Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL From: SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: a Question & a Vision Message-ID: <8902022352.aa03832@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> Date: 3 Feb 89 04:26:15 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 74 >In article <8901160432.aa13054@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph > Sewall) writes: >> >>The gist of the article is that Apple is embarking on a strategy of product >>line extension (as opposed to innovation). Apple president John Sculley > >We have been extending the Mac product line for sure; just look at the >various CPU configurations that you can buy. But this is not in conflict >with innovation. I WAS abstracting an article in BUSINESS WEEK (not my own opinions except for the fact that any abstraction is selective). It was late at night and I don't get paid for this so I didn't expend a LOT of time and energy on it (it's certainly possible to quibble with the quality of my abstaction). Short version: I'd be MUCH more interested in your response to the Business Week article (it's not an editorial, but even "objective" reporting is selective about facts and their order of presentation). Extending the Mac is not in conflict with innovation but it isn't innovation either -- 'various CPU configurations' are the substance of product extentions. For the layman, about all that amounts to is differences in price performance (speed, size of tasks that can be practically handled), but nothing truly NEW. Not that I'm complaining; I'd rather have a Mac SE-030 than a PS/2 model 70 (especially when one considers how much REALLY must be spent to use the Presentation Manager in a manner remotely competitive with what the Mac does. I'm also pleased (but hardly surprised) at Apple's discovery of price elasticity (roughly translated as: "sometimes increasing prices DECREASES REVENUE" :-) >It shouldn't be surprising that there is no indication of a product beyond >the Macintosh. Apple does not normally reveal projects that are in >progress. Surely you jest!!! You KNOW I have more than a passing interest in product rumors :-) The Lisa, Macintosh, and IIgs were such TOTAL *surprises*! The IIgs (originally IIx) rumors started in 1984 (of course that lead time was partly due to the on-again/off-again nature of that particular project). Maybe all the preliminary fuss about the Mac was due to Steve Jobs as the hoopla preceeding the NeXt machine was quite similar. > ...Perhaps that is the "problem"; we are simply keeping >things more secret than before.) If you are, I submit (putting on my 'hat' as a for real marketing professional) that you are making a MAJOR BLUNDER of the first magnitude (there's simply NO way I can emphasize that point enough in email)!!! Even "Big Blue" is smart enough to drop rather substantial "hints" (ever wonder how IBM gets so MUCH marketing mileage out of such technically conservative products??). You don't have to reveal details to convey the impression that something "interesting" is in the works -- an activity that surely OUGHT to become important when a MAJOR publication even suggests that Apple has lost the will to innovate. Note: I'm not recommending another "Lisa" -- a computer that's technically "gee whiz" but so close to the "leading edge" of what's possible that it can't quite deliver on its promise and is ahead of its time in the sense that too many customers will "wait and see" (won't actually buy the thing). Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246