Steve Jobs has his peeves. When he returned to Apple as Interim CEO, he dumped everything Apple was making. Remember he consolidated the line, to Powermac, ...
Steve Jobs has his peeves. When he returned to Apple as Interim CEO, he dumped everything Apple was making. Remember he consolidated the line, to Powermac, Powerbook, and iMac. Then, he introduce the iBook shortly after. At MWNY in 2001, Steve introduced the G4 Cube, but that was discontinued shortly after being introduced. Steve wants to make it simple for people. They dont need tons of products to choose. At one point in time, Apple had so many products; even the Apple product managers and sales reps did not know which model to tell people to buy. Consolidating it down to a Pro and Home user model line was a godsend for everyone.
Soon after doing so, Apple put the iMacs into colors. Colors are good. Now you get your favorite computer, in your favorite color. It was not long until, there were three types of iMacs. They had different optical drives, some had firewire, and they were different colors. Now, we have the confusion again. This has gotten worse. As much as we like new things from Apple, simple is better. Take a look back at our product line. I am going to list what we have.
1. Powermac
a. G4
i. 1.25Ghz
ii. 1.42 GHz
b. G5
i. 1.6Ghz
ii. Dual 1.8Ghz
iii. 2Dual 2.0 GHz
2. Powerbook
a. 12
i. 1Ghz
ii. 1.25Ghz
b. 15
i. 1.25Ghz
c. 17
i. 1.33 GHz.
3. IMac
a. 15
i. 1.0 GHz
ii. 1.25 GHz
b. 17
i. 1.0Ghz
ii. 1.25 GHz
c. 20
i. 1.0Ghz 1.25Ghz
4. IBook
a. G4
i. 12
1. 800Mhz
ii. 14
1. 933Mhz
2. 1Ghz
b. G3
i. 12
1. 800Mhz
2. 700Mhz
ii. 14
1. 800Mhz
2. 700Mhz
5. iPod
a. 10Gb
b. 20Gb
c. 40Gb
6. iPod mini
a. 4gb
7. iSight
Now, that is a large line of products. Where does this stop? I am a regular at the Spymac Forums, and I notice that people have started talking about when will we have a PDA and Sub notebook? Why? That would be great, but would only cause more confusion for users. Variety is nice, but geez. When do we stop? Apple is not discontinuing the old products, and just keeps piling on new ones. If Steve really saw this as a problem when he first returned to Apple, now dont you think it is time to do some cleaning? I love Apples product line, but lets stop the confusion. I am an assistant consultant for my school district, and I get more questions daily about Apples product line, and what computer is right for them. Usually the conversation ends with, Dell has that $699 Dell w/ a free CD burner. I will just get one of those. Sad, isnt it?