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

[macduke]

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and led the Macintosh team in the early 80s, but in 1985, he was forced out of the company after an internal power struggle with the John Sculley, the Apple CEO at the time.

I love how this article refers to John Sculley as a thing. In my opinion, that is a fair assessment.

We might have had iPhones in 2002! Lol. Ok probably not, but things would definitely be different.

 

[TheSlush]

Rumor mill at Brittania Arms this night says the Medical Leave is a cover. He is really spending extending time with the architects of the new Apple campus.

Come again?

 

[Pink∆Floyd]

I love how this article refers to John Sculley as a thing. In my opinion, that is a fair assessment.

We might have had iPhones in 2002! Lol. Ok probably not, but things would definitely be different.

yeah, just imagine...

 

[likemyorbs]

haha i love how steve says he thinks its good to listen to customers, but then in the same sentence pretty much says "but not really". And in all honesty, the customers dont know whats best, they're not the innovators, and customer feedback should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Fraaaa]

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Apple made one not so good looking mouse, big deal.

I wouldn't consider that a failure even if this mouse was advertise as a next generation mouse. It's a mouse.

Stop defending apple for no reason... I defend apple as much as anyone, but it's okay to admit that they messed up once in awhile. In the world of Apple hate, even something like a mouse is enough to give them an entire book of BS to spout, so it saves some headaches if the mouse they're offering is a good one, which the current two are.

Everyone can make mistake, I'm just saying you cannot make an argument over failure going on about something silly like a mouse, one could have replaced it easily, wasn't like that one was stuck with it.

If someone want argue over technological failure of Jobs then should bring something more relevant. That's what I ment.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction.” -- Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was referring to WMDs. Albert could have only dreamed to have worked with a man like Steven P. Jobs.

Firstly, there never would have been the misuse of his theories and secondly, they would have changed the world then in a massively benign way.

 

[AidenShaw]

Will there be a statue to Steve and Woz erected in the courtyard after their passing? Who knows. My take is it will follow the tradition of Bill and Dave and make it a very inspirational, almost retreat like setting with a good kitchen and very exclusive corporate housing.

The centerpiece of the campus will be a shrine and mausoleum - to remind employees every time they come to work.

Kind of like what Salvador Dalí did at the Teatre-Museu Dalí in Figueres - he built a theatre/museum to his work, and is buried in a mausoleum in the basement of the museum.

 

[liavman]

This Wired interview is really good too. It's a little later (1993?) but he talks about good design. (Question: "Is there anything well designed today that inspires you?")

That article actually initially got me hooked on Miele appliances (if only I could afford more of them... )

Thanks for the link. It is worth a read, a very good interview ( pushing web objects notwithstanding ). I am also wondering what year this was. There was no data line in the article.

EDIT: Jobs says he is 40. So that dates this interview to 1995.

 

[newSteve]

Has anyone learned the relationship between Apple products and Buddhism ?

Has anyone learned the relationship between Apple products and Buddhism because Steve Jobs is a Buddhist ?

I'm just curious

There are some "dots" you can connect .

- http://gizmodo.com/336280/caption-photoshop-or-animate-buddhist-steve-jobs-win-fame-and-love

- simple design of iPod, iMac, iPhone, iMac

- http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Theology-Albert-Einstein.htm

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

- iClothes of Steve Jobs (a black tshirt and jeans )

thanks if you feedback .

 

[MattInOz]

Rumor mill at Brittania Arms this night says the Medical Leave is a cover. He is really spending extending time with the architects of the new Apple campus. Funny this article talks about him just before Sculley did a Machiavellian move to get rid of him.

Word has it about a round of Boddington's and Budweiser's is that Steve's final legacy is to level Infinite Loop thus removing the last of Sculley's influence. Within a few years, if it follows through, Apple's core will be a new design of an Apple campus on the land they picked up from HP last year.

