Cougar, on 04 April 2017 - 11:44 AM, said:
Yeah, the only reason I could rationalize the fact that there were no new Mac Pros, yet they were still selling the thing, was that they were starting from scratch.
The price drop today is weird, though. Why couldn't have they done one earlier? Perhaps the new MP was supposed to come out this year, but was delayed. Anyway, it'll be interesting to learn in ten year or so's time what exactly happened. They must have known not long after the MP was released that the design was a mistake, so what is taking them so long?
Also interesting is that the release will be accompanied with new monitors. I feel sorry for everyone who bought the ugly LG. Apple should have said something in October.
Yeah this is where it gets interesting, and I have more theories lol.
"Apple should have said something in October." I think that Apple had nothing to say in October. They were either going to abandon the Mac Pro (more likely), and restructure the iMac lineup (which will still happen), or slightly overhaul the current one and be done with it (not super likely). Around the timing I think it's as simple as they just had nothing to say because all of this has happened since.
There was probably a very high level tussle about what should happen, and I think several people were in favour of stepping back and re-designing a tower; they lost out. But the furore late 2016 event started a chain of events that led to a perceivable perception issue, debate was re-ignighted internally, and eventually they pulled the trigger on a re-birthing of the Mac Pro.
So they had this event with:
No new desktops and a new computer with
No traditional I/O
No new Apple Displays (probably ever)
They then went out and broke with past PR trend by having an extended discount period for accessories to respond to the I/O controversy, giving off some semblance of a notion of guilt. Something that could only have happened because Katie Cotton is no longer at Apple.
Then to make matters worse, the LG display turns out to be defective in a big way, needing a re-call and a re-design,
and they had no new iPad Pro's to show off.
IMO this created a perception popsnizzlestorm that re-ignighted my hypothetical high level debate, the LG displays were the nail in the coffin for the "kill off the professional Mac Hardware business" approach.
It doesn't take a force like Apple that long to get a tower ready.
All signs from that tight lipped interview seem to be point to it being a tower
Phil Schiller: "We’re not going to get into exactly what stage we’re in, just that we told the team to take the time to do something really great. To do something that can be supported for a long time with customers with updates and upgrades throughout the years."
This is all the result of some very recent decision making at Apple. I really think starting again started this year... Apple's newer, less tight lipped approach to PR is the only thing that made this whole,
almost admission of mistake possible.
All in all I don't think Apple needed to do this, they could have kept on the path they were on which was probably to streamline the iMac lineup
Consumer small/Consumer Big/Pro with options aplenty; they showed in their numbers that there just isn't enough users for it to be a massive concern for them.
I just really think the mounting noise from an extremely vocal minority made someone at Apple cave.
And it's the right decision. They have the money, they have the know-how, It's the spiritual mothership of a product to Apple, and in lots of ways a think it signifies a good shift in attitude to the Mac in the post-jobs era.