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Do you really have to ask if iWorks would be the software bundle for "Pros"?
Do you really have to ask if iWorks would be the software bundle for "Pros"?
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If you like hearing any rumors about a new Mac Pro...
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The GPUs in iMacs and MBP are perfectly capable of driving multiple displays. Thunderbolt caps out at two but that isn't that big of a deal as that covers most users .
Apple has about 7% of the classic personal computer market ( excluding "modern" tablets and smartphones). Apple 'looses' sales to Windows every single day they are in operation. The other 90% of the market buys Windows every day. It would be deeply misguided strategy to go through gyrations on every Windows sales because Apple would spend every day agonizing over not being in Window's position. ( all the more dubious given if weave in tablets and smartphones Apple is on verge of passing Windows. I.e., wrong "war" to be worried about. The PC wars of the 80-90's are over. )
The Mac Pro is not particularly price relative to Windows boxes as much as it is priced relative to other Macs ( namely the iMac). It is more likely Apple has inserted a larger gap between iMac and Mac Pro to boost iMac sales. So there is rather limited loss in profits there. Instead of gapping the $1999 iMac with the entry Mac Pro , Apple gaps the BTO of +CPU +GPU ( ~2,349) with the more typical $200 gap between products.
The "toll" it is taking is killing off the Mac Pro over the longer term. "Giving away" price points to the iMac doesn't really do either product a favor. The iMac should be able to grow inside its own range ($1000-2000) and if it can't it has problems that need fixing. Similarly, if Mac Pro prices are pushed to high they the product's growth sputters and dies off. ( which then becomes the excuse as to why don't do timely updates .... rise and repeat and now in negative outcome feedback cycle. ). Large numbers of customers picking Windows may be inevitable, but inhibiting your own products is a bozo move.
Users with relatively stagnant increasing workload demands are moving down to the more capable iMac but there is little reason to accelarate that flavor of cannibalization process faster than what tech improvements motivate it.
Apple only applications are not enough to keep the Mac Pro around. Nor would be sane to leave are any of those applications solely dependent upon the Mac Pro ( the Mac Pro is a increasingly smaller percentage of the overall Mac market. )
So, faster architecture and a software bundle? I was surprised when I checked the Pro Apps section on the MAS. There are six applications listed there, ranging from $50 to $300. I can't say how "professional" these Pro Apps are since I don't use any of them professionally except for Aperture, which I rarely use.
I would add the iWorks suite as well since a pro needs an office suite.
Why I think this idea has merit is that Apple has an opportunity to hook new people into their SW ecosystem. Once people start using an application professionally, they tend to stick with it.... moving to another application means a lot of time spent on a new learning curve, new tricks learned, and the conversion of projects to the new format. Also consider that Apple doesn't tend to offer a discounted upgrade price. When there is a new major version, you pay full freight to upgrade. So, if Apple can hook a bunch of professionals on their more expensive SW titles then over the course of several upgrade cycles they will more than get their money back.
We also know that Apple doesn't look at profit/loss of individual items. If, hypothetically speaking, Apple projected that for each Mac Pro they could sell to a professional (not a gamer) they could make $500 in SW sales over the projected lifetime of the system and $1000 in sales over the lifetime of their relationship with that customer, then that would be taken into account in the pricing of the Mac Pro, and even whether to offer a new Mac Pro at all.
But as I wrote that I noticed I excluded "gamers".... because Apple really doesn't make any professional SW sales to gamers (excepting of course, those professionals who also happen to game). So... perhaps the new HW will be more tuned for professionals and less appropriate for gamers? I don't know nearly enough to speculate on how you do that... except it seems to me having a machine with massive internal storage and a poor selection of high-end video cards helps. Sorta like the current machines, eh?
It is possible a meteoroid could crash into Apple HQ tomorrow wiping out Mac Product development for the next 12 months. It isn't very probable.
Speculation to drive the product into the ground? This kind of bundle is deeply flawed.
A. The Mac Pro is already suffers from a "only good for niche apps" ghetto classification already. A large bundle price just screams that the underlying hardware doesn't have a value proposition. Over the long term will loose as much customers are could gain. Those customer for which the Mac Pro is a solid foundation but have made other software choices will choose something else.
