The marketing playbook that made Apple big was written in the 1920s, by GM

I see some fine looking old cars here and there, for example a pickup truck that looks to be a 1950s or early 1960s model a few blocks from here. It is far better looking than either of our household's cars, and for most of our uses would serve perfectly well. Indeed, for errands such as dump runs or fetching garden supplies, it would serve better.

But I bet it gets worse mileage. I expect it burns more oil. Our cars are vastly safer, with air bags and shoulder belts.

You don't have to plan obsolescence, you have to plan _for_ it when technologies are developing at the rate they have been. Doesn't de Tocqueville talk about Americans saying that they've built certain things shoddily because they'll be obsolete by the time they wear out? (I think he had steamboats in mind.)

I remember myself looking at secondhand iMacs, and Apple has definitely taken care to change its looks in a minor non-functional manners to differentiate one series from another, just as a modern car manufacturer would.

It also makes total sense how humans emotions can be "played" with whether it is cars or phones.

The planned obsolescence part of the argument makes sense but is applicable to pretty much every aspect of the economy. The market segmentation doesn't at all. GM with its enormous array of options looks a lot more like modern Dell than like Apple.

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I always wanted to know how apple thought of new products that they were going to build.