3 ms·
Armchair quarterbacking here, but the current iPhone lineup is confusing. It’s a tired trope to imagine what Jobs would have done, but when he returned to Appl
by gdubs 8y ago
Armchair quarterbacking here, but the current iPhone lineup is confusing.
It’s a tired trope to imagine what Jobs would have done, but when he returned to Apple he saw a myriad of macs and decided that Apple would kill them all and sell 4: a laptop and a desktop in pro and consumer models.
Apple started grabbing more market share by providing all these different form factors, but in the process they’ve lost the simplicity that has always been their hallmark: walk into a store, pick the pro device or the consumer device. No choice paralysis.
It also muddles the consumer signaling that has always driven Apple — there’s a new high-end device, it’s obviously different than last year’s, and people know you bought the newest, hottest device.
Part of that is a mature market. But part of it feels like the company of “a thousand no’s for every yes” is saying “yes” a lot.
Jobs talked often about creative destruction and how making great things involves being bold and killing some of your favorite things; that seems to have been replaced with a certain amount of timidity.
- specialist 8y agoThe middle of their current lineup is confusing. I love my Watch 4 and 2105 iMac, so the anchors at either end remain solid choices. I'm ready to buy another (my 5th) laptop and I can't figure out which one I want, delaying my purchase. Do I want a bigger iPhone or a smaller iPad? Now that I'm finally buying more ebooks than printed books, I'm paralyzed by indecision.
- r00fus 8y agoApple needs to find another way to do market segmentation that doesn't rely on a confusing product selection for customers. Even as a dedicated Apple fan, I simply was too confused as to whether I should have gotten an XR, XS or Max.
- Despegar 8y ago>It’s a tired trope to imagine what Jobs would have done, but when he returned to Apple he saw a myriad of macs and decided that Apple would kill them all and sell 4: a laptop and a desktop in pro and consumer models. I honestly don't understand how anyone can suggest this is a smart thing to do. The reason Apple did that in the late 90s is because the product line had too many SKUs, but also because Apple was close to bankruptcy. Focusing all your marketing and product development on a few products is a good way to make sure you aren't holding the bag on unsold inventory (part of why Tim Cook is now CEO). Today's Apple is in a fundamentally stronger position and can manage the supply chains for multiple products (and multiple SKUs of them). Indeed, Steve Jobs later eschewed that consumer/pro grid with the iPod, which had a SKU for every price point.