What it is: Apple neglected the Mac Pro and professional users for years. Now this may be changing.
Professional computer users need power while ordinary users want a low price. For some odd reason, Apple decided to focus mostly on ordinary users while ignoring professional users, who have supported the company for years, even when the Macintosh was nearly dead as a computing platform. When Apple introduced the Mac Pro, it was a dazzling piece of hardware although its major flaw was that it had no room for expansion, which is something professional users need. Not surprisingly, the Mac Pro didn’t sell that well to the point where Apple is redesigning the Mac Pro to more closely match the needs of professionals.
To refile their trademark for “Mac Pro,” Apple had to define what the Mac Pro would offer and the official trademark filing lists augmented reality and smart glasses. Chances are good you won’t need a Mac Pro to use augmented reality or smart glasses, but you might need the power of a Mac Pro to create augmented reality features. That’s because augmented reality will require video, audio, and graphics editing expertise, which are all features needed by professional computer users.
For Apple to officially state that the Mac Pro will work with augmented reality is just one of many numerous clues that Apple is readying augmented reality for the iPhone and iPad while also preparing development tools for the Macintosh. Expect augmented reality to change the mobile computing market as drastically as the iPhone rearranged the smartphone market.
Augmented reality will be a feature that will let users aim their iPhone/iPad camera at an object and see something that isn’t there such as a video. For example, imagine pointing your iPhone at a building and seeing a video describing how that building was designed and built. Or aim your iPhone/iPad camera at a baseball player and see a list of his statistics like looking at a baseball trading card.
Expect the next Mac Pro to be a more modular system with plenty of internal expansion capabilities. That means a fast processor, fast memory, large hard disk, and a fast graphics processor. More importantly, that also means you’ll be able to swap out old parts and put in new ones in the future.
Like today’s Mac Pro that costs at least $3,000 and up, tomorrow’s Mac Pro will likely be just as expensive. Just keep in mind that Apple also plans to offer high-end iMac models that can also meet the needs of professional users too. The key difference is that a Mac Pro will be expandable but an iMac will not be as easily expandable.
The Mac Pro won’t be for everybody, but it will be for professionals and the features of the Mac Pro today will filter down to the iMac tomorrow. If you ant to get a glimpse of the future, look at what Apple has planned for the Mac Pro.
To read Apple’s official trademark filing for the Mac Pro that hints of its future, click here.