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I remember having that "Is Apple a hardware company or a software company?" debate endlessly with other folks at Apple and outside of Apple back in the early-mi

by crusso 9y ago

I remember having that "Is Apple a hardware company or a software company?" debate endlessly with other folks at Apple and outside of Apple back in the early-mid 90's. Back then, all the big names were either one or the other and we thought that meant that Apple should pick one because they were failing at trying to do both. Steve settled that debate fairly early on and showed that both sides were wrong. Apple sells "the whole thing". They sell a curated experience that involves their close management of the hardware, the software, key peripherals, the iTunes store, etc. They do all that so they can deliver more than they could by pursuing some single niche part of the experience.

snom380 9y ago
He quoted Alan Kay during the iPhone launch to explain how Apple went about doing things: "If you really care about software, you should build your own hardware." https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfTXYa36f4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfTXYa36f4
- simonh 9y ago
  But note which he mentions first. In that phrase software clearly takes primacy. When NeXT was on the ropes they got out of hardware but kept making the software. Likewise when Apple was in trouble they opened up the hardware but kept the software close to their chest because that's where the value is. Why is this the case? Where is the value in the OS? Its all about the ecosystem. The OS is important because of all the applications that users can run on it. Word, Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, etc. The key advantage NeXT had over Beos was an ecosystem of applications - modest compared to the Mac but it existed, there was no OmniGroup for BeOS - and there was a robust set of developer tools and frameworks to build those apps on. PC hardware is a commodity. Anybody can build a computer from components in their bedroom. Building a new OS from scratch is a whole different ballgame. And no, rolling up a new Linux distro doesn't count.

by crusso 9y ago

snom380 9y ago

He quoted Alan Kay during the iPhone launch to explain how Apple went about doing things: "If you really care about software, you should build your own hardware." https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfTXYa36f4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfTXYa36f4

simonh 9y ago
But note which he mentions first. In that phrase software clearly takes primacy. When NeXT was on the ropes they got out of hardware but kept making the software. Likewise when Apple was in trouble they opened up the hardware but kept the software close to their chest because that's where the value is. Why is this the case? Where is the value in the OS? Its all about the ecosystem. The OS is important because of all the applications that users can run on it. Word, Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, etc. The key advantage NeXT had over Beos was an ecosystem of applications - modest compared to the Mac but it existed, there was no OmniGroup for BeOS - and there was a robust set of developer tools and frameworks to build those apps on. PC hardware is a commodity. Anybody can build a computer from components in their bedroom. Building a new OS from scratch is a whole different ballgame. And no, rolling up a new Linux distro doesn't count.