How come theses guys can do it before 2013?

[Richard Herd]

[Craig Seeman] “expanding their computer market share”

Yep. Of course, it’s a business. There’s a weird pseudo-reasoning popping up regularly that goes as follows: Because apple makes more money selling iToys, they are abandoning the pro market.

The opposite is actually true. They are segmenting the pro market and increasing their share of it.

[Phil Hoppes]

[Richard Herd] “They are segmenting the pro market and increasing their share of it.”

Absolutely, and their “upgrade” last week to the MacPro certainly reinforces this for sure.

[Richard Herd]

Last week’s mac pro update was Monday.
Smoke was on Tuesday.

I don’t believe that was a coincidence.

[Phil Hoppes]

It’s very simple. You happen to believe what people/corporations say. I happen to believe in what people/corporations do. There is a significant difference. I look at what Apple has done. What they have done is continuously refine and minimize their product line and streamline it for the 80/20 rule. They want that 80% sweet spot of the market. They don’t play in the basement nor do they play in the very top end. The current MacPro in it’s hayday was very far from the top end of a performance workstation that one could either buy or put together. It’s graphic card selection has always been terrible and very very limited. They put in moderate speed HD’s, their optical drives are a joke and they never put in the fastest CPU’s that are available because they hate fan noise. That is a fact not hearsay. Still, they were fine machines. I had one but they have never been what I would consider to be “bleeding edge”.

You mention Smoke and the MacPros in the same sentence. Then why at NAB and every where else you look are all demos for Smoke done on high end iMacs? It’s simple… for 80% to 90% of the Smoke users that is all they need. I run Smoke on a MBP and it runs fine.

Tim Cook mentioned, after much badgering, that they have not abandoned the Pro market. While he really can’t say bubkus without getting thrown in jail about a future product, it does not take a rocket scientist to project that a high end Mac is probably going to look far more like the migration of the old MacBook Pro to the new MacBook Pro than the old tower to some new one. An iMac with a slot perhaps or a uber MacMini as someone else has suggested. That being said, there is still a good chance that all he is taking about is an iMac with a faster i7 cpu inside. Do you seriously believe that damage was not done to the overall perception on MacPro users by the ridiculous “New” they posted on Monday? Do you really think that their current market share is going to RISE with an overpriced, under spec’ed, under performing BS box they are currently peddling and that customers who need a faster machine now are not either going to look at an uber iMac or switch to Windows? Both of those decisions decrease units and justifications for another tower and if anything the loyal Mac fan that opts for an uber iMac simply adds more justification for that type of product vs a stale toaster.

[Lance Bachelder]

For sure.

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Irvine, California

[Richard Herd]

[Phil Hoppes] “You happen to believe what people/corporations say. I happen to believe in what people/corporations do.”

I’m with you here. I observe what they do, not the PR and marketing. I listed what two corporations did.

[Phil Hoppes] “a uber MacMini as someone else has suggested.” That was me. I like the idea of being able to hook them together, assuming you can create some kind of render farm type thing.

[Phil Hoppes] ” you seriously believe that damage was not done to the overall perception on MacPro users by the ridiculous “New” they posted on Monday?” Correct. It’s not a big deal. The moment the next gadget hits the marketplace, all is forgiven — like an etch-a-sketch. Most folks are just pissy, imo, because they’re itching to buy some new toy. One guy around these-here-parts spent a lot of money and is in the same place he was last year–well…except now he doesn’t have the money and he has to spend more. That’s what I mean by “itching to buy some new toy.”

[Phil Hoppes] “Do you really think that their current market share is going to RISE with an overpriced, under spec’ed, under performing BS box they are currently peddling and that customers who need a faster machine now are not either going to look at an uber iMac or switch to Windows?” Not exactly. First they are segmenting the market. Well, wait a minute, that was present progressive tense. I should have used past perfect: Apple has segmented the market. Now, they will try to gain market share, and last I saw total units sold of X outpaces pretty much every other NLE. If someone is in a APR422 workflow, they really don’t get a choice to move to Windows. I can think of a few examples of people in this forum who are just bullheaded, refusing to run their edit bays on iMacs and X, for reasoning that is essentially whining or peacocking. No offense intended to those people. It’s just that, like you said, “I happen to believe in what people/corporations do.” My observations might be suspect of course, but having twin 2 year-old daughters, I’m an expert at detecting whining.

One last detail. I think your reasoning is backwards. Putting the new box out there (and it’s cheap) at the same time Smoke put their software out there will not create a decline in market share. Make sense? It’s a stop gap measure.

Also Apple has a lot of money so they can play the “pro” game for 10 years, while Avid is worried about next quarter. Adobe’s NLE imo is weird. I use it a lot actually on a Windows box (a crummy one btw) and when I’m using it I always wish I was in X.