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If you've been following Apple for a while, you probably know that the company has spent decades as a personal computer manufacturer at a luxury retailer exceeding the Tiffany & Co. diamond seller in revenue per square foot. But what may seem superficially to be a linear progression, ranging from selling $ 666 motherboards in a garage to trading $ 17,000 worth of gold watches in shopping centers, is actually a much less orderly transition, sometimes even in completely different directions.
Let's take a moment Apple's introduction in January 2005 of iPod shuffle for $ 99, which allowed Apple to win millions of budget-conscious new customers, and the release of the fourth iPod shuffle in September 2010 , a full music player at 49 USD. Only months earlier, he had launched the 27 "LED Cinema Display at $ 999, describing it as a" perfect fit with our mighty new Mac Pro. " In July 2011, he released the enhanced Thunderbolt monitor at the same price.
But if it is doubtful that Apple is not trying to save money for Tim Cook, this is what was announced this week by announcing a $ 999 Pro Stand accessory for his latest professional monitor. customers would have guessed previously, ships without support. Like a particularly brilliant tweet It should be noted that the Thunderbolt Display was like a first-rate LED monitor for $ 999, while what Apple now offers at the same price is just support.
Apple did not get to that point on Monday. In the last five years, Apple's golden Apple watches and trash-like bin-shaped Mac Pro have apparently been made without worrying about whether customers would buy them. More recently, Apple has pushed up the price of its entry-level iPhone, Apple Watches, iPads and Mac flagship and near-headlights, while removing cheap models. If you wanted to read a message about this, Apple would no longer want $ 49 iPod shuffle, $ 149 iPod nano or $ 299 mini-iPad, at least unless they're ready to spend more money for newer models.
The complex reality is that Apple has been selling a mix of high-priced and low-priced products for years, historically with a greater mix of high-priced products, but appeared to be on the road to democratizing its hardware to the point of view. untimely death of Steve Jobs. in 2011. However, since then, the company has been trying to broaden its footprint and satisfy Wall Street, creating an identity crisis that seems to weigh in all announcements of new products. Will a new iPad or Mac be priced so that students and school districts can afford it, or will Apple have to give computer equipment to underprivileged schools to demonstrate that it is safe? still cares about education?
In my opinion, the main problem is that Apple – now headed by a team of executives who earn millions of dollars each year – has become insensitive to the fact that its products are generally bought by people who consider the AirPods to be 159 $ as a luxury. According to comments from recent quarterly teleconferences, these executives apparently only recently learned that they had to come up with multi-year funding plans and device recovery programs to help customers get started. even buy phones at $ 749, not to mention models at $ 999. My opinion is that people complaining about $ 999 Pro Stands are not primarily the target audience (very narrow) of $ 4,999 Pro Displays, but the millions of customers who could never buy them and find the very idea of sell such ridiculous things.
Even if I do not want to blame Apple for continuing to make Macs or supercar-style devices, the company's pursuit of expensive and crazy projects is not only overshadowing its more affordable projects: it is pushing them to move away more and more customers to which it adhered at the beginning of its most abrupt growth period in its history. For this reason, Apple must seriously reconsider its willingness to withdraw to create niche tools for wealthy customers, or to return to a democratizing technology "for the rest of the world". us, "as he was famous in his first upbeat commercials for the Macintosh.
It is not embarrassing to invite some real (but discreet) clients to participate in the preparation of the opening speech, in order to provide notes before the official announcements. If Apple's executives are too far removed from consumer sentiment to realize that a $ 999 phone could cause gasps in China, or that a $ 999 stand could generate groans in the United States, many people would be more than happy to change them before they commit another unnecessarily embarrassing mistake.
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