Ruthless Simplicity
Much has been made about Steve Jobs’ return to Apple, about ten years ago now, and how he turned the company around. Basically, a big part of his strategy for getting Apple back on track was drastically reducing the number and variety of computers they sold. While I am quite familiar with the story, I’ve never seen it illustrated as well as in the Timeline of Macintosh models on Wikipedia.
Here is a smaller version for reference:
You can see when the shakeup happens - in mid-1998. Apple starts the year off with no less than 14 models, and ends with just five. The simpler product line made things easier for shoppers and, more importantly, saved Apple serious money because of lower production costs.
Comments
Wow, it’s a stark contrast seeing it laid out like that. When I read stuff like this, I’m always reminded of the wonderful book by Barry Schwartz titled The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.
He really goes into the human nature of why too many choices can sometimes be a detriment.
Looks like Steve Jobs figured that out long ago.
This is part of what makes Apple’s machines so much more coveted. They have such strong brands. It goes against much conventional thinking, but sometimes less choice is best.
Good post Ray!
