Apple and Consumer Choice
johnloeber.com
johnloeber.com
The oddities this time are that the iPhone 8 isn't called the iPhone 7s (even though that's what it so obviously is) and Apple's also announced (but hasn't yet released) the iPhone X.
The author could've selected screen sizes as the premise for Apple offering more choices than before, and the article could've been kept mostly unchanged. Mentioning the headphones jack is just fitting the data to what he wants it to mean.
The "s" generations always physically looked exactly like the prior non-s. They would keep the same exterior design while improving stuff under the hood. But the 8 needed a glass-back design to better enable new charging methods. Thus, it is identifiably a different phone than the 7, which makes it obviously not a 7s.
I find this a bit double edged. If the customer can't get what they want, they ultimately don't stay/become a customer. They move to a different company/product, and are no longer an Apple customer.
If its perceived as a trend by the trendsetter, well, the industry will follow. Take for example laptops. You can't even open and replace hardware like RAM and SSD nowadays. The customer doesn't know they want to open the device, its only a minority who do, but now the industry standard has become laptops which are slim and difficult to open. I'd say that is a wolf in sheep's clothes. Or, take the 3.5mm headphone jacket for instance. Do customers want this as well? Or is it rather that the customers are herded into liking that change?
Apple also sometimes gets credit when it isn't due to them (I wonder if they'll get the credit for small bezels). That is because they're regarded as the leader. How many people believe x86-64 is due to Intel instead of AMD?
The above explains why even non-Apple customers care a whole lot about big decisions by Apple (such as the examples in the article, as well as bezel example, 3.5mm headphone example, and slim size laptop example).
Apples roots are luxury brand, but we are seeing it slowly go after other segments of the market. Very natural progression as economies of scale grow and they can bring the same product at lower prices.
Even if it means a small hit to consumers in the west, its worth it to start reaching the 2-3 billion people in the rest of the world.
Its a classic case of luxury products becoming commodities, and its how a global giant is born.
I think you meant 6+ ? (it would be funny if it weren't sad, how this proves there are simply too many models to keep track of)
I’d go as far as to say it’s the simplest major product line Apple currently runs, as while it’s very similar to the MacBook line, that has the problem of the 12” MacBook, the Air, and the Touch Bar-less 13” Pro all filling basically the same role. Although let’s face it, the only reason the Air still exists is so Apple can say they have a $999 laptop. That thing is starting to become an embarrassment.
As an Android user myself I think choice is good but also think Apple should strive to offer as few choice as possible.
It's one of their main strengths.
And if selling too many models is the new way forward, please introduce a regular desktop computer more powerful than the mini, and less expensive than $3000. I don't get why (excluding the $3000 trash can pro) Apple's focus is on making desktop computers crazy small. Is there a market that carries a Mac Mini around with them like a laptop?
The cheapest MacBook is a few hundred dollars more expensive.
It does not make sense to discontinue your biggest volume model in the line unless you are sure that your other models can pick up the same amount of slack; I assume Apple believes that the added cost of the MacBook (and it’s a lot slower than the Air, I might add) would prevent that.
It doesn't fit into the current line-up but clearly is just kept around because using old tech lets them keep the price down.
You've got a new product that has some experimental novelty (emoji bar) and makes some very future oriented design decisions (usb c only) that most people are not ready to sunset on yet, and which poses its own challenges and constraints (only offering 4 ports because each has to be a fully functional thunderbolt, while losing 1 for power).
Solution: MacBook Touch. They can gauge the interest in the new stuff, manage transitional issues and not leave everyone else out in the cold for whom the limitations are unacceptable.
Instead I'm now faced with an upgrade that cuts the number of ports on my machine in half, destroys my ability to hook up with common devices, and gives me something I do not want or need in return. My only hope is that they come to their senses by the time my current one gives out. Given the headphone jack fiasco, unlikely.
From quite some years in software development I've found this quote of that other one about Henry Ford and faster horses is usually pre-cursor to someone about to explain a "brilliant product idea" for which they haven't done enough research.
Consumers fundamentally DO know what they want. They want life to be easier, faster, more convenient, sexy even. They just aren't collectively any good at expressing it in terms which are useful to a product designer.
Conversely, the idea that consumers fundamentally don't know what they want is reducing consumers so far down to their lowest common denominator that it becomes meaningless.
The truth lies in the middle.