Some of you have wondered whether the fact that I’m not writing as many columns means that I’m slowing down, or planning to retire. But it’s not about wanting to work less. It’s more about the fact that Apple is not the company it was when I started the original version of this site in 1999, and I’ve begun to repeat myself a little too often.

Then, Apple was just a couple of years coming out of a near-death experience. It wasn’t out of line to think that there wouldn’t be an Apple Computer for many more years, so those of us who embraced the platform by buying its products had to work harder to prove — maybe to ourselves — that it was the correct idea. And as Apple’s fortunes improved, to refute the fake news and ill-informed commentaries written about them.

Segue to 2020.

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One of the main reasons given for Apple’s decision to limit most discussion about future products is not to harm sales of existing hardware. This is certainly true for incremental product updates. So if you knew what was coming in the 2020 iPhone, you might postpone buying the current (2019) model. Well, at least when the next version is coming soon.

More or less.

But when it comes to an iPhone, Apple has been quite predictable in releasing annual updates, and for the most part, the new model isn’t so improved compared to the current model that you should rush to upgrade. At this point, most iPhone owners probably know that new models are forthcoming — and when — and they will decide if they need to wait for something special, or just buy what they want now.

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In announcing a two-year transition from Intel Inside to Apple Silicon, has Apple killed potential sales of new Macs?

Is that even possible? Or are the tech pundits getting just a little bit beside themselves with logic and reason?

Now the news about Apple’s third processor switch wasn’t surprising. It had been predicted for several years, and Intel’s delays in reducing die size and making CPUs faster and more power efficient haven’t helped. It meant that your spiffy new Mac wasn’t very much better than the one for the previous year, or the year before that.

In turn, Apple boasts that A-series CPU performance has increased 100-fold in the past decade. I’m not aware that today’s MacBook Pro’s performance is 100-fold faster than the 2010 model, the one that’s still in regular use over here.

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The tech media, particularly the Apple fan sites, will be poring over Apple’s new OS announcements at the 2020 WWDC keynote. In large part, most of the changes are largely predictable upgrades, though there are some notable developments.

So, after 19 years, version X of the macOS will go away, to be replaced by macOS 11 Big Sur. But that’s really the biggest change, as the remaining enhancements are largely incremental. According to Apple, it’ll run on an assortment of Macs dating back to the 2013 MacBook Pro, and the 2014 iMac that includes models with the 5K Retina display.

Ditto for iOS 14, which will run on the same gear as iOS 13. This means that Barbara’s iPhone 6s is not yet out of date and she won’t ask for a new one until at least the fall of 2021. Good thing, because it still works just fine. But the change that will impact many of you is the ability to change your default browser and email. You won’t be forced to use Safari and Mail, and that’s a good thing.

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