The Macintosh Product Line Will Soon Change Before Our Eyes

There are certain Macintosh products that are carry overs from the past, and there are top selling Macs that suggest the future of Apple. While some suggest that the gradual transformation of the product line means the end of the Mac, I think it means a glorious new beginning.

“A role for the Macintosh as far as our eye can see.”

Concept: MBP with OLED function keys. Image credit: Martin Hajek

That’s a quote from Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Mac in 2014.

Wherever I think about what Apple may be up to next, I think about Apple’s history. This is a company that thinks boldly and always has in store for us something that we need—but didn’t deeply realize that we needed. And so, when I look at the demise of certain of product lines, my mind tends to think about what could be next instead of what we’re about to lose.

Related to that, I saw an intriguing article this week by Kate Mackenzie. I generally like her stuff because she’s a bold, thoughtful writer. This article by her caught my attention. “Say Goodbye To These Macs.” Here are the Macs that are likely on the chopping block.

1. MacBook Air


2. Mac mini


3. Mac Pro

While you may or may not agree with her logic, the article does serve to foster thoughts about what we need next. Where, exactly, is the Macintosh product line going? Apple certainly isn’t giving up on the Mac, as I argued here: “Apple’s Change From OS X to macOS Hardly ‘Muddies the Waters’.”

In turn, that makes me think that it’s certainly time to examine the product line with an eye to the future, not the past.

Prognosis

The MacBook Air, as it is now, is a Mac whose time has come and gone. We’ve seen the future of Apple’s notebook line, and it’s foreshadowed by the 2015 MacBook. We’ll see all those technologies in the new MacBook Pros soon. Yet, Apple has a competitive problem in the education market in the form of Chromebooks, and iPads are not the complete solution. Nor are expensive MacBooks. Less expensive MacBook Airs, perhaps renamed, with conventional ports designed for education might be the answer.

Mac mini. I agree with author Mackenzie on this. Apple’s heart and soul are just not in the Mac mini. It was a good idea when Apple was trying to lure Switchers to the Mac, those who already had a keyboard and mouse. But now the PC wars are over and mobility rules. While a niche market has formed using Mac minis as servers, I don’t think it’s enough of a market to sustain Apple’s creativity and energies. I color it gone also.

Mac Pro. We certainly need big iron, 5K Macs for everything we do on the desktop. There doesn’t seem to be any special need for a Mac that’s headless, like the Mac Pro, because Apple is into integrated systems whose components are well matched.

That is, unless Apple still wants to garner favor with the pro market. In that case, I envision a next generation Mac Pro that’s more easily expandable and has the latest Xeons and Thunderbolt 3 as well. What I don’ think we’ll see is a modest update with the same case design. I’m thinking something more radical, more mouth watering. More expandable. A halo Mac to, once again, die for.

In summary, I think Apple will respond to the market realities, but not by backing out. Desktop iMacs with fabulous displays sell fairly well. Sleek MacBooks and MacBooks Pros sell even better and are the favored computers for professionals, college students, scientists, developers on the move, and you name it. That said, I don’t see the Macintosh product line circling its wagons into a just a handful of products. As technology advances, it will enable new instantiations of the Mac to meet future needs.

It’s just that, for now, some products need to be retired while we wait for new ones to blossom.

Next page: The Tech News Debris for the Week of July 4th. What if Apple had stayed with supercomputer tech?

Page 2 – The Tech News Debris for the Week of July 4th

What if Apple had stayed with supercomputer tech?

This next item is mentioned here because Apple, just over a decade ago, was very much into supercomputers. Companies were building large supercomputers with Xserves and smaller compute clusters with them as well. But Apple got out of that business and then discontinued the Xserve. One can only wonder what the impact would have been if Apple had elected to maintain its in-house expertise with supercomputers.

Image credit: TechCrunch

There would be implications for product design, artificial intelligence, robotics, medicine, (as IBM has done with Watson) and big data market analysis just to name a few. And so, as inspiration, I’ll point to what one of Apple’s major customers is doing with its own supercomputer technology: “NASA’s newly upgraded Pleiades supercomputer delves into the mysteries of star formation.”

Eleven years ago, Apple foresaw that the iPhone, on the drawing boards, would be the next big thing. But what about beyond that? Today, it’s the battle of the Big Tech Company Minds, and the one with the best supercomputer power will have a competitive edge.

And just as race car experience and technology trickle down into excellence in a car company’s regular product line, supercomputer experience also lends itself to building the very best desktop Macs with AI technology. It all ties together.

Next. Here’s an interesting story about what happens when a security expert writes a product review at Amazon. The intent was to alert the readers to a serious problem, but then a company employee begged the expert to remove the review. Or get fired. See: “Security researcher gets threats over Amazon review.”

It appears that the review stands, but the fact that the developer even tried what it tried is sobering.

For those who may be wondering what’s in store when (if) Apple goes all digital with the iPhone 7’s audio out, via Lightning, here’s some good speculation about what the future may hold. “Here’s what Apple’s future Lightning headphones will be able to do that normal headphones can’t.”

Apple has two different security measures: “Two-step verification” and “Two-factor authentication.” Dan Moren, writing at Six Colors, explains the difference, how they work, and how to upgrade form the former to the latter. “Doing the two-step: Switching to Apple’s two-factor authentication.”

I write here about things that affect Apple, even though they are a bit on the periphery. In this case, I am recalling how Apple initially declined to have Netflix available on the Apple TV—until Netflix became too large a force to be reckoned with. Then Apple relented. Now something similar has happened to Comcast. “Cable Shocker: Comcast to Offer Direct Access to Netflix.” In a joint statement, the announced:

Comcast and Netflix have reached an agreement to incorporate Netflix into X1, providing seamless access to the great content offered by both companies. We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year. We’ll provide more details at that time.”

Home Media Magazine concluded, “The decision is significant considering Comcast’s scope, underscoring the emerging power of, and consumer demand for, streaming video.” Wow. Just wow.

Here’s a nice recap by Jonny Evans on how Apple is making macOS and iOS work better together, not merging them. “WWDC: 5 new ways Apple’s devices work together.” I am actually quite pleased with the announced features of macOS Sierra. That is, instead of gobs of new features that de-stabilize the OS, we get needed additions that really do make our lives better. Thanks Apple.

Finally, what does Apple have up its sleeve with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)? This next article looks at what Apple seems to be doing, comments by Tim Cook and patents to decipher what Apple may be thinking. And how it might give the company a post-Apple Watch boost. It’s speculative, but then it’s also fairly solid writing. “AAPL Stock: This Little Device Could Be Huge for Apple Inc.”

One of the things to remember about Apple is that many companies develop technology and throw things out to see what sticks. On the other hand, Apple’s consistently excellent product vision and taste lead to the exploitation of technology that leaves us so very pleased and the competition speechless.

The Apple car is years away, and this might Apple’s Next Big Thing in an especially unexpected implementation.

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Particle Debris is a generally a mix of John Martellaro’s observations and opinions about a standout event or article of the week (preamble on page one) followed on page two by a discussion of articles that didn’t make the TMO headlines, the technical news debris. The column is published most every Friday except for holidays.

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