Not a problem. It just got a little irritating when some folks make it seem like Apple cannot chew and walk at the same time when they can. They (Apple) do have agility in terms of pulling people from various divisions but it doesn't mean the entire company is that way where everyone is piled into a project at the expense of others. The collaboration is just deeper because it is necessitated given the integration they are trying to achieve and to ensure that production doesn't get blocked due to some minor detail that was missed by another team earlier.
Cybart unfortunately goes a bit overboard though. It's not surprising because that is what happens when people get overly enthusiastic about the prospects of what Apple can potentially do with their industrial design and the whole "intersection of the arts and humanities" approach to tech. There's a point though where you need balance when it comes to design form and design function. Apple designed the 2013 Mac Pro (logistics dictate at least 2 years lead time of design prior to launch) into a thermal and user upgradability dead end in terms of the workstation space. Maybe at some point in the future, it will make sense. But even today, folks like myself do not want a mostly closed box Mac Pro and have to connect everything externally. If I wanted something like that, I would just get an iMac Pro (thanks but no thanks to all-in-ones for myself). There are compromises and as I noted in my earlier post here, I already have plans to transition to HP's Generation 4 line of workstations should Apple decide to go that route with the 2019 Mac Pro.
Apple execs do know about the importance of the Mac since it has always been defined as the glue that links the ecosystem together (Jobs originally referred to it as the digital hub - refer back to Macworld Tokyo 2002 when he expanded on it).
The basic notion behind that was so that the Mac would maintain relevance even though other parts may grow bigger than it. The Mac only software apps was the initial glue. But then came the devices. iPod was an example when it really took off a few years after his keynote speech about their strategy. No different with the iPhone which is way bigger. But the Mac even though it is a small percentage of the pie, is relevant in this ecosystem. iPad cannibalizing the Mac wasn't a concern because their take has always been to prefer having an Apple product cannibalize another Apple product versus losing sales to the competition (and that is exactly what some folks have done and will eventually do).
And as developers have mentioned, you need a Mac to develop for iOS (to develop for it, you have to purchase one of Apple's high margin Mac's). Sure at some point, an iPad might become a viable means for some to do their development on if Apple brings the dev tools to iOS. But not everyone is going to want to do their development there. So it remains in Apple's best interests to continue designing an array of Mac hardware to meet the needs of these folks. The same goes for content creators. So it is laughable to hear the opinion (from some) that Apple should not even try to put that much effort into something like the 2019 Mac Pro with the rationale being that it is a small niche relative to the other Mac form factors given it is still a lucrative business for them. Apple has the resources to work on it, the Mac mini, macOS while other teams work on iOS related projects.
Apple execs KNOW they dropped the ball with the 2013 Mac Pro (the reason for two meetings in the past two years). The ongoing issue is still the same though; are the folks in charge of coming up with the modular Mac Pro, going to attempt to reinvent some "new wheel" and over think things like they did when they came up with the thermal dead end form over function design of the trash can? True, Jobs ideal was to do things by skating to where the puck is. But even he knew you couldn't always push too far out (which is the rationale for doing the iPhone first as opposed to the iPad which he later admitted was what they started out with first).
Ah! xD I wouldn't have the patience (nor do I have the time) to do that.
Cook is a great operations/supply chain guy. Fortunately he knows his strength. So I do give him credit for continuing to run Apple well from that perspective. Where he does deserve criticism though is when he flippantly said "I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore?" back in 2015 or when he replied that "we do plan for Mac mini to be an important part of our of future product lineup" while the current outdated model just sits there with outdated pricing from 2014. Yes, I do realize there is a team probably designing something but it still just comes across as tone deaf considering how long it was languishing prior to that e-mail response. These are all tiny self-inflicted papercuts that's growing into a larger more painful wound than it needs to.
