Apple's Renewed Focus on iPad Left the Mac Behind This Year

[Andres Cantu]

What renewed focus? All we got this year was what would have normally been an iPad Air 3 and an iOS update with no focus for iPads at all.

 

[SSDGUY]

Better Headline - Tim Cook Left Apple Behind This Year.

1. Removed 3.5mm headphone jack from iPhone
2. Made the Macbook Pro less pro
3. Neglected iMac
4. Ditched Display Business
5. Has made a loyal Apple customer not find any interest in any product in the Apple store

Get that man out of there. Please. Seriously.

-Signed Mac Pro Tower 2012 / 15 inch Macbook Pro 2011 / iPhone 6 user

6. Assigned current Macpro line for use as door stops around Apple headquarters.
7. Assigned current Mac Mini line for use as drink coasters (Needed a fresh idea for office white elephant exchange.)

 

[notjustjay]

I think there should be a "don't re-enable GateKeeper EVER" option, because I'd use it, but I'm not your average user.

I think there is, if you're ok with Terminal commands.

 

[LordVic]

iPhone, App Store, Keep pushing iPad down peoples throats until they are faster then the current computer lineup.

Not like they really made the new Macbook Pro's that much faster anyway.

Very risky. the iPhone is still a good seller, but not the hottest seller like it was a few years back. (we don't really know how the iphone 7 sold so can't really claim what their last quarter was). but without Mac's selling as well, with iPad ssales declining, no more iPods. where is the growth going to come from? Or is it Apple's expectation that the iPhone 7 and then 2017 iPhone 8(?) to go back to the record sales days?

because of All of Apple's portfolio, at the last quarter, the only category that saw growth was services.

 

[Lapine Rider]

Why would I buy a PC anymore? I write books, and you can't write books the way I write books without cutting and pasting large, multipage (sometimes twenty or more) tracts of text with precisely-defined beginning- and end-points. This is amazingly inconvenient absent a mouse or other pointing device. Try it sometime, just for kicks.

So, my question to Mr. Cook is, why in the name of everything holy would anyone anywhere produce and sell an otherwise-wonderful, highly-portable computing device that's otherwise a dream to write novels on mouse-incompatible? I mean... Would it cost that much more, when you already have bluetooth? What can Apple possibly gain by this omission; I mean, certainly there must be many other negatively-affected would-be users? Again and again I find myself shopping Android or Windows tablets, and coming closer to pressing the button with each repetition over this issue and this issue alone.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Make Macs Great Again

I posted this comment earlier and it got taken down by the mods.
[doublepost=1481047082][/doublepost]

Very risky. the iPhone is still a good seller, but not the hottest seller like it was a few years back. (we don't really know how the iphone 7 sold so can't really claim what their last quarter was). but without Mac's selling as well, with iPad ssales declining, no more iPods. where is the growth going to come from? Or is it Apple's expectation that the iPhone 7 and then 2017 iPhone 8(?) to go back to the record sales days?

because of All of Apple's portfolio, at the last quarter, the only category that saw growth was services.

Services = App Store = iCloud

Apple is toast unless they update their Mac lineup. They got here by having the iPod as a Halo product over the entire lineup. That is what the iPhone is - and it has largely worked. Problem is - the consumer does the research before buying a new computer and sees the outdated macs and says no, i'll take the iPhone but no Mac.

 

[RobDacoder]

Really? With the convergence of touch/mouse across the wider industry, Apple seems to be walking towards a cliff.

Nope, that's a minor detail. If I had a 12" tablet that could slot into a monitor to become a desktop when or if needed and then slide out to become portable device and iOS is matured to provide pro apps (which it almost is) then I'll be happy to ditch my laptop for good...

 

[idunn]

when asked to comment on why the MacBook Air and iPad would not eventually converge, Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that combining the products would result in compromises. "You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator but those won't be pleasing to the user," he said.

You mean like the regrettable result of iOS and a dumbed-down OSX excreted as the ever so thin 2016 MBP?

 

[827538]

What I don't understand is Apple is a huge company with huge cash reserves and the Mac's are profitable. Is it really asking too much for a huge company like Apple to simply update their Mac lineup with new silicon and chips inside? I'm not asking for a redesign, just an up to date processor, GPU and storage.
I love my Skylake rMB but their current direction is stupid and confusing.

