I remember when Apple put the M1 silicon inside the iPad Pro. That devious smile by CEO Tim Cook, appearing in his first action-filled ad spot and dropping a tech bombshell on a grossly unprepared audience. Oof! Tablet computing would never be the same again, I thought. Merely a week later, I spent a fortune on the iPad Pro and didn’t regret my decision.
A similar reaction was observed a decade ago when Apple introduced the 12-inch MacBook. The thinnest laptop Apple has ever made, it was an engineering marvel. But at $1,299, serving sub-par performance, a controversial keyboard, and below-average battery life made sure that it didn’t survive past half a decade.
