Tim Cook earlier today addressed growing concerns that Apple is no longer interested in catering to creative professionals. During a Q&A session at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, Cook said that Apple remains committed to the Pro market and that the company has no plans to abandon that specific user demographic.
“You will see us do more in the pro area,” Cook said in a response to a question about the Mac Pro. “The pro area is very important to us. The creative area is very important to us in particular.”
Cook’s statements are particularly timely given the backlash Apple has been experiencing over the past few months following the release of the MacBook Pro with TouchBar. Even though developers and creative professionals found the TouchBar to be a nice feature, the overwhelming consensus among professionals seemed to be that Apple’s revamped notebook line was overpriced and under-powered. One of the more commonly raised complaints centered on the fact that Apple’s new notebooks can’t be upgraded beyond 16GB of RAM. What’s more, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Apple’s Mac Pro hasn’t seen an update in more than 1,150 days.
Having said that, 2017 stands to be a big year for Apple hardware. In addition to an anticipated spec bump for the MacBook Pro, we should also see the iMac receive a long overdue update as well. And though we haven’t seen any rumors in this regard, perhaps Apple this year will surprise us all with a revamped Mac Pro.
As for other notes of interest from Apple’s shareholder meeting, Cook called Apple’s AirPods a “cultural phenomenon” while also stating that Apple last quarter couldn’t keep up with demand for the Apple Watch Series 2.
On the financial front, Cook promised to increase Apple’s quarterly dividends on an annual basis.
