The war between professionals and consumers

[ApplesAOranges]

I hate the current time. Apple is clearly favoring the consumers and forgetting the professionals. They are clearly dedicating a lot more of their time and money creating children´s consumer toys and forgetting and ignoring the professional´s "big boys toys".

Why can´t Apple just love all their children just the same? Is money really that important?

Apple would be bad parents. I think this negligence will come back to them. If they lose the professional market, the iPads, iPods and iPhones will not sell as well anymore, because it´s all about the image. Any company always needs a flagship product (in this case Mac Pro), so that the rest of the cheaper stuff will sell as well.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Is money really that important?

A business' purpose is to maximize profit.

 

[JavaTheHut]

I hate the current time. Apple is clearly favoring the consumers and forgetting the professionals. They are clearly dedicating a lot more of their time and money creating children´s consumer toys and forgetting and ignoring the professional´s "big boys toys".

Why can´t Apple just love all their children just the same? Is money really that important?

Apple would be bad parents. I think this negligence will come back to them. If they lose the professional market, the iPads, iPods and iPhones will not sell as well anymore, because it´s all about the image. Any company always needs a flagship product (in this case Mac Pro), so that the rest of the cheaper stuff will sell as well.

Someone needs a hug

No worries m8 it will all work out, Apple will make their money & we will do our work on what Apple has to offer or some other OS - hell or high water the work will be done!

 

[ApplesAOranges]

A business' purpose is to maximize profit.

Like I said, this negligence is ultimately in the end bad strategy to maximize profits and could be even their downfall.

Someone needs a hug

No worries m8 it will all work out, Apple will make their money & we will do our work on what Apple has to offer or some other OS - hell or high water the work will be done!

I would like to do my work in "high water" not in "hell". I have no time to start switching OS, my setup and programs and going all over again long learning curves.

But yes the work will be done anyways, even if I would have to buy a PC and switch back to Windows. But then I would also stop buying MacBooks, iMacs and iPhones too, if I have to do that. I think others would also do just that and that is the danger Apple is facing.

If Apple loses the professionals, they will lose a big chunk of the consumers too and that´s a fact.

It´s all about the image of the company´s flagship product. And that goes for every company.

 

[rdowns]

If Apple loses the professionals, they will lose a big chunk of the consumers too and that´s a fact.

It´s all about the image of the company´s flagship product. And that goes for every company.

Where do people get this stuff?

 

[ApplesAOranges]

Where do people get this stuff?

Why doesn´t people get this stuff? Isn´t it obvious?

How well would McDonald´s do, if they would ditch the Big Mac?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Like I said, this negligence is ultimately in the end bad strategy to maximize profits and could be even their downfall.



I would like to do my work in "high water" not in "hell". I have no time to start switching OS, my setup and programs and going all over again long learning curves.

But yes the work will be done anyways, even if I would have to buy a PC and switch back to Windows. But then I would also stop buying MacBooks, iMacs and iPhones too, if I have to do that. I think others would also do just that and that is the danger Apple is facing.

If Apple loses the professionals, they will lose a big chunk of the consumers too and that´s a fact.

It´s all about the image of the company´s flagship product. And that goes for every company.

Let's assume Apple sells about 50.000 Mac Pros per year, which is the number I heard with all the "Mac Pro is dead" rumours, then 50.000 Mac Pros is not much compared to 10 to 12 million Macs sold per year. Most Mac Pros are bought for usage beyond three to five years, we edited several TV shows in 2008/9 on G4 Power Macs from 2001/2.
Since the move to HD footage, there was a need for more beefy Macs, thus a Mac Pro from 2007 could suffice.

I guess, I don't know though, the same can be applied for all the other fields, where MPs are being used. They still are powerful enough, that they don't need to be replaced that often, thus the low number of sales.
If Apple decides to kill the MP off, they surely would shoot themselves in the foot, but that wound will heal fast, sadly, as there are enough consumers buying all the other fancy Macs. And compared to the MPs, you see ten times all other Mac models on TV. If a Mac is incorporated in a TV show or film, it most probably is a MacBook Air or Pro or iMac, sometimes a MacBook, but seldom it is a Mac Pro.

Where do people get this stuff?

Dreams? Imagination?

 

[robbieduncan]

Why doesn´t people get this stuff? Isn´t it obvious?

