Early demand is overwhelming, Cupertino claims

Nov 2, 2016 18:10 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s new MacBook model has generated mixed reactions, and while there are potential buyers who were excited with the new TouchBar and the other upgrades, others claim the laptop needs a bigger overhaul in order to stay close to devices launched by rivals, as is the case of Microsoft’s Surface Book.

But as far as Cupertino itself is concerned, the controversy around the new MacBook is absolutely normal, as Apple products have often been received with some sort of criticism at first, but then experienced a terrific success.

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller has said in an interview that the company is pleased with the decisions it made for the MacBook Pro, despite all the criticism, confirming that everyone’s expecting the model to post strong sales after it becomes available.

“There has certainly been a lot of passionate dialogue and debate about the new MacBook Pro. Many things have impressed people about it, and some have caused some controversy,” he said.

“We know we made good decisions about what to build into the new MacBook Pro and that the result is the best notebook ever made, but it might not be right for everyone on day one. That's okay, some people felt that way about the first iMac and that turned out pretty good.”

Top-of-the-range model available for $4,299

And judging from the early orders that Apple received for the MacBook Pro, the company has every reason to be optimistic about sales. At this point, the majority of configurations can only be shipped in 6 weeks the soonest, as Apple has a hard time aligning production with demand. This makes the MacBook Pro the most successful model Apple ever launched, Schiller explained, despite its hefty price that pushes the top-of-the-range configuration to no less than $4,299.

“We are proud to tell you that so far our online store has had more orders for the new MacBook Pro than any other pro notebook before. So there certainly are a lot of people as excited as we are about it.”

As for the headphone jack, in case you’re wondering how come that it was removed from the iPhone but saved on the MacBook, Apple has a very simple explanation: it all happened because professionals working on the MacBook need a headphone jack to use their existing hardware, and wireless solutions do not necessarily make sense because audio quality is what most of them are looking for these days.