Not so fast.
Until the last sinew, the last synapse gives up, Steve will continue to influence the company he co-founded and later recreated. Seeing he could no longer ‘‘meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO’’, Jobs kicks himself upstairs and becomes Chairman, director, and “mere” Apple employee. In a distant future, I see him haunting the circular hallways of Apple’s Cupertino spaceship, the Commendatore hunting the clock punchers and damning the linear thinkers straight to Hell.
Let’s review. In 1983, Apple’s Board of Directors felt that Steve required “adult supervision’’. John Sculley, the designated grownup, replaced Jobs as CEO and eventually pushed him out of the company.
Fast forward a decade and a half. In 1997, Steve returns to run his company unchallenged…but not unassisted. The Apple 2.0 management team, hand-picked, well-groomed, isn’t so much a stroke of genius as it is an emblem of the enfant terrible all grown up. As the Fortune chart below shows, Apple has no lack of ‘‘bench strength’’– and who’s providing the adult supervision now?
With Steve as Chairman, Tim Cook, Apple’s long-time COO, moves to the center of the chart. He joined the company 13 years ago, has always reported directly to Steve and saw his responsibilities increase over time. He now drives the team that made Apple the most valued and valuable high-tech company in the world.
As for ourselves: No whining. It’s our job, as consumers, to protect ourselves, to vote with our wallets against the bean counters, the Paint by Numbers product planners. It’s our place to provide ‘‘constructive feedback’’ when Apple products fail to meet the combined aesthetic and functional standards Dear Leader drilled into the marketplace. From MobileMe to “skeuomorphic” calendars, address books and bookshelves — to say nothing of fresh Lion bugs. Steve’s Apple may not be perfect, but…
A portentous example: The 1998 Bondi Blue iMac, the first visible re-assertion of Steve’s style — and of Jony Ive’s portfolio in the making:
Immediately iconic, users adored their iMacs. The unexpected shape and color set a new standard for high-tech products, so much so Apple competitors tried to rub the amulet for luck — and showed us what they really stood for: Cheap, imitative mediocrity. I recall going to Palo Alto’s Fry’s store and seeing beige PC clone boxes with candy-colored plastic inserts that approximated the iMac palette.
As a Forbes article put it, speaking of Dell’s similar fig-leaf attempt:
“Dell, ever concerned with keeping its inventory low, seems to be approaching colored notebooks in a much less risky way, using cheaper plastic inserts. Of course, the appearance of the Inspiron doesn’t inspire the way the first iMacs and iBooks did.”
The aesthetic knockoffs weren’t just cheap, they were ugly. The inserts looked even worse than the faux-wood ‘‘accents’’ on Chrysler dashboards. No cojones, no imagination, no taste.
Fast forward a bit more: Steve introduces the Apple Store. We’ll pass over the record-beating numbers and address the two messages the store imparts.
First, the architecture, an expression of the Apple ethos, says: ‘This is what we think of ourselves’.
Second, once inside the store, the experience states: ‘Here’s what we think of our relationship with you, our customer’.
In comparison, I see carriers trying to spruce up their store fronts with shiny metal appliqués — but go inside and you find cheap trade-show modular furniture.
Taste matters. Let’s turn to this YouTube video of the opening of an Apple Store clone. Not a Chinese counterfeit but a Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, Arizona. It starts much like the “real” thing: Happy customer, rows of high-fiving employees, a decor that looks familiar. But 40 seconds into the one minute video, we get the “tell”, the killer detail that gives the imitation away. Here we get the men in suits and ties:
Still more evidence of Steve’s influence: Just as HP decides to spin off its PC business (or perhaps not), PC clone makers demand an additional $100 subsidy per ‘‘ultra-portable’’ laptop from Intel. Why? They want to compete with Apple’s increasingly popular MacBook Air. It seems that the “Apple tax”, the premium we’re willing to pay for quality, isn’t enough to dissuade us.
