Ancient Mac History

Damon Darlin and John Markoff of the New York Times write:

Another breakthrough Apple product, the original Macintosh, initially sold briskly in 1984 and then stalled abruptly. The Macintosh market did not regain its luster until 1986 with the introduction of the Macintosh II.

My recollection is (and Wikipedia confirms) that the Macintosh II was released in 1987. The Macintosh Plus was released in January, 1986, and is often credited with saving the Mac by enabling the birth of desktop publishing.

Selling the experience

John Gruber writes:

In short, don’t get trapped over-thinking Apple’s fundamental strategy. It’s simple: Make the best products they can and sell them.

Or, to put it a bit more broadly, make the best experiences they can and sell them. The “sell” is significant, and sets Apple apart from partners/rivals like NBC and Google. Apple sells experiences, full stop. It does not clutter them with ads, Intel stickers, or anything else that would diminish them. And it includes the purchasing experience as part of the overall experience, so consistent pricing is not just a fetish — it’s part of what Apple is selling.

So it is no wonder that NBC is at odds with Apple — their goals are completely different. NBC wants to find a balance that will maximize their profits, and to that end they will use multiple competing outlets, variable pricing, bundling, loss leaders, availability restrictions, etc. Apple just wants to optimize the customer experience, and collect money from those customers.