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Stephen Fry Profiles the iPad and Steve Jobs for Time Magazine

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the iPad are set to be the cover story for the upcoming issue of Time, and as part of the coverage, British actor/comedian Stephen Fry describes his visit to Apple headquarters to learn about and play with the iPad, as well as to meet Jobs himself. Yesterday, Fry posted a video of the unpacking of his iPad and associated accessories.

While Fry's lengthy Time article offers little in the way of new information on the iPad, it does provide an interesting glimpse into the Apple mystique, and his conversations with Jobs and other Apple executives share some of the giddy excitement and nervousness that many Apple fans would likely feel if granted inside access to Apple's devices and top minds.
I have met five British Prime Ministers, two American Presidents, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson and the Queen. My hour with Steve Jobs certainly made me more nervous than any of those encounters. I know what you are thinking, but it's the truth. I do believe Jobs to be a truly great figure, one of the small group of innovators who have changed the world. He exists somewhere between showman, perfectionist overseer, visionary, enthusiast and opportunist, and his insistence upon design, detail, finish, quality, ease of use and reliability are a huge part of Apple's success.
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During the interview, Jobs offers a sentiment shared by Fry that the revolutionary and immersive nature of the iPad can not truly be felt until one gets their hands on and uses it. Unlike smartphones, which were a relatively obvious evolution for mobile phones, the new generation of tablet devices which are being led in mindshare by the iPad must create their own market space, and to do so the experience must be compelling.
"I think the experience of using an iPad is going to be profound for many people," he says. "I really do. Genuinely profound." That rings a bell. "I've heard it said that this is the device for you," I reply. "The one that will change everything." "When people see how immersive the experience is," Jobs says, "how directly you engage with it ... the only word is magical."
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Fry closes his profile with an interesting observation that it is a shame that his good friend Douglas Adams is no longer alive to see what is the closest device yet created to his famed Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Article Link: Stephen Fry Profiles the iPad and Steve Jobs for Time Magazine
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/01/stephen-fry-profiles-the-ipad-and-steve-jobs-for-time-magazine/
NebulaClash

NebulaClash

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Feb 4, 2010
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To me this is the key quote from the Time article:

"I put to designer Ive the matter of all the features that are missing from the iPad. "In many ways, it's the things that are not there that we are most proud of," he tells me. "For us, it is all about refining and refining until it seems like there's nothing between the user and the content they are interacting with."

That's not what he's supposed to say. Tech journalists are obsessed with spec lists and functions. Does it do this? Does it do that? They often look at devices as the sum of their features. But that kind of thinking isn't in Apple's DNA. The iPad does perform tasks — it runs apps and has the calendar, e-mail, Web browsing, office productivity, audio, video and gaming capabilities you would expect of any such device — yet when I eventually got my hands on one, I discovered that one doesn't relate to it as a "tool"; the experience is closer to one's relationship with a person or an animal.

I know how weird that sounds. But consider for a moment. We are human beings; our first responses to anything are dominated not by calculations but by feelings. What Ive and his team understand is that if you have an object in your pocket or hand for hours every day, then your relationship with it is profound, human and emotional. Apple's success has been founded on consumer products that address this side of us: their products make users smile as they reach forward to manipulate, touch, fondle, slide, tweak, pinch, prod and stroke."
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Jonny Ive has the right idea, not for techies and tech journalists, but for the vast majority of everyone else. The key in writing, movie-making and tech tools is not what you cram in, but what you leave out.
 
S

sjo

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2005
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NebulaClash said:
To me this is the key quote from the Time article:



Jonny Ive has the right idea, not for techies and tech journalists, but for the vast majority of everyone else. The key in writing, movie-making and tech tools is not what you cram in, but what you leave out.
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Ironically, vast majority of people is not using Apple products. Failed execution of the vision?
 
BryanLyle

BryanLyle

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Aug 2, 2005
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More important question is, why is every picture on the frontpage crooked today? :)
 
ValSalva

ValSalva

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Jun 26, 2009
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Burpelson AFB
I thought that the coverage of iPad launch would be big but the enormous size of it has surprised me. Not sure if it's so big because the iPad is so great (it's still yet to be released) or if it is the herd mentality of the media not wanting to be left behind.
 
N

notromeel

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May 19, 2009
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Baltimore, MD
sjo said:
Ironically, vast majority of people is not using Apple products. Failed execution of the vision?
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No, not now - but that shouldn't retract from their vision, their goal of what a truly perfect should be. Good point, I agree. But you have to stay true. Or else, you're just another follower.
 
