You tell it like it is, bro !
I still don't like it, but there is a chance WWDC will not see an MP introduction .
What do you think the fallout could be ?
On the one hand, it's obviously true that we've been waiting for a long time, and a few more months don't seem to be such a big deal .
The 'fallout' could be managed without any stage time and/or "extravaganza" demo.
There are three drivers on folks attaching undo importance to WWDC keynote time.
1. Information vacuum. Apple hasn't provided information to reasonably set expectation so folks are filling the vacuum with " what would make Mac Pro a 'primary driver', strategic product of Apple". WWDC is a know date and a time when Apple sets staregtic directions.
All Apple has to do here is simply just fill the vacuum with info. They could do a "targeted leak" threw some of their favorite tech blogger(s) or a simple press release. That will work extremely well because folks desperately jump on any Mac Pro. And within the two weed lead up to WWDC the rumor sites a ravenous for tidbits. The word will get out.
This following sequence would work extremely well.
a. Computex Intel announces that Xeon has slid to August-Sept time frame.
b. Apple follows that with some statement about " working hard on Mac Pro but something unexpected popped up and need a couple of months more to wrap up the Mac Pro, but mostly on track. ". The bubble that out via trusted leaker or simply in press release queued after the Computek ones.
c. Folks who arbitrarily set a deadline simply just more it to better guess.
The can enhance the above even more by busting a few unfounded rumor bubbles. ( "Not legos", " Not 150+% increase in price " , "Not a Z8 clone" , etc. ). They don't have to completely fill the vacuum but they don't have to complete fill it either to move the date a couple of weeks or months.
If it is only incremental info the leverage they have now is probably bigger than they would have had 1-2 months ago.
2. "The Mac Pro was originally introduced and 'killed' at WWDC." If the Mac Pro product development has hit a major snag and is sliding into 2020 then Apple needs to either leak more info or hand out more consolation prizes.
a. If Apple didn't drop the Mac Pro 2012 from the 10.15 support list some folks will keep circling the airport with just the mild info leak ( case 1 above). The fallout is much higher if see with supported list on 10.15 beta that their system is clearly at the end of the line ( even the "not in obsolete status" deniers will have problems at that point.
b. If Apple managed to announce some Nvidia driver deal for 10.15 that would only further stem the fallout. The significant group of folks who only want the Mac Pro as a container for their NVIDIA cards ... that's all the primarily want ... a container. They'd have one . So many of them would likely be happy circling the airport for another 6-12 months at least.
If Apple throws features/support at the old king at WWDC there is a significant number of folks take that and run with it. ( they certainly did at the last WWDC. ). Apple can use that conitivie pre-condition as leverage by incrementally feeding the monster even if it isn't really warranted.
3. The notion that the WWDC keynote is about "Pros". The primary audience of the WWDC Keynote is not non software "Pros". It gets even less so each year. There isn't going to be limited fallout where there is an increasing disconnect between who is the target audience for the keynote. Apple has been moving it more so toward advanced iOS and general macOS users. The services business is now approximately the same size as the Mac business. ( the Mac Pro is even a dimmer silver of the overall revenue). There is a set of folks who are just as focused on what WWDC used to be as much as what the Mac Pro used to be.
The fallout from a very narrow set of folks is offset but a larger set of folks who are spending money in the last year or two.
Apple would generally have less WWDC "fallout" if they actually had more event dispersed through the year not just 2 (and maybe 3).
However, WWDC - a dog and pony show alright - is a big deal .
For some of us the next MP is a big deal; an unceremonious MP announcement in the fall, meaning another delay, another disappointment amidst an eternal communication blackout - would it be a big deal after years of waiting ?
Apple doing an announcement at the multimillon dollar HQ Theater doesn't makes something "unceremonious" . That is ludicrous. The number of folks streaming the event wouldn't matter as much as who is streaming/following the event. This isn't a mass ales product at all. So showing the Mac Pro to 1.2 million folks who are
never going to buy it. really does nothing for the Mac Pro long term at all.
Wrapping the Mac Pro 2013 up in a event viewer stream of millions didn't raise its importance to get timely fixes and updates over time. It won't for the Mac Pro 2019/2020 either.
I can only speak for myself, but WWDC 2019 has been my personal MP deadline for the past 2 years , since April '17 , irrational or not .
Folks with irrational , arbitrary. "social media appearance status" aren't that hard to move. All Apple has to do with jiggle the social media levers a bit and many of them can be moved.
Folks with hard business requirements the current Mac options don't meet have moved. The "fallout" there is already happening. Nothing changes if Apple does or doesn't announce. Some have extended their decision deadline way past they probably should have made it. If Apple is going to be very late in delivering... pragmatically the fallout there isn't much different either. If folks have major work to do that needs to come on line in October and Apple isn't going to ship in volume until Janurary (and is dropping the their current Mac Pros from macOS support ) it isn't an option either way.
The folks who are dogmatically entrenched in the "pure box with slots or I'm leaving". ... the fallout from those folks also absolutely doesn't matter on Apple releasing on June or later into 2019. Lots of folks have laid down the 'utltimatum" build exactly this or I'm walking. If Apple isn't building it, any of those folks "walking' because they got no info doesn't make a lick of difference. None. So that fallout is extremely limited.
