Apple resurrects previous gen MBP?

[ZapNZs]

All you are doing is trying to work around the fact that this was a perfectly fine update to the MacBook Pro. It was, and continues to be a best seller. It is what it is, whether it fits your narative or not.

I like the new MacBook Pro, and am happy with it, for the most part.

However, you are now confusing what constitutes a "fine update" and "fine sales" - there is some overlap, but not total overlap. Great products fail all the time for many reasons. Terrible products sometimes go on to dominate the market (ex: cell phones before the iPhone era.) Branding often has a bigger impact on product sales than the product itself, and Apple certainly understands branding.

One may be inclined to attribute sales in the direction of which product they think is better through the thought that if a certain system meets their needs, then they should meet most-to-everyone's needs, and is therefore more desirable. However, hard data on this is deficient. Any conclusions made are not rooted in numbers, and are, consequently, anecdotal.

If we get even more into this topic, we could not make any conclusions on this until we also knew sales numbers for the 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro, which may have outsold its retina counterpart all the way through the start of 2017 (Apple didn't keep it around just for poops and giggles.) Figures on returns, who is a repeat vs. who is a new customer, Buyer socioeconomic status, return rates by system, return rates by individual Customer, and whether or not a Buyer had previous contact with the Apple ecosystem would tell us a lot as well. Heck, independent verification would be good too, given a company generally won't be forthcoming with any stats that could potentially be damaging to its reputation (and understandably so.) But I doubt Apple really cares to provide us with these figures given it would probably not benefit them financially, and the publication of such information would not be considered an ethical requirement with human research. Apple doesn't produce pharmaceuticals with potentially massive risks to the wellbeing of those taking the product & the ability to determine whether life/death is the outcome - at the end of the day, we're talking about luxury goods made from one of the most respected Brands in the world.


Cliff Notes Version: We are discussing something that we do not have enough information to speak about in definitive terms, something that really does not speak to how good the MBP is, and the meaning of the specific numbers has more relevance to Apple than it does to us (as it doesn't change the quality of the product itself.)

 

[Queen6]

Possible if the new MBP doe not meet the sales expectations, equally Apple will also need to put it's spin machine on full speed to avoid the "told you so" syndrome.

Certainly from my observations Apple has alienated a percentage of it's core professional user base, myself included. I recently met up with a colleague who is a self proclaimed Apple fan, owning pretty much all Apple produces. His opinion mirrors mine, hence his continued use of the 2015 MBP, and a strong condemnation of the 2016 MBP.

The bigger picture is by Apple alienating aspects of it's core user base (Mac) Apple also risks losing the Halo effect and subsequent follow through, more dangerously the same group transitioning to Windows based hardware, something Microsoft is clearly looking to achieve...

Q-6

 

[GtrDude]

All you are doing is trying to work around the fact that this was a perfectly fine update to the MacBook Pro. It was, and continues to be a best seller. It is what it is, whether it fits your narative or not.

It was far from "perfectly fine" for me....lol

 

[smallcoffee]

It was far from "perfectly fine" for me....lol

Sure, but we don't care about you we care about the overall picture.
[doublepost=1494769556][/doublepost]

Cliff Notes Version: We are discussing something that we do not have enough information to speak about in definitive terms, something that really does not speak to how good the MBP is, and the meaning of the specific numbers has more relevance to Apple than it does to us (as it doesn't change the quality of the product itself.)

Hence my initial comment on the thread.
[doublepost=1494769627][/doublepost]

Irrelevent. These are the only data of relevance: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q2FY17DataSummary.pdf
As you can see - not enough info given to back up claims of best sales ever for the 2016 MBP. Mac including desktops are all in one category. Its global average so ignores currency fluctuations and international pricing which have both changed.

And that's what I linked to. You didn't bother to look through. Thanks for confirming.

The only real clue will be when the next one comes out. If they continue down the road they are on then sales were great. If they say 'we listened to those of you were not happy and we changed x,y, z,' - then sales were less great than they bragged about/hoped.

