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Resigned

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Re: Resigned

#71

Post by juliano_q »

CrazedGeek wrote: post #67
yequalsx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting take. I've not thought of it that way. Apple doesn't include everything a device obviously should have in the first iteration but what it does include it does very well. All of the iPad competitor devices absolutely suck at looking up the definition of a word in an ebook. (The ones I've tried that is.) On the iPad it is so simple, so intuitive, and quite fast. When they do something they do it w…

Er, what? At least in the Kindle app on Honeycomb, you just long press a word to see its definition.

Yep, I read using the Kindle app every day and since I am not a native english speaker I use this function a lot and it works quite well.

Re: Resigned

#72

Post by [deleted] »

mkr-hn wrote: post #62
jsz0 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the last 5-8 years or so there's been a formula to what made Jobs such a successful leader of Apple. Smaller, faster, focus on human usability, make it look nice, control the supply chain so you can build it cheap and make lots of money, let your competitors make the mistakes and swoop in with your own product with what you learn from their failures, don't bother building cheap low margin junk, etc. It's almost…

A repeatable method can be copied. What does Apple do when one of their competitors figures it out and starts implementing it?

[deleted]

Re: Resigned

#74

Post by flyosity »

mkr-hn wrote: post #62
jsz0 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the last 5-8 years or so there's been a formula to what made Jobs such a successful leader of Apple. Smaller, faster, focus on human usability, make it look nice, control the supply chain so you can build it cheap and make lots of money, let your competitors make the mistakes and swoop in with your own product with what you learn from their failures, don't bother building cheap low margin junk, etc. It's almost…

A repeatable method can be copied. What does Apple do when one of their competitors figures it out and starts implementing it?

Unless they can "start implementing" tens of billions of dollars sitting around to use for pre-purchasing heavily discounted parts for their devices to drive profit margins high as a kite and low as a rock for competitors, I don't think there's much to worry about.

Re: Resigned

#75

Post by tomlin »

jsz0 wrote: post #51
ryandvm wrote: post #26

I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success. I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight... 1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, h…

Over the last 5-8 years or so there's been a formula to what made Jobs such a successful leader of Apple. Smaller, faster, focus on human usability, make it look nice, control the supply chain so you can build it cheap and make lots of money, let your competitors make the mistakes and swoop in with your own product with what you learn from their failures, don't bother building cheap low margin junk, etc. It's almost…

Problem is, technology outpaces longterm planning exponentially. Apple laying out a plan for 20-30 years would actually work against them as they would be planning, in large part, based on current, or foreseen technology and cost. It's a little like when a movie director attempts to predict the future.

You just can't cut Jobs as a catalyst only. His mind is welded to the myriad of changing variables in technology and no plan is going to be able to emulate that.

Re: Resigned

#76

Post by MikeCapone »

cookiecaper wrote: post #56
MikeCapone wrote: post #29

I thought that the Slaughterhouse-Five reference at the end was appropriate. Stuff happens, we need to deal with it as best as we can and keep looking ahead. That's what Steve always does.

Ah yes, I can tell that Steve has this personal quality because of the layout of the iPhone.

I'll assume this is sarcasm. I was basing this on his biography.

Re: Resigned

#77

Post by technoslut »

CrazedGeek wrote: post #67
yequalsx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting take. I've not thought of it that way. Apple doesn't include everything a device obviously should have in the first iteration but what it does include it does very well. All of the iPad competitor devices absolutely suck at looking up the definition of a word in an ebook. (The ones I've tried that is.) On the iPad it is so simple, so intuitive, and quite fast. When they do something they do it w…

Er, what? At least in the Kindle app on Honeycomb, you just long press a word to see its definition.

You don't understand that the Kindle is geared towards something very specific. Apple is building an entire OS. You can three-finger tap to get the dictionary, after highlighting, in iOS 5.

Sidenote: Apple views these gestures as the equivalent to keyboard shortcuts. For the end user you want to create the obvious so they won't be confused.

Re: Resigned

#78

Post by scott_s »

MikeCapone wrote: post #29

I thought that the Slaughterhouse-Five reference at the end was appropriate. Stuff happens, we need to deal with it as best as we can and keep looking ahead. That's what Steve always does.

I think the reference had unintended implications: the phrase "so it goes" is only used when something dies.

Re: Resigned

#79

Post by halostatue »

ohashi wrote: post #61
jsz0 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the last 5-8 years or so there's been a formula to what made Jobs such a successful leader of Apple. Smaller, faster, focus on human usability, make it look nice, control the supply chain so you can build it cheap and make lots of money, let your competitors make the mistakes and swoop in with your own product with what you learn from their failures, don't bother building cheap low margin junk, etc. It's almost…

You've basically said what he did has been/is condensed down into a basic formula which anyone given enough exposure can repeat. If business were that simple, we wouldn't need book after book written about everything: new methodologies, strategies, innovation, management, etc. I just don't think we understand people that well yet, let alone that we are able to copy them so effectively. Is the analogy of astronomy to…

I think that what Steve Jobs has done with Apple is able to be condensed down into a basic formula which anyone given enough exposure can repeat. Just because it's repeatable doesn't mean that it's easy to do, though.

The problem is that you can't repeat it if you're going to do it by half-measures. Apple succeeds because it applies its formula 100%; others fail to follow Apple's example because they do "all BUT" some aspect or another.

That said, if another organization wants to do what Apple does, they will have to make some adjustments to acknowledge their reality -- but you really can't do part of what Apple does and say that Apple's process isn't repeatable.

Re: Resigned

#80

Post by scott_s »

Estragon wrote: post #22

What an irritating post, basically saying nothing but, "Hey, look, I saw this coming!"

I disagree. His reason for bringing up that this was predictable was not to say that he saw it coming, but that the change has been going on for a while. His most important point: Tim Cook wasn’t named “CEO” until today, but he’s been the chief executive at the company since Jobs started this — his third — medical leave back in January, and probably even before that. Whatever Steve’s role is going forward, it’s only different in title than what it has been, in effect, for some time.
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