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A lot of things wouldn't have. Top of my list: a) keeping the macbook air non-retina (for like five years after PC laptops were retina, even after the incremen

A lot of things wouldn't have. Top of my list: a) keeping the macbook air non-retina (for like five years after PC laptops were retina, even after the incremental cost for the feature was very, very close to zero due to industry-wide cost reductions in display/chipset tech) b) shipping the new macbook pro with the touch bar c) shipping the new macbook pro with that keyboard that just breaks down when used outside of a cleanroom d) the whole luxuary/jewelry transition of the company

mikeash 9y ago
e) Making product lineups huge and confusing. Once the X becomes available, they'll have eight different models of iPhone you can buy, and that's not even counting different colors or storage options.
- johansch 9y ago
  Yeah, this choice has been bothering me insanely the last year. I am still on a 5s simply because I can't choose the right model/time. ;( Still, in my mind, the largest betrayal of Steve's legacy is the way the affordable and awesome Macbook Air design was left to rot. It was such a liberating and democratic thing that the best laptop money could buy cost less than a thousand USD. The low price also afforded you to not treat them as super expensive objects (which was also liberating) - I actually managed to physically kill two or three of them over the years, until I moved to a 13" MBP this spring. Which I now have to protect like a jewel, which I hate doing. I want my work station to be a tank, not a fashion piece. All because Apple without Steve couldn't/wouldn't take risks and be innovative (in pricing) in order to expand in the laptop market. Safer for the margins to avoid expanding the user base and instead just milk the already converted suckers.
  - johansch 9y ago
    (Interesting, after meeting the wave of slower readers, all of my comments in this thread were massively downvoted except this one, I guess since I was initially agreeing with someone on HN who is "famous".) Stay meritocratic, Silicon Valley. Every post is evaluated for its worth, not its sender.
- alwillis 9y ago
  Making product lineups huge and confusing. Once the X becomes available, they'll have eight different models of iPhone you can buy, and that's not even counting different colors or storage options. What iPhone you get is driven by the economics of what you can afford and your personal taste. It's not that complicated. There are 5 models: - iPhone SE - iPhone 6s/6s+ - iPhone 7/7+ - iPhone 8/8+ - iPhone X It seems that Apple can't win even when they do what most people have wanted for a while: more options at more price points. If you want to be confused, try to pick among Samsung's phones, some of which are only available on certain carriers or in certain countries and running different versions of the Android operating system. From the SE to the iPhone X, they all run iOS 11.
  - mikeash 9y ago
    The + and non-+ versions are effectively different models, thus eight. And it seems pretty complicated to me. I imagine a non-technical friend or relative asking me what they should get. In the past, the answer was pretty simple: decide whether you wanted big or small, and get the latest available in that size. Before the 6, I didn't even need that first step. Apple has kept the previous year's model around at a lower price for a long time, but with limited storage options it was obviously positioned as being only for people who couldn't afford to pay any more. This year I can't even decide for myself whether to get a X, an 8, or just stick with my 6+. If someone asks me whether the X is worth the price premium over the 8, or the 8 over the 7, I won't know what to say. "It seems that Apple can't win even when they do what most people have wanted for a while: more options at more price points." I don't understand this statement. Are you surprised that different people have different opinions?
    - alwillis 9y ago
      The + and non-+ versions are effectively different models, thus eight. Besides the size, the only difference are the camers between the Plus and non-Plus models.
      - mikeash 9y ago
        In other words, besides the massive obvious difference between the two models, they also have another difference? (And just to be complete, battery life is different too.)
iainmerrick 9y ago
d) the whole luxury/jewelry transition of the company This Steve Jobs? https://www.cultofmac.com/270831/steve-jobs-luxury-yacht-spotted-sailing-portugal/ https://www.cultofmac.com/270831/steve-jobs-luxury-yacht-spo... I don't know where people get the idea that Jobs was always right. He was a master of changing his entire opinion on a dime (usually for good reasons, to be fair) but still acting as if he'd been right the whole time.
- johansch 9y ago
  I really don't see the correlation between his product design/marketing/pricing choices and him owning a yacht? Are you saying I thought he was a closet socialist/communist? (No, I did not. (hah)) The whole thing is that being a jewelry company is intensely boring and mentally uninspiring. Not pushing things forward in any way or manner. Just making them more luxorious in order to increase the margin of the existing market. How many iterations before we see diamond-encrusted iPhones?

