You can believe it or not, but there are reports that indicate how some Apple employees are restive about the way things are at Cupertino today. This purportedly stems from perceptions that the company is no longer focusing on the Mac desktop in favor of its more lucrative mobile products.
Apple's Commitment To The Mac
The unhappiness must have been building up, as Tim Cook endeavored to douse the fire himself. In an announcement addressed to Apple employees, he stressed that, yes, there are several planned Mac desktops.
"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we're committed to desktops," Cook posted at Apple employees' message board. "If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that."
Slow Upgrade Cycle
Employees toiling away at Apple's Mac unit have every reason to worry. One can turn to the Apple desktops' slower upgrade cycles to demonstrate this. Simply put, people who bought a Mac can expect to use it for years on end, which means less people are inclined to buy a unit every year.
One can also take a look at the MacBook for more insights. This line includes different variants and they all get refreshed annually. The iMac, on the other hand, saw an update last October 2015 and that release has included incremental improvements compared with its predecessor. The Mac Pro is in worse position as the second generation is still awaiting an upgrade. It was introduced way back in 2013.
The Mac Mini has fared better but only by a fraction. Apple last launched its latest iteration in 2014.
More On Tim Cook's Mac Comment
While Cook has reassured the world that several Macs are in the pipeline, his statement was not big on specifics. What is worse is that instead of specifying on the roadmap he has cited, he merely reiterated Mac's purported strategic importance for Apple and the world.
Rather than hint at innovations that are coming, Cook also merely touted the current iMac's credentials such as its 5K display, indicating that the company is perfectly happy with it.
Looking forward, he exhorted his employees to pull strings, citing the experience of the Apple Watch and the way it led to the creation of new products. Cook's post about new Macs effectively winded down to employee pep talk.
"With so many things that we've done, we don't do it because there's a return on investment," Cook concluded. "We don't do it because we know exactly how we're going to use it. We do it because it's clear it's interesting and it might lead somewhere."
Overall, fans and Apple's employees must have read Cook's soliloquy and got a significant boost in morale but a number must have emerged out of it none the wiser, especially about the new, great, and powerful Macs he briefly talked about.
Some observers did not even have a clue whether Cook was referring to the rumored 2017 iMac, Mac Pro, or the Mac Mini.
