Because the product line was simpler all the latest and greatest tech went into every model with the main difference being screen size or storage size. Features and functions weren’t used to differentiate on price like Tim does.
In light of Apple’s current financial success, are you willing to entertain the possibility that Apple’s current business strategy of segmenting their products, while not to your benefit, is also what works for Apple and is what works for the majority of Apple’s current user base?
In the past, Apple had way fewer supporters, and their computing needs were likely way more closely aligned to the extent that Steve Jobs was able to address them with only a few product variations.
Apple today serves a far larger user base, with way more divergent needs, and so requires a wider variety of SKUs to meet them. Not just that, but the proportion of Apple's userbase today that are true believers is far smaller.
In this new reality, that original core user and investor base.. those true believers.. they don’t matter anymore. They got to enjoy the ride from the start, but now their secluded island has been inundated by a population of visitors that outnumbers them by a couple of orders of magnitude.
This new population sets the tone for what kind of company Apple will be, because they have the power in this new relationship.
For example, there would be people who don’t need all the functionality that comes with an iPhone Pro, which is why the base model exists - to avoid over-serving this segment of users.
That’s my takeaway at the end of the day. Steve Jobs did what made sense for Apple then (given they had extremely limited resources to work with), just as Tim Cook is doing what makes sense for Apple today. I wouldn’t call it “losing their way”, though. Circumstances changed, and the company changed, and that’s just the way she goes.
People in these forums predicted apples demise after Tim Cook took the helm. So take that as you may.
People here have been predicting Apple’s demise since time immemorial. I did a search of older posts once upon a time and the negativity and pessimism towards Steve jobs when he first unveiled iPod and iPad were equally bad. So the track record when it comes to reading Apple has always been bad.
And then now that Steve Jobs is dead and Tim Cook has taken over, they suddenly pretend they had always been supporting Steve Jobs when in reality, they are simply latching on whatever is convenient in order to bash the current incarnation of Apple.
It feels like too many people here are focused on being contrarian (for the sake of being contrarian) rather than being right.
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