PC clone makers can’t match Apple’s cost or its Bill Of Materials (BOM). The way Apple procures parts and subsystems, the way it runs contract manufacturing and stays on top of complicated but delicate distribution logistics is evidence of the company’s aggressive Supply-Chain Management (SCM). Steve – and thus Apple – understands that the channels need to be fed Just So, neither starved nor stuffed.
I found the BOM story interesting and looked up current ultra-portable prices. Who better than Sony in that product category? I went to their site and got this:
A nice MacBook Air competitor starting at $1969. The real thing starts at $1299.
Quite a reversal of the old world order and, I hope, a source of satisfaction for Jobs.
Spanning an amazing arc of thirty years, the company with the anti-establishment image has become the most disciplined, best-managed high-tech giant — and arbiter of taste.
When I first met Steve, in February 1981, he was sitting cross-legged on a credenza in the Apple board room, picking his toes. Since then I’ve watched with glee as he went against received wisdom, causing pundits to have fits at every turn. I picture them as a gaggle of eunuchs standing around the caliph’s bed, braying in high-pitched voice: ‘Steve, you’re doing it wrong!’
For a long time, I’ve seen him as having an animal inside him, the one with the desires, the instinct, the drive. In 1985, that animal threw Steve to the ground. He picked himself up at Pixar — you’d be a captain of industry for doing no more — and NeXT. Then, in 1997, armed with Pixar’s success and Next’s technical prowess, he came back to run Apple and make it really his.
He had learned to ride the animal.
Steve and Tim both speak, rightly, of Apple being at the crossroads of technology and humanities, liberal arts. In tribute to Jobs’ aesthetic sense, and why it deeply matters, I’ll conclude with a quote from Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf:
‘’Before all else, I learned all these playthings were not mere idle trifles invented by manufacturers and dealers for the purposes of gain. They were, on the contrary, a little or, rather, a big world, authoritative and beautiful, many sided, containing a multiplicity of things all of which had the one and only aim of serving love, refining the senses, giving life to the dead world around us, endowing it in a magical way with new instruments of love, from powder and scent to the dancing show, from ring to cigarette case, from waist buckle to handbag. This bag was no bag, this purse no purse, flowers no flowers, the fan no fan. All were the plastic material of love, of magic and delight. Each was a messenger, a smuggler, a weapon, a battle cry.’’
Next week: Recipes don’t a chef make.
And, for a good laugh, Macalope’s view of this week’s worse pundits.
Related columns:
- Steve Jobs, The Rule Breaker TweetOh my god! Steve Jobs breaks rules… Fortune magazine cannot see the difference between artists and bean counters. Steve Jobs is on Fortune’s cover again: Apple has become the most admired company in America. Is this another PR job of “oral gratification”? If it is, it comes with bite marks or, in politically correct terms, [...]...
- Fiction: How Steve Jobs Cuckolds AT&T TweetSteve shimmers into a bar, materializes next to Dan Hesse, Sprint’s CEO, crying in his mojito and whispers: I can fulfill your fondest dream. You’re the Devil, go away! No, I’m merely Steve Jobs and I want nothing to do with your soul or your chiseled body. Relax, it’s just about money. A little bit [...]...
- Seven statues for Steve Jobs TweetFor this week’s Monday Note, the plans was to calmly traverse the field of investment opportunities as redefined, upended is a better word, or narrowed, by what is shaping up as depression. I used to write recession or recession/depression but, now, even the Washington sages are now losing their calm. Today, they’re conceding: the bailout [...]...
- Steve Ballmer not so gracious TweetBackground: this Sunday May 4th Microsoft withdrew its offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn. Saturday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had invited the two co-founder of Yahoo, Jerry Yang and David Filo for a final discussion. In a last move, Ballmer sweetened his proposal by $5bn, to $33 a share. Yang and Filo demanded $37. So, [...]...
- Will Steve Jobs Save General Motors? TweetHere is how Tom Friedman ends his 11/11/08 New York Times column: “Lastly, somebody ought to call Steve Jobs, who doesn’t need to be bribed to do innovation, and ask him if he’d like to do national service and run a car company for a year. I’d bet it wouldn’t take him much longer than [...]...
