Apple forwarded a mysterious package to some journalists on Monday. The black tube with a metallic cover was used as an enclosure for four big Mac Pro posters showing details of the redesigned computer that is set to roll out in December.
Upon opening the package crafted from cardboard, the recipients found various promotional images of the Mac Pro printed on high-quality, glossy poster papers measuring 36 x 25 inches. Every poster featured specific parts of the Mac Pro such as its fan vents, triangular heat sink, air outlet, and the external casing of the machine with the Apple logo.
Jeff Carlson, Seattle Times columnist, was one of the recipients of the promotional materials from Apple. Carlson shared the images on Flickr and expressed his amazement through his blog.
"What strikes me more than the images is the tube: it's not some cheap mailing tube you'd get in an office supply store. It's heavy-duty cardboard, dark gray on the outside and white on the inside, with glossy reflective caps. And in a very Apple touch, the way the caps fit is nearly seamless - it took some work to get my fingernails under the cap to open it up," Carlson, who authored "The iPad for Photographers," said.
"Sending unannounced marketing materials isn't unprecedented for Apple. I still have the Think Different booklet Apple mailed out in 1998 that started the push to redefining the company's identity after Steve Jobs returned," Carlson added.
Earlier this year, Apple also sent gift cards to some journalists in celebration of the tenth anniversary of iTunes.
One of the Mac Pro posters had an inscription:
"It's the computer we were insane to build. The one that turns conventional thinking on its head, then kicks the living $#&% out of it. We challenged all our assumptions. Abandoned our preconceptions. And blew away limitation after limitation. This is the new Mac Pro. It's like no Mac we've created before. And we can't wait to see what you create with it."
The redesigned Mac Pro features a 3.7Ghz Intel Xeon E5 quad-core processor, 12GB memory, a pair of AMD FirePro D300 graphics cards, and a 256GB flash storage.
Dallas Morning News' Jim Rossman and Scott Stein of CNET also received the promotional package.
