Hehe, you do remember when they had to give away free iPhone bumpers to make their iPhone "work", don't you?
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Jonathan Ive on Design and Apple's Focus on Great Products Instead of Profits
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Hehe, you do remember when they had to give away free iPhone bumpers to make their iPhone "work", don't you?
Steve did say in Walter Isaacson's book that Jony understood Apple at its core better than anyone else. Are people here suggesting Steve was wrong?
That i Microsoft OS can be installed in older hardware running good! No fake obsolesce! And that is be green not forcing people to buy new hardware!
R&D, what the hell are you on about. The component manufacturers are the ones that do the R&D. Apple didn't come up with a retina display, the display manufacturers did all the damn work.
Apple come up with and idea of what they want and ask the suppliers to make it. Apple do f all real R&D. The 'New' Mac Pro for example, do you really think they spent anything on that? Or was it Intel that spent $bn's developing the proc's?
Pro's are still needed as much as ever for Apple. Developers for iOS apps and the Mac App Store.
While PC desktops have dramatically dropped, Mac computers has continued to go up in sales regardless of how much profits iOS devices make.
You have no understanding of what Logistics are and cheap labor is not the motivating factor why production was moved to China. The USA cannot supply enough engineers, raw material, and factories to supply enough finished product to the world.
My iPhone 4 worked fine without it.
Art Glass.
Profits secondary in a publicly traded company? Seems to not pass the stink test. Never-minding the legal responsibility to shareholders.
Take a view of the leaked iPhone, um, 6 along the bottom side (or top side). The lines coming together and the different materials kinda looks like some Frank Lloyd Wright art glass. Genius!
Profits secondary in a publicly traded company? Seems to not pass the stink test. Never-minding the legal responsibility to shareholders.
Take a view of the leaked iPhone, um, 6 along the bottom side (or top side). The lines coming together and the different materials kinda looks like some Frank Lloyd Wright art glass. Genius!
OK I'll ask this again. If the focus is money why wouldn't Apple be focused more on market share? Surely they could reduce profit margins and make it up in volume. I would imagine there is a large swath of people who might be interested in owning an Apple product but feel they're out of their price range.
When Apple decided to do the iPod and then iPhone do people really believe money was the driving force behind that?
I work for a Fortune 50 company that's worth $50B in market cap. Our leadership never focuses on money. The focus is all about products and services. All about retaining existing customers and gaining new ones. Profit is just a consequence of having good products/services to sell and running an efficient organization. Obviously a corporation needs to profit to survive but go to any corporate website where they post their mission statement (or equivalent) and none of them talk about company profits. All Ive was saying is when they're working on products, money is not the driving force behind it. Making great products that people will buy is.
When Apple decided to do the iPod and then iPhone do people really believe money was the driving force behind that?
I work for a Fortune 50 company that's worth $50B in market cap. Our leadership never focuses on money. The focus is all about products and services. All about retaining existing customers and gaining new ones. Profit is just a consequence of having good products/services to sell and running an efficient organization. Obviously a corporation needs to profit to survive but go to any corporate website where they post their mission statement (or equivalent) and none of them talk about company profits. All Ive was saying is when they're working on products, money is not the driving force behind it. Making great products that people will buy is.
For godsakes people, please stop being so dense. Of course, ONE of Apple's goals is to make money. DUH. Stop making this point. It should be obvious that that is not what Ive was referring to at all.
An appropriate analogy here I think is Hollywood sequels. When a Hollywood movie makes a lot of money, they tend to make a sequel even when it's ill-advised (Indiana Jones 4 anyone? Star Wars 1, 2, 3?), just because they know it will make money. Ives is saying that the corporate heads at Apple will not try to compromise something JUST for the sake of money. It needs to fit into their overall plan and vision. They figure if their vision is a good one, plenty of money will follow. So far, they've been right. The question is whether or not they can stay on course with their plan.
An appropriate analogy here I think is Hollywood sequels. When a Hollywood movie makes a lot of money, they tend to make a sequel even when it's ill-advised (Indiana Jones 4 anyone? Star Wars 1, 2, 3?), just because they know it will make money. Ives is saying that the corporate heads at Apple will not try to compromise something JUST for the sake of money. It needs to fit into their overall plan and vision. They figure if their vision is a good one, plenty of money will follow. So far, they've been right. The question is whether or not they can stay on course with their plan.
I'm suggesting that Steve liked to bend the truth. Ive is a great designer, but he doesn't run Apple. He is a designer, so obviously his view of the company will be from a design standpoint. Just because he believes that that is Apples priority doesn't make it so.Steve did say in Walter Isaacson's book that Jony understood Apple at its core better than anyone else. Are people here suggesting Steve was wrong?
