Shrinking? Again, the Mac market isn't shrinking.
What are you basing this on?
I ask, as the information that was on the front page was the result of the entire computer sales, not narrowed down to the MP (consumer models are up overall, but it's a mistake to presume the % even across every model, particularly the MP).
Given the workstation market in general is in a transitional state due to the increasing core counts per die (more users are finding it possible to shift from a DP system to an SP system), it's not unreasonable to conclude that the MP sales figures follow this trend rather than defy it (even though it's the only desktop they offer with PCIe slots, the MSRP's are a bit hard to swallow for consumer/enthusiast users, which helped push up sales volumes with previous models).
Well, we don't know the Mac Pro's individual growth, but I like I said, this would be more of a concern if the Mac Pro had a large R&D budget, but it doesn't.
Don't get me wrong, eventually, some day years from now, the Mac Pro will go away. But the R&D budget is so low on the Mac Pro I don't see it being a concern for Apple.
Assuming all things equal, the R&D figures wouldn't be that different from what other vendors spend (unfortunately, I don't expect they spend as much). Where it differs however, is the per unit distribution due to the lower economy of scale (fewer systems to divide out over). Given Apple's MSRP's, it wouldn't be a problem as there's enough markup to counter that (and then some).
But when you consider the ROI on those funds, it's very likely they could do better by shifting them to another product that has a much better ROI (due to higher growth rates, such as those of they're obtaining from the devices).
There isn't any evidence that I've seen that the Mac Pro is encountering a significant sales slide. No one here knows the exact numbers, but this whole "should I buy a laptop or a desktop" discussion has been going on since 1999 when Apple pushed the Pismo G3 Powerbooks as a Final Cut workstation.
Obviously Apple doesn't provide detailed figures per product (just categories). But it's possible to get a reasonable idea from other data sources, such as figures published on marketshare with a few calculations (workstation data and OS marketshare).
No, it's not. As the Mac gains more acceptance in the market, so does the Mac Pro.
You're assuming the Halo Effect applies to the MP to the same degree as it does for their consumer products. In some cases, it might, but enterprise users tend to be immune to this more than consumer users (enterprise purchases are typically based off of cold, clinical cost/performance analysis, not emotions).
Granted, this has been less so in the past from what I've seen with the MP, but economics (higher MSRP's + uncertain market conditions) seem to have prompted MP users to take the clinical approach from what I'm seeing here in MR (What model.. laptop vs. MP... sorts of threads).
Does it matter? If it only grew 0.1% a year, Apple would still have no reason to cut it.
This isn't quite true. If the growth is high enough, it will survive. But as it diminishes, the ROI gets below a threshold they've established, it's more beneficial to them to take those funds and direct them to a new product that will generate a much better ROI.
If they don't, earnings would stall, and the stockholders could demand a few people's heads (they've gotten accustomed to ever increasing dividends/stock prices, and it's as addictive as any Schedule I drug...
).
What competitors are spending large amounts of R&D on workstations? I don't see Dell pouring money into R&D on workstations. Neither is HP. Because they play the same game as Apple. Workstations aren't complicated, and we as customers aren't hard to please. Just throw us new processors and GPUs, and we'll be happy.
Users see the new CPU's, GPU's, ..., but there's a lot more money spent on validation/verification testing than consumer machines due to the operational environments and need for stability (everything from component selection all the way through to what's listed on various Hardware and Software Compatibility Lists consumes more man-hours). Combine all of it, and you'd be surprised at what they spend, even though it's not visible to the eye or listed on a specifications sheet (i.e. features). Where it does show up, is in things like reliability and integrated solutions offered.
Unfortunately, Apple doesn't offer the amount of additional hardware and software for customized integrated solutions, so they wouldn't spend as much in this particular area (which is why I suspect they spend as much on R&D as other vendors).
Even if someone were forced to stick with or prefer Windows OS, people are even wiping Mac OSX and installing windows on MacBook Pros making better windows machines. I'm hearing a larger group of users doing this.
Where?
I ask, as I'd have expected this before the 2009 systems came out due to the better pricing structures for the earlier models (particularly for independent users/small business).
Large enterprise users OTOH, would shy away from this due to a few reasons:
- IT staff would kick up a fuss and/or run into some issues that would be difficult or even impossible to solve (lack of firmware access, limited hardware support for things like RAID controllers <they like to keep things the same wherever possible = reduced support costs>, no hardware support for InfiniBand, .... sorts of things)
- Integrated Solutions available that Apple doesn't offer
- Hardware options not available through Apple, and they want a single contact for warranty support
Practically every Mac user assumes that Mac Pros are meant for running Final Cut Pro and NOTHING ELSE!.
Apple put their efforts into targeting graphics content professionals with the MP, so it's to be expected.
It's been about a year since I did anything serious in FCP. Yet I use my Mac Pro every day for many other tasks that push all 8 cores to the limit. I don't think that FCP users make up an astounding percentage of the Mac Pro market, and even if those users abandon FCP, it doesn't mean abandoning the Mac.
Most of the MP users I've ever seen/heard of, are using them for graphics content creation.
A lot of people pushing out apps for a living have more then one use for the resources a Mac Pro offers. If Apple were to axe that line (apart from it being the only semi-decent server system left), it would send the message that they're no longer interested in catering to the content creators that ultimately empower their mobile device market.
iOS could be developed on a Mini or iMac (matte screen isn't a necessity, and TB allows for improved I/O performance). You and others may not be willing to readily embrace it with open arms, but Apple could see such systems as a solution in the not too distant future (such as when Haswell releases, as 8 cores will be available on consumer CPUID's).
The Mini Server will be able to do quite a bit by then as well, so they even have a solution for OS X Server.