63 Comments
A marvelously succinct, well-stated and worthy tribute to an authentic original.
Thoughtful and well-done. Bravo!
Of all the many pieces marking Steve’s Assumption, this is the best.
I second the previous comments.
The Compaq presario is uglish because there are the diskette port and the plug in front.
Why the actual Apple TV is black? is it a cue that Steve had to do it but not with its soul?
I hope that one day you will tell us what is your version of the choice by the Apple board of the NeXT OS instead of the Be one.
The final test for Steve Jobs, the final rung of business enlightenment, the apex product worthy of him, is designing a team that retains the mix of genius that Steve and Tim and Jony have provided.
This is the hardest task in succession planning. Steve can’t groom a Steve II while he is there, but without this person, either Jony or Tim could also depart.
Who could now be hired to begin filling Steve’s role along with the other top players? What person is out there, overlooked by others, waiting to be pulled out of the magician’s hat? Not running the show of course, but someone that Tim could rely on as much as Steve relied on Tim.
Replacing the indispensable person takes foresight and humility.
“Who’s Going to Protect Us From Cheap and Mediocre Now?”
I’m not entirely sure this is the correct question to ask. Apple has never played in the realm of cheap. It’s easy to see that from their profit margins and product prices. An equivalent Dell Laptop to the Mac is around $800- $1000 different.Yes, the build quality is better, the most expensive parts (CPU, GPU) are the same. Apple does not do cheap.
So the question then becomes, who is going to save us from Mediocre?
Then look at why people have mediocre computers. Wokrplaces, that’s where the most reside. They’re mediocre because that’s all they need to be and all companies can afford.
If people buy a mediocre pc for their home it’s because they don’t want to pay the extra for a a mac. Apple, in their current form will never help these people. If $600 is someone’s budget for a pc then they’ll never get a mac. Unless….
Apple are put in a position of being the mainstream consumer and business provider. That will be the test of whether Apple stops being a high end powerhouse. Imagine Apple took on all of HP’s business orders and had to make machines for $350 a pop. Think they’d be anything like you recognize now?
Asking who at Apple is going to save people from Cheap and Mediocre is the same as asking who at Rolls Royce is going to save the every man from cheap and mediocre cars. You’d be better off asking at Ford.
@Dave – I think you have bought into the party line about Dell being cheap. Price is a factor of sticker price, utility and ongoing maintenance price … life time cost. If you compare these, Apple might still come out pricey, but the magnitude will be much smaller.
@ Fafnir: Easy enough. Apple got NeXT because they were getting Steve Jobs back. Of course, it stung a bit when they didn’t pick Be, but look at the results. The choice wasn’t the OS, although NeXT had great technology, but getting the co-founder back. Gil Amelio, whom Steve promptly deposed, put Appe on the road to its epoch-making recovery and ought to get credit — even if he thought he could keep Steve in an “adviser” role.
@ Mike Van Horn: Yes, great issue. I plan to address it in a future Monday Note.
@ Fafnir: I’ll speculate the Apple TV is black because today’s color of choice for TVs is “piano black”. Makes it unobtrusive, unlike the “Made in East Germany” set-top box. I hope to address the Apple TV, as in Apple making TV sets, in a future Monday Note.
Great article. Loved the conclusion by Herman Hesse!
White People Problems
Thanks for your answer, in particular about the purchase of NeXT.
I hope that you will write this part of history in details and publish it when it couldn’t hurt susceptibilities. To bundle Steve was certainly a large part of the decision since it tooked several years (until version 10.1) to become fast and stable enough to become widely usable. On the Be side it had the feeling of what is now the sdk of iOS, only its icons were too boxy.
JLG, if I’m not mistaken, the Apple-NeXT merger was also abetted by a swift due diligence process because NeXT had filed their S-3 and was getting ready for an IPO roadshow on the Street.
