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Why the iPad, iPhone, and iPod are good for the Mac...

VirtualRain

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I find all the negative news about the death of the Mac at the hands of the iDevices to be rather entertaining but founded on a clear lack of understanding of how Apple really sells products.

One only needs to google "growth in mac sales" to see about 4 million headlines expounding the incredible growth in Mac Sales over the last few years, particularly since the introduction of the iPod, then the iPhone.

Is it not plainly obvious that the way to increase Mac sales is to attract new customers to Apple with killer iDevices with the expectation that they might strongly consider a Mac next time they upgrade their computer?

Almost everyone I know, who now owns a Mac, first purchased an iPod or an iPhone, and to a person said to me "Wow, Apple makes some incredible stuff, I need to check out a Mac". In the last couple of months, many of my colleagues have purchased their first Apple product: an iPad - and are now converted Apple faithful that will most certainly buy a Mac to sync it with in the coming months.

So everyone who loves Mac's should love iDevices and the focus that Apple puts on them. It's the iDevices that attract customers and sell Macs. And increased Mac Sales, means more better product for us. :)
 
If people are buying the current Apple desktop lineup they're overpaying for what they get. Beautiful design or not. Ive been waiting for over a year for an affordable Mac Pro or iMac with a decent quad core cpu and minimum 1gb video card. Im fed up and moving to a PC.
 
I actually bought a Mac first and said "wow I like this, I might try an iPhone too and I did and bought that too".

Anyways it would be all fine and dandy if they wouldn´t neglect the Macs with iToys.
 
VirtualRain said:
I find all the negative news about the death of the Mac at the hands of the iDevices to be rather entertaining but founded on a clear lack of understanding of how Apple really sells products.

One only needs to google "growth in mac sales" to see about 4 million headlines expounding the incredible growth in Mac Sales over the last few years, particularly since the introduction of the iPod, then the iPhone.

Is it not plainly obvious that the way to increase Mac sales is to attract new customers to Apple with killer iDevices with the expectation that they might strongly consider a Mac next time they upgrade their computer?

Almost everyone I know, who now owns a Mac, first purchased an iPod or an iPhone, and to a person said to me "Wow, Apple makes some incredible stuff, I need to check out a Mac". In the last couple of months, many of my colleagues have purchased their first Apple product: an iPad - and are now converted Apple faithful that will most certainly buy a Mac to sync it with in the coming months.

So everyone who loves Mac's should love iDevices and the focus that Apple puts on them. It's the iDevices that attract customers and sell Macs. And increased Mac Sales, means more better product for us. :)
Click to expand...

That's the way it should be but I don't believe that's the way it is.
Apple is focusing on it's gadgets.
Apple's R&D is also concentrating on the iPad, iPod, and iPhone.
Why does it take a year and a half to bring out a new Mac Pro?
Where are the 64-bit pro applications?
Apple can't even bring out a 64-bit QuickTime X Pro.

Apple is now a very big and powerful company.
I wish they would put more time and effort on the computer side of things.

Here is an email sent to Steve Jobs and his reply:

Original message:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

My name’s Matthias, developer of flickery.
Is there any particular reason Apple has dropped the Design Awards for the Mac? Any plans to have them again in the future?
Thank you very much for all the great work you and your company has been doing,

Greetings from Vienna,
Matthias Gansrigler

Jobs’ Response:

We are focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on iPhone OS this year.
Maybe next year we will focus primarily on the Mac.
Just the normal cycle of things.
No hidden meaning here.
.
 
VirturalRain,

Yet another great post, thats why I love you man.

But to the topic, I agree the iOS devices are a huge gain for Apple, and will probably indeed take over a large majority of the consumer computer uses. However, we need to remember here, that these devices still require a computer, an iTunes hub is still needed. Is that to say that we will say good-bye when a cloud solution arrives? No, we won't. We still have so much manipulation that requires the power, and I/O that a Mac or Desktop/Laptop PC have.

Even though we can use iMovie for iPhone, do we still need a computer, yeah we do.

As pointed out, many Apple users/fans these days had their first Apple/Mac experience with an iOS device. This is a reminiscent feeling of the old MUG's (Mac User Groups). The Apple customer base shifted from the 1980's to the 2000's and once again we have a huge shift into 2010. The shift being the increased effort in the iOS Developer/R&D department.

I want to clearly state here and now, that Apple is a large corporation, and has many teams each working on their own individual projects. Johnny Ive isn't running off helping the Mac OS X team ready 10.7 for developers any more than Scott Forstall and his team aren't helping the iMac design. Apple MAY pull programmers as it sees fit for their software, understandably. But Apple is not pulling Mac Pro Development, and/or resources to accommodate the upcoming iPhone 4, or (you heard it here first) iPod touch and iPad with FaceTime camera, or the Mac OS X 10.6.4 with FaceTime application.

In closing I offer that the iMac, MacBook Pro, and MacBook have all seen updates fairly recently. Apple isn't popping out new models every other month, and I don't suspect they ever will. When they are ready to release THEIR product, they will. And when the new Mac Pro is released, I will be paying cash the moment I can Pre/order.

*(and I'm leaning on full price for the iPhone to eliminate the ETF in case it does indeed find it's way to another carrier in the future...)
 