mikeash 9y ago

e) Making product lineups huge and confusing. Once the X becomes available, they'll have eight different models of iPhone you can buy, and that's not even counting different colors or storage options.

johansch 9y ago
Yeah, this choice has been bothering me insanely the last year. I am still on a 5s simply because I can't choose the right model/time. ;( Still, in my mind, the largest betrayal of Steve's legacy is the way the affordable and awesome Macbook Air design was left to rot. It was such a liberating and democratic thing that the best laptop money could buy cost less than a thousand USD. The low price also afforded you to not treat them as super expensive objects (which was also liberating) - I actually managed to physically kill two or three of them over the years, until I moved to a 13" MBP this spring. Which I now have to protect like a jewel, which I hate doing. I want my work station to be a tank, not a fashion piece. All because Apple without Steve couldn't/wouldn't take risks and be innovative (in pricing) in order to expand in the laptop market. Safer for the margins to avoid expanding the user base and instead just milk the already converted suckers.
- johansch 9y ago
  (Interesting, after meeting the wave of slower readers, all of my comments in this thread were massively downvoted except this one, I guess since I was initially agreeing with someone on HN who is "famous".) Stay meritocratic, Silicon Valley. Every post is evaluated for its worth, not its sender.
alwillis 9y ago
Making product lineups huge and confusing. Once the X becomes available, they'll have eight different models of iPhone you can buy, and that's not even counting different colors or storage options. What iPhone you get is driven by the economics of what you can afford and your personal taste. It's not that complicated. There are 5 models: - iPhone SE - iPhone 6s/6s+ - iPhone 7/7+ - iPhone 8/8+ - iPhone X It seems that Apple can't win even when they do what most people have wanted for a while: more options at more price points. If you want to be confused, try to pick among Samsung's phones, some of which are only available on certain carriers or in certain countries and running different versions of the Android operating system. From the SE to the iPhone X, they all run iOS 11.
- mikeash 9y ago
  The + and non-+ versions are effectively different models, thus eight. And it seems pretty complicated to me. I imagine a non-technical friend or relative asking me what they should get. In the past, the answer was pretty simple: decide whether you wanted big or small, and get the latest available in that size. Before the 6, I didn't even need that first step. Apple has kept the previous year's model around at a lower price for a long time, but with limited storage options it was obviously positioned as being only for people who couldn't afford to pay any more. This year I can't even decide for myself whether to get a X, an 8, or just stick with my 6+. If someone asks me whether the X is worth the price premium over the 8, or the 8 over the 7, I won't know what to say. "It seems that Apple can't win even when they do what most people have wanted for a while: more options at more price points." I don't understand this statement. Are you surprised that different people have different opinions?
  - alwillis 9y ago
    The + and non-+ versions are effectively different models, thus eight. Besides the size, the only difference are the camers between the Plus and non-Plus models.
    - mikeash 9y ago
      In other words, besides the massive obvious difference between the two models, they also have another difference? (And just to be complete, battery life is different too.)

iainmerrick 9y ago

d) the whole luxury/jewelry transition of the company This Steve Jobs? https://www.cultofmac.com/270831/steve-jobs-luxury-yacht-spotted-sailing-portugal/ https://www.cultofmac.com/270831/steve-jobs-luxury-yacht-spo... I don't know where people get the idea that Jobs was always right. He was a master of changing his entire opinion on a dime (usually for good reasons, to be fair) but still acting as if he'd been right the whole time.

johansch 9y ago
I really don't see the correlation between his product design/marketing/pricing choices and him owning a yacht? Are you saying I thought he was a closet socialist/communist? (No, I did not. (hah)) The whole thing is that being a jewelry company is intensely boring and mentally uninspiring. Not pushing things forward in any way or manner. Just making them more luxorious in order to increase the margin of the existing market. How many iterations before we see diamond-encrusted iPhones?