This is how any entity moves when nearing the end of their demise.
Respectfully, I’d argue it also is how they move during the peak of their success.
It’s called diversification and it’s important to keep product lines competitive.
Notice: the iPod (2001) was joined by the iPod Mini (2004) then the shuffle (2005), Nano (2005) and Touch (2007). The iPod then hit its sales peak in 2008, when there were four simultaneous versions covering every price point from $79 to $600.
Same with the Mac, once the Mac finally hit a decent stride in the mid 2000s, Steve and Apple did the exact same thing as the iPod. They diversified.
Steve’s famous Mac quadrant that featured the iMac, iBook, powerMac and PowerBook didn’t last very long.
These products were joined by the G4Cube that was later discontinued, then the product line expanded once again to feature the Mac Mini (2005), and after most of the product lines were renamed during the Intel transition they were later joined by the MacBook Air (2008) and the standard aluminum MacBook (2008) that later just became the 13 inch MacBook Pro (2009). So now there were four laptops and three desktops, a lot of diversification over 10 years.
Now there was a Mac that started at every price point from $500 to thousands.
The idea that Apple‘s most successful product in history, the iPhone, would never start to diversify is ridiculous. It’s not even that unusual in their product lineup, not counting old models there are five iPhones, all that quite distinct price points.