Will there be a statue to Steve and Woz erected in the courtyard after their passing? Who knows. My take is it will follow the tradition of Bill and Dave and make it a very inspirational, almost retreat like setting with a good kitchen and very exclusive corporate housing.

I thought he was taking a break to catch up with his reading. Why else would iBooks be updated to run on the retina prototype just in time for his first day in years.

 

[Ulf1103]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; nl-nl) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

"Give us a faster horse"

Faster MacBook pro's…

Get better S.J.

 

[kalsta]

Apple has had a few misses along with their obvious hits but that's the nature of predicting where the world should go next rather than simply reacting to what users say they want.

Well said.

haha i love how steve says he thinks its good to listen to customers, but then in the same sentence pretty much says "but not really". And in all honesty, the customers dont know whats best, they're not the innovators, and customer feedback should be taken with a grain of salt.

'Haha'?? Sorry, I don't get the joke. And I don't think you get the wisdom Steve was sharing. A good leader doesn't just give the majority whatever they say they want. That's not a good leader. That's an insecure politician with no vision and no convictions. A real leader listens to other people, takes all things into consideration, and then makes what they believe is the best decision. To have the vision to make decisions that pave the way forward, instead of just patching the status-quo, is what separates the great leaders from the mediocre ones.

I don't like everything Apple does, but I will give credit where credit is due. Anyone who can't see the way Apple (under Jobs' leadership) has innovated to move the whole industry forward is blind — either out of honest ignorance, or out of not so honest anti-Apple zealotry.

Edit: Perhaps I should balance that comment by saying, I do think Apple tends more towards a 'one size fits all' approach than I would like — like when they took away our choice to have a true matt display. Good design acknowledges that people are all different and enjoy a certain amount of choice. I'm not talking about the kind of choice Microsoft gives Windows users, with umpteen confusing varieties of Windows to choose from — but simple, practical choices like matt over gloss, or watching DVDs and free-to-air over living entirely within the iTunes ecosystem. It's about knowing the difference between leaving the past behind, and leaving your customers legitimate needs and preference behind. It's about knowing which decisions are best made on behalf of the user, and which choices the user would rather make for themselves. Perhaps the most legitimate concern people have with Steve and Apple, is whether there's a conflict of interests between the needs of customers and shareholders. Steve wears two hats: he works with a team to create great products, but he also runs a profit-making company. I sincerely hope he (and Apple) never forget what made them great in the first place.

 

[neutrino23]

i thought he was taking a break to catch up with his reading. Why else would ibooks be updated to run on the retina prototype just in time for his first day in years.

+1

 

[MattInOz]

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I agree completely. I'm an artist, clients hire me because they like what I've done, but most of them don't have a clue as to what they want for a painting or know how to go about visualizing it. It is the job of the creative mind to come up with things the customers wouldn't dream of.

And to educate them along the way. So they understanding how we got where they wanted to be.

 

[CFreymarc]

Albert Einstein was referring to WMDs. Albert could have only dreamed to have worked with a man like Steven P. Jobs.

Firstly, there never would have been the misuse of his theories and secondly, they would have changed the world then in a massively benign way.

If you really want to get to the origins of this quote, it didn't not directly address nuclear weapons. It addressed his entire philosophy of Scientific Investigation that lead to Specific Relativity and General Relativity. He was also applying to his unfinished Unified Field Theory before he passed away.

Nuclear weapons was a product of this philosophy. Others have used this quote before Jobs started Apple. Many artists and engineers followed "minimalist" techniques that lead to great product developments.

 

[CFreymarc]

The centerpiece of the campus will be a shrine and mausoleum - to remind employees every time they come to work.

Kind of like what Salvador Dalí did at the Teatre-Museu Dalí in Figueres - he built a theatre/museum to his work, and is buried in a mausoleum in the basement of the museum.

Don't know if this post is trolling, massive inspiration or just sarcasm. I don't expect, nor do I think Santa Clara County nor the State of California, would allow any form of entombment in a corporate campus. California has very strict cemetery, burial and entombment regulations compared to the rest of the country.

