Insight into Steve Jobs' Product-Centric Approach in 1985 Interview

[Hal Itosis]

That's correct. Woz did the electronic design and most of the code for the first Apple.


Nope, Jobs can't do software either. According to Woz, Jobs has never programmed anything in his life.

Is there a 'point' hiding in there somewhere... or are you just passing along interesting bits of trivia? Because —quite obviously —being a bit juggler (or even an EE major) didn't matter much in his particular case. [perhaps you'd also like to mention that Einstein flunked college physics? ]

If anything, it's probably even more important that Jobs wasn't some brilliant programmer... but rather, just an (extra)ordinary USER. [i.e., "... for the rest of us." ]

 

[kdarling]

Is there a 'point' hiding in there somewhere... or are you just passing along interesting bits of trivia?

If you read the thread, it was a response to a post suggesting that Jobs programmed the NeXT operating system.

If anything, it's probably even more important that Jobs wasn't some brilliant programmer... but rather, just an (extra)ordinary USER. [i.e., "... for the rest of us." ]

You've hit the nail on the head. Sometimes you need someone without lots of knowledge about what usually can and cannot be done.

Jobs is an extraordinary user/salesman without technical talent, but with a desire for style and simplicity. Of course, that could describe many people in this world.

A difference is that he has the drive and power to go out and hire people with style (e.g. Ives) and knowledge (managers and engineers) to create. Yet that also describes many executives I've known in the industry.

I think the primary things that differentiate Jobs from other industry leaders are that

• He has the power (and uses it) to remove extra features that he thinks detracts from the experience (which is the main area where even his fans are sometimes in disagreement).
• He's willing to lock customers into his ecosystem, for better or worse
• He's very good at dog and pony shows.

Those traits separate him from the pack, and are the key to his success. Take any competitor, and they're missing one or more of those things.

But that's my opinion, colored by decades of being in the business. What do YOU think is the reason he has done well in the past decade?

 

[Hal Itosis]

What do YOU think is the reason he has done well in the past decade?

Seems like it started with the original iMac... breaking the "beige box" mold into a million pieces. And its evolution was equally strange: the lampshade model and then the toilet-seat (clamshell) iBook, etc. So perhaps Ives gets much credit for those creative shapes. [edit: gotta admit, it took GUTS to put out something as weird-looking as the clamshell iBook.]

Then the whole iPod/iTunes Music Store idea also was key, seems to me. And now the iPhone/iPad is what's happening. [edit: the iPhone is a no-brainer perhaps... but again, guts were needed to risk one's reputation on something like the iPad (e.g., no Flash -- What was he thinking? -- “Think different.”).]

What i like most is that Mac OS X seems to be quite stable (almost totally crash-free), and i really like that it's so connected to Unix as well. Much better than running MPW back in System 8.x [i.e., guess i'm saying his success is linked to the fact that Apple's products work and look good at the same time. I do agree with everything you just said as well.]