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This reminded me of Steve Jobs' comparison of the Mac to trucks. Not everyone has a truck but a lot of people need them to do their job. As more and more people

This reminded me of Steve Jobs' comparison of the Mac to trucks. Not everyone has a truck but a lot of people need them to do their job. As more and more people move to mainly using mobile devices (including tablets) for the majority of their computing needs I think the truck (i.e. mac) business will continue to be slow and plodding. Developers are the only people Apple really needs to make Macs for and that's a pretty small market in the grand scheme. Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. I don't expect things to get much better.

maxxxxx 8y ago
What you are saying makes sense but it also means that Macs shouldn't get thinner and prettier but more utilitarian with upgradeable parts, plenty of ports and so on. I guess Apple doesn't know anymore who Macs are really for.
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  A good, durable, keyboard, twice the battery life, lots of storage, memory, maintainable, and still easy to lug around? I'm gonna swoon...
- extralego 8y ago
  Right. The ‘Thin Wars’ have been killing us from the start, and I’m not even sure anyone is fighting in them besides Apple.
  - krisroadruck 8y ago
    I don't know. My last 2 PC laptops have been incredibly thin yet still don't have the spec-suck that you see with apple offerings. Current Dell XPS 13 Dev Edition and an HP Spectre x360 both managed to be light, while still having great processors, plenty of Ram, fast nvme drives, good battery life and 4K displays with touchscreens. Both managed to have more than 1 port. Being less thin certainly gives you more room for "stuff" but I don't think lack of it is what's causing mac to fall behind.
kinsomo 8y ago
> Developers are the only people Apple really needs to make Macs for and that's a pretty small market in the grand scheme. Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. I don't expect things to get much better. Apple alienated the creatives and it seems like they've started alienating the developers, too. If the Mac platform becomes nothing more than part of a development kit for iOS apps (sort of like developer version of a video game console [1]), it will be a sad day. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_development_kit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_development_kit
ProAm 8y ago
Don't trucks transport something like 80% of all the goods in the world at some point?
- dmm 8y ago
  The Ford F-series trucks are the best selling vehicles in the US. People want trucks.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    The trucks Steve Jobs was referring to are not pickup trucks, but the big things you see hauling freight on the highway.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
silvestrov 8y ago
I think Apple needs to be very careful about not loosing the developers. Because if Android/Linux someday becomes they best developer platform (however unlikely), Apple will have real trouble. When the good developers loose interest in a platform it becomes very difficult for it to survive. And good developers results in not just good apps. It's also recommendations to friends, support when something doesn't work or needs to be explained, and it's advertising that's much more powerful than the advertising you can buy. All the money and ads Microsoft put into MS Phone did nothing because it didn't bring developers. Same with Blackberry and Nokia because those platforms were never developer friendly.
- larrik 8y ago
  I think Linux has been the best developer platform for a long time.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Not if you want to target the most profitable mobile platform....
    - larrik 8y ago
      Fair point
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
    On the condition that you're a web developer or develop exclusively for unix servers.
    - larrik 8y ago
      Very true
- oldcynic 8y ago
  +lose/losing I think they've lost many of them already aside from those who need to stay on MacOS because that or iOS is what they're writing for. Hence the tone of so many of these articles. How long are the rest going to wait on disappointing refreshes that move in the wrong (or no) direction? It's too hard to be enthusiastic about the platform in the way you could around the time of 17" Macbooks.
StevePerkins 8y ago
> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. Is this really a thing? I recently started dabbling in digital comic book art, using Krita and a Wacom-clone drawing tablet on a Windows PC. As I interact with others in the community on Discord and web boards and so forth, I get the "filthy casual" vibe for not using Adobe on a MacBook even as an absolute beginner.
- andrepd 8y ago
  Maybe you're hanging around the wrong boards.
- extralego 8y ago
  Yeah. If you only do photography or graphic design, there’s not much reason to move. But, if you’re doing high-end video editing, you can get a more suitable PC for 1/3 the price of a suitable Mac Pro. And if you’re using games engines or 3D software, there’s not even a discussion to have. I think Adobe has a deal with Apple (and possibly Microsoft) which entices them away from delivering Photoshop for Linux, but I hear it runs well in Wine! Adobe’s purchase of Macromedia has proven to be the thorn that any concerned spectator would have expected it to be. I think I was in high school at the time (loose guess). I used Adobe products for a good 10 years professionally after college and can attest that the Adobe software has essentially not changed beyond file format support and lock-in features. EDIT: Media Encoder is nice (now) but a good decade later than it should have been. The very recent improvements to After Effects sound useful but again too little too late. They appear to only be responding when competition appears.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    > I think Adobe has a deal with Apple (and possibly Microsoft) which entices them away from delivering Photoshop for Linux Surely you're joking, right? The deal they have is that approximately 0% of people use Linux.
    - extralego 8y ago
      I’m not joking, but I was explicit in my lack of certainty so I hope that speaks for itself. Your reasoning is convincing enough as it stands, and falls in line with their approach of only adding new features when competition appears.
qntty 8y ago
> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. Since when? Every person I know in these industries still use Macs.
- VirtualAirwaves 8y ago
  No. They really do use PCs and have been for years! Professionals who need calibrated color monitors and 10-bit-channel color have never used Macs.
zorkbonker99 8y ago
What does Apple expect their own, internal developers to use? Don't they have a self-interest in their own consumption of their own product.
pier25 8y ago
> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. I agree for 3D, but for video, photography, graphic design, audio, etc, the Mac is still going strong from what I've seen.

