Steve Jobs would probably very upset with what Apple has become(qz.com)
qz.com
Steve Jobs would probably very upset with what Apple has become
http://qz.com/822818/steve-jobs-would-probably-very-upset-with-what-apple-aapl-has-become/
20 comments
Late 2008 Aluminum 13'' Macbook here. Going to upgrade.
Can't really understand all the fuss. It's Apple. Making this polemic decisions has been their bread & butter for a long time, always dropping standards that have peaked for new ones. Causes a pain in the short term, yes, but it's certainly not something new.
Can't really understand all the fuss. It's Apple. Making this polemic decisions has been their bread & butter for a long time, always dropping standards that have peaked for new ones. Causes a pain in the short term, yes, but it's certainly not something new.
Well, the thing is they're getting 'better' and 'better' at dropping standards. They drop things which still see a lot of use, for which there are no viable alternatives which perform at least as well as the current standard. It is almost as if they're trying for some form of abstract 'perfection' as defined by the dictum that 'Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away'. While nice in theory, in practice people buy computers to perform mundane tasks with 'imperfect' hardware with odd interfaces like HDMI, SD or analogue audio. This might go against the purist's dream of a perfect world but it is the one we're living in, warts and all. If you want to buy a computer as a personal statement you may be willing to live with the restrictions such 'perfection' brings with it, but those who want to upload their photos are left out in the cold. Yes, they can use an adapter or some sort of dongle but surely that is even less 'perfect'?
You bring up some interesting points. I think we all agree we want to be able to make progress on connectors. The question is how we do so.
- Before something is widely adopted, how do we decide which connectors to use on future products?
- How do we transition from one to another?
Some thoughts that came to mind when reading your comment: What did people do before computers had HDMI ports? SD slots? How about audio systems that have 1/4" plugs (not 3.5mm)?
- Before something is widely adopted, how do we decide which connectors to use on future products?
- How do we transition from one to another?
Some thoughts that came to mind when reading your comment: What did people do before computers had HDMI ports? SD slots? How about audio systems that have 1/4" plugs (not 3.5mm)?
Why? Because a bunch of reporters are shitting on a new Apple product they haven't even tried yet? I'd imagine he was pretty familiar with that phenomenon.
Remember "then don't hold it that way?" And they gave bumpers to iPhone 4 customers for a few months to shut up the press. BTW the iPhone 4 sold very well, with very high consumer scores, for 2 more years after the bumper program ended.
Steve Jobs was a guy who spent most of the time between 2001 and 2007 releasing incremental updates to existing products. I have to wonder how many of those keynotes this writer has seen. Most would be incredibly boring and pointless to view today. "Wow, 802.11g has the speed of 802.11a, but uses the backward-compatible 2.4 GHz band." This was like a 5 minute section in multiple keynotes.
Remember "then don't hold it that way?" And they gave bumpers to iPhone 4 customers for a few months to shut up the press. BTW the iPhone 4 sold very well, with very high consumer scores, for 2 more years after the bumper program ended.
Steve Jobs was a guy who spent most of the time between 2001 and 2007 releasing incremental updates to existing products. I have to wonder how many of those keynotes this writer has seen. Most would be incredibly boring and pointless to view today. "Wow, 802.11g has the speed of 802.11a, but uses the backward-compatible 2.4 GHz band." This was like a 5 minute section in multiple keynotes.
"While Jobs was explaining why he thought old tech giants had fallen from grace, he probably wasn’t thinking about Apple at that time. "
I doubt that. Just read Ed Catmull's "Creativity Inc." (highly recommended) and all his thoughts that went into making Pixar (Steve's other company) sustainable and returning a fallen Disney animation around. The question what went wrong elsewhere is central to that. Also there are the early years of Apple where Apple fell from grace. Steve was acutely aware of the fragility of his businesses and wanted to protect them.
Steve knew about the critical importance of culture. The spaceship follows his earlier work on the Pixar building. Enabling people to come together and build something great, insanely great.
Apples products tended to deliver value seen from the customer perspective. Proper waterproof phones is a step forward that does not look great, is hard to do, is hard to charge for but delivers value every single day. The "insanely great" perceivable customer value was missing in the presentation of the last macs for a lot of reasons (memory, keyboard, cable integration with iPhone out of the box, mag-safe, extension cord, higher price etc.).
I doubt that. Just read Ed Catmull's "Creativity Inc." (highly recommended) and all his thoughts that went into making Pixar (Steve's other company) sustainable and returning a fallen Disney animation around. The question what went wrong elsewhere is central to that. Also there are the early years of Apple where Apple fell from grace. Steve was acutely aware of the fragility of his businesses and wanted to protect them.
Steve knew about the critical importance of culture. The spaceship follows his earlier work on the Pixar building. Enabling people to come together and build something great, insanely great.
Apples products tended to deliver value seen from the customer perspective. Proper waterproof phones is a step forward that does not look great, is hard to do, is hard to charge for but delivers value every single day. The "insanely great" perceivable customer value was missing in the presentation of the last macs for a lot of reasons (memory, keyboard, cable integration with iPhone out of the box, mag-safe, extension cord, higher price etc.).
For me knowing that soon, once peripherals makers and also cable makers catch-up, I'll be able to use just one type of cable to connect to anything (and I'm assuming cable makers will stop doing sub-par ones and just stick to Thunderbolt 3 capable), is probably a huge win. No more USB/HDMI/MagSafe mix (with the different ports on the peripheral side to increase complexity).
After that, wireless.
After that, wireless.
> I'll be able to use just one type of cable to connect to anything
If you're talking about USB 3, sorry to burst your bubble, but you won't. There are a lot of different varieties of USB 3 cables.
