Remember when every Apple device had an “i” in front of its name? Many still exist: the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, for example.
Now, Pro is the new i.
There are:
- iPhone Pro
- iPad Pro
- MacBook Pro
- iMac Pro
- Mac Pro
- AirPods Pro
I would argue that in a couple of those areas, there really is a difference: the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro. But the MacBook Pro isn’t really that “pro,” and the AirPods, well, that’s just weird marketing.
So why don’t we have an Apple TV Pro? Or a Mac mini Pro? How about an Apple Watch Pro? (I know, they have the Apple Watch Edition, which, instead of meaning “better” means “expensive.” I don’t know much about the vocabulary of the fashion world, but I find the use of the word “edition” to be a bit odd.)
I doubt we’ll ever see an iPod touch Pro, but I did speculate about an iPod Pro some years ago.
The problem is that Apple has diluted the meaning of the word “pro” to simply mean a device with higher specs. And they’ve proed themselves into a corner: after the pro modifier gets tired, where can they go next?
How about, “It Just Works Pro”?
AMEN!!!
You would think Apple was the only company who uses the word Pro for their products the way people are always calling Apple up on how they improperly name their products. Who actually pays attention to that naming crap? It’s just marketing speak. These people should spend some time at automobile companies and see how improperly autos are named or just look at household products and see how poorly the names are matched to products.
It’s obvious with Apple the term Pro is used to give a reason to charge a higher price for slightly upgraded internal components. Get over it. It’s as silly as Apple calling the new MacBook Pro keyboard, the Magic Keyboard. There is absolutely nothing magic about it, but at least it does work properly. People are always trying to hold Apple to some higher standards when it’s just another big business trying to make money and happens to be more successful than the rest.
I’ve always bought Apple Pro products and I’m not a professional by any stretch. To me it just meant the product was slightly better and cost a bit more. Better to call it a Pro model than calling it Costlier model. How would MacBook Extra sound? Corny. MacBook Supreme? OMG! I’m sure there would be many complaints over that name. Pro is short and sweet. Good enough.
They’ll use one of those other marketing terms like Ultra or Supreme, followed by Ultra, then finally God-like.
Marketing is one of those areas a world apart from manufacturing. And everyone here is right, that words are mere words and marketing is all about money. The word Pro connotes a superior user or superior device. But in marketing speak, it merely denotes a device with more gadgets or more versatility or more computing power/speed.
Most buyers of the Apple Pro lines (regardless of actual device) don’t really need and won’t use all the extra bells and whistles that come with the Pro device. To them, having it denotes status.
But has Apple painted itself into a corner with that Pro term? They can go in a few other directions. Like automobile terminology, they can tack on “X” or “Z”, such as say, “iMac XM”. In the end, it means only dollars to Apple and what you want to spend.
Now that all the S models are gone, there really is only Pro left. And Max. And one XR leftover. And probably a Pro S Plus next year, so what do i know…
In Apple lingo “pro” simply means “even more expensive.”