The fact that the IIe outlived the IIGS by a year makes me believe the major customers of these computers were in the education sector. There was infinitely more education software developed for the IIe/IIc/II+ than for the IIGS.
I liken this to the Oldsmobile lineup of 1999 when they were looking at things. They had the compact Alero and the midsize Intrigue. In the middle of the two was the Cutlass, which technically was competing against both. Oldsmobile axed the Cutlass that year even though sales were decent. The reason? They didn't want it to eat into sales of the Intrigue or the Alero, both of which they were pushing. Likewise, the IIGS was eating into sales of the Macintosh and to a degree the IIe. Apple had something similar to the IIGS in the Mac OS and it was clear that, like Olds was with the Intrigue, they were going in that direction.
When the Cutlass came out in 1997, it was between two cars like it was in 1999, but those cars were the Achieva, an aging compact that had been on the market since 1992, and the Cutlass Supreme, not much bigger than it and introduced in 1988 (the two Cutlasses were not on the same platform). The Cutlass Supreme was quickly canned for the Intrigue, an early 1998 model. Even with the new Intrigue, the Achieva was slow-selling and outdated and disappeared without a replacement in 1998 (the Alero came along for 1999) so the Cutlass had a definite niche in the lineup for some time.
The Cutlass wasn't really given the attention the other two got in terms of marketing, new features, etc. Doesn't this seem an awful lot like the IIGS abandonment?
I liken this to the Oldsmobile lineup of 1999 when they were looking at things. They had the compact Alero and the midsize Intrigue. In the middle of the two was the Cutlass, which technically was competing against both. Oldsmobile axed the Cutlass that year even though sales were decent. The reason? They didn't want it to eat into sales of the Intrigue or the Alero, both of which they were pushing. Likewise, the IIGS was eating into sales of the Macintosh and to a degree the IIe. Apple had something similar to the IIGS in the Mac OS and it was clear that, like Olds was with the Intrigue, they were going in that direction.
When the Cutlass came out in 1997, it was between two cars like it was in 1999, but those cars were the Achieva, an aging compact that had been on the market since 1992, and the Cutlass Supreme, not much bigger than it and introduced in 1988 (the two Cutlasses were not on the same platform). The Cutlass Supreme was quickly canned for the Intrigue, an early 1998 model. Even with the new Intrigue, the Achieva was slow-selling and outdated and disappeared without a replacement in 1998 (the Alero came along for 1999) so the Cutlass had a definite niche in the lineup for some time.
The Cutlass wasn't really given the attention the other two got in terms of marketing, new features, etc. Doesn't this seem an awful lot like the IIGS abandonment?