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Steve Jobs Envisioned the iPad in 1983

For a 28 year old, this guy knew his stuff then and is quite prescient in some of what he was talking about. Speech Recognition was a decade away, he says, he was right on target. Server based speech recognition was deployed in the telephone network around 1991-1993.

All these posts here quoting Kay to Clarke do not get one thing. They are all great thinkers alright but Steve was doing them and inspiring thousands to get there. Big difference.

He was in his typical selling mode alright in this speech but what he was selling was passion, artistry in software, design and in general doing great things. That is the aspect of SJ that is hard to replace.
 
The next Steve Jobs is probably sitting in a 4th grade classroom bored out of his/her skull staring out the window while the teacher drones on and on. In California, at least, we've removed all semblance of creative thinking to prep students for STAR testing. Jobs sat in on a calligraphy class in college, I believe the story goes, and this got him thinking about the conjunction of humanities and technology. We need to get kids "thinking different" and encouraging them to look at problems creatively. To get there, we need to get away from these stupid standardized tests and go back to the arts in school.
 
Jasoco said:
I wonder if they might have actually done it "this decade" if he hadn't been kicked out in 1985. He seems like the guy who could have pulled it off in some way or another. If not the '80s, quite possibly the '90s.
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That is a good question. At any rate he was speaking of "a radio link.....to be in communication with larger databases and other computers", however WiFi, the Internet and the World Wide Web had not yet fully matured at that time, all essential components for his vision.

You can never stop marveling at the vision, and the degree of perfectionism of this man without wondering how many more beautiful products he could have brought to market. A great loss!
 
renai-spirit said:
Taking nothing away from the visions that other people came up with a long time before, Steve actually made the vision an elegant, practical, economic, and easily-usable reality.
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Indeed.

AppleScruff1 said:
Don't you think that they have actually been done this path for the past few years? They aren't the little guy. They are Big Brother. They are the bully pushing the little guy around. Their followers have become the clones that they once laughed at.
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I don't buy all that rhetoric about Apple's customers being 'followers' and 'clones'. Apple still produces damn fine products, and that's still a compelling reason to buy.

But yes, I think brand perception has been changing for some time. On the positive side, you have a whole new generation discovering the beauty of Apple's products—logical and user-friendly interfaces, sleek hardware, and careful attention to every detail of the user experience. On the other hand, you have growing disenchantment amongst various groups of users and developers, in reaction to perceived anticompetitive practices and Apple's controlling nature, including its apparent desire to own and control every potential revenue stream associated with its devices. Now that Apple is the big guy, it should be working extra hard to shake the big bully image, and try to preserve (or perhaps win back) its image of empowering people to be free of restrictive and difficult to use technology. If they don't, the brand is in a lot of danger I think. I'm not saying Apple is in danger as a company—they have so much cash and momentum now they will be around for a long time—but will they be liked, or just tolerated?
 
BTW the original concept is thanks to Gene Roddenberry due to the Star Trek tricorder which had a link to the ship's computers.
 
Also Star Trek created the concept of crowd-sourcing(The Borg) and Big Data(computer clusters on starbases).
 
Steve Jobs "Envisioned" the iPad in 1983.....................After the world had 60+ years of Awesome Sci Fi spelling it out with crystal clarity and movies, comics , books and more showing the concept OVER AND OVER .

But nooooooooo, Steve Jobs is some kind of clairvoyant mastermind who suddenly came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN ! :rolleyes: Wow .

This Steve Jobs worship really needs to end. Its getting pathetic
 
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Mr. Gates said:
Steve Jobs Envisioned the iPad in 1983.....................After the world had 60+ years of Awesome Sci Fi spelling it out with crystal clarity and movies, comics , books and more showing the concept OVER AND OVER .

But nooooooooo, Steve Jobs is some kind of clairvoyant mastermind who suddenly came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN ! :rolleyes: Wow .

This Steve Jobs worship really needs to end. Its getting pathetic
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Yes it is. Jobs was perhaps the best implementer of other peoples' visionary ideas. No doubt he was a great product & marketing person.

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Thing is Jobs was a visionary compared to the buffoons running tech companies in the 2000s like Ballmer/Fiorina/etc.... But that's a LOW bar.
 
Mr. Gates said:
Steve Jobs Envisioned the iPad in 1983.....................After the world had 60+ years of Awesome Sci Fi spelling it out with crystal clarity and movies, comics , books and more showing the concept OVER AND OVER .

But nooooooooo, Steve Jobs is some kind of clairvoyant mastermind who suddenly came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN ! :rolleyes: Wow .

