CES 2012: Apple's Greg Joswiak 'Scouting the Competition'

[John Frum]

Apple: Often first at being successful

To expand on what you were saying ... ultra-thin / thin-and-light laptops with CULV processors already existed before the Macbook Air's (see Asus). All Apple should really get credit for is making SSD's standard for these kinds of laptops.

Oh, miniaturization was "a thing," all right. It just wasn't these things.

No mp3 player changed the game and made the devices ubiquitous as did the iPod; no large screen format smartphone started a stampede and killed off the existing dominant genre as did the iPhone; no tablet computer got the market moving, despite multiple determined efforts over many years, as did the iPad; and no ultralight and thin notebook started the genre, in the process killing off netbooks (and to some degree even other notebooks), as did the Air.

Of course, that's not enough for anti-Apple zealots. Nothing could ever be enough for the anti-Apple fan club.

 

[marcusj0015]

It would be amazing if Apple didn't have a whole bunch of people at CES (and other similar expos.) Apple may be a very closed world - but they don't live in a vacuum. I guess what makes this newsworthy is the fact that he is such a high level exec.

Of course Apple is keeping up with what other producers are doing.

My exact thoughts.

 

[cvaldes]

How random that someone recognized him.

CES attendees are required to wear name badges; the person's name and their company are listed on the badge. The badge holders are marked to indicate whether the person is a conference goer, exhibitor, member of the media, etc. This is not unique to CES; pretty much every tech trade show does the same thing.

If you're not working in a booth and want to go into semi-stealth mode, some people bring nondescript business cards and stick them in the badge holder, obscuring the printed name badge. That way, you can wander around the show floor and ask questions without the other person having any sort of preconceived notion about who you are, your importance, the fact that you're a competitor, etc. That said, some booth staffers pretty much expect that the visitor is probably a competitor if the person before them is using this obscured-badge-holder ploy.

As mentioned above, Joswiak's a pretty well known Apple executive, so it's not like he can really walk around without being noticed.

 

[Peace]

By being at CES I don't believe Joswiak is "keeping up" with what the competition is doing. To do that all he has to do is read engadget.com or CNet.

He's there checking out the response from the attendees.

 

[swagi]

Oh, miniaturization was "a thing," all right. It just wasn't these things.

No mp3 player changed the game and made the devices ubiquitous as did the iPod;

point granted

no large screen format smartphone started a stampede and killed off the existing dominant genre as did the iPhone;

Actually there were several dozens of implementations that performed very well in their time. Nokia Communicator comes to mind. Palm PDAs come to mind. And the whole package not so long ago was delivered with dedicated enterprise solutions by Blackberry. Yes, they all were hot items in their time.

no tablet computer got the market moving, despite multiple determined efforts over many years, as did the iPad;

Actually it's not the hardware per se that got the market moving but the software. Lots of pennystock soccer mom games like AngryBirds or Plants vs Zombies moved the market. Better - the App Store moved the market. It still is a complimentary device (and remains).

and no ultralight and thin notebook started the genre, in the process killing off netbooks (and to some degree even other notebooks), as did the Air.

Because actually noone wanted to compete with netbooks at that time. Why should they? Credit where credit is due, and the EeePC and MSI Wind were great performers of their time.

Of course, that's not enough for anti-Apple zealots. Nothing could ever be enough for the anti-Apple fan club.

I give them credit for designing great products. But I don't blindly worship them as the only innovators. That simply would be untrue.

 

[nsayer]

The Tao of Programming

http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html#book3

There once was a man who went to a computer trade show. Each day as he entered, the man told the guard at the door:

"I am a great thief, renowned for my feats of shoplifting. Be forewarned, for this trade show shall not escape unplundered.''

 

[biohead]

Joswiak declined to enter a more in-depth discussion of his interests at the show, with paidContent noting only that he "seemed less than impressed" with Sony's booth on the expo floor.

Can't say I've seen any mention of Sony at all about CES. No wonder he's less than impressed!

 

[SandynJosh]

Can't say I've seen any mention of Sony at all about CES. No wonder he's less than impressed!