maxxxxx 8y ago

What you are saying makes sense but it also means that Macs shouldn't get thinner and prettier but more utilitarian with upgradeable parts, plenty of ports and so on. I guess Apple doesn't know anymore who Macs are really for.

rootusrootus 8y ago
A good, durable, keyboard, twice the battery life, lots of storage, memory, maintainable, and still easy to lug around? I'm gonna swoon...
extralego 8y ago
Right. The ‘Thin Wars’ have been killing us from the start, and I’m not even sure anyone is fighting in them besides Apple.
- krisroadruck 8y ago
  I don't know. My last 2 PC laptops have been incredibly thin yet still don't have the spec-suck that you see with apple offerings. Current Dell XPS 13 Dev Edition and an HP Spectre x360 both managed to be light, while still having great processors, plenty of Ram, fast nvme drives, good battery life and 4K displays with touchscreens. Both managed to have more than 1 port. Being less thin certainly gives you more room for "stuff" but I don't think lack of it is what's causing mac to fall behind.

kinsomo 8y ago

> Developers are the only people Apple really needs to make Macs for and that's a pretty small market in the grand scheme. Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. I don't expect things to get much better. Apple alienated the creatives and it seems like they've started alienating the developers, too. If the Mac platform becomes nothing more than part of a development kit for iOS apps (sort of like developer version of a video game console [1]), it will be a sad day. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_development_kit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_development_kit

ProAm 8y ago

Don't trucks transport something like 80% of all the goods in the world at some point?

dmm 8y ago
The Ford F-series trucks are the best selling vehicles in the US. People want trucks.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  The trucks Steve Jobs was referring to are not pickup trucks, but the big things you see hauling freight on the highway.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

silvestrov 8y ago

I think Apple needs to be very careful about not loosing the developers. Because if Android/Linux someday becomes they best developer platform (however unlikely), Apple will have real trouble. When the good developers loose interest in a platform it becomes very difficult for it to survive. And good developers results in not just good apps. It's also recommendations to friends, support when something doesn't work or needs to be explained, and it's advertising that's much more powerful than the advertising you can buy. All the money and ads Microsoft put into MS Phone did nothing because it didn't bring developers. Same with Blackberry and Nokia because those platforms were never developer friendly.

larrik 8y ago
I think Linux has been the best developer platform for a long time.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Not if you want to target the most profitable mobile platform....
  - larrik 8y ago
    Fair point
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  On the condition that you're a web developer or develop exclusively for unix servers.
  - larrik 8y ago
    Very true
oldcynic 8y ago
+lose/losing I think they've lost many of them already aside from those who need to stay on MacOS because that or iOS is what they're writing for. Hence the tone of so many of these articles. How long are the rest going to wait on disappointing refreshes that move in the wrong (or no) direction? It's too hard to be enthusiastic about the platform in the way you could around the time of 17" Macbooks.

StevePerkins 8y ago

> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. Is this really a thing? I recently started dabbling in digital comic book art, using Krita and a Wacom-clone drawing tablet on a Windows PC. As I interact with others in the community on Discord and web boards and so forth, I get the "filthy casual" vibe for not using Adobe on a MacBook even as an absolute beginner.

andrepd 8y ago
Maybe you're hanging around the wrong boards.
extralego 8y ago
Yeah. If you only do photography or graphic design, there’s not much reason to move. But, if you’re doing high-end video editing, you can get a more suitable PC for 1/3 the price of a suitable Mac Pro. And if you’re using games engines or 3D software, there’s not even a discussion to have. I think Adobe has a deal with Apple (and possibly Microsoft) which entices them away from delivering Photoshop for Linux, but I hear it runs well in Wine! Adobe’s purchase of Macromedia has proven to be the thorn that any concerned spectator would have expected it to be. I think I was in high school at the time (loose guess). I used Adobe products for a good 10 years professionally after college and can attest that the Adobe software has essentially not changed beyond file format support and lock-in features. EDIT: Media Encoder is nice (now) but a good decade later than it should have been. The very recent improvements to After Effects sound useful but again too little too late. They appear to only be responding when competition appears.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  > I think Adobe has a deal with Apple (and possibly Microsoft) which entices them away from delivering Photoshop for Linux Surely you're joking, right? The deal they have is that approximately 0% of people use Linux.
  - extralego 8y ago
    I’m not joking, but I was explicit in my lack of certainty so I hope that speaks for itself. Your reasoning is convincing enough as it stands, and falls in line with their approach of only adding new features when competition appears.

qntty 8y ago

> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. Since when? Every person I know in these industries still use Macs.

VirtualAirwaves 8y ago
No. They really do use PCs and have been for years! Professionals who need calibrated color monitors and 10-bit-channel color have never used Macs.

zorkbonker99 8y ago

What does Apple expect their own, internal developers to use? Don't they have a self-interest in their own consumption of their own product.

pier25 8y ago

> Creatives doing photography, 3D, video, etc. have long left for other platforms. I agree for 3D, but for video, photography, graphic design, audio, etc, the Mac is still going strong from what I've seen.