Continuing the discussion from Monday Morning News:
On the one hand, most people don’t need the computing power of any modern Mac — we’ve long surpassed the point where “speed bumps” are a necessary upgrade. On the other hand, a nicer screen, or more storage at the same price points are all welcome improvements thanks to Moore’s law, but where do we, and more importantly, where does Apple go from there?
I didn’t think a lack of Mac updates would be as big as deal as it currently is. Relatively few people are upgrading their Macs every year, but everyone being on different product cycles means that there’s enough people wanting to upgrade that “can’t” due to Apple’s current product cycle and knowing that there’s some upgrade that’s weeks, maybe months away that means the machine they went to JB Hi-Fi and bought for 10% off will be “the old model”, despite being current when they bought it.
Hell, even I’m thinking about what my next Mac is. I have no reason to upgrade from my specced-out late-2013 MacBook Pro, but I’m not even sure what kind of upgrades would tempt me. It’s way more than enough for what I do with it day-to-day, and coupled with a Thunderbolt dock and 4K external display, I’m all set. But in a year or two, hopefully there’ll be a Mac that will answer that question for me.
It’s entirely possible we’re seeing some kind of confirmation bias here — of course the Apple blogosphere would be saying there’s a lack of Mac updates and how that signals the end of the world, which is why I said in the morning news that we as consumers expect yearly updates, despite there being no real reason beyond “faster, cheaper, better”.
Which brings us back to the question: if you’re holding off buying a Mac, why? Because the next version will have more storage at the same price point? Because there’s the possibility, however remote, that next MacBook Pro will have some amazing new feature that will make you wish you waited? If your answer is the latter, how many times has that happened when you’ve been up for an upgrade? Maybe once or twice at best, right?
Perhaps there’s a different problem here, and it’s that Apple’s prices for machines don’t change, except when new models are introduced and price protection is applied to the old models. It helps keep Apple’s profits high, but it also means consumers have this perception that they’re not getting enough value for money, seeing as they’re paying the same amount for a machine a year later that someone else paid for theirs when the machine was fresh off the Keynote. Perhaps this lack of value for money (perceived or otherwise) is why people want yearly updates, so they can continue to get what they’re paying for, whether that’s a minor speed bump or a product release cycle that’s largely reliant on improvements in other areas rather then solely relying on Apple innovation. (As a fun experiment, try thinking of ways Apple could improve the trackpad. Keyboard? Hinge design? MagSafe? The list goes on.)
What about this: instead of releasing “new” (speed bumped or otherwise) Macs every year, Apple moved to two years between Mac updates, and simply dropped the price in the “off” years. Not massively, say somewhere between 5-15% depending on how the market is doing, but enough to make a difference. Would it influence your buying decisions then? Would you be more or less OK with buying a Mac at a discount, even if it was a year old, knowing full well that a new model would be coming in the next year?
All interesting stuff, though. Innovation is great and all, but there comes a point innovation becomes extremely difficult without compromises in other areas. There comes a time where you have to start something new entirely. Yes, even if that involves removing every port on a laptop. Even if you have to remove a near-ubiquitous port on a portable music device. But people, by golly, will have their yearly updates. Or else!