 

[democracyrules]

They have gotten too Corporate and they only focus on the Bottom line To Beat Investor Expections.

Its the reason why they only focus on the iPhone because its there cash cow, Mac does not generate money as most people that buy labtops or desktop, If they do purchase it, They won't upgrade for other 5-7 Years.

Phones people upgrade all the time

The comment above nails it!!

All big corporations ONLY concern about profit margins and beating investor expectations and they only care about the shareholders.NOT customers. Anyone who think otherwise is VERY naive.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

This year only eh? iPad sales have slipped for 4+ years and Mac sales has been limp in that time period too. Most models have not seen a significant update in 5 years, and even this years Mac Pro update is questionable as whether its a major update or just another minor revision with an novelty screen glued into it.

Apple bragged about being the post PC era for years now, but really the tablet bubble has burst quickly and more people are moving back to a laptop, and these days they are not Mac Books. We are clearly in the PC Renaissance era and Apple has lost focus years ago about what customers need and want and are failing to deliver a compelling product today. Apple is selling to existing customers that have been desperate for a new update on any Mac product, but Apple is no not able to "convert" PC users over anymore the way they were succeeding at 5 years ago.

Also Apple seems to believe that the tablet is an adequate replacement of a laptop or desktop for pro users, but clearly Apple can't deliver a professional product, instead just offering far too expensive iPad variants that most professionals are passing over, along with Mac's that are clearly not offering what professionals need today. And Apple hasn't released a Mac adequate for gamers at all and even the years revamps are not able to offer the VR/AR requirements that Tim Cook says are so important and exciting for the future.

This is just another reason why Tim Cook has been a lousy CEO for Apple and he clearly is out of his depth, again and again many times over, as he has created a company stuck in the past and stagnant on innovation and unable to meet the demands of customers that are starting to move elsewhere.

Until Apple's board of directors wake up and pull their heads out of their asses, I don't now how many more years of "less then" Apple can endure before they realize that Apple needs a new an exciting CEO that can once again lead the company down paths towards innovation and creating products customers don't even know yet they need and want as opposed to offering products that no longer even meets their expectations.

Apple no longer needs a caretaker, they need a leader with vision and the balls to deliver something NEW. A few months of stellar sales every now and again followed by general consumer apathy cannot support Apple in the long run. Tim Cook has been hiding behind what Steve Jobs has left behind and it is hurting the company significantly. Until this changes, Apple will be a shadow of its former self for years coming.

Just add a usable way to access the file system on IOS and let users install any program they want. That would solve 90% of the problems people have using an iPad as their primary computer. If they want to continue these arbitrary limitations to prop up their service divisions, I am not convinced.

When you can sync your iphone to you Ipad easily and share content regardless of authorized devices they will get closer. Will there be piracy sure, of course there will be. If they want to kill of the Mac and offer me a device which acts merely a portal to buy from iTunes in the future it is a show stopper.

Their ideas of being in a walled garden based upon their expectations for services are crazy. The walled garden works in regards to hardware. My phone plays well with my Mac, however if they start to interfere more and kill products like time capsule and force me to use iCloud... this simply isn't going to happen. They already exert enough control as it is.

It seems they still want you to own a Mac and an IOS device. iPad + Mac=works, iPhone + Mac = works, IPhone + iPad isn't a solution. The formula still involves a computer at some point.

Make a file system that I can transfer over the air between a phone and tablet and I am much closer to being able to get rid of the computer in between. Add encryption so Apple has no idea what files you transfer and you can do what you want.

They still sell over priced computers as the go between and they can't have it both ways. At this point it is becoming increasingly obvious maybe Tim Cook actually runs Apple using nothing more than an iPhone and iPad.

In the post PC world tablets don't have artificial limitations.

 

[Mainsail]

The things you listed are basic computer functions covered by a 2007 netbook...

The "Pro" part, until this release, wasn't about your employment, but your professional need - ie needing a more capable machine.

Ok. Then why the snotty reply that states the post was from a person that does nothing but use his computer to send photos to Grandma? For all you know, he/she is using their iPad and Mac to run a successful company or large department with significantly more responsibility than you. I just don't like the condescending tone!

 

[Rob_2811]

When you can build iOS apps with an iOS device, then you'll see the shift, iOS is plenty flexible enough to take Apple into the next phase but what they need right now is a leader with some balls to implement the change, instead of pandering to the stock holders...

Miles off.

