Matthew Panzarino on Yesterday’s Mac Briefing

Matthew Panzarino’s take on yesterday’s Mac briefing at Apple:

I also ask what the moment was like, the turning point at which they knew that the current Mac Pro’s design wasn’t the way forward.

“I wish I could give you the kind of answer you want with that, which is, ‘oh, there was a day and a meeting and we all got together and said X,’” says Schiller, “but it rarely works that way.”

“We all went on our own emotional journeys, I’d say,” laughs Federighi. “There were periods of denial and acceptance. We all went on that arc.”

John Ternus added, “There definitely wasn’t a single point. Looking at how things are doing, looking at what we can do within the space and eventually come to a conclusion, but it’s not like it’s an ‘a-ha’ moment.”

This was an unprecedented reveal of Apple’s future plans for the Mac. The new, more open Apple continues to surprise. But one thing remains unchanged: Apple does not talk about development timelines. Several attempts were made to get Apple to tell us when they realized they needed to “completely rethink” the Mac Pro, and they wouldn’t budge. Federighi’s comment was lighthearted, but probably the closest to the truth that we got — I think Apple was rightfully proud of the 2013 Mac Pro (“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass”), and it was difficult to admit it was the wrong bet.

(I’d like to thank Panzarino for sharing with me TechCrunch’s transcript of the discussion, and his colleagues Greg Kumparak, Brian Heater, and Anthony Ha for doing the actual transcription. My piece today was much the better for it.)

★ Tuesday, 4 April 2017