A Little Off Topic But...

[donster28]

...I just saw a 1 hour G4 special about the formation of Apple with Steve Jobs.

One thing intrigued me:
-When Steve was fired from Apple way back then and this other guy took over, the line-up that Apple developed after had no distinguishable difference from each other, confusing the consumers. This eventually almost brought Apple to bankruptcy. Until Steve returned and re-invented the mac with the release of the iMac...and you know what happened next.

Isn't this similar to what's happening now? Steve is obviously still the head guru at Apple but with his absence, who is deciding for him? With the announcement of the new MacBook Pro line, people I know became confused. Is Steve still calling the shots? I hope so. We need him back, badly.

I might not be an Apple historian but I can't help but think about this after watching the special.

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

Definitely a good point. There was a sad time in Apple history where quite a few of their small desktops looked very similar, but it was the 601/602/602e/603/603e/604, etc, etc PPC chips inside that made the difference.

This instance is with the laptops though, and people can still differentiate by screen size for the most part.

The desktop market is very well defined within Apple's line-up still, which is nice to see at least.

 

[bozz2006]

i wouldn't quite say that is what's happening. I think the assumption that most people made is that apple would be phasing out the polycarb macbook directly. that is clearly not the case. I would say, if anything, apple more clearly defined their product line by making the aluminum macbook a macbook pro. the aluminum ones are "pro" models. less confusing that way.

 

[Richard1028]

I would say, if anything, apple more clearly defined their product line by making the aluminum macbook a macbook pro. the aluminum ones are "pro" models. less confusing that way.

I fully agree. Prior to today's restructuring, things didn't make sense with two products both basically called "macbooks". Amazing how clearer it is by just adding "pro" to one line and dropping the silly, "white" label from the other.

 

[NT1440]

Steve was and is still in complete control for any major decisions at apple.

All of this has been in the pipeline for months and months now. Really all that happened in Steve's absence was he got a break from the day to day drudge.