Apple's week November 21: Let Tim Cook

Christmas Tree shopping in a brisk and windy North Carolina farm

There's a lot of the usual doom in Apple's news this week. I made light of it being a bit absurd in the title for the AppleInsider Podcast, but bad Apple news does seem to make the world go round.

Or at the least, it gets people’s paychecks.

Here's the news of the week:

A note on Apple's sports media strategy

I mentioned this in last week's post and this week's podcast, but Apple's strategy with sports has seemingly been less than optimal. I worried that their move to cut their contract short with MLS was a sign Apple was being too picky, but I've learned there may be a different strategy involved.

A simple image with text on a green gradient background reading: Welcome to Apple Sports — Apple can't own the whole stack, so it should do what it can to make what it has better

In the latest episode of Upgrade, Jason Snell explained that Apple cutting the contract short wasn't exactly a play to end its relationship with MLS. If anything, it was a good-spirited move to show they wouldn't end their contract sooner than 2029, while also giving the league the ability to negotiate better terms in 2029.

In light of that information, and if it is true, then Apple is smartly playing the long game. This is paired with news that Apple will continue showing Friday Night Baseball until at least 2028, which shows it isn't backing off of its sports plans, at least not yet.

Yes, F1 is coming to Apple TV soon, and I'm really interested in seeing how that turns out. But while F1 is an obvious fit for Apple, I wonder what the future of sports and Apple will hold.

Apple Silicon killed the Mac Pro

When the M-series processor first debuted, it seemed impossible. Surely some of Apple's claims would be thwarted by some smarmy YouTuber, but no, it proved true, if not better than promised.

A Mac Pro on a table with a window in the background showing green trees and grass — The Mac Pro is a remnant of the Intel era

Fast forward five years, and the Mac Pro seems more and more like a dinosaur from another age. The 37-pound tower existed as an apology for Apple's attempt to create a designer desktop that was painted into a thermal corner from the moment it was announced.

The incredible number of expansion slots are definitely a boon to some, but they quickly became useless when Apple introduced a system that didn't allow for external GPUs. In a world without the Mac Pro at the top of the lineup, it'll be interesting to see what Apple decides to do going forward.

The obvious option is making the Mac Studio the top of the lineup. However, there's still some clamor for a pro-level iMac that could prove quite interesting to the pro market.

I'm going to take the bet that the Pro Display XDR and the iMac will meet in the middle and create the ultimate creator's desktop computer. Sure, the Mac Studio will still exist as a bring-your-own-keyboard, monitor, and mouse system, but I do wonder what the true top end of the Mac lineup will be.

Tim Cook: trapped between a rock and an orange

I don't blame Apple CEO Tim Cook for what he's had to put up with in the past year. From the most logical and pragmatic perspective, it makes sense to do everything in your power to stay out of the limelight under the threat of random and ignorant politically motivated attacks.

A shocked Tim Cook in a skit where Mother Nature shows up — Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't like the position he's in any more than we do

This week's dinner seemed especially damaging. Cook, Trump, and a selection of other CEOs and billionaires, including Elon Musk, sat at a table with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Yep, the very same that the CIA says ordered the dismemberment of an American journalist.

People have been trying to square this circle – is Cook evil? Should everyone boycott Apple? Does anything make sense anymore?

The simple answer is that this isn't any different from any other dinner or party Cook has attended to this point. Yes, it's awful. Yes, everyone has a right to be angry.

However, this isn't the end of the world. I'm not happy about it, nor do I endorse these actions. But I also know that if Cook didn't go, there'd be some kind of idiotic action taken against them in the following days, if not hours.

I understand there are a lot of people with very strong feelings about this situation, and that's fine. I'm not particularly happy about it either. Though, this feels like one of those things that are out of everyone's control, and fussing about it just wastes time and energy.

There's literally nowhere else to go. Even if you disagree and hate what Apple and Cook are doing, they're doing the minimum to get by, and are the lesser evil of all tech companies. So, unless you plan on giving up technology altogether, Apple's at least the one sitting in silent defiance.

I don't expect Cook to take Apple to war against the Trump administration. And I also believe there is a line Apple won't cross, but we're nowhere near that. Almost nothing has happened to Apple since Trump took office other than annoying PR stunts.

The company still employs LGBTQ+ folks without issue, still has DEI policy, and is still led by an openly gay CEO. There's so much damage that could have and still could be done, and yet it hasn't. In fact, Apple hasn't changed anything about its business in spite of Trump. It's incredible and something us Apple nerds should be celebrating.

If Trump is dumb enough to be placated by such superficial actions, let's take advantage of that.

A small cat sits next to a fake Christmas tree that has been knocked on its side — Marble decided that we had one tree too many in the house