Interested to hear whether people think the fragmentation/differentiation of the iPhone line is a good strategy or not. Where there used to be 1 flagship phone, there are now 4 different models, possibly 5 if they make a (c) version.
What made the iPhone iconic was that there was one powerful and curated model, and that you trusted Apple to make design choices for you. You paid extra because you knew you were getting a quality phone, not the low-tier/hard to compare versions of the multitude of Android-based phone. Why move away from simplicity and curation?
Yeah, I understand the naming conventions (S = same case, different internals, C = cheap case, Plus = large) but my point is: why? Apple is supposed to think these design choices through and give the user whatever is best. That's what they've done in the past, and that's why they have such a strong brand.
So they get three years out of a fabrication process and supply chain instead of 8 months if they only allowed you to buy the newest models every year.
It's not a big choice. You have "free on contract", "cheap on contract" (last year's models), or "best on contract" (current models).
If you keep doing the same thing your market price will start to fall. Smartphones are old and boring. They can't capture more users simply by being Apple any more, they have to offer the variety users want in order to increase their piece of the pie.
Because people around the world are different. Mainly as far as I read Apple created "+" version for Asian market, where people really like the big display screen.
If you have a product called the Widget v6, and the Widget v6 Plus, then you introduce the Widget v6X and the Widget v6X Plus, it's natural to think that these 4 different product are all versions of one flagship model: Widget v6.
As abritinthebay said, Apple has been using this taxonomy since 2009 so I'm not sure why you think it's a new strategy now.
In a way, you're completely right -- they are all versions of one flagship model. The "S" are always upgraded internals of last years model (the 3GS, 4S, 5S, and now 6S). And plus is a bigger version of that flagship model.
This is true, we are power users so we only think about 6s and 6s plus being the current iphones. But I'm sure a huge amount of people are just as confused as people are confused with the Wii and Wii U
> iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 6c
What made the iPhone iconic was that there was one powerful and curated model, and that you trusted Apple to make design choices for you. You paid extra because you knew you were getting a quality phone, not the low-tier/hard to compare versions of the multitude of Android-based phone. Why move away from simplicity and curation?