Apple is making a lot of money, profit alone doesn't define a company. When the hard core Apple fanatics start complaining, it's like a canary in a coal mine. We see that things are not right at Apple. It might take a few years for that to transfer to market share and profits, but it will come back to haunt Apple if they do not get this fixed. Once Apple looses it's hard core customers, they will be nothing more than an itoy company with trendy customers who will drop Apple as soon as the next "cool" thing is out.
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Apple Tested Larger Battery and Gold Color Option on MacBook Pro, Lightning Port on MacBook
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Apple is making a lot of money, profit alone doesn't define a company. When the hard core Apple fanatics start complaining, it's like a canary in a coal mine. We see that things are not right at Apple. It might take a few years for that to transfer to market share and profits, but it will come back to haunt Apple if they do not get this fixed. Once Apple looses it's hard core customers, they will be nothing more than an itoy company with trendy customers who will drop Apple as soon as the next "cool" thing is out.
Well, you've won the "Missed the forest for the trees Award." You claim that Apple is ignoring what consumers want, as though all those sales, and all that money that you say is irrelevant just falls from heaven. No, pretty simply, the money counter perfectly represents the fact that Apple is the master at producing exactly what consumers want. They may not satisfy you, but with hundreds of millions of customers, it's irrefutable that while Apple is far from perfect, it does have the secret sauce of hardware, software and services that no one else has been able to duplicate. The Apple Watch is a case study. Despite having enormous competitors with head starts like Samsung, Microsoft, Nike, Google, and Lenovo, and well established companies like Garmin. Apple Watch took that secret sauce and zoomed past all of them to owning the market in just two years. Indeed, Nike, Lenovo and Microsoft have dropped out, and Samsung is just treading water.
In sum, those sales and market share mean everything when it comes to demonstrating that Apple provides consumer benefits most of the time better than any company.
The report is par for the course. Apple is known to take engineers off other teams to help finish up a product. There's always problems with products that need to get sorted out and fixed before launch. Apple also always does lots of prototyping and tries different things in the lab in the years before launching a product. Not news except some specifics regarding these particular products if they are to be believed.
Trouble is, if they did that then accessories would work with other platforms, not just with iPhones. Good for the consumer, but not in Apple's interest.
Though at least they didn't waste space with a Lightning port on a laptop (I mean, why would you? What possible advantage would that be to anyone?).
But the big question from this report, will Apple release an MBP with a better battery next year?
Lightning port on a Mac? That is so out of touch with any sort of reality. What would you use it for? Charging at 12w? Connecting your one pair of EarPods with a lightning cable? The transition to USB-C is already causing enough turmoil, imagine Apple selling Lightning->Lightning next to USB-C->Lightning next to USB-A->Lightning next to Thunderbolt 3 cables.
The fact that someone concluded that the iPhone is popular because it has less ports makes me re-evaluate the intelligence of some of Apples teams. Although it does explain their recent moves.
I think services is the biggest area Apple must improve though. From a US perspective probably not, but in other countries (Italy for example) still must improve: no public transport in Maps yet, Siri is way less capable than other competitors... the real problem I don't think this is a priority for them, because Apple said before, these services are operating at pure loss because they don't generate revenue. Again, focus is money, not products or services.
Making an ever thinner computer is Apple forcing competitors playing Apple's game. Apple is leading in the design and implementation of thin computers. Thinner computers might not be what every customer wanted, but so far widely accepted or tolerated by Apple's customers. If you are mad at Apple as a customer, just imagine yourself as a competitor playing a forever catchup game with Apple.
This makes me so sad. I came to Apple all because of the first iPhone. A week after bought that very first iPhone, I owned my first MBP. That iPhone will also be the ruin of what was once a great company, Apple Computer.
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I mean, if you come on MacRumors and read the forums, there seems to be a lot of Apple hate. There always is. Heck, I'm part of it sometimes. People love to jump on the supposed bandwagon and run Tim Cook and the gang down. This has been exaggerated by the (neutered?) 2016 MacBook Pro.
Sometimes it begins to feel that really the only ones that are bothered by Apple's product decisions are the ones on tech forums like MacRumors. But after reading the OP, it seems that it isn't entirely a vacuum in these forums. People outside of them feel the same way about Apple's direction (or lack thereof) for the Mac.
I haven't seen anything that has mentioned "record". And the revenue is high, not necessarily the numbers, which is not surprising because of the price hike.
And you missed the fact that just because something sells, doesn't make it great (inserts McDonald's analogy).