It is not an additive value proposition. It is a "damage control" value proposition if the Mac Pro growth was on a irreversible path down to stem the losses that would be on target . Wrong strategy for where the Mac Pro needs to go.
What the Mac Pro more desperately needs is more customers with a wider foundation of applications that efficiently tap into the latent value the hardware provides.
B. Going to damage the reputation of the Software also. If people aren't willing to buy the software ( have to give it away with the hardware) then some "professional" folks are going to bolt. You can see it with much of the commentary around XSan when bundled into the OS.
Also Apple spends alot of effort promoting the fact this software works well on all Macs. Bundling with Mac Pro promotes the notion that the software doesn't quite work well with the other Macs. Mixed messages are a very bad idea.
C. The software ecosystem is damaged. Are the multiform vendors going to make OS X a priority if Apple is using monopolistic techniques (bundling) to kill off their product. Not many. Especially in the primarily workstation targeted market where Windows (and increasingly Linux) are bigger markets? Overall Mac Market strategy wise it is a strictly bonehead move.
This is a "great" marketing idea because it is a hustle of getting more "free stuff" out of Apple. There are no good outcomes for Apple here.
LOL. Not gonna happen. Because all of the Apple apps are linked to the online Mac App store Apple will lock the licenses for these "freebie" apps to the AppleID they are initially attached too. Just like they do with iLife apps.
With respect to the software, there is no difference between old and new other than the new boxes "aren't worth the price they were sold at". So now the new ones take a $600 price trim BEFORE start to discount for age. That will actually lower the resale price of the new Mac Pro. With even cheaper used models, that will lower the sales of new Mac Pros.
You probably are. There is nobody with a clue at Apple that will believe though. That says mountains about the probability if it happening.
You mean here? http://www.apple.com/osx/apps/app-store.html or Here: http://www.apple.com/mac/ under the "Applications" tab? Either way at the bottom there are these listed:
iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand - $15 each.)
iWork (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote - $20 each)
iBooks Author - Free
Aperture - $80
Final Cut Pro - $300
Motion - $50
Compressor - $50
Logic Pro - $200
MainStage - $30
Remote Desktop - Free
Safari - Free
QuickTime (QT7 Pro - $30)
But the only apps there I would actually call "Pro" are FCP, Motion, and Logic Pro. Aperture tries to be "Pro" but it's among the worst of all 13 photo editors I own. So "Pro" but poor "Pro".
Of course everything listed there can be used in a professional setting for getting paid work done. I really like all the apps in iLife and iWorks. Very high level very useful consumer applications - if there is such a designation. The new iBooks is really sweet too! I own all of the above including the paid (Pro) version of the QuickTime app. On the http://www.apple.com/pro/ page they list just three applications: Aperture, FCP, and Logic Pro with a mention of MainStage.
Hehe, LOL.
Exactly. Cheap. $600 is NOT a lot of money for Pro software, especially in video. CS Master Suite alone is what... either $600 a YEAR or $1500 for the bundle.
FCPS used to be $1000 alone.
If I'm buying a $6000 machine, $600 is a nice bonus, but it's certainly not a game changer. And if I don't need all that software, I'm going to care less anyway.
If Apple is smart they will make any software bundle BTO but at a discount. Not every mac pro user is in the same field (or even need the software at all). I just need the hardware but if I were doing, oh, graphics work why would I need an audio program?
It is once Apple sets expectations levels back to $0.0 XSan , $79 Aperture , and $299 for FCPX. Maybe back in the "old days", but the "old days are over now.
The $4,000+ Mac Pros don't really have a value proposition problem. The only subset of the Mac Pro line up with a value prop problem is the first two single package models back in the sub $3,000 range.
The Mac Pro in the $4,000+ is quite cost and value competitive with the alternative Windows offerings and in a completely different league than the rest of the Mac line up. If those aren't selling then seriously need to re-evalutate the included hardware, not triage with the software not everyone wants. ( like perhaps non price gouged SSDs options standard issue. )