Playboy: More important, are you ignoring your potentially biggest rival, A.T.&T.?
Jobs: A.T.&T.. is absolutely going to be in the business. There is a major transformation in the company that's taking place right now. A.T.&T. is changing from a subsidized and regulated service-oriented company to a free-market, competitive-marketing technology company. A.T.&T.'s products per se have never been of the highest quality. All you have to do is go look at their telephones. They're somewhat of an embarrassment. But they do possess great technology in their research labs. Their challenge is to learn how to commercialize that technology. Also, they have to learn about consumer marketing. I think that they will do both of those things, but it's going to take them years.
---
and this:
Jobs: I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back.
A.T.&T.'s products per se have never been of the highest quality. All you have to do is go look at their telephones. They're somewhat of an embarrassment
Huh. That's weird. AT&T phones were built like brick shithouses, for the most part. I wonder what model(s) he had in mind when he said that?
Jesus, I never realized how on message the guy has been for 30 years. If you showed that 1985 Steve Jobs an iPhone, I don't know if he would be impressed or be nonplused and see it as some obvious progression that he's had in mind for a long time.
His consistency seems really important to me, but it isn’t as remarked upon as, for example, his perfectionism.
When you look at Apple’s product timeline, you can see he’s always thinking several years ahead. Plenty of good products were just bridges to great products. Some products didn’t make any sense until later.
Probably one reason that people like to speculate about Apple’s plans is that Apple actually uses plans, as opposed to hopes. I doubt Microsoft or Google could give more accurate pictures of where they’ll be in 10 years.
not to be overly nit-picky but I think you're using 'nonplused' to mean the opposite of what it does. The word means to be bewildered or at a loss for words, in this context you seem to be saying that Steve Jobs would be 'unfazed' or 'unimpressed'
What a great article. There is a lot of insight into what makes him tick. Reading this article 25 years into the future makes me think his "reality distortion field" is no distortion at all, just the reality!
Talking about Commodore & Atari 8 bit machines: "I consider those a brochure for why you should buy an Apple II or Macintosh. I think people have already determined that the sub-$500 computers don't do very much. They either tease people to want more or frustrate people completely."
Seems like he's believed that you can't make a good computer at the $500 price point for a long time now (his take on netbooks is pretty much the same).
I love the absolute irony of an article, printed in its day to carefully explain to people what Silicon Valley was, what a computer was, and what it was all about. Preserved for eternity on the internet and readable only on computers.
Sorry, that's not irony either, you perhaps mean an amusing coincidence.
Not being a gramar nazi but the word "irony" has a very precise meaning, misusing it devalues the language. Explicit in the notion of irony is contradiction, e.g. saying one thing while meaning the opposite (such as saying about the Kin mobile phone "now there was a successful product").
"At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.
That's a simple explanation, and the point is that people really don't have to understand how computers work. Most people have no concept of how an automatic transmission works, yet they know how to drive a car. You don't have to study physics to understand the laws of motion to drive a car. You don't have to understand any of this stuff to use Macintosh--but you asked [laughs]."
Jobs has been on point for a while now; he's a man with ideals and beliefs about technology and its role in society. He has been on point with this message for literally decades and he has seen his ideas through to creation time and time again.
Some really amazing quotes in there including some off the cuff observations that became truly prescient:
"If, for some reason, we make some giant mistakes and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter sort of a computer Dark Ages for about 20 years."
iPhone, OS X growing like wild today. About... 20 years after he said that. And Mac OS 9 (yes, the mac also started to suck), Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Vista, what better description than a dark age.
"yet our Macintosh computer takes less power than a 100-watt light bulb to run and it can save you hours a day. What will it be able to do ten or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?"
[+] [-] mcav|15 years ago|reply
Playboy: More important, are you ignoring your potentially biggest rival, A.T.&T.?
Jobs: A.T.&T.. is absolutely going to be in the business. There is a major transformation in the company that's taking place right now. A.T.&T. is changing from a subsidized and regulated service-oriented company to a free-market, competitive-marketing technology company. A.T.&T.'s products per se have never been of the highest quality. All you have to do is go look at their telephones. They're somewhat of an embarrassment. But they do possess great technology in their research labs. Their challenge is to learn how to commercialize that technology. Also, they have to learn about consumer marketing. I think that they will do both of those things, but it's going to take them years.
---
and this:
Jobs: I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back.
[+] [-] CamperBob|15 years ago|reply
Huh. That's weird. AT&T phones were built like brick shithouses, for the most part. I wonder what model(s) he had in mind when he said that?
[+] [-] justinph|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] celoyd|15 years ago|reply
When you look at Apple’s product timeline, you can see he’s always thinking several years ahead. Plenty of good products were just bridges to great products. Some products didn’t make any sense until later.
Probably one reason that people like to speculate about Apple’s plans is that Apple actually uses plans, as opposed to hopes. I doubt Microsoft or Google could give more accurate pictures of where they’ll be in 10 years.
[+] [-] Homunculiheaded|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CoreDumpling|15 years ago|reply
Of particular interest are the somewhat different take on the established giants like IBM, as well as this new "information highway" development.
[+] [-] aarlo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eddanger|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] comatose_kid|15 years ago|reply
Seems like he's believed that you can't make a good computer at the $500 price point for a long time now (his take on netbooks is pretty much the same).
[+] [-] joezydeco|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesbritt|15 years ago|reply
They got a lot of people into the game.
I couldn't afford an Apple, but I could afford a C64.
Learned C on it.
[+] [-] frou_dh|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brc|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] epo|15 years ago|reply
Not being a gramar nazi but the word "irony" has a very precise meaning, misusing it devalues the language. Explicit in the notion of irony is contradiction, e.g. saying one thing while meaning the opposite (such as saying about the Kin mobile phone "now there was a successful product").
Sorry, personal bugbear, my problem.
[+] [-] kemiller|15 years ago|reply
"(It is also worth noting that of the 100 Americans named by Forbes, Jobs is one of only seven who made their fortunes on their own.) "
My, how things have changed.
[+] [-] chunkbot|15 years ago|reply
(Not to diminish the work of those who started with "more" in life.)
[+] [-] jackvalentine|15 years ago|reply
It would be really interesting to see how he would answer that question now.
[+] [-] joshes|15 years ago|reply
That's a simple explanation, and the point is that people really don't have to understand how computers work. Most people have no concept of how an automatic transmission works, yet they know how to drive a car. You don't have to study physics to understand the laws of motion to drive a car. You don't have to understand any of this stuff to use Macintosh--but you asked [laughs]."
Jobs has been on point for a while now; he's a man with ideals and beliefs about technology and its role in society. He has been on point with this message for literally decades and he has seen his ideas through to creation time and time again.
That's worthy of respect.
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] delackner|15 years ago|reply
"If, for some reason, we make some giant mistakes and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter sort of a computer Dark Ages for about 20 years."
iPhone, OS X growing like wild today. About... 20 years after he said that. And Mac OS 9 (yes, the mac also started to suck), Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Vista, what better description than a dark age.
[+] [-] patio11|15 years ago|reply
The largest, fastest, most important rollout of technology in the history of mankind. Seriously.
[+] [-] rradu|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vinhboy|15 years ago|reply
Make fart apps.
[+] [-] np3000|15 years ago|reply
It is interesting to note that Steve Jobs' biggest hits came in his 30's, 40's and gasp 50's dwarfing what he did in his 20's.
30's - NEXT and foundation for MacOS X
40's - iPod, iTunes
50's - iPhone, iPad
[+] [-] jon_hendry|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ckuehne|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|15 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] flannell|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwefqwef|15 years ago|reply
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