Perhaps Apple is Only Now Truly Hitting its Stride
Another Perspective on iPhone Battery Cases
This week, Apple released what many have said is quite the unsightly iPhone battery case. The media has been quick to jump on this accessory as an example of Apple’s slow decline in hardware and software design.
One such article from Slate claims this is in fact part of a broader pattern. Their argument: Apple is now trying to make its products appeal to more people than ever, to the detriment of it’s quality. That it has turned its back on the idea of one iconic object, and instead creating many versions to appeal to a broader audience. And importantly, that this new trend is clearly a bad sign for Apple’s future.
Setting aside comments on specific products, I’ll instead focus on the breadth of options now available from Apple. Perhaps this is not a reversal of their strategy, but in fact a sign that they have truly succeeded and are only getting started.
Apple’s goal long ago, was to make computing accessible to the everyone. Over the course of their journey, they’ve employed many strategies to meet that goal. But all along the way, one common strategy has been to create hardware and software that is beautiful and desirable.
Why?
Perhaps so that one day, technology could be thought of the same way we think of fashion: unique to and representative of the person. Every successful fashion brand has managed to create an identity for itself, while being flexible enough to appeal to millions or billions of people. Apple has finally achieved this, but on top of technology that changes the way we live our lives. The iPhone was the object that paved the way for this success. But almost every product in Apple’s history has lead up to this. In the beginning, creating singular iconic object was the best strategy for Apple to create successful product lines. But we’ve now entered a new era for Apple.
We now live in a world where computing is truly accessible to everyone. The technology behind Apple’s products is invisible. We take for granted the things we can do with these devices. And so now, the door has opened for Apple to expand its market by appealing to even more people.
What is the best way to appeal to the largest audience possible?
Allow customers to choose the right fit for them. Want it in gold? No problem. Want a larger screen for ease of work? That’s available. Don’t mind a slightly bulkier phone, if the trade off is 2 days of juice? Buy one of these. Not everyone will love every option available. But that’s exactly the point.
For this strategy to work, it’s important that the underlying brand stay strong and intact, even with all the options overlaid on top. I’d argue that while some individual products and accessories coming from Apple do seem to appeal to a smaller audience than usual (battery case in point), they don’t take away from the overall quality and identity of Apple products.
To be fair, product line fragmentation is a real risk. Many companies have tried and failed to build such broad product lineups without losing focus (just look at the current Samsung phone lineup). But before we accuse Apple of the same, perhaps we should take note of just how well they’ve succeeded at their original goal from decades ago. Perhaps they’re just beginning to truly realize the fruits of all their labor.
