Why the Mac might cause Apple’s downfall

Could these be the waning days of Apple's influence on the computer and smartphone market? It might be so, Bloomberg writes, observing that the Macintosh computer line "sometimes seems like an afterthought these days," leaving room for innovative competitors, like Microsoft, to swoop in:

While the Mac generates about 10 percent of Apple sales, the company can't afford to alienate professional designers and other business customers. After all, they helped fuel Apple's revival in the late 1990s. In a stinging critique, Peter Kirn, founder of a website for music and video creators, wrote: "This is a company with no real vision for what its most creative users actually do with their most advanced machines."

If more Mac users switch, the Apple ecosystem will become less sticky — opening the door to people abandoning higher-value products like the iPhone and iPad. [Bloomberg]

Bloomberg adds that the Mac Pro hasn't been significantly updated since 2013 and the Mac mini was last upgraded in 2014. Potentially exciting advances have been sidelined, scraped, or compromised. And "Mac fans shouldn't hold their breath for radical new designs in 2017," Bloomberg writes. "Instead, the company is preparing modest updates."