Macworld Forums: Article Suggestion: Is Apple aiming for Consumers, Pros, or both? - Macworld Forums

The recent feature unveilings at this last Expo Keynote have strengthened a trend I've been noticing over the last few years:

When it comes to hardware and software, Apple seems increasingly focused on the consumer market as opposed to the professionals. We'll often see features first offered up in consumer versions before the pro apps get some update love.

This particular event highlighted new iLife app features that I know pro app users would love to have, myself included.

First, iPhoto- geotagging definitely is something Aperture users have had more than a dabbling interest in. I've read and been a part of many forum discussions pointing out the positive business elements the searchable, graphic data have. Facial recognition might be more family&friends-oriented, but when you have repeat models or famous people in your photos, the auto detect can save you some key-wording steps.

Then there was iMovie. I don't know how many times I read it in review articles or heard it over podcasts, but people are amazed at the new iMovie editing features and how they're simplifying edits that took a lot of work and roundabout measures to accomplish in Final Cut.

Last year in iLife '08, the .Mac, err... MobileMe gallery function was polished enough that it hooked me into buying the update. For a good long while, many clients were impressed and delighted at a gallery type that hadn't seen before that was easy to use. It wasn't too many months later that Aperture got its update, and I could make galleries direct from the home app and not have to double up on photo libraries

Anyone remember Logic Pro 7? We had windows, editors, and pull-down menus out the wazoo, which required either a gigantic screen or an entire lexicon of key commands for notebook users to really get a hang of. I think it was 4 years after we saw the unified interface of the first Garageband that Logic got truly Apple-fied and became the much-easier-to-use Pro 8 version we have today.

When it comes to software, do you think Apple is truly more concerned with making the Mac software universe more enticing for switchers and that much better for current consumer users? Or is this an issue of it taking more development time to create the more-in-depth tools pros will need? Or is it the artificial timeline events like Macworld that, up until this point, have pretty much imposed on Mac software development?

That last one might lead to a discussion of whether you think Apple will continue to release yearly, regularly-scheduled updates on app suites like iLife now that they don't have an appointment with release day every year.

The less clear side of the question is hardware. People at Macworld who live and breath Mac history could probably pin down sales numbers and announcement dates, but it seems like Apple goes both ways with changes in product lines.

Lately, Apple has had a TON of sales in their consumer notebooks- evidence, I think, of a change in user demographics more than anything else. I think this is what first lead to the drastic updates we saw for the iMac and more recently Macbooks. True, Apple did give the MacbookPros some update love, but how long was it before they changed from the same pressed-aluminum body spec. People still thought my aluminum PowerBookG4 was brand new years after I bought it because it looked exactly like the new versions, minus an infrared port, iSight camera and updated guts.

The same can be said for the Mac Pro. We've had the same cheese-grater, functional exterior design since the early G5 days. Don't get me wrong, I've been lusting after a powerhouse Mac tower for a while, and couldn't care less about how new it looks vs. how much faster I can get work done. However, you we look at the hardware issue, you've got to consider psychology and finance when it comes to outward appearance; who's going to care more about looks? Who buys the machine as a tool and business investment? Who are the more fickle buyers who are likely to hang onto their aging hardware until it's absolutely necessary for an update?

When you get down to hardware features, we'll see updates like the latest battery move, larger screens, crazy processing specs, sudden-motion-sensors and the like first tried in the Pro hardware under the dogma that these people are willing to pay more up-front for the useful features that make the machines useful even as they grow long in the tooth. There's some truth to that if you look at some analysis on www.lowendmac.com/

Then there's the iPod/iPhone phenomenon. These pieces of hardware have been a huge part of Apple's financial success in the last decade, though the Mac is gaining momentum again. The iPod has been media consumption, hence consumer oriented. The iPhone is a sort of hybrid, picking up some of the professional communique functions we used to only see in RIM's work, but still hanging on to media-centric interfaces and functions. It took Apple a while to get some of the email and network functions up-to-snuff on the iPhone, which lends further creedance to the business model of infecting consumer with the smartphone bug and leveraging your way up into full-fledged business tool. This area of Mac consumer vs. pro is hard to call, but I think Apple what will take what comes their way. They're driving the smartphone market at the moment, and will go where they think there's the most return.

So what's your take? Do you think Apple has an agenda here, or is uncommitted either way? People used to say only "graphics pros" and "scientists" really needed or used Macs, but OS X and the consumer software has turned that entire model around and made their products appeal to most everyone.

Is Apple focusing more on consumers because of base loyalty and higher sales? Do you think they just take the time to make sure that Pro apps work right, and include deep feature that take more time to develop?

Honestly, I think that with the Macworld deadline out of the picture now, we'll see a much more market-oriented and stability-oriented release strategy. Apple can release software and hardware updates when and where they want, under more mystique than ever. That's basically the whole point of this post- to try and make sense of what we see Apple doing for software releases and hardware updates in the future so that we can decide just when it is a good time to buy.