How Apple alienated hardcore Mac users
TO DIE-HARD fans, Apple’s Macintosh sometimes seems like an afterthought these days.
Mac upgrades, once a frequent ritual, are few and far between. The Mac Pro, Apple’s marquee computer, hasn’t been refreshed since 2013. The affordable and flexible Mac mini was last upgraded in 2014. And when a new machine does roll out, the results are sometimes infuriating to devotees.
In October, after more than 500 days without an update, Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro, with a slimmer design and louder speakers. The laptop garnered mostly favourable reviews from the technology press but grumbles from creative types, a key constituency, who said the device under-performed rival products.
Interviews with people familiar with Apple’s inner workings reveal that the Mac is getting far less attention than it once did. They say the Mac team has lost clout with the famed industrial design group led by Jony Ive and the company’s software team.
While the Mac generates about 10 per cent of Apple sales, the company can’t afford to alienate professional designers and other business customers. After all, they helped fuel Apple’s revival in the late 1990s. In a stinging critique, Peter Kirn, founder of a website for music and video creators, wrote: “This is a company with no real vision for what its most creative users actually do with their most advanced machines.”
People now have more choices. Microsoft, once derided by Mac loyalists for its clunky, buggy software, offers Windows 10, which provides the tablet type
This is a company with no real vision for what its most creative users actually do with their most advanced machines. — Peter Kirn, founder of a website for music and video creators
functionality Apple pioneered with the iPad. Microsoft’s Surface computers offer Applelike quality and a well-reviewed creative paint software aimed at the Mac’s audience.
Four years ago at Apple’s annual developer conference, marketing chief Phil Schiller pledged to keep the computer front and centre in the company’s product arsenal. “Nobody turns over their entire line as quickly and completely as we do at Apple,” Schiller said. “We’re really proud of the engineering team and the work they do to do this quick so you can get the exact product you need.”
But making a laptop stand out is also harder these days. In the runup to the MacBook Pro’s planned debut this year, the new battery failed a key test, according to a person familiar with the situation. Rather than delay the launch and risk missing the crucial holiday shopping season, Apple decided to revert to an older design.
In the Mac’s heyday, people working on new models could expect a lot of attention from Ive’s team. Once a week his people would meet with Mac engineers to discuss ongoing projects. Mac engineers brought prototypes to Ive’s studio for review, while his lieutenants would visit the Mac labs to look at early concepts. Those visits have become less frequent since the company began focusing more on more-valuable products like the iPhone and iPad.
In another sign that the company has prioritised the iPhone, Apple re-organised its software engineering department so there’s no longer a dedicated Mac operating system team. There is now just one team, and most of the engineers are iOS first, giving the people working on the iPhone and iPad more power.
That’s part of a broader shift toward making Macs more like iPhones.
Apple prioritises features, like thinness and minimal ports, that sell its iPhones and iPads, which generated about 75 per cent of revenue this year.
When the company was developing the first 12-inch MacBook, Apple tested two primary prototypes. One, known internally as Stealth Fighter, was lighter.
The second, a slightly less ambitious design known as Stealth Bomber, was heavier. The lighter model prevailed, but with engineers developing and testing two competing concepts, they had less time to figure out how to cram all the electronics into a thin slab of aluminium that would hold together.
In the end, Apple shipped the laptop in 2015, months after its 2014 goal.
For a 2016 MacBook update, some Apple engineers wanted to add a Touch ID fingerprint scanner and a second USB-C port. The update instead included a new rose gold option alongside a standard speed increase.
The internal turmoil has taken a toll. More than a dozen engineers and managers working on Mac hardware have left for different Apple teams or other companies in the past year and a half.
In 2013, Apple launched a redesigned Mac Pro, a black cylinder with bright white LED lights. It was a powerful desktop machine created partly to cast a halo over the entire Macintosh lineup. The Mac Pro was also the first Apple computer in years to be assembled in the US. Under pressure from politicians to create manufacturing jobs at home, Apple was looking to score political points. The decision caused production headaches though. The Mac Pro’s glossy exterior and chrome bevelled edges meant Apple had to make its own manufacturing tools and then train people to run those machines in an assembly plant. This slowed production and constrained Apple’s ability to make enough computers to meet demand. Three years on, the Mac Pro is ripe for an upgrade with its chips and connector ports lagging rival products. Because of the earlier challenges, some Apple engineers have raised the possibility of moving production back to Asia, where it’s cheaper and manufacturers have the required skills for ambitious products, according to a person familiar with those internal discussions.
In a recent company Q&A session, employees asked whether Mac desktop computers remain strategically important. “We have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said, according to a transcript of the discussion obtained by Bloomberg News. — Bloomberg