Apple to stop European shipments of Mac Pro on March 1?
Replacement may – or may not – be in the works
Apple will discontinue shipping its long-neglected Mac Pro tower to the EU, EU candidates, and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states on March first, sources tell 9to5Mac.
According to that "Apple Intelligence" website, Cupertino has informed resellers that the Mac Pro is being retired from the aforementioned countries because it runs afoul of Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition, which goes into effect on March 1 – but the exact reason for its non-compliance was not mentioned.
Apple's Mac Pro, as it's looked since 2006
Orders for Apple's flagship tower will be accepted until February 18 for shipment before March 1, and any Mac Pros in resellers' inventories can still be sold after the March 1 drop-dead date.
In addition, 9to5Mac's sources say, the note from Apple assures Mac Pro fans that "Countries outside of the EU are not impacted and Mac Pro will continue to be available in those areas."
For the time being, at least. The Mac Pro has received only processor speed bumps, and not a significant design update, since its introduction in August 2006 as a replacement for the similar Power Mac G5 tower.
As Apple has moved more and more into its new role of what the late Steve Jobs once described as "a very high volume consumer electronics manufacturer," the Mac Pro has been all but forgotten as Jobs, then Tim Cook, rolled out new devices during Cupertino's splashy intro events.
That said, Cook reportedly emailed a disgruntled Mac Pro fan last June, telling him that "we're working on something really great for later next year," and when he said in December that Apple was planning to move some Mac manufacturing to the US, rumors flew that the rumored replacement for the Mac Pro was the product to be so manufactured.
Apple being its usual highly secretive Apple, it's of course not known whether the Mac Pro will be upgraded this year – or, for that matter, whether it will be replaced by an entirely new professional-grade Mac.
If the email to EU resellers that 9to5Mac turned up is genuine, however, its appears that Europeans seeking a Mac more muscular and upgradable than Apple's latest anorexic iMacs will be S.O.L. until Cupertino deigns to create a Mac Pro replacement that complies with the aforementioned Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition. ®
COMMENTS
Makes perfect sense
I mean Apple wants to focus on the consumer market. That's where the money is. They probably make more on an iwhatever than on a Mac Pro.
Re: This is something I consistently fail to understand.
You're close with the Landie analogy. But how about this:
Mac Pro's are used by designers in the same way 90's are used by farmers and explorers. They buy one, run it to the ground, then buy another. They are the perfect customers, returning to buy the same high-margin models again and again.
If they either stop selling the Mac Pro or the 90, both groups will simply leave, full of resentment, and never come back, regardless of the other tinsily tat they may try to sell in it's place. Of the two, only Landie seems to know this.
This is something I consistently fail to understand.
A long long time ago, Apple built a reputation of being THE choice for professional graphics and later audio processing. That reputation trickled down to the regular consumer who would be convinced by such arguments a 'professionals won't use anything else'.
It's akin to Land Rover are selling loads of upmarket wimpmobiles on the reputation they built crossing the Darien Gap and things like the Camel Trophy.
But now Apple (AND land Rover) are neglecting the products that made their reputation and seem only interested in selling as many silly consumer products as they can.and are neglecting the people that built their image.
I cannot see anything good coming from this attitude. But I have no multinational corp to run either.
Re: or this version?
"...fans not protected and electrical protection on I/O sockets..."
I'm presuming that's the legislation mentioned, that the mac Pro falls afoul of?
Thanks. I'm glad you could be arsed researching and explaining. It seems it's too much to expect the Reg's 'journalists' to do anything more than copy/paste from other websites, or reprint press releases, these days.
Re: Oh dear ....
I have an older Mac Pro and think it's a well made piece of kit. I have also built loads of PC's and servers but the Mac Pro is far, far better constructed than most PC"s I've seen. The attention to detail inside is like opening up a decent mid range P-series from IBM. Its quiet (mine is on 24x7), it can take 64GB of RAM (if you can afford it), four sata disks just slot in on the rails. I know you can buy plastic enclosures but these are simple, near and elegant. Its well put together and just works very nicely. Oh and I paid £600 for mine.
The downside is there is no USB 3, but we do have Firewire which is still excellent for music, videos and external hard disks, The graphics card is from something pre Noahs time in the flood, its OK (ish) but its bloody old and slow compared to just about anything else.
Apple have ignored this unit for too long as there focus is now on consumer electronics and not their older core background of graphics, music and desktop, thats where the money is so fair enough. However I wish they'd stop pretending that they are still a computer company as opposed to a phone make and music/video/games distribution company now.
I have zero faith in Tim Cook producing anything decent to replace the Mac Pro, to be honest I have zero faith in Tim Cook doing anything decent on most the Apple products.
I can't remember the last time Apple produced something that made me go wow! Shoving a high defn display on a laptop doesn't count.