This Steve Jobs worship really needs to end. Its getting pathetic
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That's totally not the point, most of us are be able to invent at least 20 new devices while showering in the morning.

The lesson to take away from this is how he managed to turn ideas and visions into real products, finding a market for them and knowing how to make everybody want one. There are better innovators around us but not many of them know how to turn ideas into gold. Jobs did.
 
Ultimedia said:
most of us are be able to invent at least 20 new devices while showering in the morning.

The lesson to take away from this is.............
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Oh wait , I'm sorry did you have more mindless dribble ?

Before you continue, PLEASE , by all means and respect due to your creative side , enlighten us as to what 20 new devices YOU have thought up this morning ??

I'm waiting

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smoledman said:


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Thing is Jobs was a visionary compared to the buffoons running tech companies in the 2000s like Ballmer/Fiorina/etc.... But that's a LOW bar.
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2000s ...????

Are you saying Bill Gates is a Buffoon ? Balmer wasn't the CEO back then.
 
The impressive thing isn't that he envisioned it. I mean, who didn't? The thing is that he was able to make it happen.
 
Millah said:
That's because you're just generalizing it into meaning Steve Jobs simply envisioned the tablet computer. His gift was envisioning what the product should BE. He practically got every single detail right, 20 years ago. Anyone could say "computers will eventually become portable." That's a very broad "vision." Steve's vision went far beyond that, pinpointing exact details. His guesses as to when worldwide networking would reach consumers homes was eerily accurate.

Jobs got the details right. Others didn't. He predicted details with scary accuracy. If you don't think that's the definition of vision, then I don't know what to say.

What's particularly telling of Jobs vision, was when he said he could build some crappy portable today, but he chooses not to, instead waiting until he can actually build it right. The fact that the iPad and iPhone came out decades later is an nbelievable testament to the mans focus and understanding of the gestalt, the whole enchilada, what the product should truly be down to the most excruciating detail. Few people possess that sort of discipline and focus.
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What a load of crock (with the possible exception of the last paragraph).
 
Digital Skunk said:
You are correct. Those individuals theorized and it took time to prove their theories correct/accurate with all known knowledge.

Take that and apply it to the tablet, and Steve wouldn't have even been in the ball park of envisioning the iPad or tablet.

It'd be Alan Kay at the very least.
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No, lets play nice and honest.
They took the theories envisioned by others.

Nothing starts from nothing/one person.

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Mr. Gates said:
Steve Jobs "Envisioned" the iPad in 1983.....................After the world had 60+ years of Awesome Sci Fi spelling it out with crystal clarity and movies, comics , books and more showing the concept OVER AND OVER .

But nooooooooo, Steve Jobs is some kind of clairvoyant mastermind who suddenly came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN ! :rolleyes: Wow .

This Steve Jobs worship really needs to end. Its getting pathetic
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Bil Gates no one said that.
Throughout history that is the history of invention.
Ideas bypass generations.
 
macneubie said:
Great, but no point living in the past when the current products, esp iPhone has lost its charm post Jobs era. The company had better innovative something fresh and new else it will be sunset for them.
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That's just your opinion and your opinion only. In my opinion it hasn't lost it's charm or whatever you'd like to call it. It is pretty much the only decent smartphone out there and the iPhone5 only reinforced that, for me. But that's just my opinion! ;)
 
we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes
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Where is the tablet? He could as well have thougt of a better laptop.
The pseudo-heroism around S.Jobs reminds me of the Soviet Union under Stalin-
Great leaders - is that what you need?
Sorry, Jobs was a human beeing as anyone else, full of mistakes and a lot of arrogance. And good ideas and vision, too...
 
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Jasoco said:
I wonder if they might have actually done it "this decade" if he hadn't been kicked out in 1985. He seems like the guy who could have pulled it off in some way or another. If not the '80s, quite possibly the '90s.
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You obviously dont have any idea about the Tech in 1985-1995
 
flappah said:
That's just your opinion and your opinion only. In my opinion it hasn't lost it's charm or whatever you'd like to call it. It is pretty much the only decent smartphone out there and the iPhone5 only reinforced that, for me. But that's just my opinion! ;)
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That's your opinion, but my 2cents opinion is that one should not blindly stick to some legacy stuffs that used to be "phenomenal" or "mind-boggling" during its heyday. Take an open mind and look at some of the alternative offerings.

If Jobs were still alive he would be hopping mad with the boo-boo the Maps, scuffgate, light-leaks, purplish-tints, wifi, etc...
 
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