Bloomberg Businesswek by Darrell Etherington

With few buyers for the professional-grade Mac Pro and the onset of Thunderbolt technology that can help address their needs, Apple has little reason to continue selling its pricey machine

The Mac Pro has long remained a professional tool in an otherwise consumer-focused line of Apple (AAPL) computers. With a significantly higher starting price tag than its iMac cousin and a wide range of upgrade options that most Apple products lack, it makes sense that a report Monday (via AppleInsider) claimed the Mac Pro might soon be put out to pasture. Would Apple really close the door on its most muscular and expandable Mac model?

First, there are the reasons Apple executives themselves gave for considering shelving the Pro. Reportedly, the sales of these expensive computers have dwindled to the point where making them isn’t nearly as profitable for Apple as it once was. Apple has never been particularly sentimental about keeping a computer around when it isn’t profitable; consider the fate of the G4 Cube, for example, which was introduced to the world in July 2000 and discontinued a year later after it failed to impress the buying public. Desktop sales in general have been flagging, with notebooks and tablets picking up the slack.

Apple has been cited as bucking the downward trend in desktop sales, but the Mac Pro isn’t the computer whose sales we hear broken out during conference calls or at Apple special events. That honor is reserved for the iMac, Apple’s all-in-one that proves there’s still a market for affordable, sleek, desktop computers. read more...