Sorry it’s been a while since we last made contact. We have been focusing on our business making some positive changes within our supply chain that will help us drive our business forward.
Whilst we have been away quite a lot has happened in the world of Apple. An event in March highlighted Apple’s desire to focus on the education market and the entry level iPad has been given a performance boost. The entry level iPad now comes with an A10 chip, the iPad Pro has an A10X chip, and a 10 hour battery, an 8MP camera, 1080P HD video and 10 hour battery life. It also now supports the Apple Pencil.
WWDC 2018 has also been announced. This year it is to be held between 4-8th June at McEnery Convention Center. It will be the 29th running of WWDC and as always the primary focus of the event will be the four different OS’s. That is tvOS, watchOS, iOS and of course macOS. Even though software is the focus of the event it is not unusual for Apple to release some new hardware.
The major rumour sites are all suggesting a new iPad Pro with Face Recognition, a new Mac Mini and a lower priced MacBook. It maybe that the MacBook Air might be improved rather than a new MacBook with some people suggesting that a Retina Screen might be coming to the Air.
Interestingly, we have seen real growth in demand for leasing the MacBook Air. It is particularly popular for fast growing companies that are providing business support services. Its price point and portability, coupled to the Apple brand is proving really popular with those businesses who want a Mac but don’t need the design capabilities of a more powerful MacBook Pro. In our opinion an introduction of a Retina screen at the same price point would be a nice touch.
What WWDC won’t include is a new Mac Pro. Last year Apple took the unusual step of holding a press conference last year to explain that the current model had fallen short of the pro users needs and that they would be going back to the drawing board. It was hoped that they would be releasing something towards the end of 2018 but earlier on this month Apple invited key industry players to Cupertino to tell them that the Mac Pro will be with us in 2019.
Reception to this news has been mixed. Some like the fact that Apple is openly engaging with its customer base and keeping them informed. They like the fact that Apple have admitted that their design on the 2013 Mac Pro did not meet the needs of the Mac Pro customer. Others however, are concerned that 2019 could mean a release in October with units landing in Dec 2019. That would 6 years after the current model was released.
The key requirement for the high end pro user is that they like to tinker. Changing hard drives, graphics cards and alike to suit their individual needs. At present the current Mac Pro and iMac Pro do not allow this demographic to do that. The key question for Apple is will that audience sit around and wait for the 2019 Mac Pro?