The Jackson family tried to have Micheal Jackson buried in Neverland and make it like another Graceland. The neighbors screamed bloddy hell when those plans surfaced. Supposedly, the tomb under construction was raised half way into its build under order of the residing County Seat.

Talking about Steve Jobs death outside of his immediate family before he passes is insulting and deplorable.

 

[GoodWatch]

Albert Einstein was referring to WMDs. Albert could have only dreamed to have worked with a man like Steven P. Jobs.

Surely, this in jest?

 

[StoneyG]

Well said.



'Haha'?? Sorry, I don't get the joke. And I don't think you get the wisdom Steve was sharing. A good leader doesn't just give the majority whatever they say they want. That's not a good leader. That's an insecure politician with no vision and no convictions. A real leader listens to other people, takes all things into consideration, and then makes what they believe is the best decision. To have the vision to make decisions that pave the way forward, instead of just patching the status-quo, is what separates the great leaders from the mediocre ones.

I don't like everything Apple does, but I will give credit where credit is due. Anyone who can't see the way Apple (under Jobs' leadership) has innovated to move the whole industry forward is blind — either out of honest ignorance, or out of not so honest anti-Apple zealotry.

Edit: Perhaps I should balance that comment by saying, I do think Apple tends more towards a 'one size fits all' approach than I would like — like when they took away our choice to have a true matt display. Good design acknowledges that people are all different and enjoy a certain amount of choice. I'm not talking about the kind of choice Microsoft gives Windows users, with umpteen confusing varieties of Windows to choose from — but simple, practical choices like matt over gloss, or watching DVDs and free-to-air over living entirely within the iTunes ecosystem. It's about knowing the difference between leaving the past behind, and leaving your customers legitimate needs and preference behind. It's about knowing which decisions are best made on behalf of the user, and which choices the user would rather make for themselves. Perhaps the most legitimate concern people have with Steve and Apple, is whether there's a conflict of interests between the needs of customers and shareholders. Steve wears two hats: he works with a team to create great products, but he also runs a profit-making company. I sincerely hope he (and Apple) never forget what made them great in the first place.

Wow. Kudos. Well said. The veritable nutshell, I would have to say. Very succinct.

I don't believe any further discussion is necessary.

 

[gnasher729]

He may be a good business man, but he and apple has really lost focus since iOS. I want him to stop trying to control his customers. Who cares if people jailbreak, or repair their own devices, or voiding warranties. And this new pentalobe screw for the iPhone 4? Just another way to control their customers.

It seems that Apple is very, very focused indeed. They focus at things that are good for their customers and for the company, not at things that you want. You could get a pentalobe screwdriver on eBay for less than $3; now the price has obviously gone up since now it is not "a tool to unscrew pentalobe screws" but "a tool to free you and your iPhone from the clutches of evil Apple".

And Apple _does_ care about people voiding their warranties, as any good company would. And exactly what repairs do you think you can perform on an iPhone? There is a very simple logic here: If you are not capable of opening an iPhone with pentalobe screws, then you are not capable of repairing it.

 

[haruhiko]

It seems that Apple is very, very focused indeed. They focus at things that are good for their customers and for the company, not at things that you want. You could get a pentalobe screwdriver on eBay for less than $3; now the price has obviously gone up since now it is not "a tool to unscrew pentalobe screws" but "a tool to free you and your iPhone from the clutches of evil Apple".

And Apple _does_ care about people voiding their warranties, as any good company would. And exactly what repairs do you think you can perform on an iPhone? There is a very simple logic here: If you are not capable of opening an iPhone with pentalobe screws, then you are not capable of repairing it.

I checked my twitter feed and all tech blogs are just regurgitating iFixIt guy's furious comment about the pentalobular screws. Of course they are angry because they fix iPhone and this has given them extra work. And then, they said that they have "found" the driver for the screw and sell them on their website. Oh great, to FREE your iPhone for $10. And they have got a lot of free press now just to evil-ize Apple.

