Now, of course, google perhaps don't want that to happen, since the other big manufacturers will not like it, and that marketing isn't their core business.

https://www.stockdroids.com

Naming schemes are terrible.

Life is imperfect and changing products require a little research. You can't just go to the store and buy the best socks either; if you want the best you got to do research. Thems the breaks.

The person you replied to was trying to make the argument that a vendor can sell more product if they make the hierarchy of quality more clear to the consumer. Saying 'things are imperfect, as a consumer you just have to deal with it' doesn't really address his argument.

Look at the luxury car sector. https://www.audiusa.com/models#sedans/ Can you tell the quality by its naming convention? I can't. I can sort of assume some quality hierarchy by the price though.

The fact that Apple has abandoned the "one phone, one tablet" model indicates to me that it hasn't been a valuable strategy for them.

Other luxury consumer goods use pretty similar schemes, e.g. Audio gear (e.g. bang + olufsen: the higher the number the better, with some number of meaningless zeroes added depending on fashion).

One observation might be that these companies all have halo products that are used to anchor/promote the volume offerings that drive revenue (e.g. The Audi r8 and the a3, the 90k speakers and the 1k set)

You need to already know the brand to know this.

> (quality: 1-cheap, 8-luxury)

How high does it go? If they decide to turn it up to 11 tomorrow, is 8 still "luxury"?

I can't agree that this sort of versioning is any more transparent.

> (e.g. The Audi r8 and the a3, the 90k speakers and the 1k set)

This means nothing unless you already know the brand. There's going to be a minimum set of knowledge required to understand these versioning schemes.

Growing up in Europe seems to be enough wrt to Audi.

I'm not interested in cars but I have still picked this up somehow. Same with BMW.

On the other hand, I think most Android users I know have told me a story about buying the "wrong" Android phone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusopoly

heck, mobile phones are the canonical example.

iPad 2

The new iPad (with Retina display)

The new iPad (with Retina display) (again)

iPad Air

iPad Air 2

iPad Pro

iPad (announced today)

The step from Nexus 6 tot Pixel isn't that difficult to understand (and you even forgot the Nexus 6P, the successor of the Nexus 6!). Car manufactures launch new models all the time, without much problems. If someone gets confused by such thing, maybe that person is better of with a feature phone.

Looking back, there were always non-descriptive names, and inconsistencies.

I'd argue that not knowing what 'Android' is actually demonstrates the technology has reached its goal of being universal. It's implicit instead of explicit. People buy it without needing to know what it is. Why would most consumers care about the name of an operating system? It's unimportant. It's not like I remember the exact model of my TV or car, the important thing is that I can watch one and drive the other.

I'm just waiting for "iPhone 10, iPhone 10 Plus, iPhone 10 Air, iPhone 10 Air Plus, iPhone 10 Pro, iPhone 10 Pro Plus, iPhone SE 3, iPhone SE 3G"

> It's not like I remember the exact model of my TV or car

I really hope you know the make, model and year of your car, you need that for basic repairs. My 2004 Corolla takes parts of a 2003-2007 Corolla for most repairs, and runs best with a certain type of oil. Why would you not know this for an expensive device requiring maintenance?

Your TV isn't the same. It doesn't matter if it's 720p, 1080p, or 4k, or what the color resolution is, if it has an HDMI cable that will work.

Your phone is more like a car in that comparison. Things change so frequently, new software, updates (lack of updates), new wireless or hardware standards... An iPhone 5 in 2012 is a very different experience than an iPhone 5 in 2017. But I'm still using the same cheap Dynex "HD" TV for a decade. I can plug in a disk player or streaming device that weren't even conceived of when my TV was sold.

Because when it breaks or needs maintenance they take it to a garage like any normal person.

I'm 36, and I didn't know this. I thought there was a universal scale of goodness for oil. I bought a new car last summer, and I couldn't tell you the exact model either. I think this is fairly common.

There's always a clear progression, a higher number is always better than a lower number, and adding an S is an incremental upgrade over the non-S version. The Plus is always a larger size than normal.

The G series and C series have complicated things, but generally speaking you just have to pick a number and then pick one of ~3 options at that level.

Bigger numbers are still better. "Plus" means the big screen. S is off year version, incremental upgrade on the previous number. Agreed SE is the odd one out, but don't think it's too hard for consumers to figure out "its the cheap one".

Because new iPhone models are introduced only once a year to great global fanfare, I bet a lot of consumers actually know the meaning of the version conventions very well.

Agreed on iPad and Mac versions, though, those are a mess.

It's always a version number (ex., 7), the following version they add an 'S' (ex., 7S), then the following version they will increase the version number (ex., 8). "Plus" means bigger, and you can regognize it because it's bigger, "SE" means lower-end, you can recognize it because it costs a lot less.

I currently own a Huawei Y6II, which I read is a clone of the P9. No idea what it means, what the following version will be called, or what the previous version was called.

It's also a smaller phone, just like how the Plus is larger and costs more, but isn't any faster. The name or price of SE doesn't imply lower end at all, they've even removed the number so you don't know which one it's comparable to.

I agree it's not awful, just that it's slipping.

I mean, where do you even begin to try to figure this out: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/

Of course I'm sure it's better if you use the blessed OS and version pair, but I've never found a reason to use windows before....

Having one manufacturer and fewer models usually means longer and more consistent product support.

Also, why do they ask me if my laptop is for work or home? What if I use it for both (which I do)? It doesn't make any sense.

I bought the new MacBook Pro mostly because of macOS, but also because I couldn't figure out how PC name their products, nor why they have to have 50 different barely-different models.