The majority of disgruntled Apple fans, have grownup using Apple products that exceed expectations, that just work, that surprises and delights. Macbooks, iMacs and all desktops have failed to deliver on all these fronts. The Apple watch was ill conceived at the outset (pivoting to fitness has helped). It's relative success is more in part to Android's failure.
As for their secret sauce...it's simply locking you into their ecosystem.
So is Apple truly producing exactly what a customer wants, or is it forcing upon them what they're going to get?
Never paid much attention to Apple [Computer] or its fanatics until 2005 (siren call of the 1st gen iPod Shuffle lured me in), but even that's long enough to notice that Apple fanatics never stopped complaining.
'...part of a broader shift toward making Macs more like iPhones.'
Speaks volumes. iPhones aren't used for pro tasks, not like lappys or desktops. Seems like Apple cares about catering to the trendy crowd, rather than professionals.
Things are changing.
Speaks volumes. iPhones aren't used for pro tasks, not like lappys or desktops. Seems like Apple cares about catering to the trendy crowd, rather than professionals.
Things are changing.
Except that is exactly describing the youth of today... no commitments to relationships, jobs, etc. Their only commitment is to whatever is trendy enough to trend
That's why Apple has such a key focus on its ecosystem. For example, as frustrating as it has been for me to wait for an in home device that goes beyond Siri on our portable devices or ATV or now our desktops, I recognize that Apple could easily have put out a competitor to Alexa like Google did, but Apple knows that those are just gimmicks that are easily duplicated by any company. What I am sure they are working on, and I think we will see it in 2017, is a true breakthrough that integrates the next generation of Siri (Vocal IQ, etc.), HomeKit, and Apple's expertise in Wireless. It was silly clickbait from MG that "Apple has shutdown its router division." Yes, I get it that the only reason BI brought him on was to report on "leaks" from Apple, but it's nonsense to suggest that Apple is abandoning the home wireless environment when it's everything to Apple and only they have the hardware, software and services to make that breakthrough product.
You will be able to buy a battery-bump case for it! It will be fantastic!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
No it is you who is missing the forest. Apple has immense momentum. Consumers are buying anyway and just rolling with some of the hassles whined about here. For example, how many of those who passionately argued against removal of the headphone jack actually voted with their wallets and refused to buy the iPhone? Instead, they buy and roll with the hassle. Why? Because abandoning a whole ecosystem over any one hassle is more painful than just rolling with it and hoping the company comes to its senses in the next round... or maybe "I" can get used to carrying the dongle... or maybe "I" can get used to Bluetooth, etc. Accumulated goodwill plus this "roll with it" mentality will work for a while.
We have seen this over and over and over again. How many companies carve out very successful businesses, get complacent on sales that keep coming in as they burn goodwill and then shrink when consumers finally give up on them? We here have poked critiques at countless Apple competitors who used to dominate businesses for doing exactly that kind of thing as Apple swept in and ate their lunch. Those companies had roaring revenues. They had record profits. They could lay claims that consumers loved what they were (or were not) doing based on the ongoing flows of cash... until their bases gave up on them due to too many disappointments. Can you name any such companies? Do you really believe that Apple's story can't replicate any of them?
The money argument does not prove the point. It just illustrates ongoing momentum. Momentum doesn't last forever unless the consumer side is regularly fed what it wants too. Too much consumer disappointment and they shift to someone else's products... even if the pain of entire ecosystem change comes with it. We've seen it happen over and over with many other companies.
What's more disturbing within our little niche of consumers is the seemingly recurring trend of Apple rolling out a big product update and "us" Apple fans proclaiming the prior generation superior and, apparently, choosing to buy the prior generation before they sell out. In the last few years, that's happened a few times- this rMB pro, Mac Mini, iPhone, etc. Conceptually, newer (tech) should almost always be obviously superior to it's older "parent." But lately, that obviousness seems challenged.
The main problem has been the lack of regular updates, or updates that are underwhelming. The Mac mini and Mac Pro come to mind as prime examples of machines that look neglected. Not everything Apple does is going to please everyone, and note that I am not a hater and have gone against the grain here by purchasing a new macbook pro. Its not perfect, but I still like, am glad I bought it, and enjoy using it. A "macbook air pro" was exactly what I was looking for and Apple delivered, but I understand if folks wanted a heavier or bigger machine with a bigger battery or more ports, etc. Apple is going to produce what they think they can sell the most of at the highest margin, and apparently right now that is the macbook air pro.