So, in that case, back to my initial comment.

 

[borostef]

With years of pent up demand form people WAITING for any NEW updates, you have those with 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, all waiting for the latest and greatest design of the MBP. Only issue is that TONS of people saw the new MBP, and chose to go with the older 2015 MBP. SOOOOOOO MANY, that Apple had to admit that they botched the whole 'Pro' thing, in all of their lineups.

Thank you everyone, who bought the 2015 MBP, in response to the 2016 MBP. $$$ is the ONLY thing Apple hears, cares about, notices.

You are very welcome... I got a 2015 15 inch MBP couple of months ago and I love it. I did have a look at the new models but I didn't really like them, I'm sure that many people do but I still need the ports and I really like the magsafe.

 

[The Mercurian]

And that's what I linked to. You didn't bother to look through. Thanks for confirming.

You linked to macworld.com and bgr.com. I linked to apple.com. Go straw man someone else please

 

[smallcoffee]

You linked to macworld.com and bgr.com. I linked to apple.com. Go straw man someone else please

They discussed the exact report you linked to. You'd know that if you looked. And that's an inappropriate use of "straw man". I didn't set up any strawman argument.

 

[leman]

The earnings results are anything BUT obvious. You all seem to forget the international element. The prices were put up in many countries including on the old models (especially the UK).

No they did not. The price is basically the base price in USD + conversion + tax (+ fluctuation). The prices in the UK went up because the pound went down relative to the dollar (by a whopping 20%). Measured in dollars, there is not much more added spread compared to years before.

And I completely agree that the earning results are not obvious. But they certainly in no way support the conclusion that people would be buying the old 2015 model right now in higher quantities than last year. ZapNZs's post is right on point (even though its funny how Count Blah seems to reed it very selectively).
[doublepost=1494827773][/doublepost]

The only real clue will be when the next one comes out. If they continue down the road they are on then sales were great. If they say 'we listened to those of you were not happy and we changed x,y, z,' - then sales were less great than they bragged about/hoped.

This I can totally agree with

 

[The Mercurian]

No they did not. The price is basically the base price in USD + conversion + tax (+ fluctuation). The prices in the UK went up because the pound went down relative to the dollar (by a whopping 20%). Measured in dollars, there is not much more added spread compared to years before.

And I completely agree that the earning results are not obvious. But they certainly in no way support the conclusion that people would be buying the old 2015 model right now in higher quantities than last year. ZapNZs's post is right on point (even though its funny how Count Blah seems to reed it very selectively).
[doublepost=1494827773][/doublepost]

This I can totally agree with

Holy shitballs. Just decided to look at the refurb store here. The top end refurb 2016 models are about €1000 than a max spec new machine was last year. The 2TB 15" option is over €4100 as a refurb!! If they selling any amount of the 2TB option thats bringing in alot more cash and it would be skewing the figures since this was not an option before. I also note. The cheapeast refurb 11" MBA is more expensive than a brand new one I bought a few years ago. Definitely prices have gone up over time.

 

[MrGuder]

Holy shitballs. Just decided to look at the refurb store here. The top end refurb 2016 models are about €1000 than a max spec new machine was last year. The 2TB 15" option is over €4100 as a refurb!! If they selling any amount of these thats bringing in alot of cash and it would be skewing the figures since this was not an option before. I also note. The cheapeast refurb 11" MBA is more expensive than a brand new one I bought a few years ago. Definitely prices have gone up over time.

How else do you think there going to pay for that spaceship campus?

 

[Queen6]

Holy shitballs. Just decided to look at the refurb store here. The top end refurb 2016 models are about €1000 than a max spec new machine was last year. The 2TB 15" option is over €4100 as a refurb!! If they selling any amount of the 2TB option thats bringing in alot more cash and it would be skewing the figures since this was not an option before. I also note. The cheapeast refurb 11" MBA is more expensive than a brand new one I bought a few years ago. Definitely prices have gone up over time.

That's Apple's magic...

Q-6