There was a lot of good stuff in the 60 Minutes Apple profile with host Charlie Rose this past Sunday (12/20/15). If you haven't watched it, you should. It's a rare glimpse inside the design studio. And it's full of tidbits like Apple having 800 hundred engineers just working on camera technology. Tim Cook's answers on taxes, China labor, and privacy made me cheer.
But Phil Schiller's comments on how Apple's products tend to cannibalize each other was the most fascinating insight of the night.
Here's the excerpt...
Charlie Rose: Is there danger of one product cannibalizing the other product?
Phil Schiller: It's not a danger, it's almost by design. You need each of these products to try to fight for their space, their time with you. The iPhone has to become so great that you don't know why you want an iPad. The iPad has to be so great that you don't know why you why you want a notebook. The notebook has to be so great, you don't know why you want a desktop. Each one's job is to compete with the other ones.
There's been quite a recent trend of Apple's most outspoken fans and commentators to question where each new item "fits" in the line up. Many have panned the iPad Pro as being too "laptop" like but without the software to back it up. The newest MacBook got railed for being too thin and light and under powered; essentially too "iPad like." The iPhone's "Plus" size made many question if the iPad Mini was on the way out the door.
At the heart of each of these questions was an underlying assumption that now seems to have been wrong. All these commentators have assumed that the old Apple model of the "box" (consumer desktop and laptop, pro desktop and laptop) was still in play. As such, they've been trying to ask with each new product, which of those 4 groups is it targeting? But Schiller's comments seems to suggest that the simple model of "pro" versus "consumer" may be outdated. Instead, each product is pushed to simply be the best, most powerful version of a form factor it can be. If we think of it that way, what might we re-imagine about product goals...?
Laptops should be the most powerful, but portable machines possible. That certainly fits the new MacBook's ethos. Ultra slim, ultra light, yet running a desktop class OS.
Tablets should be the most powerful, but casual machines you can make. The iPad Mini and Air are powerful enough for productivity, yet casual enough for the couch. And the new iPad Pro is incredibly powerful, but with extra approaches for artists.
Phones should be top of the line. Light and thin for ease of carry. Great cameras (the most used feature). Fast and powerful. The iPhone is all these things.
The Watch should be great fashion.
Desktops should have amazing displays and be non-intrusive footprints.
When you start to think less about the "product mix" and instead focus- as Schiller suggests- on letting each thing be the best version of itself, a lot of the decisions Apple has made make more sense and the overlap is simply a byproduct.
It's easy to want to hold onto the old "box" model of Apple's past. After all, it's a story steeped in Steve Jobs legend and Apple fans love those. But I think Apple has moved past that model and so it's time that reviewers and commentators do the same. After all, Steve never wanted us to be trapped by a good idea from the past. Keep thinking different.
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