There is certainly no debate he can be taken as the leader in innovation. lifetime of the innovator http://bit.ly/oLuULu
Thanks for sharing these wonderful insights.
Quoting from Steppenwolf gives hints on the influence of LSD on Job’s “Animal” instincts? Where is the counter culture which would breed the next king? Internet Culture and the Google Boys?
You mean who is going to wrap the same cheap crap everyone else makes in aluminium, charge us twice as much and make us feel good about it ?
All I can say is that he obviously cares a lot about apple! I got a reply to an email I sent to him at about 6:30 US Time and the IP Looks like a Public WiFi place (AT&T Wayport). To be honest though he’s pretty much been CEO since January and everything looks like it’s going smoothly, so I’d expect Apple will continue to keep growing at the same rate, and I don’t think there is really anything to worry about.
>Let’s review. In 1983, Apple’s Board of Directors felt that Steve required “adult supervision’’. John Sculley, the designated grownup, replaced Jobs as CEO and eventually pushed him out of the company.
John Sculley replaced Mike Markkula as CEO. Steve Jobs was never CEO until his second coming in 1997.
Should be interesting to see how that all works out.
http://www.anon-stuff.us.tc
There are two successful visions for consumer electronics. Apple chooses to place its heart on the line with every product. If it isn’t good enough (at the time), then it doesn’t get launched. It contains current technology but usually has a few significant changes (typically reduced accessibility, ports, in-place battery, etc) that result not from maintaining the norm, but setting a new norm. These changes help move the products forward. Two cases in point. 1. The built in battery of the iPod (and now laptops). This design choice allowed Apple to maximize power capacity at the cost of what? They knew THEY didn’t carry around spare batteries, so why should anyone. 2. The lack of Flash. Apple knew this Adobe technology left them vulnerable, made their products look bad and yet was a popular format for media. They dumped Flash, confident that apps and transcoding would fill the gap (it did). What did the competitors do? Predictably, they chose to laugh and to use these “deficiencies” as features on their own products which meant that they couple not achieve Apples power density and ousted themselves on the rapidly shrinking Adobe petard. In other words, instead of following Apple into the next standards, they chose to follow convention, further extending their performance gap. “But our customers want replaceable batteries and Flash!”. No, actually we don’t.
Jeez, one problem with Lion is auto-correct (I know I can switch it off). Manually corrected version (yes, I will be more careful to edit BEFORE posting in future…).
There are two successful visions for consumer electronics. Apple chooses to place its heart on the line with every product. If it isn’t good enough (at the time), then it doesn’t get launched. It contains current technology but usually has a few significant changes (typically reduced accessibility, ports, in-place battery, etc) that result not from maintaining the norm, but setting a new norm. These changes help move the products forward. Two cases in point. 1. The built-in battery of the iPod (and now laptops). This design choice allowed Apple to maximize power capacity at the cost of what? They knew THEY didn’t carry around spare batteries, so why should anyone. 2. The lack of Flash. Apple knew this old Adobe technology left them vulnerable, made their products look bad and yet was a popular format for media. They dumped Flash, confident that apps and transcoding would fill the gap (it did). What did the competitors do? Predictably, they chose to laugh and to use these “deficiencies” as features on their own products which meant that they could not achieve Apples power density and hoisted themselves on the rapidly shrinking Adobe petard. In other words, instead of following Apple into the next standard, they chose to follow convention, further extending their performance gap. “But our customers want replaceable batteries and Flash!”. No, actually we don’t.
@Canucker
“But our customers want replaceable batteries and Flash!”. No, actually we don’t.”
That’s not exactly true. I have two ipods that have batteries barely able to hold a charge after 12 months. Do I want to replace those batteries?!? You bet I do. Will I ever buy anything again that will not allow me to purchase and fit a replacement battery myself? No.
I very much like the image of a ghost Steve Jobs haunting Cupertino in the far off future. Thank you very much.
To answer your question, I will. Us Steves need to do what Steve Jobs did with the same and perhaps more heart-felt energy and passion. Steve ( Jobs ) if you read this, cancer was cured in 1931.
