‘Pro’ has lost all meaning, and Apple knows it

Image: Apple

Apple has a problem with some products that are labeled "pro", like Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and the Mac Pro, because they are not intended for professional use. I wondered if I was witnessing the start of a new brand for Apple after Apple used a different word to describe its new computer and monitor that clearly targeted its audience of creative professionals.

Apple made it clear who the Mac Studio and Studio Display were for. The message was clear when it showed them being used by musicians, 3D artists, and developers in its presentation: these are products for people who aspire to be creative professionals. The same crowd is targeted with MacBook Pro commercials for years.

Jonathan Balck, co-founder and managing director of ad agency Colossus, said in an interview that he wondered when the iPhone studio would come out.

I can hear people asking "is it a bit early to predict that?", given that we have only seen two products. The Mac Studio line is a clear successor to Apple's iMac Pro. Both computers come standard with a good amount of ports and are powered by monstrous CPUs. I believe that Apple would have named its new studio after it if it had released it two years ago. To play devil's advocate, I'm not sure it would work for the studio display.

The previous term Pro is outdated and dry according to some marketing experts.

Balck says in an interview that the word Pro is restrictive and evokes a feeling of being professional. He says that pro products are for people who use creativity to get a paycheck.

I heard that studio is a great word for Apple's target audience. A music studio. The studio is a design studio. A photography studio. It is an idea we all romanticize, according to Matt Talbot, chief creative officer at the ad agency WorkInProgress. Buying a product called "Studio" could help you feel like you are part of the Apple club and the club of creators so many people aspire to be in, he suggests.

It definitely is evocative of a particular kind of vibe and environment where creative work happens, according to Michael Janiak, a co-founder of the Pattern design agency. It is not a far cry from how Apple presented its stores.

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

This isn't the first time we've seen companies use the word studio to market similar products. Almost every Windows PC manufacturer has used the word studio more recently, and Apple reuses the name from a lineup of monitors it sold in the late 90s and early 2000s. Every PC-maker wants to attract creators with a little more money to spend, so they have a program that certifies their computers from the likes of Dell, HP, Maingear, andMSI.

Microsoft's Surface Studio desktop was marketed directly to artists and could fold down to become a massive drawing tablet, making it the real elephant in the studio. It has the Surface Laptop Studio as well. Not all of these products were successful, but the point is that Apple has a well-known record.

The reason Apple may need to is because it led the industry in overusing the word. It's hard to say where this started, but I think it was with the two-port MacBook Pro model. Want to make more money selling earbuds? The earbuds are Pro. Do you want a regular version of your phone? The nice one should be called the Pro.

Chaim Gartenberg wrote a piece about what it means for a phone to be pro.

For the most part, both for Apple and the rest of the world, the “pro” label doesn’t imply that hardware is meant to be “professionally” focused. It’s marketing shorthand for “better,” much in the same way that “plus” has seemingly become the streaming service term of choice or “lite” indicates a less feature-filled version of an app or device.

There is always a slight bit of confusion because Apple makes a few genuinely professional products. Seeing the word Pro on an Apple product could mean that it is an extendable computer that can hold 1.5 terabytes of RAM. Or it could be that it has an extra camera and a flashy ad campaign to convince you that this phone will make you the next Rian Johnson.

Apple's new word, studio, seems to come ready-made to impress the company's target audience.

I don't think branding has been used to make computers sound more capable than they are. That definitely doesn't seem to be the case with the Mac Studio, which seems like it will be plenty capable for creative work. Apple's new Pro isn't actually for pros, it's headlines for Apple to deal with.

I didn't get the impression that it's an absolute shoo-in for creative work when I talked to some members of the video and design team at The Verge. It has Apple's most powerful processor to date, but that isn't what all creatives are looking for. The senior designer who helped us review the Mac Pro is unsure if the risk of working on a computer with a new processor is worth it.

He told me that he could imagine the types of people that would work in the studio. They are good to go for a while because they can just buy a whole bunch of them. Independent studios may like this thing. It is priced inside of their budget.

The senior video director says she could be interested in the studio as an upgrade to her personal machine, but only after she sees the tests. I don't care about the name at all. I'm happy to see that they label it correctly. She says that she could see it in the studios.

It seems like the word studio is being used for products that could be used in a studio. What about two or three years from now? Talbot thinks that if Apple is trying to build equity in the studio line, it will be tempted to repeat the mistakes it made with pro.

Image: Apple

Not everyone with a creative passion project has the same needs as a professional. I've made a fair amount of videos in my day, and none of them would be too much for a Mac Mini, but just imagine how cool and hip I would be. What if Apple could use that feeling to sell a set of AirPods? The new set of AirPods Studio seems more creative than the old AirPods Pro.

Most creatives will be left wanting for a dedicated mic setup when Apple claims that the microphones in the MacBook Pro are studio-grade. studio-grade is meant to evoke a feeling rather than describe the actual quality. Recording with the MacBook's microphones won't make you sound like your favorite person, but it will make you feel like it. That is the same trap Apple fell into.

Janiak says that there is always a risk that the word gets overused and eventually detached from its original meaning. If Apple wants to keep the studio, it will have to make sure that it doesn't waste its brand equity on products.