
A Grand Unified Theory of Apple Products - kawera
http://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2015/12/02/the-grand-unified-theory-of-apple-products
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TheOtherHobbes
Jobs was brilliant at selling concrete benefits, not technologies.

I'm not seeing so much of that here.

What's the concrete benefit of something that's smaller but not quite as
useful as the next product in the range?

What does "challenges what a computer can do" really mean? (In what sense is
it true of any recent iMac?)

It's not that the concrete benefits aren't there. The iPad Pro has obvious
practical appeal for certain kinds of users. So does the iPhone. Etc.

But this seems worryingly like a muddle where everything is seen from the
viewpoint of a rather contrived Grand Strategy, and not from clear specific
user benefits for each item in the line.

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tolmasky
So Schiller's explanation was really just making explicit the problem
described: he more or less states that the goal of each product is to bring
into question the necessity of the next. If every product you make, is by
design, meant to obsolete another product, then it's going to be a lot of hard
choices for the customer: every single thing you want to buy comes with the
"but maybe this thing can do this too..." question. This doesnt really justify
or bring insight into anything, but rather accurately predicts the confusion
such a product line will create.

Once upon a time apple wanted you to walk into an Apple Store and walk out
with something useful, now they want you to consider where you side in the
"personal vs power" debate.

~~~
aresant
I inferred this a little differently

In his quote about the iMac* I think the strategy is essentially laid bare
that they expect the top end to continue to drive appeal by being powerful and
cutting edge - letting consumers continue to drive new experiences and
productivity with that form factor

And the waterfall model will, as such, continue as innovation / component
miniturization collapses features downward.

Look to the soon arrival of full ar/VR for a "desktop best" example.

Eg VR is best via Oculus rift on a high power PC.

There are translated experiences via Samsungvr and goog glass but nothing like
the experience of say assetto corsa racing or elite dangerous on a 2x980gtx
system.

Naturally and over time this quality / set will roll downwards to mobile.

* iMac: "It's job is to challenge what we think a computer can do and do things that no computer has ever done before, be more and more powerful and capable so that we need a desktop because of its capabilities. Because if all it's doing is competing with the notebook and being thinner and lighter, then it doesn't need to be."

~~~
tolmasky
Sure, but that necessarily means that the "middle" will always be muddled.
Only the edges can ever clearly offer unique value. This wouldn't be that big
a concern if it wasn't for the fact that apples most valuable products are in
this middle.

the proof is in the pudding, regardless of what the theory is, from iPhone
plus to iPad mini 2 to iPad mini 4 to iPad Air to iPad Air 2 to iPad Pro to
the new MacBook to the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro (all distinct products),
I get some vague sense that I want two, but I'm not really sure which two. And
my decision feels like I'm always going to leave something on the table, and
unfortunate trade off (like lacking a pen device vs a natural trade off like
performance)

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newman314
That would certainly be great if true.

But when I look at things like iTunes or the Music app on iOS app, it sure
feels like they have tacked feature upon feature overloading things in a big
way.

With the latest redesign of the iOS Music app, I can't figure how to just
shuffle the tunes I have installed on my phone. ARGH.

~~~
chenglou
Pull down from the main menu. Took me some fiddling to figure out too.

~~~
austenallred
That... is a terrible UX

~~~
newman314
Oh god. I agree that is really bad UX.

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mark_l_watson
I agree with Schiller's functional breakdown. Based on my own experience: if I
can, I just use my Note 4 phone. If that is insufficient I grab my iPad. If
that is insufficient, I grab a laptop.

The older I get, and the more writing I do rather than software development,
the more I gravitate to smaller devices. It amazes me how easy it is to edit
and write manuscripts on small devices. Same as for doing research by web
browsing, taking notes, etc.

For some people, they can skip device size levels. For example, some people
might only need a phone, a phone + laptop, or perhaps just a tablet with 4g.

I think Apple is making the right decision spreading their product lines to
more device types and sizes inside types.

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trhway
to me the GUT of Apple products is the page 6 of the Macintosh business plan
from 1981 -
[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/2009/10271...](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/2009/102712692.05.01acc.pdf)
(and similar Jobs' documents from that time, couldn't find right now the one
where the stuff was put in some order on some kind of timeline). Back then
Jobs was able to implement only Macintosh. The "VLC", "VIC", handhelds, etc.
came much later as iPhone/iPad/...

~~~
r00fus
Wow - amazing - is that a Dos Equis guy reference in the last page?

It's also amusing because that business plan (and it's last page) was
published before Osborne Computing suffered from the Osborne effect...

~~~
enobrev
Orson Welles: "We will sell no wine before its time."

[https://youtu.be/oSs6DcA6dFI](https://youtu.be/oSs6DcA6dFI)

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jasonshen
I'm definitely worried about Apple's product line sprawl. They have let their
belt out a lot in the last few years and I hope they're planning a sweep to
cut down the product line. 25 different computing devices is a lot for the
consumer to think about and I think it would help boost sales. I talked more
about this in a blog post recently: [http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/the-rise-
and-fall-of-product-l...](http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/the-rise-and-fall-of-
product-lines/)

~~~
maxerickson
The Ultimate comic series weren't a reboot, they were in addition to the other
books. They've mostly wrapped up, while the main books continue on.

The goals as I understand it were several fold, to tell stories in a universe
with no baggage, and to have less age restrictions (the Ultimate Hulk likes to
eat people, there's lots of other darker stuff).

~~~
astrange
Maybe someone should remind the American comics industry that they sold
hundreds and thousands times more comics when they were about funny dogs, and
not the Hulk eating people.

~~~
maxerickson
There is plenty of content aimed at the warm and fuzzy audience. The golden
age of comics happened to come right before TV took off, so I would sort of
not expect the content to be the only issue.

I actually didn't think that content was particularly useful to the story, it
was more in the vein of we-are-so-edgy-it's-awesome, a sort of stunt that is
common in popular media these days.

~~~
astrange
Well, by popular media I think you mean one specific subculture which calls
itself pop-culture media. It's not literally popular, but for some reason they
think they are.

DC and Marvel in particular seem stuck to their existing aging fan market and
universes, but independent graphic novels and Japanese comics with no shared
universes outsell them constantly. Their reaction was to get themselves a
separate category in the bestseller lists so they could go back to just
ignoring them.

ref. [http://otakuusamagazine.com/Anime/News1/As-Geek-Culture-
Assi...](http://otakuusamagazine.com/Anime/News1/As-Geek-Culture-Assimilates-
Otaku-Remain-Outcasts-7080.aspx)

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staunch
Apple, Inc. used to be Apple Computer, Inc. but Jobs changed the name because
people don't think of their iPhones as being "computers".

Apple makes personal computers, and that's just about it.

~~~
ryanmonroe
Personal computers, operating systems, software, "cloud" services, a music
distribution system, a programming language, now a streaming service, a line
of headphones. (and possibly a car at some point)

~~~
staunch
All infrastructure and peripherals for PCs.

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roflchoppa
I just want to be able to select default apps to open files.