As often, this is well written and provides a nice “farewell” even if the guru stays in the house.
I’d like to add that Steve’s mind is quiet twisted and I’m not sure Tim shares the same mind scape. Let me give you 3 quick examples: the Mac was close to human because Steve attended calligraphy and he wanted a computer looking close to “print” and not something on 80 columns/characters. The iPod was a success because finally, a company cared about the software, UI and hardware at the same time and made conversation easy from physical CDs to a small new type of tiny computer. Finally, iPhone saw light because one team presented a tablet that would be tactile… all blockbuster products had a very different path from where they came to where they ended.
To make it short, Steve is one of those rare guys that connect 2 or 3 things that have nothing in common, draws the dots between (probably with a bunch of people) and create a revolution within that industry.
Henry Ford did the same when everybody was excepting a faster horse; he provided a different product/service. All the IT industry was running after MIPS and other huge raw numbers that by nowadays, it’s like building a 5 tons car to transport 2 guys.
Tim must have a lot of qualities as he has spent 13 years beside Steve and he must have learned a lot. However, only time will tell if he’s an extraordinary man that is innate with tremendous creativity and outstanding skills with rationals like operations, retail, etc.
T
I think never in history has an example of excellence in management been so brightly displayed to the entire world, and been so roundly ignored. If the iPod did not teach everyone else how the cycle would unfold, the iPhone should certainly have made the point. Yet, now, the iPad is decimating the PC industry, and the crumbling remains there give testament once again to the ridiculous level of ego in executive suites throughout the industry. Rather than humbly learn the Apple lesson, and embracing the needed forward-focused strategic revisions to compete in an Apple-led market, the blinder-focused drones running the other companies persist in reaction-based product creation. The result is the biggest mess I have ever seen in a global industry.
Steve created this wonderful mess. And, it is truly glorious to watch.
Insightful and witty. I’m thirsty for more, Mr. Gassée!
Just a fine insider’s tribute Jean-Louis. I particularly appreciated:
…..and who’s providing the adult supervision now?
…..but go inside and you find cheap trade-show modular furniture.*
…..It seems that the “Apple tax”, the premium…(has become a deep discount on true value today).
….. he came back to run Apple and make it really his. (Exquisitely apposite JLG).
…..He had learned to ride the animal…. (Yes! The gifted loose cannon is humbled by dwarves and, in exile, becomes a Cruise missile).
* and even worse were the lacklustre, me-too products.
Thank you Jean-Louis. I really enjoyed this.
Chandra Coomaraswamy
This is the 3rd site I’ve seen this error on recently. The MacBook Air doesn’t start at $1299, it starts at $999.
@ Corlynn: Actually, I was comparing apples to apples, meaning 13″ ultraportables. Apple’s 13″ MacBook Air starts at $1299, Sony’s 13″ ultralight at $1969. And I know th MB Air starts at $999, as mentioned several times in the MN, I bought one and called it a … NeatBook
Very good article and nicely stated. I have put down some thoughts on Steve and his legacy.
In full disclosure I have been a user of Apple products since the beginning, but I believe any business savvy person can agree with the following.
Steve Jobs represents the absolute pinnacle of American entrepreneurship.
Steve Jobs with Apple has built the first of its kind, what I call a super-corporation. His vision has redefined everything about how a company operates and interacts with the world it serves. From the physical products function and design, to supply chain, to software, to the retail experience, to customer support and the list goes on. In my business life as a consultant I cannot count how many times I have heard, “we need to do it like Apple” or “we need to execute at a level that matches Apple’s abilities”.
Apple and Steve Jobs will be forever a part of American business history. A legacy really… something that people launching new firm’s years from now will look at and try to mimic. Most will fail. The reason they will is simple really, Apple had a vision born of the unique personality in Mr. Jobs. It is a once-in-a-generation type of vision linked to an unwavering attention to detail and to be the best… at everything you undertake.
