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What clues does Tim Cook provide into the future of the Mac Pro?

VirtualRain

VirtualRain

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 1, 2008
6,304
118
Vancouver, BC
I think it's pretty clear that towards the end of SJ's reign, the Mac Pro, and most of Apple's Pro Tools, were either headed for the dust bin or on a path to be diluted down for the mass market.

I think the key to the future of the Mac Pro and related apps at Apple lies with Tim Cook now though. And he's clearly demonstrated that he's not afraid to go in radically different directions from his former boss on a variety of topics.

The question is, what does Tim Cook think about the market for the Mac Pro, and professional software tools?

I don't know that we have clues of late to tell us much, and even if he does see a bright future for professionals under the Apple umbrella, it may take many months to resuscitate and breath new life into moth-balled pro-related programs.

We know he comes from a PC background, but we've also heard his rhetoric loud and clear of late about the post-PC era. He also seems to be very focused on crushing competition... and therefore may be the kind of person that would be reluctant to cede any market to a competitor that he can effectively compete in.

So what do you think Tim Cook will do with the Mac Pro and related software suites?
 
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From people I've talked to, Apple's current leadership strategy comes down to killing Google. That's it.

As far as Tim Cook...? Steve Jobs had a special attachment to the Mac, the guy invented it. A lot of people cite Steve Jobs saying the Mac was a truck, and trying to read into that as him hating the Mac, but from what I understand, he loved the Mac. I think if Steve was still around and not on leave for the past few years, the Mac's future would be much more secure, along with the Mac Pro's. The Mac was Steve's baby. It ran the OS his second company designed, and the hardware was based on the legacy of his first company. Nobody was going to mess with Steve's baby.

As it stands today? Tim Cook is a good guy. But he doesn't have the emotional connection to the Mac, or the RDF to convince people to pay attention to it when the company goal is to destroy Google.

For people citing Steve Jobs reign... his reign ended in 2009 when he entered medical leave and Cook became CEO. How was the Mac Pro doing in 2009? Also, the man owned Pixar. You really think he didn't see the value in pro apps, or Final Cut Pro specifically?
 
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I think Steve might have had a personal hate for google after they ripped off iPad and iPhone designs, GUI etc.

BTW i've just read the Steve Jobs Biography.

I really don't think Apple will go after Google, they're primarily a search company and Apple are about great physical products, with software to match.

They're more interested in sucking up the all consuming media that everyone uses.

Also in the past Apple have clearly separated their products into Pro and Consumer, just because consumer is larger than professional, they'll never stop catering to the professionals, it gives a sense of "something", not sure quite what it is but they'll basically be cutting their own heads off if they get rid of the professional market.

FCPX was a bit of a fail but it's getting better and better, what they've done is set the foundation for the next 10 years or what ever they've deemed the product cycle for total rewrites of software.

I use AVID MC everyday and it's a clunky POS, it works but there's so much redundant/bad code, and it's very hard to improve on it, in it's guts if you know what I mean.

I also use Logic and you can tell they were going to release it but have know done a typical Apple and scrapped some ideas and have gone back to the drawing board.

They won't do the same thing with Logic X, they wait until all the features are present before they release.

Same with MacPro's, who cares if they do a case redesign, it will obviously come at some time though. The case looks like any other PC case except it kicks ass! Lian Li might be the only exception.

Sandy Bridge E, Ivy Bridge is just coming out now, the top end motherboard suppliers are only just know coming out with motherboards. Dell and HP haven't physically released anything.

Apple have to make Thunderbolt work with the new motherboards, possibly add USB3 which they haven't got across any of their product lines, off the shelf GFX cards might be able to work according to some rumours, so theres new thing to consider there and there's the possibilities of adding SAS drives on board.

It'll come you just have to wait and if you can't wait you can buy Apples old tech
 
ekwipt said:
I really don't think Apple will go after Google, they're primarily a search company and Apple are about great physical products, with software to match.
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Google's not a search company any more. They're active in phones, tablets, low end notebooks, office software, and home theater. And this year they're moving into making their own hardware.

They're directly competing with Apple, and even worse, are impeding iOS market share. I really can't agree that Apple vs. Google was just something in Steve Job's head and not something real.