NebulaClash

NebulaClash

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Feb 4, 2010
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sjo said:
Ironically, vast majority of people is not using Apple products. Failed execution of the vision?
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Ive's vision is triumphant. What Apple does, the market copies. We are using portable music devices that learned from the iPod. We are carrying smart phones that try to work like his iPhone. We use sleek desktops that rip off design ideas from the iMac. I'd say Ive executed his vision perfectly.
 
F

fabulicious

macrumors member
Feb 17, 2010
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Oh, PLEASE let this be an April Fool's Day joke. Isn't his over-inflated ego big enough as it is??? :rolleyes:
 
NebulaClash

NebulaClash

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Feb 4, 2010
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BornAgainMac said:
If this becomes a hit, Microsoft will feel they really blew it when they had their tablet 10 years ago. The Tablet is Microsoft's Apple TV hobby.
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They did blow it. They had the potential to have a huge head start, but they made a mistake and tried to make a Windows Everywhere world, and that's the wrong vision. You don't want a full-blown OS on a watch, a music player, a phone or a tablet. Those each use a different type of interaction that needs an OS built from the ground up to meet those interaction needs. Putting a "Start" button on a tablet is laughably wrong.

If Microsoft had bit the bullet and listened to internal suggestions at the time, they could have been the ones to introduce a multi-touch tablet years ago. They didn't, and thus they blew it. Now they are playing catch-up with HP and the like to create, uh oh, the same mistaken idea: full-blown Windows OS on a tablet that feels like a laptop with the keyboard ripped away. They never learn. The future is not mouse-oriented, and not stylus-oriented. And not Windows-oriented.
 
V

viktore

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2008
51
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Crooo

The image is crooked and it botters me to much to pay attention to the article.
 
LagunaSol

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
4,798
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Steve Jobs: blazing the trail, and being acknowledged for it. The praise is well-deserved. AidenShaw is going to blow a cork when he sees El Jobso on yet another Time magazine cover in his mailbox. Take heart, Shaw. You'll always be able to enjoy Ballmer on the cover of Microsoft MVP Monthly. ;)

What will Steve do next? Jobs I mean. We know what Ballmer will do next - whatever Jobs is doing now.

I'm sitting out the iPad Revolution until RevB, but it will be exciting to observe in the meantime.
 
L

Lastaria

macrumors newbie
Jun 5, 2008
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Liverpool, England
Happened to read this article just before coming here. Surprised Time magazine got Stephen to write the article as, as far as I am aware he is not hugely known in the states?

The article does not give too much away, I suspect Apple did not want him too before it's release but Stephens enthusiam for Apple really does shine through and it is an interesting article in itself from probably Apple's biggest celebrity fan and cheerleader.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

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Feb 5, 2009
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sjo said:
Ironically, vast majority of people is not using Apple products. Failed execution of the vision?
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No, just limiting it to certain segments of the market because they couldn't compete against Microsoft.
 
LagunaSol

LagunaSol

macrumors 601
Apr 3, 2003
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NebulaClash said:
Now they are playing catch-up with HP and the like to create, uh oh, the same mistaken idea: full-blown Windows OS on a tablet that feels like a laptop with the keyboard ripped away. They never learn. The future is not mouse-oriented, and not stylus-oriented. And not Windows-oriented.
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Don't worry, we'll see Windows Tablet 7 Series soon enough. Holidays 2011. Watch for it.

The best thing about copycats is their predictability.
 
V

Veri

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2007
611
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Fry is a second rate Oscar Wilde wannabe, with neither Wilde's rapacious wit nor his breath of creativity. The painting by the BBC of Fry and Laurie's more parochial half as the foremost thinking man's entertainer reflects the paucity of talent on the once public service channel. At least Jobs displays no false modesty, but the two figures share the ability to blow their own images out of all proportion matched only by their own inflated senses of self-worth.

It is no coincidence that two bright, Ozymandian figures should complement each other, though I preferred the Fry who spoke for the FSF - even if it was with only passing sincerity.
 
C

CFreymarc

Suspended
Sep 4, 2009
3,969
1,149
PAC88 said:
Inside Steve's Pad
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Honestly, this Time piece dropped my interest several notches. The push looks way too authoritative. You think Time would have learned by now. My only take on this is that since Time's subscription rate has allegedly been dropping over the past ten years, this is an attempt to revive the magazine format.

My take is that this hype over down-loadable books, magazines and other ePub docs will not take much traction. The iPad has the Safari web browser and this allows you to hit any web site to read what ever you want. In addition, Safari has a great zoom feature to make the type any size you want.
 
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