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Apple’s Mac business plan
With the recent rumor about the death of the Mac Pro, a lot of concerns/excitement have sprung up about what will happen to Apple’s pro hardware. Many fear that Apple is slowly getting out of the pro market.
Ive been reading Steve Job’s biography by Walter Isaacson,and the curent concerns brought me back to a scene when he was rehired at Apple to fix things up. After a very messy product review session with many crappy products on Apples pipeline, he’s had enough and said stop. He went to the whiteboard and drew a 4 paned table like the one here and marked it, consumer, professional, dektop, portable. He started to focus Apples efforts and talent to this four product concentrations.
As you can observe, the professional market comprises half of Apples focus. It is a big deal for them. It has always been part of Apples genes to cover all bases in their products, from consumer to professional. And I believe it will not change one bit, even if they are getting majority of their revenues from iPhones currently.
Its not in Apples DNA to rest on its laurels. They might have killed the floppy drive, but they introduced the better storage medium, CD. They might have ignored USB3 but they developed Thunderbolt. They might have passed on the blu ray fad but focused on all digital media distribution so optical storage solution will be irrelevant. They are always 10steps ahead from the rest of the pack, that was Steve Job’s gift.
The traditional “pro” level equipment disappears and new standards will be created. As usual they will be the first to offer it and the rest of the industry will copy. Its always been that way. Aren’t you guys tired of doubting them.
Quobetah
New=Better -
44 Replies
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See you at the next ‘KoolAid’ party. My shout. You deserve more than one free drink 🙂
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It’s interesting how things are shifting and blurring between consumer and professional.
The iPad is becoming the new DayRunner for the business person although far more powerful.
The iPhone is certainly in parts of some enterprise.
The top end iMac has two Thunderbolt ports and i7 Quad. It’s really moved into the entry level workstation given what Thunderbolt does.
While MacMini and MacBookAir may be consumer they’re no longer segregated by connectivity since they both have Thunderbolt.
There’s no longer connectivity segregation between smaller and larger MacBookPros where Express slot was once the divide.
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When Steve Jobs introduced the Consumer/Professional – Portable/Desktop matrix 13 years ago, Apple was still called Apple Computer, Inc.
Today, 13 years later, the market has changed. Mobility and entertainment have become the major drivers for Apple’s growth, not computers. Apple’s strategy has changed with (or perhaps in front of) the market, and the old matrix Jobs developed in the 1990s is no longer driving Apple’s product development.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Gerald Baria] ” Aren’t you guys tired of doubting them.”
Nope.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
Gerald is a child. He does not understand that even if FCP X and the Mac Mini will “blow the doors” off of what we have today just 2 or 3 years from now – GROWNUPS HAVE TO CONTINUE TO MAKE A LIVING – they don’t have mommy and daddy funding their indi movies, while they have fun. Unfortunately for most of the readers of Creative Cow, and the people that use FCP 7 on a daily basis – we do this so we can MAKE MONEY and meet the requirements of our clients. If this does not fit in with Apple’s plan (who cares about television – the future is on the web) – well, then we bitch, because we put a lot of effort into all this stuff, and unlike the people who hang around the Apple store’s in the shopping malls, WE have to earn a living.
Bob Zelin
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I actually don’t see Apple dumping MacPro’s. I mean, if they are serious about penetration into the business world (which they say they are) they are going to need a solution that has PCI slots in it, don’t ya think? Forget us media types, I’m talking Fortune 2000 companies. If they don’t see a market there that they can penetrate, I don’t see them making MacPros for the likes of our 250,000 person group of media types who need the power of a work station. Heck less than 1% of the MacBook Pro sales go to those registered with FCS 2009… We aren’t a drop in the bucket to Apple.
That said, it was always SJ’s vision to be an end to end solution with media. Create it, deliver it, and (soon I hear) to even display it, if you don’t count Apple TV as the solution already.
Still, that puts us all in a sort of limbo… FCP X, will be ready someday, but when? we don’t know. MacPro’s may well be in their last iteration, who knows.
But do we all really need a 16 core machine? Probably not.. Thunderbolt has made everything cloudy for us right now. So I really think most of the FCP 7 users are going to stay right where they are for at least a while yet. Why not?
I must add here though one little fact. My 17″ quad MacBook Pro with TB is FASTER than my first gen 8 core 3 gig tower… It compresses 30% faster.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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[Gerald Baria] “Aren’t you guys tired of doubting them.”
Is this a serious comment ?
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Does each TB port have independent bus speed equivalent to 4x PCIe, or are both ports sharing one 4x PCIe equivalent speed TB bus?
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[Jerry Hofmann] “Still, that puts us all in a sort of limbo… FCP X, will be ready someday, but when? we don’t know. MacPro’s may well be in their last iteration, who knows. “
Jerry,
I’m sorry, but I’ve got to point out that your opinion above a great example of the main problem here.
You say “all of us” followed by “”FCP-X will be ready someday” but what you’re actually saying is “will be ready for ME the way I work someday.” Which is fair and accurate.
But there IS a larger truth. That it’s ready for probably 80% of the functioning video editing market right this moment.
Period. No questions. It cuts fine.
It organizes assets MORE than fine. It does titles, incorporates graphics, allows you to rough out – fine tune – finalize – and even export and delivery in ways that are acceptable to the entire planet of video delivery RIGHT THIS SECOND.
All you have to know is how to use it. Just like any other NLE.
It’s the thinking embodied in that line above thats largely what’s confusing things, IMO. It’s constantly harping on the “ITS NOT READY YET” theme that’s barely fractionally true in the overall context of video editing as it;s practiced across our planet.
FCP-X is perfectly ready. Just not ready for everyone in absolutely all circumstances. That this particular board might be somewhat heavy with the people for whom it’s not yet adequate is no excuse not to understand that there are legions of eyeballs here who are looking for accurate information, and not being attuned to the context of a remark like yours above, it leaves the impression that it’s somehow incapable or nonfunctional.
And you can’t possibly mean that — because it simply isn’t true.
That’s the larger problem with the “haters.” I understand how and why they “hate” it – particularly since it might have supplanted something they were depending on to feed their families. But truth is truth, and opinion is opinion.
And that it’s “not ready for prime time” depends ENTIRELY on how you define prime time.
Simple as that.
“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor
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[Bill Davis] “And that it’s “not ready for prime time” depends ENTIRELY on how you define prime time.”
Prime time is broadcast, right? With no video I/O or EDL export, it’s not ready for broadcast, so it’s not ready for prime time…
I say this half-jokingly.
[Bill Davis] “FCP-X is perfectly ready. Just not ready for everyone in absolutely all circumstances. That this particular board might be somewhat heavy with the people for whom it’s not yet adequate is no excuse not to understand that there are legions of eyeballs here who are looking for accurate information, and not being attuned to the context of a remark like yours above, it leaves the impression that it’s somehow incapable or nonfunctional.”
I certainly appreciate the need for “balanced coverage” in this forum, but just as you might object to me saying that FCPX is missing important functionality, I’d object to you saying “FCP-X is perfectly ready.”
Blanket statements either way aren’t correct.
FCPX is a new product that may or may not suit a particular workflow. It will work for some of my projects, but not others. You might be surprised to hear that I have actually recommended FCPX to a couple of my clients, because it suited their workflows better than FCP7 ever did.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
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