I remember an anecdote in the Steve Jobs biography where the first thing he did when he came back to Apple was severly cutting down a confusing and overlapping matrix of products. Now that he's gone, that matrix is creeping back up. I've lost count how many different types of iPhones and iPads there are now.
The iPad lineup in particular has gotten pretty bad. There's the iPad Pro 12.9-inch, the iPad Pro 9.7-inch, the iPad Air 2 (which also has a 9.7-inch display), the iPad mini 2 and the iPad mini 4.
Why would I get a 9.7-inch iPad Pro over a 9.7-inch iPad Air 2? What's the difference between an iPad mini 2 and an iPad mini 4, and what happened to the iPad mini 3?
They ought to just have three iPad models, distinguished by size: iPad Pro (the 12.9-inch model), iPad Air (the 9.7-inch model) and iPad mini (the 7.9-inch model). That would make it much easier to tell the difference and decide which one you want.
The 9.7 Pro and Air are nearly identical. The naming is unfortunate. If the 9.7 Air is v1 the 9.7 Pro should be v2 of the same name. But the product itself is the iPad, there's isn't a competing iPhone XXL. The Pro/Air is just a sub configuration on price and specs.
There are 2 types of iPhone (standard and plus) and three types of iPad (Mini, Air, Pro). All of the other variants are just older models that remain on sale so people within £600 to spend on a phone can afford to become Apple customers.
Yes, but Applein the 2000's was notorious to kill products that still make profits for the sake of keeping the product line clean and lean, and not have consumer confused over which product to choose.
Ok, but look at something like the iPod. That strategy makes sense as it is a relatively low cost product. Cost was part of the reason Mac's never got high market penetration. The iPhone is very expensive, especially compared with the competition. Offering old models at a lower cost allows people with less money to buy into the ecosystem. This is important when you have a product like the Watch that requires an iPhone first.
Not sure if you're considering this or not but there are two sizes of watch so at least screen size is different. Which is pretty much inline with the differences between MacBook Pros and iPhones where screen size is the main delimiter.
I think people forget how quickly the matrix expanded outward again once Apple got its financial house in order.
Jobs famously reduced the product range to a 2x2 grid--desktop and laptop, pro and consumer.
But in each of those boxes, there were a number of options. In addition to different "speeds and feeds", there were even color differences. At one point, taking into account configurable options, there were over a dozen versions of the iMac alone.
The iMac came out in 1998, iBook in 1999--and that filled out the matrix. But then the iPod came out in 2001, and the Xserve in 2002. And then of course each of those expanded into different versions and options. Think of the variety in the iPod line.
Jobs also took Apple into entirely new businesses fairly quickly, like Internet hosted services. Itunes is the most famous, but Apple did not even have an online store until they built one under Jobs' leadership.