The thing that most don't realise is that it isn't as simple as Apple making modifications to the OS to allow for better productivity or multitasking and maybe adding a bit of i/o. The entire culture engendered by the App Store is a barrier to professional level software appearing on the platform even if the hardware and OS can handle it.

Maybe they could put out some kind of port of xCode on the iPad but how do people design the UI for apps? Lots of developers, myself included, are used to using software like Photoshop or Sketch for this kind of thing. These are apps are not going to appear, in their full featured desktop form, on iOS any time soon. Sketch have even said that they won't do any kind of iOS port because they dont believe they would make back their investment.

People baulk at the idea of paying a few $ for an iOS app, imagine trying to make a living selling $90 apps on the app store? Also the developer has a problem in the Apple will take 30% of whatever they sell at.

Even more prohibitive are the App Store rules that prevent devs from offering a free trial of their app, how many people are going to fork out $90 or more for an app without the ability to try before they buy? Apple has at least allowed subscription plans on the App Store which is a start but we are a long way off being able to perform the entire iOS development cycle on an iPad.

 

[LordVic]

I posted this comment earlier and it got taken down by the mods.
[doublepost=1481047082][/doublepost]
Services = App Store = iCloud

Apple is toast unless they update their macbook lineup. They got here by having the iPod as a Halo product over the entire lineup. That is what the iPhone is - and it has largely worked. Problem is - the consumer does the research before buying a new computer and sees the outdated macs and says no, i'll take the iPhone but no Mac.

Yup! The Halo product.

it's why I laugh everytime there's decrease in iPhone sales, there's a loud roucus group "THEY'D DO FINE WITHOUT THE IPHONE, LOOK AT THE REST OF THEIR SALES!"

this completely misses the point that the iPhone is a halo product. The iPhone (and iPod before it) worked to bring popular attention to Apple. The shiniest phone that everyone (for a while) wanted that had no real competition. Once people had the phone, and were impressed by it (Who wasn't, I know I was), Apple is now a brand that everyone recognises. So when it became time to buy a tablet, or a computer, Apple, because fo their phone, is the first place they looked.

And having all those together, meant a tightly intergrated ecosystem

But now as you said, people aren't going to the iPads and Mac's like they used to because of various reasons we've talked about ad nausium. Now they're looking at Windows devices, Chromebooks, etc. By doing so, they lose a LOT of the integrated ecosystem that Apple cultivated. And if you start losing the use of lots of features of the iPhone, because you're not completely in the Apple ecosystem, even the iPhone starts to look like less of a value.

So, while the iPhone IS the Halo product to prop up and give supoprt to the other products, The other products failings are now going to hurt the iPhone's. It required Apple keeping all of their products operating cohesively, and keeping people buying them together. That bubble has started to burst.

 

[democracyrules]

I posted this comment earlier and it got taken down by the mods.
[doublepost=1481047082][/doublepost]


Apple is toast unless they update their Mac lineup. .

Apple WILL NOT toast if they do not update their Mac lineup. A lot of Apple fans will follow their directions no matter many complains.

 

[BigZ243]

I'm ok with touch, but if you are going to Mac an iPad truly Pro, I need Pro Apps. Where is Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, etc? iMovie is not a pro app, nor is garageband for the most part and especially the iPad variants.

Not telling professionals if you are going to support them is really a very bad idea. How about a Pro event every year or something to let everyone know you care about them Apple?

 

[Pootmatoot]

Ok. Then why the snotty reply that states the post was from a person that does nothing but use his computer to send photos to Grandma? For all you know, he/she is using their iPad and Mac to run a successful company or large department with significantly more responsibility than you. I just don't like the condescending tone!

Yes, but running a large department or successful company doesn't have anything to do with the power you need in a machine: in non-creative fields, you could often do that with literally any computer on the market, or one 15 years old. Excel and Powerpoint don't need a "pro" machine.

"Pro" is for technical requirements (and yes, they were snotty )

 

[bladerunner2000]

What a snotty reply. How about people that write multi-million dollar contracts, manage departments of analyst, make presentations on projects and budgets, send proposals to clients? You know folks that have real jobs and make an excellent living doing it, but never use photoshop or encode/edit video. I am talking about people with significant responsibilities that need to get **** done. Why do some folks on this form think that only their needs represent real work and describe everyone else as unsophisticated boobs posting cat photos on facebook.....give me a break!

