Apple is Losing the Plot on iPad (Premium)

Apple now has too many iPad models with too many overlapping feature sets, a confusing situation that Steve Jobs would have never allowed. But forget about Jobs­: this is about customers, few of whom will even understand the pros and cons of each model now.

Remember when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s and became iCEO? Back then, Apple was in perilous financial shape and Jobs undertook the controversial but necessary steps to dramatically simplify the company’s product families, killing some beloved products like the Newton in the process. He proudly showed off this work first ahead of the release of the first iBook, but the plan was simple enough: Apple would have four core product lines that consisted of two core product types, notebook and desktop Macs, that targeted two core customer groups, consumers and professionals.

Today, Apple is a much bigger company with a much more diverse product portfolio that consists of iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV, HomePod, and many other products, accessories, and services. And most of these are further complicated by an often-bewildering array of models. For example, Apple today sells two iPhone 14 Pro models, two iPhone 14 models, and an iPhone SE, and it still sells two models of iPhone 13 and one iPhone 12 model to meet the needs of less well-heeled customers. That’s 8 different iPhone models, each of which can be configured in a myriad of ways.

In some ways, it’s not fair to hold Apple to the standard of the late 1990s, of course. But that doesn’t mean its product offerings couldn’t be simpler. Or that Apple couldn’t do a much better job as it releases new models to keep them differentiated in ways that will make sense to its customers. For a company with Apple’s class---for lack of a better word---it’s rather astonishing how often it coughs up weird and confusing hairballs. Like a mouse that needs to be charged via a port on its bottom, making it unusable while doing so.

But we have more recent examples of this unnecessary confusion. Very recent, in fact: this week, Apple announced a long-awaited redesign of its most iconic iPad model, which is simply called iPad. And chaos ensues.

Previous to this announcement, Apple had four main iPad models: iPad Pro (in both 12.9-inch and 11-inch variants), iPad Air, iPad, and iPad mini. During this time, I argued that Apple only needed three models, and that the iPad Air should have simply replaced the iPad, assuming Apple could lower the price. But Apple has instead responded by adding a new iPad model: this week’s new iPad doesn’t replace its predecessor. Instead, it arrives with a much higher price tag, and Apple is keeping the previous generation version around. And that old version doesn’t cost less now, it costs the same as before. So Apple describes this product family as having six models now: iPad Pro 12.9, iPad Pro 11, iPad Air, iPad (10th generation), iPad (9th generation)...