How well would McDonald´s do, if they would ditch the Big Mac?

It's not at all obvious. It is a statement of an opinion worded to make it appear to be fact without any form of proof or backup.

How can Ford sell so many cars in the UK without any obvious high-end "halo" product? People don't buy hundreds of thousands of Ford Focuses based on some high-end sports car as Ford simply don't have any in the UK market.

How many people buying low-end plastic Dells even know about Dell's workstations? Pretty much none.

 

[rdowns]

Why doesn´t people get this stuff? Isn´t it obvious?

How well would McDonald´s do, if they would ditch the Big Mac?

Mac Pros and Big Macs, huh? What a ridiculous analogy. By your estimation, people are only buying quarter pounders, filet-o-fish and chicken sandwiches because that bad boy, the Big Mac is at the top of the menu. Thanks, a hearty laugh is a great way to start the day.

 

[ApplesAOranges]

Mac Pros and Big Macs, huh? What a ridiculous analogy. By your estimation, people are only buying quarter pounders, filet-o-fish and chicken sandwiches because that bad boy, the Big Mac is at the top of the menu. Thanks, a hearty laugh is a great way to start the day.

Hahah, I know it was a bad analogy, but you know what I mean.

Apple would seriously lose their image, if they don´t have the gear for the professional.

 

[Ccrew]

A business' purpose is to maximize profit.

Correct. Especially when you're a public company and answerable to shareholders.

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Apple would seriously lose their image, if they don´t have the gear for the professional.

No they wouldn't. The majority of the Apple buying public do so freely because Apple has done a very good job of hiding them from the technical aspect of computing. It's about the experience. The "it just works" is where Apple plays best and can demand the higher cost and get it.

 

[robbieduncan]

Apple would seriously lose their image, if they don´t have the gear for the professional.

I don't think that's true. If you go ask your average person in an Apple Store or owning any Apple made device about this these days most will not have any idea about Apple's historic dominance in media production. Again this is simply an opinion stated as fact.

 

[ApplesAOranges]

Correct. Especially when you're a public company and answerable to shareholders.

Didn´t we already go through this. We all agree on this.

The thing is that the profits will go down, if they ditch the professional market and that move would tax also the consumer market, ´cause they would lose their "high status" image. Makes sense?

 

[maxmaut]

That's not a war when you just talk and wait for a company to make a decision about ditching one of it's products or not. I think if anyone of us was there at the top, we would care about company, and definitely consider opportunities to lose a part of a market, what i'm sure apple did, to gain another part. I mean, it's all about numbers. If they win $$ from ditching mac pro, they will, and that's normal.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Hahah, I know it was a bad analogy, but you know what I mean.

Apple would seriously lose their image, if they don´t have the gear for the professional.

Why would they? Apple has moved its focus onto mobile devices for consumers, Mac Pros are not a priority (due to the lack of Intel CPUs) and what image does Apple project onto you due to their professional hardware?
Most people buying Apple products don't even know, what went down in the 80s and 90s and that media professionals were the ones keeping them alive. And even if they knew, why should they give a damn?
Apple is currently the company with lots of cool products and good customer service and providing lots of good experience for lots of people. That has nothing to do with some image due to the Mac Pro.
Look at Lion, which is aimed at consumers. It good rid of good multiple monitor setup functionality, something the professional market needs, especially with a Mac Pro and lots of windows and applications and so on.

There is more money to be made, and Steve Jobs set out do create a simple computer for the masses, and with Apple he could get to it. The Mac Pro is just a remnant of the Power Mac, which came from the years, media professionals liked to use one of them and kept Apple alive. But nowadays they are not needed, as much as we wish it.

 

[ApplesAOranges]

I don't think that's true. If you go ask your average person in an Apple Store or owning any Apple made device about this these days most will not have any idea about Apple's historic dominance in media production. Again this is simply an opinion stated as fact.

No. Many people (not everyone, but I would say most) are aware of Apple´s professional products and that "comforts" them to buy the cheaper products, ´cause they think they can get "piece of the professional pie". It makes them think that the comsumer products are high quality (and they are obviously), because Apple has a professional high quality products. Makes sense?

It´s all about image and status. Ditching the professional line Apple would be just another consumer company without the high status value.

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Look at Lion, which is aimed at consumers. It good rid of good multiple monitor setup functionality, something the professional market needs, especially with a Mac Pro and lots of windows and applications and so on.