Why are you complaining? My post didn't undermine other professions.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Yup! The Halo product.

it's why I laugh everytime there's decrease in iPhone sales, there's a loud roucus group "THEY'D DO FINE WITHOUT THE IPHONE, LOOK AT THE REST OF THEIR SALES!"

this completely misses the point that the iPhone is a halo product. The iPhone (and iPod before it) worked to bring popular attention to Apple. The shiniest phone that everyone (for a while) wanted that had no real competition. Once people had the phone, and were impressed by it (Who wasn't, I know I was), Apple is now a brand that everyone recognises. So when it became time to buy a tablet, or a computer, Apple, because fo their phone, is the first place they looked.

And having all those together, meant a tightly intergrated ecosystem

But now as you said, people aren't going to the iPads and Mac's like they used to because of various reasons we've talked about ad nausium. Now they're looking at Windows devices, Chromebooks, etc. By doing so, they lose a LOT of the integrated ecosystem that Apple cultivated. And if you start losing the use of lots of features of the iPhone, because you're not completely in the Apple ecosystem, even the iPhone starts to look like less of a value.

So, while the iPhone IS the Halo product to prop up and give supoprt to the other products, The other products failings are now going to hurt the iPhone's. It required Apple keeping all of their products operating cohesively, and keeping people buying them together. That bubble has started to burst.

And nothing says the bubble has bursted more then buying a 3K macbook pro and not being able to plug it in and charge it with the cable in the box.

I hate to be the one to say it but if Jobs saw that he would **** himself.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

Apple,

You have lost touch with what made you special in the first place. You were admired the world over for the attention to detail you placed in your Macs. That is gone now. I’m hanging on by a thread with you and will wait a little bit longer to see if you can regain your stride. But only a little bit longer...

Sincerely,
Bryan

 

[Altis]

Why would I buy a PC anymore? I write books, and you can't write books the way I write books without cutting and pasting large, multipage (sometimes twenty or more) tracts of text with precisely-defined beginning- and end-points. This is amazingly inconvenient absent a mouse or other pointing device. Try it sometime, just for kicks.

So, my question to Mr. Cook is, why in the name of everything holy would anyone anywhere produce and sell an otherwise-wonderful, highly-portable computing device that's otherwise a dream to write novels on mouse-incompatible? I mean... Would it cost that much more, when you already have bluetooth? What can Apple possibly gain by this omission; I mean, certainly there must be many other negatively-affected would-be users? Again and again I find myself shopping Android or Windows tablets, and coming closer to pressing the button with each repetition over this issue and this issue alone.

Exactly. It's so tedious to deal with text without a fast, precise input (mouse/trackpad)... not to mention you often need a larger screen, actual multitasking, etc...

 

[drewyboy]

In case you were wondering, Apple is a phone company. Everything else is a hobby or there to support the phone. Really, macs are only around so people can develop apps for the iphone.

 

[magicschoolbus]

"It Just Works"

Here's my 3K Macbook Pro and my $600 iPhone that I can't charge with my new 3K Macbook because the cable in the box of my $600 phone does not plug into my 3K Macbook Pro.

WHAT

 

[pearvsapple]

Absolutely disgusting and a true shame to Steve's legacy. And for what exactly?

The iPad Pro is just an oversized version of the original iPad Air design (which came out in 2013) and iOS 10 is terribly designed for it. Don't even get me started with that keyboard accessory? And charging the Apple Pen? Everything feels so flimsy and awkward, even Microsoft has it all figured out pretty well. And I'm really getting sick of those thick bezels & chamfered-edge design...

I mean we complain a lot on these forums, you can go back 15 years ago here and find complaints regarding the first iPod, however this truly is a continuous disaster and I hope to god this will reflect on their sales in the future, otherwise nothing will change. Just to think that employees and executives may read this and regard this as meaningless noise.

The Mac has been the backbone to this company for decades, don't strive for high profits, market share & low margins, strive for perfection... because that's what made them special in the first place.

Wrong. The iPad has always been an oversized iPhone. Some even considered it to be a giant iPod.
Same dumb capabilities and crap apps of smart phones and nothing near desktop-quality.

 

[drewyboy]

What renewed focus? All we got this year was what would have normally been an iPad Air 3 and an iOS update with no focus for iPads at all.

Yup, the iPad "Pro's" should have been the Air 3's.