John Ternus is not inheriting your father’s Apple

It’s only Tuesday morning but there’s already blockbuster news this week that will change the course of Apple events.

And that is that the third macOS Tahoe beta is available to developers.

Ha-ha! No, that’s not it. It’s that in the middle of writing this column that was going to be about the MacBook Neo, Apple announced that Tim Cook would be turning over the reins to John Ternus as of September 1st of this year, and now the Macalope has to somehow make what he’s already written make sense in the context of this executive change. This is extremely rude timing on the part of Apple. Very inconsiderate. The Macalope sleeps a full third of the day. Is it so hard to issue big announcements while he’s asleep?

Anyway, let’s see if we can take the ingredients on hand and make a meal.

As the Macalope noted last week, sales of the MacBook Neo are exceeding expectations. This creates a bit of a problem for Apple as it uses binned iPhone A18 Pro processors for the Neo so it can’t easily spin up production to get more.

Writing for 9to5Mac, Michael Burkhardt has an option for Apple: expand the type of chips it puts into the MacBook Neo to include the base level instead of just the Pro.

Who says you can’t bin ‘em all?

The Macalope believes he is legally obligated to say “Hey-yo!” after a joke like that so…

Hey-yo!

Let it never be said he was not in full compliance with the law.

In addition to hardware changes, Apple could just spin up more production and sacrifice a little margin, it could raise the price a little, or it could do nothing and keep the MacBook Neo as a hard-to-get item.

But the bigger point is, a product selling better than you thought it would is not in any way a bad thing.

For funsies, let’s see how the esteemed competition is handling this. Surely Microsoft and its allies have some great ideas on how to counter Apple’s cheapest laptop ever.

“Microsoft reveals major price increases for all Surface PCs as RAM crisis continues: Flagships now $500 more expensive than at launch”

Uhhh, okay, that’s one way to react to the Neo. It’s not a good way, but it is one way.

As Windows Central’s Zac Bowden opines: “That’s insane.” Already any of Apple’s options from spending more to doing absolutely nothing seem better in comparison.

But, wait, that’s not the only thing Microsoft is doing.

“Microsoft counters the MacBook Neo with freebies for students”

What are those freebies?

…12 months of free Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate…

Cool. Cool. You know, you should throw in a “Study Hard” poster while you’re at it to really round out the package.

Color the Macalope jaded but he doesn’t think this bundle is really going to move the needle much on sales.

Since we now have to tie this back to John Ternus taking over as Apple CEO (thanks again, Apple), this isn’t the only parting gift Tim Cook has given the incoming top dog.

According to recent survey, almost four times as many Android users indicated they were considering switching to the iPhone than the reverse. iPhone loyalty was up to 96 percent as Tim Cook gets ready to pass on his “I ❤️CUSTOMER SAT” t-shirt to John Ternus. Android loyalty was high, but a full ten points lower.

Suffice it to say, John Ternus is not inheriting your father’s Apple. First of all, your father never ran Apple, Scott. All those stories he told you about his trials and tribulations running Apple in the mid-1990s? He made all that up. Your father sold orthopedic footwear.

But Ternus is getting an Apple that is pretty much at the top of its game while showing a few signs of not keeping its eyes on the fundamentals (at least it’s not the only one). If there was a short bit of advice the Macalope could cram in here at the end to give to Ternus to make this column appear to be well thought out in advance it’s this: make things people want. That’s it. Steve Jobs would tell you that people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s often true, but AI by and large is not it. While it has uses, no one has been pleasantly surprised by a startling new technology that often seems best suited to provide CEOs with another excuse to lay off workers.

The MacBook Neo is a cheap but capable entry-level computer to the Mac ecosystem that the company built with parts that fell on the factory room floor. This benefits customers and Apple. Start there and see where it takes you.

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