In the 1990s, Apple had more products than you could ever imagine – cameras, printers, PDAs, dozens of product categories with hundreds of variants.
It was a popular product strategy at the time, expanding and diversifying your offering so much you could cover every part of the market.
But 314? It had consequences, and on Steve’s return Apple was a few months away from complete bankruptcy and shutdown.
‘Apple suffered for several years from lousy engineering management,’ Steve said. ‘There were people that were going off in 18 different directions… How are we going to explain this to others when we don’t even know which products to recommend to our friends?’
Steve decided to completely redefine Apple’s product strategy to the simplest possible one: Four basic products.
This shift streamlined Apple’s approach and allowed the brand to differentiate itself from the endless options available at competitors like Dell and HP. Apple offered no more stock standard packaging and endless model numbers, but became known for limited but high value options.
One of the most powerful things we can do in business when everyone is adding to grow, is to start cutting away. Differentiation isn’t more and more variations of your product or adding more and more services, it’s about getting very tight and clear about your offering and value.
The tighter the value the more exponential the growth!
Want to learn more about lessons I learned growing up at Apple? Inbox me today! 😉