#Unshaky mac mac

For a time, it existed in its own category for early adopters. Over the years, the MacBook Air had different places in Apple’s product lineup. It made compromises it had almost no traditional ports but it was cool. No one had seen a computer so thin or light before. Steve Jobs held up a manilla envelope, the type you might see for old interdepartmental messages, and pulled a computer out of it.

It was one of the most memorable product reveals in recent history, even compared to the much-anticipated iPhone announcement from the year before. The MacBook Air and a New Product Category Steve Jobs at MacWorld 2008

#Unshaky mac mac

This approach remained fairly consistent over the next few year and saw Apple through the Intel transition, with the Mac mini replacing the eMac in the consumer category. The laptop line was already beginning to grow a little confusing, with the smaller PowerBook targeting a humbler audience than those who would buy the larger models. If you were to try to grid out their products in 2004, it might look similar to this: The four-quadrant grid was never going to last forever, especially with the growing prosumer market and Apple choosing to move beyond computers as their primary hardware products. Over the years, Apple’s customer base has grown considerably, and their business model has evolved.

Of course, there were multiple choices in each category, but it was clear to potential customers which machine was for whom. The intended audiences were clear, and everything from the components to the industrial design reflected this approach. At the 1998 MacWorld Expo, he shared a simplified product grid that would serve as the foundation for Apple’s product lineup for several years. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late 90s, he found a product line that was too confusing for most consumers, so he simplified things. An Abridged History of Apple Product Names