I called the shit out of this one.
A few days ago, Apple notified developers they’d like to start getting those specialized Mac mini development machines back. Developers paid $500 for these machines (for a year, I believe) and Apple’s incentive a few days ago was $200 credit toward a new Mac,
and that it had to be spent before the end of May.
Naturally, everyone proceeded to lose their minds, on both sides of the issue: “Apple owes me!” vs. “stop acting like an entitled twat”, and all points in between.
Well, Apple listened. As most companies do when people loudly, publicly fill their diapers on Twitter.
So now the developers get their full $500 back, in credit, and it can be used on any Mac, before the end of the year (for those who were worried that new M1 iMacs or redesigned 14” and 16” MacBook Pros wouldn’t be available by the end of May (that, I fully get...I wouldn’t want to “settle” for one of these initial, lower-powered models if I was eyeing something with a bit more pep that we all know is coming later this year). The May deadline should’ve never been a thing.
However, just know that, come December, there will be another brouhaha/Twitrum in the form of “I wanted to spend my $500 credit on the new M1 Mac Pro which never arrived in 2021!”
If Apple’s smart, they’ll just go ahead and say the $500 credit is good until three months after the day the last Mac transitions over to the M1 or whatever (pick a timeframe that makes legal, moral and business sense). That way everyone gets to put this free gift (because that’s what it is, since they were never promised anything in return initially) to use on whatever Mac they want, including whatever model(s) haven’t transitioned/updated by the end of 2021.
Would
that make everyone happy? Or should Apple go ahead and get on the right side of things, PR-wise, and just give $1,000 credits to everyone (grade-schoolers, hobos, park rangers, Instagram influencers and their titties, etc.), able to be used until the end of time on anything (car washes, Whoppers, Six Flags admission, etc.).
“Yes!” someone, somewhere, is probably saying with a straight face...
I’ve got no monkey in this fight. I’m
not a developer. I know, from reading articles (and angry Tweets) that during previous transitions in the Steve era, Apple was quite generous to the developers (free iMac upon the return of their development tower). So, yeah...I get that.
Still, everyone who voluntarily - with no firearms of any sort pointed at their skull, I’m assuming - did so with nothing in the contract saying they’d be receiving any or all of their $500 investment back.
To be clear, I do think Apple’s initial approach (with the May deadline) was a bit shitheaded/petty, But I would’ve been thrilled to see almost half of my $500 outlay returned to me. $500 would’ve been unthinkable.
There’s a reason they’re sitting on eleventy trillion $$$, huh?
I see both sides here - Apple looks a bit chintzy and unappreciative of the work developers put in, especially compared to prior similar scenarios. But a lot of people entered into an arrangement they voluntarily signed up for and then squawked on the backend when something they were never promised failed to come their way. So a lot of them are also coming across as petty shitheads too.
Nobody’s looking like a saint in any of this.
But my point here is really not about all that as much as “wow, look how quickly a huge company responds, and reverses itself, when the heat of negative PR is applied”.
When the original $200/end of May story hit a few days ago, I emailed it to a few fellow Apple dork buddies and said “mark my words...within a month or so, Apple’s gonna bump the credit to the full $500 and do away with that May deadline...just watch!”
“Nah, they’re good. They’re already being generous...they’re not gonna up that and give away $500! They don’t have to.”, etc. is what I heard back from all three.
“You don’t understand...they’re getting hammered. I know how this stuff works, and how it’s gonna go. Trust me.”
The only thing I had wrong was just how quickly it happened...2-3 days vs. “a month or so”.
Anyone here participate in this program and looking at returning your custom Mac mini for the $500 credit? What are you looking to buy with it? One of the existing M1 models, or wait and see what hits later in the year (iMac, 14” MacBook Pro, etc.)? Bet you weren’t counting on an unexpected $500 to put toward it. That’s pretty cool. It was all a 1-for-1 wash. You basically got your full $500 “security deposit”/initial investment back to spend on whatever Mac you want by the end of 2021 (plus however long Apple extends that, because you know they will if some models are still Intel-based come December 31).