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Whither the Mac product line?

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From the «incomprehensible strategy» department:
Title: * iOS for consumers, macOS for professionals *
Author: Thom Holwerda
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2017 18:31:19 -0500
Link: http://osnews.com/story/29681/iOS_for_consumers_macOS_for_professionals

If you listen to Apple podcasts - and you really should, because ATP and
Gruber's The Talkshow are a delight to listen to, even if it's sometimes
infuriatingly inaccurate about Windows, Android, and Linux - you would know
there's a lot of talk going on about what Apple is going to do to 'salvage' the
iPad, and what Apple is going to do - if anything - to replace the Mac Pro.
They sometimes take it a step further, and go into what the future of macOS and
iOS is going to - will they continue to exist side-by-side? Will macOS be
tightened up and made more like iOS, or will iOS be expanded to make it more
like macOS? These questions arise from Apple's seeming indifference towards the
iPad, and the obvious situation with the lack of updates for the Mac Pro, the
Mac Mini, and to a lesser degree even the iMac. On top of that, the rumour mill
is running in overdrive, and it further fuel the fires of these discussions.
I've been thinking about this a lot these past few months, and I've been
talking to people who know their Apple stuff, and the more I take a step back
and look at all the discussions, rumours, and Apple's actions - and lack
thereof - the more obvious it becomes: it seems like Apple is about to
completely redefine its infamous product matrix. In case you don't remember,
back in the late '90s, Steve Jobs showed the following product matrix: Before I
show you what I think Apple is going to do, here are a few reasons underpinning
it, in list form: The Mac Pro was introduced to much fanfare, but hasn't been
updated in - as of writing - more than three years. Likewise, the Mac Mini
hasn't been updated in well over two years. The MacBook Air - the number one
crowd pleaser among non-techy buyers - hasn't been updated in two years. The
iMac hasn't been updated in over 18 months. Apple told Nilay Patel that the
company is out of the standalone display business. If true, the logical
extension of this would be that Apple is out of the headless Mac business. As
John Gruber noted in the latest The Talkshow episode - do you really think
Apple is going to put ugly LG monitors in its brand new, meticulously designed
headquarters? The rumour mill claims Apple is expected to expand its iPad
lineup even further, with more Pro models. iPads - even the basic models - have
an insane amount of computing power, and newer models have lots of RAM and
crazy fast processors. What for? To watch Netflix? I don't think so. And last
but not least: Apple debuted a number of new commercials last week, in which
the company positions the iPad not as a companion device, but as your only
device, touting its productivity features such as Microsoft Office support. Add
all this up, and I'm getting the feeling Apple is working towards a product
matrix that looks more like this: The basic gist is that I feel Apple is slowly
but surely working towards positioning iOS computers as its consumer line, and
macOS computers as its pro line. Since I can already hear people tapping away
at their keyboards about Xcode this and consumption device that - it's
important to note that what is iOS today will be very different from what will
be iOS in the future. iOS surely has its limitations right now - specifically
things like awkward and cumbersome file management, no proper windowing, etc. -
but there's no reason to assume that what iOS looks and feels like today is
what it'll look and feel like forever. A lot of people are exploring what an
IDE and related software will look like on iOS (just follow Steven
Troughton-Smith and Federico Viticci on Twitter - they talk a lot about
production-oriented iPad applications). The problem here isn't that iOS can't
do complex applications - the problem is that the application ecosystem isn't
conducive to such complex applications, which is quite a big hole Apple dug
itself into by letting the App Store model ravage the indie developer scene,
race all prices to the bottom of the barrel, and creating the expectation that
everything is either 99 cents or free. Another issue easily spotted in the
product matrix is that the iPad Pro awkwardly sits in the desktop line, even
though it clearly isn't a desktop device. It could very well be that we'll
eventually see an iOS desktop or desktop-like device, but I honestly don't
think it's worth the effort. People have overwhelmingly voted with their
wallets, and portable computing has resoundingly won. Read more on this
exclusive OSNews article...

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Whither the Mac product line? RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2017-02-26 03:25 +0000

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