To me that's not half as frustrating as the companies that sell a, let's say 755cx and then create a new model a few years later and call that 755cx ... how bloody annoying [like hey, this review is from 7 years before the thing was made, and it's a completely different system]. Or worse still, not have a model number to refer to. I think the worst I had was trying to find parts for a Toshiba laptop, IIRC, there were about 5 different models in 10 years with the same designation, like lets just call all our new laptops the "Laptop New" what could possibly be wrong with that.

1. Define: You first decide what you actually want 2. Search: Your search is entirely based on value for money (you have defined value before) 3. Decide: You read reviews and decide which one to take 4. Buy: Find the cheapest offer

Not once should you have to care about the name of the product, it simply does not matter.

There should be more than enough databases that let you sort and filter the latest notebooks.

They lost at least myself as a customer. I doubt I'm the only one on the planet who didn't buy a PC because he couldn't figure out the offer.

So apple could release the iPhone 8 with the same specs as the 3GS, and you'd get bamboozled because you can't be bothered to do your research before purchasing something.

If you want to play real pc games get a desktop or a console unless you have a lot of money to spend.

How do you deal with the rest of the consumer universe? I'm betting you get along just fine.

Yes, because I couldn't care less. I do care about my laptop, though. If anything because it's 1,500 or more.

I put in a solid hour of research at least before buying a new pair of boots. It took me many hours over many days to choose a camera. Took me weeks to build my PC. Each of those products I put in an amount of research that's at least somehow correlated with the price I paid for them (boots -> 100$ -> camera 600$ -> PC $1300)

So, yea, research is a bit tricky, but that's good because the reason it's tricky is because you aren't depending on the company to tell you the real value of their product.

What annoy me are the people that are supposed to make researching easy (for their own good) but make it a lot harder than it should be.

... by reading the subtitles?

I like lenovo laptops and I agree that they have too many model lines, but apart from a couple of subtitles, most of them are descriptive of that particular line.

Now, don't Apple Executives know this already? I guess they do, but what Tim Cook has done so far has been stabilizing the company and increasing the profit (by building various versions of the same product and targeting a broader range of people).

This came at a cost though: making the organization more and more bureaucratic leads to more efficiency, but less creativity and innovation. I think Apple's strategy has changed but in a few years, they're going to need a fresh air in the company or they'll get Nokia-ed.

Yes there are feature differences, if you are a techie or a gamer or into photography, but bigger always means better. It really isn't rocket science.

The iPad and Mac laptop lineups are a bit of a mess at the moment though. I think that's mainly because they're in various stages of technology transitions such as retina displays, wide colour gamut, touch bar and Apple Pencil support. They're pushing aggressively into new technologies and manufacturing processes and I think that's creating problems for them.

The only thing you have to consider is what size you prefer, the color, and the amount of memory.

I had many iPhone devices in the past (ranging from the first to the 5, which was my last) and with the iPhone 6 it went downhill in my opinion. This is where I switched to Xiaomi and never looked back.

So it's not only in developing countries, for example I prefer my Xiaomi Mi5 Pro over any iPhone device that is out there.

They have their flagship every year and so it's pretty easy so know what to pick. The Tablet part is lacking but the MiPad 3 is in the works.

I prefer stock Android but my latest phone has MIUI. It's OK, but I don't want someone else's tailoring I want my own; why can't companies offer their own settings but leave devices open for those who want to change. Yes, "support" but just have a "support and warranty will be limited by changing this setting" with a tick box and an "are you sure?" nag and let me return my device to stock. Grrr. /rant

The pixel is advertised everywhere as a Google phone. Who makes it doesn't really come up in their product communication much.

And the 'flagship' label is literally in the title of the Pixel products on Amazon. And on the website it's called "Pixel, phone by Google".

> People buy a low end Android phone and hate the entire ecosystem because the phone performs like crap.

This seems like an antiquated view of Android. I don't think people see Apple as having a monopoly on luxury/quality devices anymore. And considering the heavy OS modifications made by different companies and the entire UX experience of dealing with a company (customer service, website, accessories, etc), I don't really see why it matters if your mom thinks she has a "Samsung" or an "LG". There's more to Android phones than the base OS.

> I don't really see why it matters if your mom thinks she has a "Samsung" or an "LG".

Because when people ask if she has an Android she says "No."

> There's more to Android phones than the base OS.

I know, that's my complaint. It really adds nothing for the customer to have it be so fragmented.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Flagship_vehicles

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus_(sixth_generation)

Most people would just say 'iphone', not knowing which model is the 'flagship'.

It isn't as bad as it was 2 years ago, where the main google phone would get updates, but was nigh unusable with the latest operating system. I still fully expect my nexus 6 to be basically abandoned by them within a year or so now.

What was the flagship before the Pixel? What was the flagship 2 years ago? The android market probably has a changing flagship every 6 months and even then it isn't obvious what it is.

Try typing "flagship android phone" into Google search. Pixel only comes up in 8-9 results out of 100.

However, I think most Android consumers don't care about whether a phone is flagship. I imagine most tend to be more interested in finding a comfortable balance between price and features.

http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/HO...

You'll find it all around Seattle and at Costco in neighboring states. When you get off a plane at SeaTac they hand you a free sample.

Ok I was kidding about the free sample at SeaTac... Only a little...there is a Beecher's store and cafe there.

> Every purchase contributes to the Global Fund to support HIV/AIDS programs and help deliver an AIDS-free generation.

It is super nice to read that apple does something for those in need ( sorry Apple, the tax evasion techniques are not a good marketing strategy, instead this is great ).

I see, when looking at http://www.apple.com/iphone/ on my phone that the product line is arrayed at the top, with the 7 labeled as "New".

So who cares if the customer owns a device full of security holes, they still get their money.