WWDC

There were many standout moments during the WWDC 2019 keynote. Not least when Tim Cook unveiled a new Mac Pro. However, it was not just the machine that drew gasps. Apple asking nearly $1000 for the Pro Stand for the computer’s new monitor certainly attracted attention too. At Wired, Sophie Chara argued the Pro Stand’s price is indefensible.

We could try to mount a defence. An Apple Watch Series 4 costs $399 (we’re sticking with dollars, as there’s no UK price for the stand, display or Mac Pro yet)) and the new Pride Watch strap is $49: that’s 12 per cent. The new iPad Air is $499, the 2nd gen Apple Pencil is $129 and the Smart Keyboard is $159: that’s 25 per cent and 31 per cent respectively for the iPad accessories. Suddenly, $999 – or ten/twenty per cent – isn’t so outrageous. Only it very much is. Apple itself is known for commanding high prices, but even compared to its own kit, the Pro Stand seems to have created a class of its own in terms of the Cupertino excellence mark-up.

Away from the excitement of new Mac Pros and operating systems for Mac and iPad, another thing stood out at WWDC 2019. Apple is making privacy-as-a-service a core part of its offering, as Darrell Etherington noted at TechCrunch.

Apple has been playing up its privacy game for at least a few years now, and in the Tim Cook era it’s especially come to the fore. But today’s announcements really crystallize how Apple’s approach to privacy will mesh with its transformation into becoming even more of a services company. It’s becoming a services company with a key differentiator – privacy – and it’s also extending that paradigm to third-parties, acting as an ecosystem layer that mediates between users, and anyone who would seek to monetize their info in aggregate.

Apple’s WWDC 2019 event is on Monday, June 3. The Mac Observer will host a live blog where you’ll get a live play-by-play of the event, with our commentary and reactions, so bookmark it in your favorite browser 🙂

Dave: We’ll see you here Monday morning for our live play-by-play and helpful-but-sometimes-snarky commentary. Join us then!

You can also follow @MacObserverLive on Twitter.

Let’s just get them out of our system now.  FCPX writes:

I thought I’d get ahead of the predictable 2019 Mac Pro complainers before its [probable] announcement at WWDC on Monday.

Feel free to add your own in the comments here.