Tell me which company actually encourages you to open the thing that should not be opened?

 

[MacFirst08]

We might have had iPhones in 2002! Lol. Ok probably not, but things would definitely be different.[/QUOTE]

Oh how I wish! Imagine what type of phones we'd have now if that happened.

 

[kalsta]

Wow. Kudos. Well said. The veritable nutshell, I would have to say. Very succinct.

I don't believe any further discussion is necessary.

Gee shucks… thanks for the kind words!

 

[kalsta]

This Wired interview is really good too. It's a little later (1993?) but he talks about good design. (Question: "Is there anything well designed today that inspires you?")

That article actually initially got me hooked on Miele appliances (if only I could afford more of them... )

Great interview! Thanks for that. This is the Steve Jobs I love… just telling it like he sees it. And telling us we should be able to get a custom pink Cadillac with purple leather seats within a week of ordering it no less! That might lead some to wonder why they can't order a pink xMac with blu-ray player… Still, a very interesting read from a very, very intelligent man. I love that he was championing web standards even way back then. There are too many good one liners to quote them all. I recommend people just read the whole thing:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.02/jobs_pr.html

I agree with him about German appliances too. We're big fans of Bosch in our home.

 

[geko29]

I'd argue all of Apple's "where next failures" were while Jobs was not with Apple.

Apple III: 1980, but so horribly broken it had to be reintroduced in 1981
Lisa: 1983

He was indeed absent for the Newton and the G4 cube, though.

Everyone can make mistake, I'm just saying you cannot make an argument over failure going on about something silly like a mouse, one could have replaced it easily, wasn't like that one was stuck with it.

Agreed. Apple has a long and storied history of both innovative products, and god-awful mice. There's a couple times they've almost gotten it right. The beige ADB mouse of the performa era:

and more recently, the magic mouse, which would be fantastic if it wasn't so damn uncomfortable. But on balance, over the past 2.5 decades, if you were buying an apple product, you should have known in advance that there would be a terrible mouse in the box. Step 1: open new apple product. Step 2: throw away included mouse, replace with Logitech.

 

[Yuniverse]

You obviously never created anything. NEVER anything worth the attention I presume. It's so easy to destroy than to create. Let's see a company build a smartphone like the iPhone - intro it to the world and have every single company try to imitate the iPhone in every aspect.

Give the man some credit - he may not of single handedly built the iPhone but he took all the talent from the talent pool strung them together and whipped up something we know today.

It's so easy to criticize, complain, bxtch, moan, gripe, all of the negative views about a company who didn't make a product you wanted. It's not easy to satisfy one person let alone billions.

The sales of apple products PROVE ONE THING - Apple is doing it all right. It may not be what you imagined but it's definitely a majority vote. When you try to satisfy everyone, you end up making a mediocre product at best. The man knows what to create and what people want. Or else no one would buy it. There is no iSheep, iClone, consumers. There are only consumers who buy products they want and the others who don't buy them but love to hate/criticize.

I've seen much and do you even realize that the UI on the iOS device is so good no one really ever talks about how smooth the views animate, how smooth the scrolling is or how quickly things get done smoothly? Everyone is now on apple's case about dual processors, mega retina screen resolutions, and the list goes on but it takes super hard work and amazing creativity to make something so complex so simple. There isn't one single Android device in the making that is as smooth as the iPhone. NONE.

But who cares - we all complain about Steve Jobs being a control freak, blah blah blah - you can simply not buy his products if you assume he is a tech nazi. But give the man major credit for if not for Steve Jobs, we wouldn't have what we have today. He's just as important as bill gates except mr. gates got real lucky and took his oppurtunity and exponentially exploited it while mr. jobs decided to be original and innovative...

I can't agree with you enough. Couldn't have said it better myself.