Many people find fault with Apple and Mr. Jobs for a host of reasons, but it is difficult to argue with success. In the case of Mr. Jobs and his vision for Apple it’s especially difficult because of the unmatched success he has made it. There are few people in entrepreneurial history that have changed the world to the breadth and depth he has.
With the stepping down as the leader of Apple I wish Mr. Jobs and his family all the best as he turns to a new page in his life. As for Apple, Steve wanted for Apple to be a place where the realization that the computer is man’s greatest invention and that the romance of making the greatest products lives on. I do too.
Gorgeous article.
Schools should be doing “Steve Jobs 101” courses. We need more like him, building something unique and invaluable over 35 years instead of constantly building a new thing every quarter and tearing it down. Most business is like a forest of little saplings and Apple is a single tree you can see from space.
Really good. Thanks!
I do wish more of the writers who are native English speakers would get a grip on their own language. Most of them have no other means of communication, and treat the one they do have quite poorly. Which annoys the darn furriners no end.
Case in point, the mentioned Macalope piece. When he manages to misread “a bad case of perspective” as “a case of bad perspective”, he’s either being dense or taking the reader for a dummy. Why keep reading?
@Dave – if you need the batteries changed on a device that’s only 12 mos old, just bring it in, it’s under warranty. if it’s in fact older than that, then you can still have the battery replaced from a service center.
provided we are talking about something non-trivial, like an ipod Touch or a laptop. if you are instead talking about a $60 ipod….eh.
Steve Jobs?? Le commandeur????! C’est pas vrai! Haha, vous m’avez vraiment fait trop marrer!
@ Damien Ivan: Mozart, Don Juan, la statue du Commandeur…
Beautifully put. What I wonder is why, despite quarter after quarter of hard data and eyeballs full of proof, there just aren’t more tech vendors that embrace the Apple ethos of delivering the end-to-end integrated experience, and doing so in a way that surprises and delights, and obsesses on the user and their aspirations.
I think that the hard truth is that corporate politics plays a huge part in this equation. If you think about it, most companies are organized into business units, and org charts dictate the who, what and why of a product. It’s silo-ed logic.
That’s why even when you see the occasional re-org of one of these companies into “logical” buckets, like consumer, enterprise and carrier, it still misses the elemental truth that users are defined by their aspirational jobs and outcomes, and not by artificial thresholds, like attributes.
It’s the difference between delivering “The One” and delivering a bunch of derivative instances that are never quite as good as The One.
In other words, changing the tenor requires more than just a different product creation process, but an organizational re-think, which is too much to ask for 99% of the companies, since the last thing “management” ever wants to give up is power, budget and direct reports.
@ Mark Sigal: Thanks. I plan to address your question:
“What I wonder is why, despite quarter after quarter of hard data and eyeballs full of proof, there just aren’t more tech vendors that embrace the Apple ethos of delivering the end-to-end integrated experience, and doing so in a way that surprises and delights, and obsesses on the user and their aspirations”, in a future Monday Note.
In short: First, you have to accept the Apple way does work. There are lots of people who still wont let mere facts get in the way of their “motivated reasoning”, see http://nyti.ms/nNYzd0.
Second: You need much more than a recipe…
The inability of competitors to compete on price with Apple in iPads and MBAs tells me that the Tim Cook era at Apple has been well underway.
@Jean-Louis: Oui oui, j’ai compris! Peu-t-être je me suis mal exprimé — j’ai simplement trouvé votre comparison de Steve Jobs à la statue du commandeur très marrant, particulièrement avec l’inclusion du lien au clip vidéo sur YouTube! L’image de ces deux personnages mélangés ensemble avec toute la gravité de la tragédie de Dom Juan m’a simplement fait trop rire.
@ Damien Ivan: Ah, pardon et merci de cette précision
@JLG, thanks for the note back. I suspect that I will be nodding heavily when I read that post. It’s the distinction between ingredients, recipes and a well-executed eating/dining experience. There is a whole side arc on that topic on what **type** of restaurant would you aspire to be (e.g. McDonald’s, In-N-Out, Cheesecake Factory, Gary Danko, etc.)