Putting profits first does not always work. Apple makes products people want to buy. They do this by first making a great product. Profits for profit sake, does not always make a good product.
Bean counters don't make good product engineers.
The headline made my laugh straight away
I don't think any number of marketing initiatives and quotes of Jonathan's "wisdom" will change public opinion about Apple's profit-focused strategy.
: Can you elucidate us about that stratejy?
The USA supplied enough to keep Apple a vibrant company for many years...a great company. Who says they have to "deliver" to the world, why don't they just focus on the USA and stop being greedy? Move production back to the US and bring the jobs back here!! We don't need megafactories producing these aluminum machines in China...I liked the old Macs better anyways.
Ummm.... Given that Google and Apple are now key partners in many open-source and open-standard initiatives started by each other, both investing many engineers to work on these project full time. It would seem a little unfair to just write-off Apple contribution as nothing but profit making, Yet hold Google up as some great Bastian of freedom.
Both are in it for the pure simple reason that for those things the shared investment is more valuable then exclusive one. Google may see more value and has more investment going in but that doesn't make them more noble.
To me a lot of the perceived 'Noblity' of Google is just marketing. Google's initiatives play well in their target demo. Apple involvement with things like LLVM don't.
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Yet you still see 1000's of people walking a round talking on their iPhones, at least half with on case at all.
They supplied enough until the demand got too great for America to keep up. If you want jobs to come back to America, more people need to get in to hard sciences and technology. More Asian countries seem to be far ahead of us in this field.
So a company is not allowed to grow and expand just because you said so?!? But instead you call it greedy because they worked very hard at what they did, and did it quite brilliantly. They took all the risks and hard work and determination to succeed, so they deserve to reap all the benefits.
reasonable price for the same quality? So tired of people comparing the price a unibody macbook to a plastic laptop, btw design ain't FREE either. So far we've still yet to see an iPad rival that can compete in price let alone product quality.
Might as well ask people to lower the price of gold because silver is cheaper and just as good.
Steve did say in Walter Isaacson's book that Jony understood Apple at its core better than anyone else. Are people here suggesting Steve was wrong?
Given Steve Jobs' affinity for artists and his belief that Apple at its core was about art, I think Jobs would have a soft sport for a designer.
Woah woah woah. I didn't think such an obvious statement would have such replies. I forgot that there are many fanboys here.
I'm actually not angry. But hey, who doesn't need a hug now and then?
Yep.
Nope, I didn't make an incorrect statement.
They have seen that money comes because they make great products. They make great products to make money.
However, they won't make an iPhone if they weren't profiting from it.
I do understand why Apple is successful nowadays. Yes they design great products, but the fact of the matter is.. they focus on profiting as much as possible from these products.
Sorry, but looks like you just don't have understanding of business. Every for-profit company, especially those that are public have a main goal.. which is to maximize profits.
If you can't understand this basic principle, you can't understand why businesses function.
I'm crazy? lol.
The way you speak tells me that you have no education on how businesses function.
You might also need to focus on reading comprehension. I said that all of the for-profit companies have one thing in common.. they want to maximize profits. That is true for Google, Samsung, RIM, etc. the way they do it is what differs.
If you can't understand this basic principle, you can't understand why businesses function.
And you call me crazy, really?
Keeping drinking that kool-aid.
You think focusing on profits is what made Microsoft so unsuccessful? what a joke.
If you think that people in charge at Apple are thinking differently than what my post suggested, then you're dreaming.
Of course they're thinking about revenue when they design the products, why is production outsourced? If you think that the thought of "i wonder how much this is going to cost us to make, how much can we sell it at?" doesn't come up when designing a product, then you're dreaming.
Keep drinking that kool-aid.
Yep.
Yep.
Those are exceptions, but Business or Economics 101 will tell you that for-profit businesses generally focus on profit maximization.
lol! Everyone has different ways of using their personal money. Steve Jobs was a billionaire.
I agree with the general idea of your post.
As a business major it seems like common sense to me. But I feel that for people who don't understand, they should consult some YouTube videos or books on Economics and/or Business.
bingo.
Yep.
lol that's true.
lol yep.
Agreed.
Yep.
Good points too.
Pure comedy indeed.
It is definitely the main goal of a for-profit public company to maximize profits, it might not be primary.
Apple makes great products, for sure. But Apple makes great products that will bring in a lot of revenue.