In a similar way I had to do some serious looking to find what Ballmer had to say during his keynote address at CES. My one take-away was that he was proud that 1 in 3 peecee users are running Windows 7 after 2+ years on the market.

Meanwhile Apple has about 300 million iOS users and climbing rapidly. While iOS may not reach parity with Windows 7 by the time Windows 8 is released, the Win8 installed base may never pass iOS in installed base due to the changing nature of how computers are being used.

 

[joneill55]

What competition? LMFAO

How come he doesn't come out in a secret disguise like the iPhone 4 in the 3GS look-a-like case?

SJ Would not approve

----------

In a similar way I had to do some serious looking to find what Ballmer had to say during his keynote address at CES. My one take-away was that he was proud that 1 in 3 peecee users are running Windows 7 after 2+ years on the market.

Meanwhile Apple has about 300 million iOS users and climbing rapidly. While iOS may not reach parity with Windows 7 by the time Windows 8 is released, the Win8 installed base may never pass iOS in installed base due to the changing nature of how computers are being used.

Remember Ballmer laughed when Apple release the original iPhone and predicated its demise. Well I guess the "Big -Softie" was wrong! (AGAIN)

Who's is laughing now.........

 

[realitycheck69]

Rumor has it he had an entourage of lawyers following him.

 

[vrDrew]

I'm going to point out that the guy's title is head of iOS Device Marketing.

That would suggest that, rather than being at CES to figure out which gizmo from Sony or Samsung Apple was planning on copying next, that he instead was more interested in how these companies were presenting their products: Things like booth layouts, and which products they were promoting.

As someone noted earlier, Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum. And it would be foolish, in the extreme, for Apple to totally ignore what other companies are doing. If companies A; B; and C are pushing a certain feature, or using a certain type of event to promote their product to the tech press - then Apple ought to at least be aware of it.

Great writers read books written by other people. Great movie directors see other people's films. Great chefs eat other people's food. And great marketing executives go to trade shows where their employer doesn't have a booth. Its called staying in touch with reality.

 

[John Frum]

Actually there were several dozens of implementations that performed very well in their time. Nokia Communicator comes to mind. Palm PDAs come to mind. And the whole package not so long ago was delivered with dedicated enterprise solutions by Blackberry. Yes, they all were hot items in their time.

I loved my Pilot and was in some ways more satisfied with it than with my iPhone. But none of this is relevant. All of these devices fall in the category of what I called "the existing dominant genre" that the iPhone effectively killed off. The fact that these devices performed well and were hot items only makes Apple's achievement all the more remarkable.

Actually it's not the hardware per se that got the market moving but the software. ... Better - the App Store moved the market.

Agreed...and beside the point. The challenge posted here was that Apple is not an innovator because miniaturization was already "a thing." Whether the market shifted because of hardware, software, the store, or any other factor (I'd argue that it was a combination of factors, as nothing's ever so simple), the fact is that innovation occurred.

Because actually noone wanted to compete with netbooks at that time. Why should they? Credit where credit is due, and the EeePC and MSI Wind were great performers of their time.

Apple competed with notebooks, not directly but with the iPad and the MacBook Air. They were introduced; netbook sales plummeted. Without Apple's product introductions netbook sales likely would have continued on their upward trajectory. Again, the fact that nobody else wanted to compete with notebooks and that some models were great performers is testimony to how remarkable Apple's achievement was. Once again, I'm not sure what your point is. So far you've only reinforced the case in favor of Apple.

I give them credit for designing great products. But I don't blindly worship them as the only innovators. That simply would be untrue.

I never said that Apple is "the only innovator;" nobody ever says that. In response to a challenge I pointed out four areas in which Apple has innovated. To conflate that into "blindly worshipping them as the only innovators" is poor rhetoric, transparently false and an insult.

 

[Rogifan]

Oh please if others had successful thin and light laptops before MBA then why is Intel and all these other companies spending so much time creating ultrabooks which are universally referred to as an attempt to compete with the MBA. Who had a laptop like the MBA that was popular and sold in volume and was $1K or less?

 

[Frisco]

I was there and saw Steve Wozniak. J/K

 

[mbh]

How random that someone recognized him.

I don't recall a story like this before. Maybe Steve used to have them wear disguises.