Google took iOS's marketshare crown away and you can bet that stings Apple. And now Google is rallying to try to enter Apple's other markets. Apple is trying to shut them down.

If Apple didn't really care about Google, we wouldn't be doing iCloud right now. Apple also wouldn't be moving away from Google services.

I also doubt Steve would have left anyone in leadership who was Google friendly, given his attitudes. Apple is still also fully legally going after Google.
 
ekwipt said:
...
I really don't think Apple will go after Google, they're primarily a search company and Apple are about great physical products, with software to match.
...
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While Google has a bunch of products including their search engine, what they really are is a statistics and data mining company. And information/statistics about you is one of their products. Yes, when you use Google anything, you're not a customer to Google, you're a product.
 
They should release a new Mac Pro along with new Cinema Displays with non-gloss as an option. Most of proffesional music and video studios don't buy this "glare" thing and stick to good old Cinema HD Displays 23 or 30".

If they were able to build a Macbook Pro with matte display why they aren't able to do the same for Cinema Displays ?

I'm also waiting for the new Logic Studio:

"On September 12, 2007, Apple released the Logic Studio suite that included Logic Pro 8."

"On July 23, 2009, version 9 of the product was announced."

We have 2012 now and still no new version.

I hope they release a new Mac Pro this year. It will be probably after iPhone 5 premiere somewhere in the middle of summer.
 
Jobs did say that he would go "thermal nuclear war" on Google and use "all of Apples money" to do so. Pretty childish if you ask me. It isn't like Apple created anything new anyway. Other companies have been stealing from Apple forever. Why Google and why now? Apple steals just as much. Ever seen an Alienware 15" laptop circa 2006? Look just like a Macbook Pro. Apple just tweaked the materials and gave it a back story. Just one example.
 
Bear said:
While Google has a bunch of products including their search engine, what they really are is a statistics and data mining company.
Click to expand...

Sigh..... Google is an advertising company. You folks are flapping around the edges of what their major revenue stream is. It is ads. Killing Google would mean killing their ad business. Apple's iAds isn't going to cut it. In fact, the iPhone and iPad phenomena has been an extremely useful distraction away from most analysts paying any attention to the troubles it has been having.

Apple may be at war with Android, but Android is not Google. Not by a long shot.

Look this is a really simple thing that happens at all of the larger Silicon Valley ( and outside the Valley firms). Successful companies need something to external to focus on and compete with. If all Apple did was sit around and roll around naked in the billions in cash they have eventually someone would come along and take it away. So they all need a "bogey man" to keep folks relatively focused at the upper levels.

Google has a high stock price, billions in cash , and alot of really smart people running around inside. They are a better bogey man right now than RIM , Microsoft (although that is probably a mistake) , IBM , Dell, HP , or any of the Asian conglomerates.

And information/statistics about you is one of their products. Yes, when you use Google anything, you're not a customer to Google, you're a product.
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Not really. Google needs to use data to better match advertisers to users ( who view the ads ) but the "raw, non-aggregated data" is not really a primary artifact that is sold.

Second, while people give up some data they also get services. So there is a roughly equivalent exchange that happens just not to involve swapping digital money credits.


Haven't looked at recent comparisons lately but 5-6 years ago one of the largest data mining operations in the USA was buried inside of Walmart. What Google and Apple (they have data warehouses too) are doing with mining is more similar to what Walmart is doing with their data than it is different.
 
finchna said:
Not sure what you have in mind but here's one that I found and it sure doesn't look like what I'm typing on right now. And less than 2 hours of battery life.
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Not the back dude. Find a snap of the front with screen and keyboard. Also it had 2 hrs battery life because the GPU destroyed anything out at the time and they were all about gaming power not mobility. Even if it was a laptop.
Here, peruse these. And yes the materials are different, the thinness etc:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/laptops/2008/07/10/alienware-area-51-m15x/1
 
Tim Cook likes neon lights. His father used to own a bar and that is where he developed his enthusiasm for them. I believe he is one of the biggest neon bar sign collectors in California. So I would expect the next Mac Pro to more resemble an Alien Ware PC.
 