With Lion you can´t use multiple monitors?

Oh man, it´s even worse than I thought. Apple is going to hell in a handbasket and fast!

 

[robbieduncan]

No. Many people (not everyone, but I would say most) are aware of Apple´s professional products and that "comforts" them to buy the cheaper products, ´cause they think they can get "piece of the professional pie".

Present your evidence.

 

[Ccrew]

No. Many people (not everyone, but I would say most) are aware of Apple´s professional products and that "comforts" them to buy the cheaper products, ´cause they think they can get "piece of the professional pie". It makes them think that the comsumer products are high quality (and they are obviously), because Apple has a professional high quality products. Makes sense?

It´s all about image and status. Ditching the professional line Apple would be just another consumer company without the high status value.

And then there's the epic fail in two words: Final Cut.

Apple has dumped the pro market in my eyes. I'm lead IT Engineer in a large media company and we've been more or less forced to go Windows servers with the death of the Xserve and Adobe at the client level. We're not buying Mac Pro's anymore, we're buying iMacs and offloading the heavy computing to the Windows servers.

Ever spend much time in an Apple store and listen to the conversations? Most of the customers are about as clueless as a rock when it comes to computers and simply want their hand held which is what the Apple stores do best.

 

[Shoot]

Any company always needs a flagship product (in this case Mac Pro), so that the rest of the cheaper stuff will sell as well.

Well that's just it, the flagship is now the iPhone rather than the Mac Pro. in fact, was it ever REALLY the mac pro? my earliest memories were of the coloured iMacs.

I like the mac pros but the truth is that they aren't selling. i don't think they'll ever kill off a monitor-less mac but I do think updates will be less frequent. potentially the mac mini will in maybe 10 years time replace it when the hardware can fit in that casing.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

No. Many people (not everyone, but I would say most) are aware of Apple´s professional products and that "comforts" them to buy the cheaper products, ´cause they think they can get "piece of the professional pie". It makes them think that the comsumer products are high quality (and they are obviously), because Apple has a professional high quality products. Makes sense?

It´s all about image and status. Ditching the professional line Apple would be just another consumer company without the high status value.

Who are those people? Anyway, since we don't have any empirical and statistical source to fall back onto, all the "many people are ware" / "not that many people even know" chit-chat is subjective.
Do you think people buying Dell and HP computers, which are still sold in big quantities are aware of their workstations? I don't think so, as many people don't even research the kind of computer they wanna have. They just go to a store they trust, nowadays mostly those big retail chains, and buy whatever they seem to be fitting for them due to listed specs or the advise they get from the store employees.

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With Lion you can´t use multiple monitors?

Oh man, it´s even worse than I thought. Apple is going to hell in a handbasket and fast!

You can, but it is poorly implemented with they full screen apps, as the other screen just goes to that Dashboard background, without all the Dashboard widgets though.

 

[rdowns]

No. Many people (not everyone, but I would say most) are aware of Apple´s professional products and that "comforts" them to buy the cheaper products, ´cause they think they can get "piece of the professional pie". It makes them think that the comsumer products are high quality (and they are obviously), because Apple has a professional high quality products. Makes sense?

Not in the least.

 

[ApplesAOranges]

It seems like Apple´s utopia would be = A world with only consumer devices and then all the entertainment would be stupid homemade iMovie "movies" shot with iPhone. What a wonderful world. Or Garage Band "albums". HOORAY FOR QUALITY and consumer entertainment!!! Hooray for Apple´s vision!!!

If there´s no gear for the professional, there won´t be anything wortwhile for the consumers to consume. Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ccrew]

If there´s no gear for the professional, there won´t be anything wortwhile for the consumers to consume.

I'm not buying this. That's like saying people only buy Honda's because Honda engines rule Formula 1 racing. It's not a comparison I can buy.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If there´s no gear for the professional, there won´t be anything wortwhile for the consumers to consume.

There is lots of gear for the professional media creation people besides Macs. Many companies use Windows as their platform, which can work too. Just because Apple might make the MP EOL, which is a big might, but that has been discussed ad nauseam, doesn't mean, professionals can't create or work anymore.

 

[dknightd]

To be honest, if thunderbolt takes off, and they introduce a matt display option on the iMac, I think I'd be just fine when I need a more powerful machine in a few years.