I bought that iPod that was the iPhoto iPod, the first with the color screen. I STILL have and use that as my only portable music player. I only got it because I could put music on it via my PC and a Windows iTunes application.

I didn't buy a Mac until December of 2009, when I needed a machine capable of editing HD video.

Maybe I'm an unusual-ish Mac user, but I'm only interested in the "pro" equipment, and my ancient little iPod.
 
The PC platform is losing it's importance in people`s lives. Steve said so himself.

With portable devices and their (touch) OSes and applications evolving, improving, only pros will need a Mac in a couple of years time.

It's just the way it is.
 
Bubba Satori said:
Well. if Steve said so, it must be true. :rolleyes:
Besides, who wan't to drive a truck?
Click to expand...

A13396-lg.jpg


It doesn't necessarily mean it's true, but it explains why Apple put so much effort into the iOS and devices and are less eager about the Mac. I disagree with the OP that iDevices are here to sell Macs. They may have done, and they may do, but ultimately they are the platform of the future.
 
Belly-laughs said:
The PC platform is losing it's importance in people`s lives. Steve said so himself.

With portable devices and their (touch) OSes and applications evolving, improving, only pros will need a Mac in a couple of years time.

It's just the way it is.
Click to expand...

Well if this turns out to be true it is Apple's doing and not the consumers. By creating such efficient handheld/portable devices, yes they have in effect pushed out many casual users from buying iMacs and MBP's. If I'm surfing the internet, e-mailing, paying bills, etc. why should I buy a $1500 machine when I can do the same thing for $600 on an iPad? I can even carry thousands of books and hours of movies/music wherever I go all in one package. Personally, I'll be buying their comps for as long as they manufacture good ones.
 
VirtualRain said:
I find all the negative news about the death of the Mac at the hands of the iDevices to be rather entertaining but founded on a clear lack of understanding of how Apple really sells products.

One only needs to google "growth in mac sales" to see about 4 million headlines expounding the incredible growth in Mac Sales over the last few years, particularly since the introduction of the iPod, then the iPhone.

Is it not plainly obvious that the way to increase Mac sales is to attract new customers to Apple with killer iDevices with the expectation that they might strongly consider a Mac next time they upgrade their computer?

Almost everyone I know, who now owns a Mac, first purchased an iPod or an iPhone, and to a person said to me "Wow, Apple makes some incredible stuff, I need to check out a Mac". In the last couple of months, many of my colleagues have purchased their first Apple product: an iPad - and are now converted Apple faithful that will most certainly buy a Mac to sync it with in the coming months.

So everyone who loves Mac's should love iDevices and the focus that Apple puts on them. It's the iDevices that attract customers and sell Macs. And increased Mac Sales, means more better product for us. :)
Click to expand...

I completely agree
 
It may be true for imachines and laptops, and I'm not saying I even agree with you there. But it's definitely NOT true for Mac Pros. Laptops and imachines are completely ineffective for the level of pro work I do, and I've been waiting over a year for an update or a price drop without luck, while more and more itoys are announced/updated.
 
"We are focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on iPhone OS this year.
Maybe next year we will focus primarily on the Mac."

For me sounds like..
"intel gave us no choice ,just that 2 cores more with Gulftown..,
not really different from today config,
we want More Pro in less space...,
less heat on 32nm..so
we wait for Sandy Bridge.."

maybe on fall Gpu bump for Imac27,a 5870 for the pro..,
and a imac 21 with corei5 and 4850...
maybe...even a mini with a 320 M..

but i'm going off topic...sorry

Just to stay in,my opinion,my hope is that if they develop new applications then they need to have the hardware to do it,
don't think this would be possible
with an Ipad..,:rolleyes:
 
It seems that Jonny Evans at 9-to-5 Mac and Steve Jobs agree with me :D

Myself, I’m sick of people making speculations like this on strength of Apple’s success in new markets. Far from undermining the platform, the real impact of the iPod, then the iPhone, on Apple’s Mac sales has been fantastic. Look at the numbers. Look at stats like “50 percent of Macs sold in the Apple retail stores are to new to the Mac users.”

Consider Inside Digital Media analyst, Phil Leigh, who thinks Apple's Mac sales will rise from about $18 billion this year to $27.5 billion in Fiscal 2014, on strength of the company’s successes with new products. That's a 50 percent mark-up in an overall computing industry that's anticipated to be relatively flat.

Far from decaying Apple's interest in the PC, the company's mobile products serve to boost credibility for the Mac platform while making the company generally more relevant (and therefore attractive) to the consumer computing markets. And a move to mobile devices is a future-focused move, one day all these platforms will converge once again. Already your iPhone has broadly more computing power inside it than a v.1 iMac.
Click to expand...

Link including email from Steve... http://9to5mac.com/death_of_the_mac_untrue
 
I know only that Apple MUST do something.
I mean,new mac pro or
better prices for the today ones.
But if they lower prices for the quad one..it risks to affect the Imac 27" sales.... so...maybe a new retouch even for iMac prices?
Don't think so... Better new Mac Pro (as soon as they can ,in order to avoid talkings about Old over-prices Mac [not my thought])
and a Cpu/Gpu Bump for the Imac line.
As Steve said...we just have to wait...,
i trust you Steve,but don't mess up with our mac's passion,
do the best,not just focus on i-devices pleaseeeeee.
 
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