iPad Anyone miss the old Apple lineup?

[Tozovac]

You can find weak correlations with virtually any data. Perhaps the most important test for any model is, does it fit with real world observations?

These are top 20 brands in the world. How many of those brands selling consumer goods have opted to offer as few choices as possible in an effort to increase sales?


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Ok fine. Can you prove that Apple wouldn't be even more successful than now than if they offered less options? Or More options? And customers would be less happy than now if they were offered fewer or more options than now?

Apple will be successful always in spite of themselves at times. A lot of that is because many customers feel Apple does enough things better than the alternatives Windows or Google, even if what Apple is offering is not ideal (butterfly keyboard Macs, iOS7 a while ago, plus-sized iPhones with no mini option, etc).

So, many customers work with what they're given. Your arguments sound like the # of options Apple provides today is the best/ideal, and customers are as happy as they can be. I for one get frustrated with too many options and have less joy in the process & purchase to an extent, and feel forced to "buy up" to get away from the rats nest of "options in the middle." So then Apple makes even more money, which you think is a sign of success.

If profit is the sole metric, I agree with your standpoint.

 

[bluecoast]

I think the problem is that Apple isn't updating the Mac line and iPad line YoY, so we get situations where older tech/thinking co-exists with the new.

The obvious recent example is the new iPad having the camera in landscape mode - which is obviously the future - and then the other (more expensive) Air and Pros having form factors from a few years ago with the camera in portrait.

Or some of Apple's accessories being USB-C and some still being lightning.

Or the iPhone 11 being sold until very recently when the transition to 5G had started two years ago.

All of this makes Apple's product line up feel curiously scrappy and necessitates the consumer having to do a lot of research in order to work out if they're investing in a product with 'last gen' tech, or not.

I would agree with the OP completely & contend that Apple should be doing this work for the consumer by having a logical product line-up and making purchasing decisions quick & easy.

 

[Rafterman]

Bezel city.