When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 one of the first things he did was drastically streamline the society ’s product portfolio . Slashing over 70 percent of the company ’s product , everything was focused on a simple 2×2 storage-battery grid : pro / consumer on one axis , screen background / portable on the other . Among other things , he argued that if consumer do n’t know which product to buy , there are too many products .
Obviously , Apple is in a very different position today . It ’s many times larger and contend in many more markets ( both mathematical product markets and territorial market ) . While it ’s arguable that Apple makes too many products today , one could scarcely indicate that it has too many Apple Pencils . There are four . Four !
Apple Pencil (x4)
It would n’t be demented to hint that Apple does n’t even need to be the one making styluses for its tablets — just ramp up the frameworks and let the add-on Maker take care of it . But it ’s grueling to argue that Apple really needs more thanone . And if it ’s blend to have more than one , they should have dissimilar names , proper ?
But no , Apple has three style all named “ Apple Pencil ” and justadded a fourth(albeit with a unlike name).Apple has a whole pagededicated to help you figure out the dizzying compatibility matrix and unlike features . This one has pressure sensitiveness but that one does n’t . These support twofold rap , those charge wirelessly , and so on and so forth .
And since several are holler “ Apple Pencil , ” Apple has to differentiate them with parentheticals . What ’s next , Apple Pencil ( Taylor ’s variation ) ? Would it have been so knockout to give them really unlike names ? “ Number 2 Pencil ” wasright there !
orchard apple tree
Some of the unexampled models were necessitated by iPad product design change , but that just mean Apple ’s product teams did n’t work together tight enough to be after ahead .
fortuitously , we ’re about to have just two distinct styluses from Apple , with clear naming , features , and compatibility . Apple has discontinue selling the iPads that need the original Apple Pencil and Apple Pencil ( 2nd coevals ) . It only has to keep sell those two pencil to stand customers who might buy them for their older iPads . Over time , that will become less of a business concern , and the product can be buried five layers deeply in the accessary section of the store .
Pencil and Pencil Pro
Once the newM2 iPad AirandM4 iPad Probecome uncommitted next hebdomad , those will be the only iPads to sustain the new Apple Pencil Pro . Hey look , they changed the name a bit by addingProto it ! A nice well-defined distinction of both features and compatibility .
Now that the9th - gen iPadis no longer sold ( outside the refurb store ) , the original Apple Pencil with its Lightning connective is no longer needed , except to support those with older iPads . Same with the second - gen Apple Pencil , which willnotsupport the new iPad Air and iPad Pro ( and Apple ’s no longer selling the sometime models outside of its refurb store ) .
That pass on just a individual Apple Pencil that supports every iPad Apple sells , and an Apple Pencil Pro that lend a crowd of feature and only supports the high - end iPads . If you only believe iPads in the current lineup and not older models no longer sell Modern , the Apple Pencil card at long last search clean and clear .
Two styluses , with a clear differentiation between compatibility and feature , and a vindicated name convening to equal . It ’s about clock time , Apple .
