After declaring the PC dead, desktops are suddenly very important to Apple

It was only a year ago that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook declared the PC dead.  Then they were unveiling their iPad-based clone on the Surface Pro, the iPad Pro, and Tim Cook said:

“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one? Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people. They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones.”

It appears falling sales of the iPhone and iPad and a resurgent Microsoft, who captured the imagination of many with the Surface Studio, has conspired to change Tim Cook’s mind over the last 12 months.  He is reported to have responded to a question on the company’s message board by saying:

The desktop is very strategic for us. It’s unique compared to the notebook because you can pack a lot more performance in a desktop — the largest screens, the most memory and storage, a greater variety of I/O, and fastest performance. So there are many different reasons why desktops are really important, and in some cases critical, to people.

The current generation iMac is the best desktop we have ever made and its beautiful Retina 5K display is the best desktop display in the world.

Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there’s any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.

If the new range of MacBook Pro laptops are any indication and reliable reports that Apple is neglecting the Mac hardware and software teams  Apple fans should not hold their breaths. Microsoft has claimed that professionals are disappointed in Apple’s offerings, and that “more people are switching from Macs to Surface than ever before.”

Under Tim Cook the company is largely believed to have run out of inspiration despite their insistence that claims that they can no longer innovate is false .  Me too products such as the Samsung-cloning larger iPhone and  Microsoft-aping iPad Pro has not helped, and we do wonder how far Apple can chase Microsoft’s lead before this perception also enters the public zeitgeist, which would be rather toxic for a company based so much around image.