Former Apple executive Jony Ive expressed a desire to discontinue the MacBook Air lineup: Read the complete story here.
The Apple MacBook Air and Pro lineup could have been combined if the company had decided to follow the advice of chief designer and Apple veteran Jony Ive.
MacBook Air is one of Apple’s best-selling products, but I think the company doesn’t need two models and gives them all in one product. Details of Ive’s interest in killing the Air model have been shared by veteran reporter Walt Mossberg in a recent podcast.
Anecdotes about Ive’s time at Apple were quoted to a “high-level source” with a good understanding of Apple’s products. In the podcast, Mossberg also mentioned that I’ve gained more control over hardware and software because Tim Cook, CEO, Apple didn’t see himself as a product guy.
I thought that with his design, he could make the Pro thinner and even lighter than the MacBook Airs, which would help him clear the lids on the Air lineup and allow Apple to charge a higher price, which would only increase Apple’s bottom line. Interestingly, Steve Jobs had no plans to shelve Air, he wanted to both exist and serve a variety of users and their needs.
The Air is still Apple’s most affordable laptop on the market, even though its price has risen over the past few years. The company now offers all of its Macs with M-series silicone, now available as the M3 generation. I’ve been instrumental in the development of various Apple products, but being asked to kill a product never went down well with the company, let alone Jobs.
Tim Cook is now the spearhead of the company, and Ive is leaving Apple to pursue other goals and projects. The company still tops the charts with trillions of dollars in the bank, and it’s likely that if Apple had killed the Air line-up, it wouldn’t have been possible.