HP’s spiritual reboot is a prime example of that “motivated reasoning” at work.
@matt
The point is the expectancy (and that’s what it’s become), is that a battery shouldn’t fail after a year. It’s like the xbox 360, yes it came with a replacement warranty for the RROD, but it shouldn’t have ever needed it.
It’s the same reason I won’t buy an iPad. I also won’t get that or an iphone because you can’t sub out memory cards.
Yes, Apple has made some beautiful, easy to use products. At the same time they have taken choices away from the end user.
Do you think the user was asked if they’re prefer no optical drive vs. a Blu-Ray in the new Mac Mini? Which makes more sense for a HTPC? Yet that decision was made for user. Do you think that’s a beneficial decision? I don’t.
It’s almost as if Apple has gone so far toward slick and stylish that functionality is becoming secondary.
@Dave
When it comes to the battery, I think the decisions taken was not just for style but also the performance of a longer lasting battery in an efficient package. Style matters but the function matters as muc if not more.
There is a trade off and it’s upto the customer to vote with their wallet as you have chosen to do. But let’s be honest, sealed batteries in iPod, iPhone, iPad or Macs has not held back sales so Apple must have the pulse of popular opinions there.
As for the Mac Mini, I agree that if the customer wanted to watch a BD movie, they are out of luck. But you have to ask, does Apple sell the Mini as a HTPC? Nope. The device connected to the TV, according to them, is an AppleTV.
Interesting: the article goes through great pains to demonstrate that Jobs ACTUALLY IS THE ROOT CAUSE
Interesting: the article goes through great pains to demonstrate that Jobs ACTUALLY IS THE ROOT CAUSE of all that mediocrity and cheapestry (?). Therefore, should Jobs have never existed, we would be SPARED from all that, and Microsoft and Dell would have been free to create and dominate the world (as they still do).
In sum, BIG THANKS TO STEVE JOBS FOR GETTING OUT OF THE WAY. Let the world leaders enough freedom to create stuff, and don’t distract them with frills and glitter to imitate.
James, you wrote, “…should Jobs have never existed, we would be SPARED from all that, and Microsoft and Dell would have been free to create and dominate the world (as they still do) … Let the world leaders enough freedom to create stuff, and don’t distract them with frills and glitter to imitate.” Clearly, you have little or no experience with Apple products. I suspect you are a philistine in matters of taste and discernment. Can you tell me why M$ & Dell should suddenly change by having “the freedom to create?” Who there knows how to be, or is allowed to be, creative? Does it occur to you that what they make now is as good (or not) as they are ever likely to make? Expecting innovative, quality products from Redmond or Round Rock is like expecting Lady GaGa to become an opera diva. Not in a million years! Geese don’t lay peacock eggs and companies focused on cheap don’t give a flying fig about anything after the sale. As long as millions of people are willing to buy their crapware, they’ll gladly sell it to them.
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@ Dave: Just for fun, from Toshiba’s announcement of its upcoming “ultraportable”:
In a departure from typical laptop PCs, the Z830 will not a have a removable battery. “We found that by not having to have extra casing around the removable battery, we were able to get 20 percent more battery life,”Kelcey Kinjo, a product manager at Toshiba, told Ars. The company is aiming for the model to get up to eight hours of battery life by the time it launches.
“Steve: Who’s Going to Protect Us From Cheap and Mediocre Now?”
Obama?
@jean. So the launch model will get a bonus of 20%. So that’s an extra hour ish. Sounds great on paper. But in real life batteries degrade. That additional 20% could be worthless, along with half the battery in a year. I have never used a laptop that doesn’t see significant decreases in battery life.
The point is that apple has created a business around removing choice, charging high prices and making a lot of money from it. If the products didn’t look slick people wouldn’t buy them. That’s the genius of Steve jobs. Making you think you want a product so much that you see past the flaws. Not making flawless products.