Umbongo said:
Tim Cook likes neon lights. His father used to own a bar and that is where he developed his enthusiasm for them. I believe he is one of the biggest neon bar sign collectors in California. So I would expect the next Mac Pro to more resemble an Alien Ware PC.
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Ha ha. Maybe a special single virtual knob "Special Edition" app for the iPad that can change the color as well. Maybe even strobe it. So awesome:(
 
VirtualRain said:
< ... numerous ungrounded assertions .... >


So what do you think Tim Cook will do with the Mac Pro and related software suites?
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'm not sure what alternative universal most of that came from.

1. Tim Cook has been head of the Mac Division for like 5-7 years. If there is any division inside of Apple that has Tim Cook's fingerprints on it already, it is the Mac Division. The notion that the Mac Division is going to change radically now that Tim Cook is CEO would only stem from the fact that someone else is in charge of the division and wanted to buck what Tim Cook wanted to do.


2. He has made no radical substantive moves what so ever that deviate from Apple's playbook from the last 3-4 years. He has a slightly different approach to management. He is going to need to pay folks a bit more to "stick around" because doesn't have a strong reality distortion field.

Switching to a mode where Jobs isn't the only visible spokesman or final stop for certain things isn't a radical move. That actually just makes Apple a more normal company.

If anything the trend at Apple will shift to a more conservative ("don't bet the whole farm" ) kinds of moves.... not radical ones. At least until folks get comfortable in their new positions.


3. "Post PC"-era ... that stuff is Jobsian era misdirection. Post PC means there will be other platforms that are sibilings to the more classic form factors. Apple likes redefining contexts so that it looks like they are decoupled from the other parts of the market where they are less dominate. So it is a "look here under this particular street lamp .... lots of Apple stuff here."


If the Mac Pro and "professional software" products are profitable and show reasonable relative growth to the rest of the Mac line up , then they will stay.

Is Cook going to treat them as some special class "hobby project" that shrinks year over year forever and is given special "Get out of Jail free" cards constantly ? No. absolutely not.
 
deconstruct60 said:
1. Tim Cook has been head of the Mac Division for like 5-7 years. If there is any division inside of Apple that has Tim Cook's fingerprints on it already, it is the Mac Division. The notion that the Mac Division is going to change radically now that Tim Cook is CEO would only stem from the fact that someone else is in charge of the division and wanted to buck what Tim Cook wanted to do.
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I don't disagree that whatever Tim Cook wants to be done is already done, but I did want to correct you here. Tim Cook has not been head of the Mac division. He's been the COO, managing parts and distribution. He has never been in engineering management.

Bob Mansfield is the head of Mac hardware, Craig Federighi is the head of Mac software. Both have taken orders from Tim Cook for the past 3 years though. The only recent change has been Craig replacing Bertrand Serlet in 2011.

Serlet leaving the company was a worrysome sign, btw.
 
deconstruct60 said:
Sigh..... Google is an advertising company. You folks are flapping around the edges of what their major revenue stream is. It is ads.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, Google has publicly stated that they need and want to diversify their portfolio to have alternative revenue streams.

They are doing this by moving into the smartphone, tablet and home theatre markets, some of which are shared with Apple.
 
goMac said:
I don't disagree that whatever Tim Cook wants to be done is already done, but I did want to correct you here. Tim Cook has not been head of the Mac division. He's been the COO, managing parts and distribution. He has never been in engineering management.
Click to expand...

Shhh, don't tell Apple because in 2004 they said he was in charge of the division.

"... In 2004, Tim Cook took over the Macintosh division at Apple and oversaw the migration of Macs from PowerPC to Intel chips. By doing so and making it possible for Windows to run on a Mac through Boot Camp, Tim Cook’s strategy allowed millions of on-the-fence computer users to finally switch to Mac. ..."
http://www.cultofmac.com/110498/who-is-apples-new-ceo-tim-cook-bio/

" ... Timothy Cook, head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, will lead a newly organized Macintosh division, Apple said. Tim Bucher, now in charge of Macintosh system development, will head up the Mac's hardware engineering. ... "
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/04/05/19/apple_creates_new_ipod_division_shuffles_execs.html

and even MacRumors article on it....

" ... The division also makes way for a "Macintosh" division to be headed by Timothy Cook, current head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, according to Reuters. ... "
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/72450/


Steve Jobs was grooming Tim Cook to take over for a long time. One of the first tasks was handling a subset of the company, Macs, for a while.

