Perfecting The Formula
Although Apple.com is treated by Cupertino like a product in its own right, it is also a service, and its purpose is to promote other Apple products and sell them to consumers. Since 1998, Apple has dedicated the bulk of its homepage to beautifully promoting its latest and greatest products, but the way in which Apple has done so has evolved over time.
Here’s a deeper look at how Apple.com has perfected each of the four major sections over the last 15 years with each one of its products over the last 15 years.
The Big Box
When Apple redesigned Apple.com back in 1998, the Big Box took up about half of the page. As time has progressed, the Big Box has only grown in size to accommodate the humongousness of importance of Apple’s latest products.
Hot News
Before Apple redesigned their website in 1998, their homepage used to be covered in news stories. You can still find Apple-related news through Apple.com, but over the last 15 years the Hot News section has diminished in importance. It’s gone from a highly visible object to being barely distinguishable from other links on Apple.com. Why? Probably because, back in the day, the only place to go for Apple news was Apple.com, where as now, sites like this one keep the Apple space well-covered.
Small Promotion Boxes
The Small Promotion Boxes on Apple.com have always been used to promote an Apple product or event, but the look of the boxes has changed over the years. They’ve gone from three bland divided sections, to looking more like buttons on the page today.
- In 2007, Apple added some gradients to the boxes them stand out more.
Navigation Bars
During the redesign of 1998, the Navigation Bars originally appeared in the lower half of the page. Then in 2000, Apple moved them to the top of the page along with a redesigned look. From 2000 to 2002 Apple changed the color of the Apple icon a few times, then in 2007 it settled on a look that is still used on Apple.com today.
Conclusion
Even though Apple’s not considered a web-based company, their online strategy has been phenomenal over the past 15 years. Once Steve Jobs came back to Apple, a new web product was created, and has been used for 15 years and counting. Apple has made small incremental changes to Apple.com over the years, much in the same way its made small adjustments to the iMac, but the form has always remained the same. Only the function has improved.
By following the same formula it uses with hardware products, Apple’s been able to use their website as a tool to engage customers and promote products while keeping things consistent and easy-to-use. In essence, Apple.com is the perfect example of how Apple seeks perfection via small adjustments, rather than a constant schedule of revolutionary changes.
