not needing an action at all (ie: Face ID automatically authenticating iCloud Keychain in Safari). From Apple's perspective, this helped removed another barrier between the user and his device.
So it comes as no surprise to me that the iMac is being updated as slowly as it is. Don't be surprised if and when it eventually slips to a 3-year upgrade cycle. Heck, the iPad is already slipping to a 1.5 year refresh cycle, which makes sense when you consider that people are generally replacing it every 3-4 years.
And I am not saying this just because I am happily using my iPad and don't really care about MacBooks. Make no mistake. There will come a time when the iPad ends up suffering the same fate as the Mac, neglected and forgotten, and I find myself in your shoes (assuming I am even still teaching with a tablet by then). I know where I stand in this relationship with Apple. I will always be using their products on their terms, never mine.
And I am perfectly fine with it.
Until the day I am not.
And I will cross the bridge when I get there.
