Anti-halo effect

Brent Simmons about Apple leaving more and more markets:

I can’t help but think that it’s a kind of an anti-halo effect. I can’t help but think that once we start looking elsewhere, we’ll look elsewhere more and more. We’ll get used to it. We’ll find out that other companies make things that work and are, in some cases, delightful.

I think it’s a very smart analysis. Especially when you remember how Apple climbed out of its grave with the iPod that brought a lot of people to the Mac and the iPhone. Their saving grace (for the moment) is that there’s no single other company that may attract their customers with a large range of excellent products.

But one thing that Apple should keep in mind: each time they narrow their product line they increase the impact of releasing a potential turd. What if the new MacBook Pros are a failure (I’m not saying they are) ? What if the next iPhone explodes like a Galaxy Note ?