Bob Mansfield is the head of Mac hardware, Craig Federighi is the head of Mac software.
Click to expand...

And they quasi reported to Tim. The Mac ( hardware + software) was assigned to Cook in addition to his overall COO duties. The individual halves were assigned to a hardware head and a software head.


Serlet leaving the company was a worrysome sign, btw.
Click to expand...

Not particularly worrysome. Serlet has survived the NeXT years. By 2011 he was probably flush with lots of stock/options to make him relatively independently wealthy to switch to doing what he wanted to do instead of having to worry about a monthly paycheck.

He had been leading Software VP for almost as long as Avie lead it.
 
derbothaus said:
Ha ha. Maybe a special single virtual knob "Special Edition" app for the iPad that can change the color as well. Maybe even strobe it. So awesome:(
Click to expand...

The way Lion has gone with the faux leather in "iCal" etc. do not be surprised if they reintroduce wood into the design "Woodie" LOL
 
deconstruct60 said:
"... In 2004, Tim Cook took over the Macintosh division at Apple and oversaw the migration of Macs from PowerPC to Intel chips. By doing so and making it possible for Windows to run on a Mac through Boot Camp, Tim Cook’s strategy allowed millions of on-the-fence computer users to finally switch to Mac. ..."
http://www.cultofmac.com/110498/who-is-apples-new-ceo-tim-cook-bio/

" ... Timothy Cook, head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, will lead a newly organized Macintosh division, Apple said. Tim Bucher, now in charge of Macintosh system development, will head up the Mac's hardware engineering. ... "
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/04/05/19/apple_creates_new_ipod_division_shuffles_execs.html

and even MacRumors article on it....

" ... The division also makes way for a "Macintosh" division to be headed by Timothy Cook, current head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, according to Reuters. ... "
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/72450/


Steve Jobs was grooming Tim Cook to take over for a long time. One of the first tasks was handling a subset of the company, Macs, for a while.



And they quasi reported to Tim. The Mac ( hardware + software) was assigned to Cook in addition to his overall COO duties. The individual halves were assigned to a hardware head and a software head.
Click to expand...

He was leading them as an operations chief, not an engineering or strategic chief.

Also, he had very little involvement in the actual mechanics of how the Intel transition happened. His job involved making sure they could acquire the parts from Intel and retool Apple's supply chain.

The reorg talked about was basically all of internal PowerPC design Apple used to have being outsourced to Intel. Cook isn't an engineer, developer, or design person. He's a business guy.

That's not to demean him at all, but he's a big picture guy. Not a small-picture-what-about-the-pro-market-guy. I don't think there is any conspiracy to kill the Mac Pro. It's just that no one cares to update it.

Also, I think no matter what Tim Cook's title was, we all know who was really in charge of the Mac at that time.

deconstruct60 said:
Not particularly worrysome. Serlet has survived the NeXT years. By 2011 he was probably flush with lots of stock/options to make him relatively independently wealthy to switch to doing what he wanted to do instead of having to worry about a monthly paycheck.

He had been leading Software VP for almost as long as Avie lead it.
Click to expand...

Or, as I've heard whispers of, there is severe unhappiness and defection in the Mac division due to Apple not providing the Mac very much support these days. Serlet leaving would be right around the time that started, and after Jobs had left the company.
 
MovieCutter said:
I beg to differ. I don't have time to wait to see what they're going to do with software I make a living with that they lobotomized.
Click to expand...

I felt that way about Logic's half lobotomy in version 8. But it is much better now after 16 patches and a major rev. Some of the features are welcome some just piss me off that I spent months reading how to use the environment and they created push buttons for functions. Oh well. Apple professionals are straight masochists.
 
derbothaus said:
Not the back dude. Find a snap of the front with screen and keyboard. Also it had 2 hrs battery life because the GPU destroyed anything out at the time and they were all about gaming power not mobility. Even if it was a laptop.
Here, peruse these. And yes the materials are different, the thinness etc:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/laptops/2008/07/10/alienware-area-51-m15x/1
Click to expand...

The 2008 MacBook Pro was an inch thinner and weighed two pounds less.

If you don't think that matters, then you aren't Apple's demographic.
 
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