Apple’s Cinema Displays web page is as long in the tooth as the displays themselves
Apple’s Cinema Displays are currently holding the record for “Longest Apple Product Still for Sale Without an Update”. At a whopping 439 days since the last update, many sites have predicted refreshes to the line of one sort of the other for the past 4 major Apple events, yet thus far, the displays have remained unchanged. Other sites have taken the oposite view, and predicted the discontinuation of the Cinema Displays from Apple’s lineup entirely.
Well, faithful Macenstein reader lewisoz has pointed out something kind of odd that neither tells us that a refresh is coming nor that a discontinuation is in the near future, but it opens up an area for discussion. Out of every product on Apple’s website, only the Cinema Displays’ “Buy it now” page has not been updated with the new Apple.com look.
You’ll notice the sparse Displays page (top) is the only one without the dynamic nav bar that lets you know where you are, and the only product still using the blue “add to cart” button and red “free shipping” text.
Above: The ubiquitous nav bar is missing from the Cinema Display page.
Even the Mac mini, the 2nd longest-running neglected Apple product at 314 days, has had its page updated. So has the page for Shake 4, which I can’t recall how long it’s been since an update.
Now, I suppose one could say, well, Apple will update it when they release a new model, and yes, perhaps they will (although it seems odd that all other products have had their pages updated, even those who have not yet seen updates since Apple’s website update). I just personally find it odd that a site as large as Apple’s is not using some sort of CSS template that would have automatically updated all the products in its store when they revamped it.
So, what do we make of this? Is this a sign that Apple is set to announce new displays? Set to discontinue them? Just an example of a bit of sloppy web updating? Or simply yet another sign that we Apple geeks are WAY too obsessive and prone to reading into things? 🙂
Maybe they are using a CSS template but it’s been so long since they’ve updated the page that it’s still suck in the past… Either that or even the Apple Store programers don’t care about the displays.
Apple forgot that they sell also displays
With the advent of Microsoft announcing Multi-touch displays is it too much to think that maybe Apple is finally gearing up to announce some of their own? It’s the logical next step after implementing it into their touchpads on the MacBook Air and Pro… I can dream, right?
There is no way that Apple will stop selling displays…. Apple LOVES making displays.
Apple can’t discontinue their monitors! What would you do if you had a Mac Pro or Mini? But at the other end, just how DO you update a monitor besides making it biggger? I think they are fine how they are, though they could use the addition of a built in iSight camera.
When Apple bought Shake from Nothing Real they were going to continue developing it but have since stopped development even though several major studios such as ILM still use it in production. My hope is that Apple will release a compositor that is as simple to use as Shake. cost effective and easy to migrate into existing pipelines for use with highend applications like Autodesk Maya.
As for the HD monitors I don’t predict Apple will get rid of them anytime soon but they may in the future compete with Dell by offering HDTV displays. I know I’d buy from Apple a HDTV if it is competitively priced.
This just in: Apple finds large cache of black boxes marked “Apple Cinema Display” in retail stores. Attempts to sue the manufacturer for using their name, only to realize they made them. Will now rebrand as the iDisplay Unit and talk about how it ties in to viewing your Mobile Me information. Expect sales to shoot through the roof