Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#21

Post by kelnos » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:30 PM UTC

Noumenon72 wrote: post #17

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

There are lots of good experiences from ads in maps: - I search for "restaurants" and someone is having a special - A trampoline park opens near me, I'd like it to catch my eye - I've been googling chocolates recently, so populate the map with chocolate shops - Maybe I'm bored as a car passenger and watching the map screen so my attention is free anyway

That sounds absolutely awful, honestly. I wouldn't want to see any of those things mess with the "natural" order of search results for whatever I've explicitly searched for.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#22

Post by bsimpson » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:30 PM UTC

FrankWilhoit wrote: post #9

Jobs's focus on the customer experience was useless because he judged the customer by himself. "Be like me and you will have a good experience" is not clever marketing; it is abuse.

This might be the worst take I've ever read on this website.

I'm a lifetime Mac user who has bought exactly one iPhone (the 3G S) before switching to Android. I'm definitely not in the Jobs reality distortion field.

But I do remember how the iPod was better than every similar thing at the time, and how people spent _years_ clamoring for Apple to harness that same focus to make a phone. Apple had to go out and buy the iPhone name because that's what it had been colloquially called for years before it was announced.

There are plenty of things Apple has done wrong, many by Steve personally, but you can't seriously claim that his taste was only applicable to him.

Don't denigrate the meaning of the word "abuse" to make your hot take spicier.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#23

Post by matheusmoreira » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #7

matheusmoreira wrote: post #4

They will always put ads into everything. Doesn't matter what they say, eventually someone's gonna show up and notice that money is being left on the table by not advertising to all those users. Paying them just makes your attention even more valuable.

There is some amusing "leopards ate my face" logic in paying a company to not pester you for further monetization.

Never pay them. You're essentially paying to segment yourself into the upper echelons of the market.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#24

Post by joshgachnang » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

Noumenon72 wrote: post #17

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

There are lots of good experiences from ads in maps: - I search for "restaurants" and someone is having a special - A trampoline park opens near me, I'd like it to catch my eye - I've been googling chocolates recently, so populate the map with chocolate shops - Maybe I'm bored as a car passenger and watching the map screen so my attention is free anyway

The 1st and 3rd are better served by Apple choosing the best result rather than who's paid for an ad.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#25

Post by ses1984 » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

Noumenon72 wrote: post #17

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

There are lots of good experiences from ads in maps: - I search for "restaurants" and someone is having a special - A trampoline park opens near me, I'd like it to catch my eye - I've been googling chocolates recently, so populate the map with chocolate shops - Maybe I'm bored as a car passenger and watching the map screen so my attention is free anyway

I don’t want my phone to consume any of my “free” attention, ever, but holy cow especially not while driving.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#26

Post by wrs » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:31 PM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #10

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

> I think Steve would have changed with the times too That's the thing that annoys me whenever someone says "what would $DECEASED_PERSON do?" We can't know! Maybe we can make an accurate guess about what Steve Jobs would have done in 2011, but it's really hard to say what he would have done in 2025, had he lived. Not just because people change over time (he was 56 when he died, and would be 70 today), but because bus…

Of course we don’t know. But regarding this specific example, bear in mind that Apple is in vastly better shape as a business than it was in 1999. So if that argument didn’t work on him then, it doesn’t seem implausible that it wouldn’t work now.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#27

Post by ndepoel » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:32 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

Honestly, I think that if Steve Jobs had lived, he would have continued to push the industry in a direction more aligned with his tastes, others would have followed suit, and whatever hot topics we'd be discussing today, they would be very different from the ones we are discussing now.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#28

Post by normie3000 » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:32 PM UTC

Noumenon72 wrote: post #17

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

There are lots of good experiences from ads in maps: - I search for "restaurants" and someone is having a special - A trampoline park opens near me, I'd like it to catch my eye - I've been googling chocolates recently, so populate the map with chocolate shops - Maybe I'm bored as a car passenger and watching the map screen so my attention is free anyway

> Maybe I'm bored as a car passenger and watching the map screen so my attention is free anyway

I'm glad there are always ads available to stop my mind from wandering.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#29

Post by m463 » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:33 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

> "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" ... shrill

I think these are fans of apple who have lost something.

Personally I think steve jobs was a good integrator - he got people together. Sometimes the people were apple customers, sometimes music industry computers, etc

If there was controversy, he stepped in and lead - and stepped into the spotlight and explained.

I don't see the same sort of leadership nowadays. Controversies like the app store woes, pricing, monopoly behavior, bad service to developers, even tariff stuff.

Also he was good at creating/choosing new next products and killing not-quite-there products.

yeah, but that ship has sailed.

Re: Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line

#30

Post by teaearlgraycold » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:33 PM UTC

duxup wrote: post #3

Ads in Maps and how that contrasts with the customer experience is the message here. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the "steve jobs wouldn't" and "apple dying" articles, they're oh so shrill and tiresome and I think Steve would have changed with the times too ... Steve aside, I find this particular article's observation that ads in maps is a bad customer experience something I can agree with.

The ads in Google Maps are fairly tame by modern standards. Of course, Apple can afford to not make this change and I hope they abstain. But it’s really not too offensive in my opinion.