@Dave I previously posted. Series of companies that offer replacement iPod batteries as well as a service from Apple but it’s marked for review because I included URLs. Both Apple and Toshiba will replace the built-battery for you at a similar cost to a user-replaceable battery. You gain 20-30% and lose the ability to swap out batteries on the run. Guess what? Most people do not carry a spare battery and if they do it is because the OEM battery only lasts for 2 hours. I fail to see why you condemn Apple for restricting choice when you have the option of buying from other companies if you want. Dell laptops come with pop-out batteries, as do most Lenovos. Your argument is diminished by the fact that other companies are following Apple’s example. Why would they do that? Samsungs new laptop looks like a MacBook clone with a one-piece aluminum body. Is Apple forcing these competitors to copy their design? Quite the opposite given the lawsuits (which I do think are a waste of time and money).
@ Dave: Isn’t wonderful that people have choices? For example, they can buy devices with removable batteries, or devices with non-removable batteries. In my view, it’s a preference, both choices are legitimate.
Then, you write:
“The point is that apple has created a business around removing choice, charging high prices and making a lot of money from it. If the products didn’t look slick people wouldn’t buy them. That’s the genius of Steve jobs. Making you think you want a product so much that you see past the flaws. Not making flawless products.”
Of course Apple wants to make as much money as possible, what a surprise. The real question is: Do they use legitimate means, or not? You see to imply they do something to cause people to ignore flaws they could see if they weren’t unduly influenced, manipulated.
This is an old, tired argument. Like the old GM saying these Californian idiots shouldn’t buy Japanese tin cans, or those fancy BMWs. Like Ballmer saying an Apple laptop is just a standard x86 laptop with an Apple logo slapped on it.
Thus while Apple’s Mac biz keeps growing faster than Windows PCs, this for the past 21 consecutive quarters, 5 years.
So, yes, there are people who think Apple customers are fools, at a $100B/year clip. Why are these people so upset? They have choices. But, as I mention in this Monday Note: ‘Steve, you’re doing it wrong!’
Lastly: Apple products have lots of flaes, bugs and shortcomings, I agree and, inside, Apple folks agree as well. I’ll probably do a piece on my experience with Lion’s fresh bugs and idiosyncrasies.
Happy Labor Day to all!
@ Particle Debris (in Trackback links): There’s a link in the piece, it says “Fortune Chart” and links to http://bit.ly/pZl5xY
I hope this helps.
@Dave regarding cheap and mediocre
Look at food… you get what you pay for… the prices go down and down but that can only be achieved by the horrendous ways of producing food we face today. Obviously Apple could reduce it’s profit but that would eventually kill them. I’m happy to say I can afford the slightly higher hardware costs for ms small company. in return I get a good and usable IT setup and maybe a slightly happier sysadmin (me) .
If people start learning that initial price isn’t all there is and that sometimes it’s worth paying for what you get, we might eventually get to a better place. And fromnwhat I read (I can’t really check if it is true) Apple does a pretty good job in keeping e.g. iPad prices down…. in fact I repeatedly read that the competition has a hard time to match that kind of gadget for that kind of money… I will miss Steve Jobs – cheers Jo
Humanitiy’s ability to create something aesthetically pleasing in addition to something functional is what sets us apart from other animals. All animals have the ability to create for need – to compete, survive. Humans have the ability to create for aesthetic, spiritual and sensory experiences. Thank you Steve for being Human. May we all strive to be more than animals. Thank you Apple team for your creations at an affordable cost.
Gassee, you don’t seem to understand what you’re talking about.
You point how how Compaq, Microsoft, and Sony has done things similar to Apple, but you fail to realize that Steve Jobs’ vision of a product wasn’t just a superficial veneer that he coated onto every product.
You’re so blind over the fact that Apple’s products and service is crafted in a beautiful way that you fail to see the underlying bit, which is Steve Jobs’ wanted an end-to-end control. Beautiful products do not mean that they can’t have utility as well.
Don’t be so butthurt over the fact that Apple chose NeXT over your shitty BeOS. lol
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