 

[unlimitedx]

This guy's name reminds me of the name Steve Wozniak

 

[YMark]

Perhaps just maybe he was looking to buy something for his iDevice?

I was at the CES today and didn't run into him. And if he was going to pick up something for he iDevice, he was in the wrong hall. All that stuff is in the North hall.

I also saw Sony's mammoth booth, and they had a lot of nice things, especially their Crystal LED TV.

 

[28monkeys]

Good to learn a bit or 2 from competitors.

It won't be normal if he wasn't there, we do competitor survey in our company on weekly basis too.

 

[Kaibelf]

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! You mean a nerd who works for a tech company went to a tech trade show? What's next? An NBA player subscribing to ESPN?

 

[the8thark]

By being at CES I don't believe Joswiak is "keeping up" with what the competition is doing. To do that all he has to do is read engadget.com or CNet.

He's there checking out the response from the attendees.

This. Apple is at CES to see what new products the industry think is a good idea. THus can gauge a rough idea of the direction the industry wants to do in. Yes CES is really a prototype show. But he's trying to work out which of these prototypes have industry interest. So Apple can counter them.

 

[Exhale]

They were introduced; netbook sales plummeted.

Actually, the original Macbook Air was considered a failure - as it didn't manage to really move in any numbers at all. I'm assuming you're quite new to the tech world? It wasn't until its redesign and drastically dropped price that it became relevant.

 

[PlipPlop]

He will be doing the typical Apple scout and steal other ideas

 

[swagi]

I loved my Pilot and was in some ways more satisfied with it than with my iPhone. But none of this is relevant. All of these devices fall in the category of what I called "the existing dominant genre" that the iPhone effectively killed off. The fact that these devices performed well and were hot items only makes Apple's achievement all the more remarkable.

And what you fail to see is that the iPhone is not another iPod-esque success story. The iPhone is not and never will be the predominant smartphone. Contrary to popular belief on here the iPhone is in a downward trend and the diversity of Android devices makes it impossible that there will be the "one smartphone" like the "one iPod" we had in the MP3-player market.

BTW: Ever seen a Galaxy Note in the wild? Just saw one yesterday and must say pretty great size and actually the perfect PDA-style device if you need it. I'd go for that rather than an iPhone if I wanted PDA functionality. And Smartphones? Well, they're all the same in functionality if you're not into iOS-games. So I'd go for the one with the nicest contract and best price (Lumia 800 actually is pretty cheap, as is the Galaxy S2 - Galaxy Nexus Prime would be my current choice if I had money to burn, but I think it's too expensive)

Apple competed with notebooks, not directly but with the iPad and the MacBook Air. They were introduced; netbook sales plummeted. Without Apple's product introductions netbook sales likely would have continued on their upward trajectory. Again, the fact that nobody else wanted to compete with notebooks and that some models were great performers is testimony to how remarkable Apple's achievement was. Once again, I'm not sure what your point is. So far you've only reinforced the case in favor of Apple.

Have you been there when the original Macbook Air was introduced? First gen Macbook Air was a major flop. Period.

I never said that Apple is "the only innovator;" nobody ever says that. In response to a challenge I pointed out four areas in which Apple has innovated. To conflate that into "blindly worshipping them as the only innovators" is poor rhetoric, transparently false and an insult.

Nope, you posted:

Of course, that's not enough for anti-Apple zealots. Nothing could ever be enough for the anti-Apple fan club.

So basically you were insulting first. You insulted people like me, who think that Apple is 50% good industrial design and 50% marketing hype. See all those posts about how successful the Macbook Air is?

No one of these people actually recognizes that the MBA was a thin laptop with steep prices and wasn't selling at all until Apple killed off the original MacBook. After that it was the cheapest Macintosh laptop available. So it sold.

 

[nutjob]

Apple out to steal the competition's ideas again I see. Oh Apple. Give up.

I think they're just desperate for ideas, why else would they be trolling CES for them? Backup plan: uoija board to get Steve's input.

 

[vito]

I think they're just desperate for ideas, why else would they be trolling CES for them? Backup plan: uoija board to get Steve's input.

Yep that must be it...