4 ms·

Great line from the article: "Sculley came to the conclusion that "we could run a lot better with Steve out of operations," he says. Jobs tended to value techno

Great line from the article: "Sculley came to the conclusion that "we could run a lot better with Steve out of operations," he says. Jobs tended to value technological "elegance" over customer needs—a costly luxury at a time of slowing sales." And you know, in some ways he still does. A belief in technological elegance created the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Customers weren't demanding that technology, mostly they only realized they wanted it after it existed.

kenjackson 16y ago
A belief in technological elegance created the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Customers weren't demanding that technology, mostly they only realized they wanted it after it existed. Really? The MP3 market was niche, but growing when the iPod came out. The same for the iPhone market when it came out. And the iPad came out at a time when everyone was talking about tablets (remember Courier predates the iPad announcement). If anything Jobs understood what customers needed, but often what others thought wasn't possible.
- protomyth 16y ago
  The Courier predated the announcement, but did not predate the rumors. Other than verticals, tablets were a joke. For how the iPhone changed things, just look at the Android phones pre and post iPhone. Apple dragged each of these markets in a different direction.
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    But people clearly wanted Courier prior to the announcement of the iPad. No one knew what the iPad looked like, yet people were drooling over the Courier. My point isn't that the iPad wasn't a great machine, but rather that the demand was there. Everyone knew that it was time for a tablet -- someone just needed to build a decent one. The same is true for the iPhone. Everyone knew that modern smartphone OSes were duds, but wanted a smartphone. The big thing I recall was people wanted a decent mobile browsing experience. Apple finally provided it. It wasn't that people didn't know they wanted what Apple would provide... people didn't think it could be done. IMO the only big thing with the iPhone that defied common belief at the time was a software keyboard. And even to this day, it's not universally loved. But literally everything else in the iPhone could be found on wishlists at the time of launch.
    - protomyth 16y ago
      I might question Microsoft's biz decisions, but "But people clearly wanted Courier prior to the announcement of the iPad" was probably not clear to them. Everything is obvious in hindsight, and given a great chunk of comments prior and analysis sales estimates, not many had faith in the iPhone or iPad (or iPod for that matter).
      - kenjackson 16y ago
        Re Courier... if MS read Gizmodo or Engadget or the web in general, they would have seen the excitement around the Courier. And it was cut after the iPad was released and selling well. They cut it not because of the concept,but for some other reasons that we may never know. I would note that sales estimates and wanting the technology are two different things. I long wanted a larger screen on phones and a good web browser. iPhone delivered that. But they also delivered it on ATT with no 3G support. Sales estimates are trying to weigh demand against a various pros/cons and price points, but don't directly speak to if people wanted specific technologies.
        protomyth 16y ago
        Sales are the only way to truly prove if people actually want the technology. Everything else is hand waving. The people doing the estimating on Wall-Street are paid big bucks to forecast sales. Gizmodo and Engadget appeal to a market segment, and not the one Courier was focused on. They are not accurate predictors of the consumer market as a whole.

kenjackson 16y ago

A belief in technological elegance created the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Customers weren't demanding that technology, mostly they only realized they wanted it after it existed. Really? The MP3 market was niche, but growing when the iPod came out. The same for the iPhone market when it came out. And the iPad came out at a time when everyone was talking about tablets (remember Courier predates the iPad announcement). If anything Jobs understood what customers needed, but often what others thought wasn't possible.

protomyth 16y ago
The Courier predated the announcement, but did not predate the rumors. Other than verticals, tablets were a joke. For how the iPhone changed things, just look at the Android phones pre and post iPhone. Apple dragged each of these markets in a different direction.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  But people clearly wanted Courier prior to the announcement of the iPad. No one knew what the iPad looked like, yet people were drooling over the Courier. My point isn't that the iPad wasn't a great machine, but rather that the demand was there. Everyone knew that it was time for a tablet -- someone just needed to build a decent one. The same is true for the iPhone. Everyone knew that modern smartphone OSes were duds, but wanted a smartphone. The big thing I recall was people wanted a decent mobile browsing experience. Apple finally provided it. It wasn't that people didn't know they wanted what Apple would provide... people didn't think it could be done. IMO the only big thing with the iPhone that defied common belief at the time was a software keyboard. And even to this day, it's not universally loved. But literally everything else in the iPhone could be found on wishlists at the time of launch.
  - protomyth 16y ago
    I might question Microsoft's biz decisions, but "But people clearly wanted Courier prior to the announcement of the iPad" was probably not clear to them. Everything is obvious in hindsight, and given a great chunk of comments prior and analysis sales estimates, not many had faith in the iPhone or iPad (or iPod for that matter).
    - kenjackson 16y ago
      Re Courier... if MS read Gizmodo or Engadget or the web in general, they would have seen the excitement around the Courier. And it was cut after the iPad was released and selling well. They cut it not because of the concept,but for some other reasons that we may never know. I would note that sales estimates and wanting the technology are two different things. I long wanted a larger screen on phones and a good web browser. iPhone delivered that. But they also delivered it on ATT with no 3G support. Sales estimates are trying to weigh demand against a various pros/cons and price points, but don't directly speak to if people wanted specific technologies.
      - protomyth 16y ago
        Sales are the only way to truly prove if people actually want the technology. Everything else is hand waving. The people doing the estimating on Wall-Street are paid big bucks to forecast sales. Gizmodo and Engadget appeal to a market segment, and not the one Courier was focused on. They are not accurate predictors of the consumer market as a whole.