Core77

Swag Alert: Apple Teases the New Mac Pro with the Nicest Poster Tube We've Ever Seen

By Ray Hu - October 28, 2013

in Branding & Identity | Packaging

...and the hype campaign officially begins: the Mac Pro on Apple's website still bears the all-too-vague promise of a December delivery date, but the soon-to-be-Spaceship-bound Cupertino All-Stars have not-so-shamelessly seen fit to sent us a custom poster tube (the contents of which are seen above and below), and it's a looker.

Somehow we're not surprised to find that Sir Jony Ive is not content to rest on his laurels: he's gone ahead and designed a "beautifully, unapologetically plastic" cap for the shipping tube, and it's stunning. The photos hardly do justice to the solid plastic puck; apologies for not donning white gloves before handling what would surely fetch a handsome sum on eBay in BNIB condition. In fact, while the rest of us might consider the cylinder itself to be sufficient packaging for large print materials, Apple's poster tube actually came in a box.

The posters themselves are a premium foil-stamped affair, featuring pornographic detail shots of the turbine-like tower printed on mid-gloss/weight stock. At 24”×36”, each poster comes in at roughly just over 13 times the size of the product depicted in what is surely the print equivalent of retina-display resolution; we're going to assume that the handsome sheen is also a close approximation of its anodized finish.

That's all good and well, but we're hoping the next tube that arrives from Cupertino comes with a little more processing power... preferably the rumored top-of-the-line $14K MSRP version.

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Scott

11 years ago

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I thought this post was a joke, but then it was missing a punchline.
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C

11 years ago

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Jotham... maybe it's all an elaborate ploy? You know people are attracted to shiny things haha

I'm not sure if that kind of argument is valid "they sweat the details of everything".. That obviously isn't true. Or they are doing it wrong. Looks like they are spending more time sweating the details of a poster tube than MAPS.. seems a bit amiss no?
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Jomy

11 years ago

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The Mac Pro is Apple's halo car.
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ryan

11 years ago

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Yes, its nicer than a typical poster tube, but so what? If someone wants to throw money at packaging, the sky's the limit. I would rather see some creativity in the efficient use of materials. It seems like a lot of waste for an advertising poster.
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Thijmen

11 years ago

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I think this poster tube is not very consistent with the usual packaging decisions Apple makes. While their tablets and phones are packaged nicely, they also are packaged very efficient. The box usually is as big as the product itself which of course comes in handy when you have to ship out millions of them. A tube with way heavier than necessary endcaps packaged in a box isn't very efficient at all.
I fully agree with you on the starting hype campaign though, they got core77 to make a post about the poster tube (and unfortunately not the posters itself).
Sorry if I'm overreacting at this post, I just can't stand environmentally bad decisions, specially for show off packaging materials which are intended for one time use.
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Jotham

11 years ago

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Thijmen, I think you are kind of missing the point. Apple is notorious for being over the top for all of their packaging. Their argument is that they sweat the details of everything, including apparently a poster tube. It's not that any other company can't, it's that they don't. Believe me, I'm not trying to argue that this poster matters at all, I'm just saying that it is consistent with their particular consumer-facing philosophy. It's also why they get the most bad press when they screw up (see Maps).
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Andy

11 years ago

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I want a print!
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Thijmen

11 years ago

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I'm sorry, but drooling over a poster tube is just a bit to much for me. Anyone with around 140 billion in the bank can put together a fancy poster tube in dark paper with some solid plastic end caps which undoubtedly are nicely made but so are the solid delrin casefeet on my computer I have.
To me, putting so much effort in the packaging of some posters seems over the top and maybe a little desperate even. Not to speak about the idiotic waste of material - not very environmentally friendly.
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