4 ms·

Meh.. what about NeXT/BlackBox/SteveJobs? There was actually none of it exists and he did awesome PR and made it work.

by neduma 10y ago

enraged_camel 10y ago
Steve Jobs was one of a handful of people in the world who could pull off such feats. I think tyleo's comment still stands when it comes to everything (and everyone) else.
rgbrenner 10y ago
but next was well on its way to declaring bankruptcy... Next had terrible sales.. even jobs said so. The factory they built was so underutilized, they assembled the computers by hand instead of using the equipment because it was less work than doing the maintenance on it. It was designed to produce 150,000 machines a year... next sold 50,000 machines total over 6 years (an average of 700/month). After 6 years, Next abandoned the computer market, focusing on software. They tried to sell the factory to Canon, who pulled out of the deal. They laid off 2/3rds of their employees. On multiple occasions, investors were forced to put in more funding just to keep Next solvent. Just a couple of years after abandoning hardware, they agree to merge with apple. I wasnt able to find an exact number, but the amount of money apple paid for next may actually exceed the total revenue next pulled in during the 12 years they were in business.
tim333 10y ago
Feynman's quote was more in terms of the product obeying the laws of physics. Most of Jobs' products did.
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  Right. Feynman's quote is much more applicable to Theranos, Magic Leap, and uBeam.
settsu 10y ago
Seems safe to assume that NeXT's existence was predicated largely—possibly entirely—on Steve Jobs reputation to actually deliver millions of units. In the end, he arguably "made it work" by the thinnest of margins. A better, if flawed, comparison to Lily might be the Apple I: entering an established, growing market with a product which lowers the threshold for adoption in very specific ways. (I'll defer to more informed, educated, and insightful individuals to carry this comparative analysis any further...)
Isamu 10y ago
Right, Steve never existed, nor did the NeXT box ever ship.

Meh.. what about NeXT/BlackBox/SteveJobs? There was actually none of it exists and he did awesome PR and made it work.

by neduma 10y ago

Meh.. what about NeXT/BlackBox/SteveJobs? There was actually none of it exists and he did awesome PR and made it work.

Steve Jobs was one of a handful of people in the world who could pull off such feats. I think tyleo's comment still stands when it comes to everything (and everyone) else.

rgbrenner 10y ago

but next was well on its way to declaring bankruptcy... Next had terrible sales.. even jobs said so. The factory they built was so underutilized, they assembled the computers by hand instead of using the equipment because it was less work than doing the maintenance on it. It was designed to produce 150,000 machines a year... next sold 50,000 machines total over 6 years (an average of 700/month). After 6 years, Next abandoned the computer market, focusing on software. They tried to sell the factory to Canon, who pulled out of the deal. They laid off 2/3rds of their employees. On multiple occasions, investors were forced to put in more funding just to keep Next solvent. Just a couple of years after abandoning hardware, they agree to merge with apple. I wasnt able to find an exact number, but the amount of money apple paid for next may actually exceed the total revenue next pulled in during the 12 years they were in business.

tim333 10y ago

Feynman's quote was more in terms of the product obeying the laws of physics. Most of Jobs' products did.

Hydraulix989 10y ago
Right. Feynman's quote is much more applicable to Theranos, Magic Leap, and uBeam.

settsu 10y ago

Seems safe to assume that NeXT's existence was predicated largely—possibly entirely—on Steve Jobs reputation to actually deliver millions of units. In the end, he arguably "made it work" by the thinnest of margins. A better, if flawed, comparison to Lily might be the Apple I: entering an established, growing market with a product which lowers the threshold for adoption in very specific ways. (I'll defer to more informed, educated, and insightful individuals to carry this comparative analysis any further...)

Isamu 10y ago

Right, Steve never existed, nor did the NeXT box ever ship.