Jonny was implying that at Apple they focus on making great products instead of profits, thus implying that Apple is different than other companies. When that's just not true.
The way Apple makes profits might be different, but fundamentally Apple is as focused on making profits as any other for-profit company.
I don't have disorganized thoughts. Instead, you should try educating yourself in Business and Economics.
Note, i didn't say every company has the same approach. I said that they are all fundamentally trying to maximize profits, whereas Jonny said that Apple doesn't focus on profits, which is simply false.
So yes, Apple, RIM, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, they're all companies and so their main goal is to maximize profits.
I sound like a broken record by now.
It's tough to jump to conclusions based off Steve Jobs' actions, that is personal. People have their own ways of dealing with money.
The fact of the matter is, he was a very wealthy person.
No people here are suggesting that Apple is a corporation, and just like all the other for-profit companies their main goal is profit maximization.
People.. there's nothing wrong with profit maximization, why are you making it sound like it's a bad thing?
I'm actually not angry. But hey, who doesn't need a hug now and then?
Yep.
Nope, I didn't make an incorrect statement.
They have seen that money comes because they make great products. They make great products to make money.
However, they won't make an iPhone if they weren't profiting from it.
I do understand why Apple is successful nowadays. Yes they design great products, but the fact of the matter is.. they focus on profiting as much as possible from these products.
Sorry, but looks like you just don't have understanding of business. Every for-profit company, especially those that are public have a main goal.. which is to maximize profits.
If you can't understand this basic principle, you can't understand why businesses function.
I'm crazy? lol.
The way you speak tells me that you have no education on how businesses function.
You might also need to focus on reading comprehension. I said that all of the for-profit companies have one thing in common.. they want to maximize profits. That is true for Google, Samsung, RIM, etc. the way they do it is what differs.
If you can't understand this basic principle, you can't understand why businesses function.
And you call me crazy, really?
Keeping drinking that kool-aid.
You think focusing on profits is what made Microsoft so unsuccessful? what a joke.
If you think that people in charge at Apple are thinking differently than what my post suggested, then you're dreaming.
Of course they're thinking about revenue when they design the products, why is production outsourced? If you think that the thought of "i wonder how much this is going to cost us to make, how much can we sell it at?" doesn't come up when designing a product, then you're dreaming.
Keep drinking that kool-aid.
Yep.
As are many of the designers at Sony, Samsung, etc. Are you saying THEY are any different than Ives? Or is the difference in the other departments?
I am happy to pay for quality, and I do, but to try and say that Apple has not traditionally milked the crap out of its consumers is blind fanboi-ism. Although it's exactly that that allowed Apple to charge $80 for a keyboard because it was see-through plastic!
Yep.
Those are exceptions, but Business or Economics 101 will tell you that for-profit businesses generally focus on profit maximization.
lol! Everyone has different ways of using their personal money. Steve Jobs was a billionaire.
I agree with the general idea of your post.
As a business major it seems like common sense to me. But I feel that for people who don't understand, they should consult some YouTube videos or books on Economics and/or Business.
bingo.
Yep.
lol that's true.
lol yep.
"...instead of profits"?
That's either the most disingenuous comment in the history of American business or a bald faced lie.
Take your choice.
Does he think people are idiots?
Don't even bother answering that one.
Agreed.
Yep.
Good points too.
Pure comedy indeed.
It is definitely the main goal of a for-profit public company to maximize profits, it might not be primary.
Apple makes great products, for sure. But Apple makes great products that will bring in a lot of revenue.
Jonny was implying that at Apple they focus on making great products instead of profits, thus implying that Apple is different than other companies. When that's just not true.
The way Apple makes profits might be different, but fundamentally Apple is as focused on making profits as any other for-profit company.
I don't have disorganized thoughts. Instead, you should try educating yourself in Business and Economics.
Note, i didn't say every company has the same approach. I said that they are all fundamentally trying to maximize profits, whereas Jonny said that Apple doesn't focus on profits, which is simply false.
So yes, Apple, RIM, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, they're all companies and so their main goal is to maximize profits.
I sound like a broken record by now.
It's tough to jump to conclusions based off Steve Jobs' actions, that is personal. People have their own ways of dealing with money.
The fact of the matter is, he was a very wealthy person.
Steve did say in Walter Isaacson's book that Jony understood Apple at its core better than anyone else. Are people here suggesting Steve was wrong?
No people here are suggesting that Apple is a corporation, and just like all the other for-profit companies their main goal is profit maximization.
People.. there's nothing wrong with profit maximization, why are you making it sound like it's a bad thing?