
Apple and Consumer Choice - loeber
http://johnloeber.com/w/apple-choice.html
======
gilgoomesh
The continued availability of the last two years' iPhone models has been
common practice since the iPhone 3GS remained on sale alongside the iPhone 4S.
The fact that the iPhone 6S is still available now has at least 6 years of
precedent. I think the article is more than a little off base in searching for
another explanation here.

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.

~~~
internet2000
It's pretty curious he picked the headphones jack of all things to justify the
6s still being on sale, when the most plausible reason is the one you just
mentioned, keeping older devices available for cheaper.

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.

~~~
loeber
"Keeping older devices available for cheaper" does not quite solve the issue,
because Apple is also currently selling the iPhone SE. Both the SE and the 6s
are down-market, legacy devices. In my view, there shouldn't be more than one
down-market, legacy device.

------
Fnoord
"Apple has become an industry leader not by catering to the conscious wants of
its customers, but by delivering products that improve their quality of life,
thereby defining what the users want. ""

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).

------
zaptheimpaler
Its really just part of being a more global company. iPhone 6S happened
because Asian consumers expect phones with big screens.

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.

~~~
ComputerGuru
> iPhone 6S happened because Asian consumers expect phones with big screens.

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)

------
ComputerGuru
Meh, this has been the problem from day <del>1</del> 2 with the iPad lineup.
I'm a developer, I've watched the keynotes, and I couldn't tell you what the
current iPad models are or which moniker describes which iPad or which size
came first or what model is bigger or which has the latest features just by
the names. Pro? Mini? Micro? 2? 3? X? Air?

~~~
deergomoo
I’d say the current line of iPads is fairly simple. They did have the issue
iPhones currently have, where there are far too many poorly differentiated
models. But today, you have the mini (which considering it’s now only
available in a strangely priced 128GB variant, is likely heading for a quiet
discontinuation), the “iPad” which is a lower priced, plain-Jane iPad for the
vast majority of people, and then two sizes of Pro, which are differentiated
by their higher quality screens, beefier specs, four speakers, and
Pencil/keyboard support.

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.

------
yupyup
Cue "this wouldn't have happened on Jobs' watch".

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.

~~~
aczerepinski
I don't think Jobs would keep the MacBook Air either. Why does it exist, and
why does the "air" suffix make it significantly heavier than the laptop called
just "MacBook"?

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?

~~~
sneak
The $999 MacBook Air is Apple’s #1 best-selling computer.

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.

~~~
aczerepinski
Good points, I didn't know the sales were so good. Just weird naming then I
guess.

------
harryf
> consumers fundamentally do not know what they want.

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.

~~~
internet2000
If you reduce the idea that much, it becomes meaningless. Of course people
want things to be better. Consumers fundamentally don't know _what_ will make
things significantly better for them, though.

~~~
socceroos
> If you reduce the idea that much, it becomes meaningless.

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.

------
tempodox
I keep wondering what kind of person would benefit from reading this article.
If I'm a product guy, I think about these things all the time anyway and it's
not news. If I'm not a product guy, well, I couldn't care less. And beyond all
that, Apple notoriously doesn't give two bits what any of us think.

