The Jobs-era strategy at Apple was pretty straightforward. From what I recall around 2000-2010 the Apple strategy was:
1) Decided on a minimum acceptable functionality for a device
2) Set up uncompromising logistics chains to support creating a device (eg, famously, touchscreens)
3) Price at a rate that was extremely competitive when considering the device components
4) Crush competitors who could only offer cheap goods that didn't really do what Apple's could, or expensive goods that could match functionality but not price - recall the iPad's original differentiation was it was cheaper than expected, given what it did. It looked very cheap compared to the preemptive tablet releases of the time trying to head its success off at the pass.
They've made a lot of money over the last few years, but that strategy doesn't seem to match the modern Apple's approach. The price gap between an iPod Touch and the cheapest iPhone is not something I'd have expected of 2010 Apple.
> The price gap between an iPod Touch and the cheapest iPhone is not something I'd have expected of 2010 Apple.
Just to confirm, up until a couple of months ago, the difference between the low-end iPod Touch and the cheapest iPhone was $150, and today this is $250. I don't recall there ever being a time that this was significantly lower.
The original iPad was a potato. Came out with 256MB RAM in 2010 and could only run one app at a time. Sure, everything else about it was very good, but it was not cheap for what it could do. Like the iPod with "less space than a Nomad", haha.
1) Decided on a minimum acceptable functionality for a device
2) Set up uncompromising logistics chains to support creating a device (eg, famously, touchscreens)
3) Price at a rate that was extremely competitive when considering the device components
4) Crush competitors who could only offer cheap goods that didn't really do what Apple's could, or expensive goods that could match functionality but not price - recall the iPad's original differentiation was it was cheaper than expected, given what it did. It looked very cheap compared to the preemptive tablet releases of the time trying to head its success off at the pass.
They've made a lot of money over the last few years, but that strategy doesn't seem to match the modern Apple's approach. The price gap between an iPod Touch and the cheapest iPhone is not something I'd have expected of 2010 Apple.
EDIT I looked for a source - https://www.videogamesblogger.com/2010/03/29/ipod-touch-vs-i... - initial iPhone was extremely comparable to an expensive iPod.