Former Apple marketing guru Ken Segall helped launched Apple’s string of i-devices, but now he says that the company has lost its way from simplicity lately and there’s no clearer sign than the confusing naming scheme of the iPhone.
In a recent op-ed claiming Apple’s days of simplicity may have died with his buddy Steve Jobs, Segall takes Apple’s product names to tasks for being far too complex for customers to keep track, saying Tim Cook has created products that he finds bewildering.
“Apple’s own actions have served to train the public that S years are the ‘off years’. This is an absurdity, given that such revolutionary features as Siri, Touch ID and 64-bit processing have all been introduced in S models,” writes Segall.
“The S naming has only served to confuse customers, and make it significantly more difficult for marketing to do its job.”
I’m prone to agree with Segall. Apple’s product names have become nearly impossible for normal people to keep track of and understand why they’re significant upgrades. I blew my uncle’s mind last week that when I him he should buy an iPhone SE and he had never heard of it and the product name doesn’t signify if it’s an upgrade over the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6.
Segall also rails into Apple for the design of Apple Music, which is definitely not simple. He admits that software lapses happened under Steve Jobs’ watch (see: MobileMe), and Steve is the one that kicked off the S year iPhones with the iPhone 3GS. However, Segall claims the “flaws and complexities now seem to be creeping into the products more frequently.”
Tim Cook is certainly no Steve Jobs, but he has strengths Apple’s former CEO didn’t have. A lack of simplicity may have crept into Apple’s culture, but it’s still deeply ingrained into its identity.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
12 responses to “The guy who named iMac says Apple’s names are too confusing”
I always wanted Apple to stick with the year names for all their products, like their do with the Macs. A lot of expensive, luxury items – like cars – do that, so it fit for me. So in the fall they would introduce the 2017 iPhone Pro or whatever.
If they call it the iPhone Pro that would be another marketing hiccup. No ones doing pro work on an iPhone lol.
With Metalenses coming in the next year or two, iPhone Pro could become a professional photo/video camera that outperforms DSLRs.
Exactly! Needing Smart Connectors?! It sounds good for thing like adding storage or external batteries, but there is NO way anyone is going to click on a 10″ keyboard for their iPhone. I seriously hope there is no smart connector it will be such a stupid stupid thing.
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SE isn’t really an upgrade to the 6, more like a lateral move with a mix of old and new parts for people insisting on a tiny screen.
OMG! “S” and non-“S” models! That’s exactly 2 items one needs to keep track of and differentiate. How is one able to keep track of 2 items!?!?!?! That’s way to complex! What is one to do? Pure absurdity.
Wow… Those are some Rose (gold?) colored glasses. How about the Mac naming system? Back in the day, we used to have numbers to quickly differentiate models, but then Steve comes along and names it “iMac”. That worked well for the first revision, but from there on in, it was processor speed to differentiate along with the model (iMac G3/400, or PowerBook G4 667).
Honestly, the iPhone is actually the EASIEST product to keep track of!
Expect Apple to gradually switch to the following nomenclature in the next year or two:
Mac – Mac Pro
MacBook – MacBook Pro
iPhone – iPhone Pro
iPad – iPad Pro
Can’t they just have one design for a Mac (like the 2016 Mac) and have two websites. One for average users (MacBook) and one for professions (MacBook X). Same design, the only change is the internals. Have customisable options for both, but the X model has more advanced options. Saves having about 20 separate products, when you could have the same product but advance it more for people who need some boost?
How is MacBook and MacBook Pro confusing ? Also, iPhone and iPhone Plus – how the hell is this confusing ?
It is not confusing if you have any knowledge of Apple, it is just not clear enough for the average consumer who knows nothing about Apple products. Simpler is better and having a naming scheme that fits all models consistently makes sense. The iPhone Plus for unifying purposes should be iPhone Pro. Drop the S’s and use something like the year or version increase for clarity.