Did Apple shift focus away from the Mac?

I’ve always been interested in different operating systems.  I’m sure I’m the only kid in school that was running OS/2 because Windows was inferior in the mid-90’s.  I’ve always had multiple OS’s around, from Novell DOS to OS/2 to Linux, it has always been around.  In the business desktop realm, up until 2006 I used Windows (except for a short time where I ran BeOS to see if I could).

In 2006, I switched to the Mac.  I switched because they started using better processors and the OS was true Unix.  Unix allowed me to run MySQL and Photoshop on the same machine (and Bash, and other great command-line tools).  Then came the iPhone, then the iPad and with those came Apple’s iOS.

iOS is the big money maker for Apple now and the Mac OS takes a back seat.  Unfortunately, we see that because there is no longer a Mac OS team.

In another sign that the company has prioritized the iPhone, Apple re-organized its software engineering department so there’s no longer a dedicated Mac operating system team. There is now just one team, and most of the engineers are iOS first, giving the people working on the iPhone and iPad more power.  – from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-20/how-apple-alienated-mac-loyalists

On the contrary, Tim Cook (Apple CEO) totally disagrees with this.  Of course he does, but if you have to send out an internal message to employees telling them that Apple is dedicated to the Mac OS, then it is obvious that no one is focused on it.  This is what Tim Cook sent out (in part):

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. – from techcrunch.com

Take it or leave it, but I’m pretty sure the Mac OS is no longer important.  It makes sense though, look at these numbers:

iPhone sales*:

Apple sold 45.513 million iPhones in Q3 2016. That’s 5.3 percent down on the same quarter last year: in Q4 2015 Apple sold 48.046 million iPhones.

With an ASP (average selling price) of $619 in Q4, Apple’s iPhone sales generated a revenue of $28.16bn this quarter. That represents a year-on-year drop of 12.6 percent on the $32.209 billion Apple made from iPhone sales in Q4 2015.

Mac sales*:

Apple sold 4.886 million Macs in Q4 2016 and revenue of $5.739bn – a real disappointment, given that Apple sold 5.709 million Macs in Q4 2015, generating revenue of $6.882bn. Unit sales are therefore down 14.4 percent year-on-year, while revenue is down by 16.6 percent.

*  – from macworld.co.uk

They have to shift.  If your revenue is $28 billion from one product, the other is *only* $6.8 billion, you need to focus on the one that is bringing in more money.  The Mac sales keep dropping every quarter.  It is mind-blowing that their main OS is no longer their main OS.  Maybe someone can jump in and save the sinking ship called Mac OS, someone should.