| Apple seems to be continuing a trend of cutting costs and passing the benefits on to themselves. First, instead of reducing the price on the iPhone 5, we get a plastic 1st-part knock off. I was ridiculed for saying that the high price of this device leaves no reason to choose it over a marginally more expensive 5S, but it now appears that quite a few people are going for the 5S for that very reason. Second, in spite of the fact that many people complained about RAM utilization on rMBPs, they cut the baseline memory in half, for the sole purpose of deluding people into thinking that they actually reduced the price of the 13" model. 4GB of ram in a computer that already costs nearly double the average price that people pay for a laptop is absolutely ridiculous. I'm happy that its now possible to upgrade to 16GB, but the baseline seriously should have had at least 8GB, at the same price. Finally, we have the iPad 2, a device that should be priced at about $150-$200 that instead costs $400. My theory on Apple's mobile devices is that the company was worried that the latest models didn't differentiate themselves enough to compete against the last generation. As for the rMBP, I really don't have an answer for that, it just seems mind-bogglingly stupid. I love my iPad, and I was anxiously waiting to see what the new rMBPs had in store for us, but I'm honestly dissapointed with Apple's recent releases. Its like Tim Cook is purposely trying to fulfill the prophecy laid out by all the post-Jobs Apple Naysayers. |