Apple Inc. has always been very careful about identifying the different type of users of its products. Recently some users have been getting more love from the company than others.
Take the recent refresh of the MacBook Air as an example. The latest MacBook Air upgrade takes advantage of the new, Intel produced, low power, Haswell chip. This has made the, unchanged on the outside, MacBook Air significantly faster, as well as allowing the battery to last a whole day due to the lower power demands of the processor.
This is certainly good news for those who find that the MacBook Air is the computer for them, but is this product aimed as Apples core users? Probably not. It was not that long ago that Apple Inc. products were aimed squarely at the professional. Those that needed to use Ram and power hungry applications as part of their work. These people are not your MacBook Air users, they are MacBook Pro users.
For these people the company’s silence is a bit frustrating. Why did Apple not drop the Haswell chip into the MacBook Pro range alongside the MacBook Air? There might be a good reason for this. The MacBook Pro range is seriously in need of an update and hopefully this means a complete revamp of the model rather than just a stopgap as putting the Haswell chip in would have been. Some professional users are feeling frustrated by the wait for information on an upgrade to the professional users laptop of choice. It does seem that Apple have shifted their focus from the professional user to those that are less creative but more social.
Apple would be well advised to not forget their core users and move forward with updates to the MacBook Pro range. Having said that, the company has given a nod that something is going on by the teaser images for the new generation of Apple desktops. A good thing as the Apple Pro is starting to look like a museum piece, not a situation that image conscious Apple wants.