You're thinking of "connector", and yes, the USB 3 connector is now used for wildly different things. Cables are different even though they have the same connector.
If you're talking about USB 3, sorry to burst your bubble, but you won't. There are a lot of different varieties of USB 3 cables.
You're thinking of "connector", and yes, the USB 3 connector is now used for wildly different things. Cables are different even though they have the same connector.
Please read my comment again, I did say:
> I'm assuming cable makers will stop doing sub-par ones and just stick to Thunderbolt 3 capable
> I'm assuming cable makers will stop doing sub-par ones and just stick to Thunderbolt 3 capable
> I'm assuming cable makers will stop doing sub-par ones and just stick to Thunderbolt 3 capable
Thunderbolt 3 cables are expensive (just like regular Thunderbolt cables), and there's no chance that cable makers drop cheaper cables. None, zip, zero.
Furthermore, all it takes is one manufacturer making the non-Thunderbolt 3 cables to make things as I described…and remember, using the "wrong" cable can hurt your machine.
The situation with USB-C isn't good and it's very likely that many machines will be damaged as a result of not using unique connectors for unique capabilities/requirements on the cables themselves.
Thunderbolt 3 cables are expensive (just like regular Thunderbolt cables), and there's no chance that cable makers drop cheaper cables. None, zip, zero.
Furthermore, all it takes is one manufacturer making the non-Thunderbolt 3 cables to make things as I described…and remember, using the "wrong" cable can hurt your machine.
The situation with USB-C isn't good and it's very likely that many machines will be damaged as a result of not using unique connectors for unique capabilities/requirements on the cables themselves.
What's the market share for USB-C compared with USB-A/B?
Would hope that as it passes USB-A/B, it becomes as cheap as, or at least close to.
Also people will start to name & shame bad cable manufacturers, both when they are the ones not reading the cable specs (in which case it will alert people to do so) or when the cable specs do not match the actual cable capabilities (in which case the cable manufacturer is liable).
The other thing is as mobile phones/tablets change, you'll also get cables bundled with the device, which will probably be of a decent quality at least (they don't need to be Thunderbolt 3, just not fool the devices by violating USB-C specs).
Would hope that as it passes USB-A/B, it becomes as cheap as, or at least close to.
Also people will start to name & shame bad cable manufacturers, both when they are the ones not reading the cable specs (in which case it will alert people to do so) or when the cable specs do not match the actual cable capabilities (in which case the cable manufacturer is liable).
The other thing is as mobile phones/tablets change, you'll also get cables bundled with the device, which will probably be of a decent quality at least (they don't need to be Thunderbolt 3, just not fool the devices by violating USB-C specs).
> The "insanely great" perceivable customer value was missing in the presentation of the last macs for a lot of reasons (memory, keyboard, cable integration with iPhone out of the box, mag-safe, extension cord, higher price etc.).
Exactly this. For the past few years I've been an Apple apologist in regards to the "overpriced hardware" argument: it was nigh-impossible to get a well-built laptop with comparable specs from a PC OEM. But the new MBP costs more while delivering less.
Exactly this. For the past few years I've been an Apple apologist in regards to the "overpriced hardware" argument: it was nigh-impossible to get a well-built laptop with comparable specs from a PC OEM. But the new MBP costs more while delivering less.
Or he probably wouldn't. We don't know. And either way, it does not matter. Either way, it won't/wouldn't change anything. As all things do, Apple evolves.
If Steve Jobs was still Apple's CEO, the only thing that is certain is that he would keep the Skeuromorpihsm UI.
For anything else there is no proof.
For anything else there is no proof.
Its either they are asleep at the helm or are furiously working on something else, like VR, not too focusing product renewal of current product lineup... It is an essence of a magic trick. You follow left hand while right one is about to surprise you, isn't it? I hope they are working on something extraordinary.
They haven't done anything remotely extraordinary since Steve J left. I don't know why people are so charitable towards Apple when everything indicates it's a company that's no longer what it was.
To quote someone, "revenue is a lagging indicator in the technology business".
To quote someone, "revenue is a lagging indicator in the technology business".
Yeah I'm sure Jobs would be so upset to see that Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world. I'm sure he would think the fact that Apple now makes a computer you can wear on your wrist is "meh" and the new MacBook Pro should have kept the functions keys.
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I'd hate to have to live up to the spectre of Steve Jobs.
Maybe we shouldn't care about satisfying the dead. They're not around to care anymore. This post is the equivalent level of discourse as saying he's turning in his grave.
Maybe we shouldn't care about satisfying the dead. They're not around to care anymore. This post is the equivalent level of discourse as saying he's turning in his grave.
When it comes to the Macbook Pro, something like the Razor Blade laptop keyboard would have been much much better than getting rid the upper row.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0talSSC5ToI/hqdefault.jpg
Imagine the screen on the right of the size of an iphone. I would have opened a much larger set of possibilities. Want to test and develop iphone apps ? want to use this for video or music production ? or want the num pad back ? The num pad is redundant yet useful, and replaced by a screen the surface is big enough to offer interesting possibilities for pro users.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0talSSC5ToI/hqdefault.jpg
Imagine the screen on the right of the size of an iphone. I would have opened a much larger set of possibilities. Want to test and develop iphone apps ? want to use this for video or music production ? or want the num pad back ? The num pad is redundant yet useful, and replaced by a screen the surface is big enough to offer interesting possibilities for pro users.
I imagine most people are okay with the idea of "last year's model but thinner/lighter/faster/stronger", up to a point. People hold on to their six year-old Macbook Pros and their 10 year-old Thinkpads because they're reliable. It seems to me that the bigger backlash is against Apple's attempted "innovation" which felt gimmicky and unnecessary.