"There are still a huge number of video, audio, and design professionals that need the power of a Mac Pro and are willing to pay for it. Why would Apple intentionally drop this market?"
They might, if they believe they can make more money investing the same resources in the iPad II.
However, I suspect that won't happen any time soon, because, as long as they're maintaining OS X, they can update the Mac Pro in their sleep. It's all standard technologies, in a pretty ordinary case. They could reduce the Mac Pro department to a handful of industrial designers and one engineer to turn the design into specs Foxconn can build, and still charge $2500 for it.
They might, if they believe they can make more money investing the same resources in the iPad II.
However, I suspect that won't happen any time soon, because, as long as they're maintaining OS X, they can update the Mac Pro in their sleep. It's all standard technologies, in a pretty ordinary case. They could reduce the Mac Pro department to a handful of industrial designers and one engineer to turn the design into specs Foxconn can build, and still charge $2500 for it.