14 ms·

A Steve Jobs masterclass from a decade ago

339 points by mh_ 6y ago

dilippkumar 6y ago
Full interview: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps
dvt 6y ago
> It would have been trivial for Apple at that point to hire a team or two to shoehorn a so-so version of Flash onto their devices. (This seemed like an even bigger mistake on the iPad which had just launched). But he is clear and adamant. They are going to make calls they believe are best to shape great products. I don't really think the Flash decision had anything to do with "better products," and simply ecosystem control. Apple had always wanted to keep a very tight control of any ecosystem they inhabited. From their decision to stick with PowerPC as long as they did, to their zoo of Apple-specific dongles, to the Apple Store and beyond. Steve Jobs was a genius in understanding that an ecosystem is orders of magnitudes more valuable if you, as an entity, control it. Valve is another company that did the same thing. > It takes courage to look at a feature that lots of people “want” and make the call to exclude it. This is a lot easier to do when you control the ecosystem. It's not like someone could migrate to using a Samsung-made iPad or something. > In a moment of self-deprecation/levity he quips “We never saw ourselves as in a platform war with Microsoft and maybe that’s why we lost”. It’s a quick flash of him taking himself less-seriously and it’s disarming. This is absolutely untrue, and Jobs is playing the crowd. Not only did Apple definitely see themselves in a platform war, they doubled-down on this with the iPhone. It was always about platforms. Jobs just happened to lose the first time, but he decidedly won the second. > Jobs: We are about making better products, and what I love about the consumer market that I always hated about the enterprise market, is that: we come up with a product, we try to tell everybody about it and every person votes for themselves. They go yes or no, and if enough of them say yes, we get to come to work tomorrow. You know that’s how it works. It’s really simple. Whereas with the enterprise market, it’s not so simple, the people that use the products don’t decide for themselves, the people that make those decisions sometimes are confused. We love just trying to make the best products in the world for ppl and having them tell us by how they vote with their wallets whether we’re on track or not. Not sure exactly how forthright Jobs is here, but -- honest or not -- man, I just want to say this is an incredible answer and motivates me to get off my ass and go build something :)
- vmception 6y ago
  Yes, I'm not sure it was intentional but your post could be balanced by pointing out the advantages for the consumer when there is ecosystem control and vertical integration. Apple took a calculated and different approach than other mobile entrants and it has paid off. When you look at Android, it has similarities to the Mac vs PC dichotomy except much worse, where the OS provider doesn't care what happens, the OEM manufacturer doesn't care what happens, and a few other players don't care what happens either (ISP, open source community). Only Google and Samsung attempt at caring, and even then it is a disaster as there is no way to getHuman().
- jjtheblunt 6y ago
  Internal discussions in Apple, in the hardware division where I was, were obsessed with the Flash runtime (and apps runnning on it) devouring battery. It's worth remembering that, at the time, the iPhone was quite new and establishing a foothold in the cellular product ecosystem, not the app ecosystem, wasn't guaranteed, and as such was very self conscious about battery life compared to things like a Treo.
  - majormajor 6y ago
    I ran Flash (for ESPN streaming) on a 2010 HTC and yeah, it chewed through battery pretty quickly. It was also a pretty shitty user experience, forcing inflexible web-optimized flash into the phone form factor. Those problems could've been overcome, but it's definitely not like Flash on day 1 would've been good for any users.
    - scarface74 6y ago
      2010 was four years after the iPhone.
      - majormajor 6y ago
        Well, three, but who's counting. And yeah: so imagine how bad it would've been then, if it still sucked that bad on 2010 smartphones.
baron816 6y ago
Sorry that this is off topic, but what’s the situation with the term “masterclass” now that we’ve determined that we shouldn’t use the word “master”. Same with “masterpiece,” “master craftsman,” “headmaster,” “master Jedi,” etc. edit: I’m genuinely curious about this, and don’t have a position on the “master” thing. Not trying to start a flame war.
- dijit 6y ago
  I think words like 'masterclass' will not change. "Mastery" of a skill or topic is largely different than being a 'master' of a set of nodes. Saddens me that you got downvoted for asking an earnest question, I guess people are scared of what this topic will devolve into.
  - blacklivesmatr1 6y ago
    I'm curious as well. I 100% support black lives matter and started to rename some git repos from master to main but I notice this master used in git isn't a master/slave type of master but the master copy, the version that every thing looks to as the source of truth. This is not the same as the original. Version 75 is not the original, version 1 is, but it is the master. I don't mind renaming those to main in fact I started looking into automating the conversion but at the same time it does seem like mission creep. main doesn't actually have the same meaning. In pressing CDs/DVDs/Blu-rays we have "gold masters" which are used to create the molds for the presses for the discs. A master key opens all locks. Those usages all seem unrelated and arguably so does the git usage. Removing master/slave from tech seems 100% correct. Removing all uses of the word "master" like Darth Vader "I was but a learner but now I am the master" seems wrong and if we aren't going to remove all of them then why are we remove it from git since like those others usages it and zero relation to the problem?
    - dijit 6y ago
      You can think of it more as a return to normalcy, "master" in VCS is relatively unique to git. p4/piper is MAIN SVN is 'trunk' mercurial is 'default' -- I'd be upset if we were changing commonly held terminology or if it had more meaning.. but it's completely arbitrary and all it costs is the minor reeducation of all github/git users and the invalidation of all prior documentation.
PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
the story jobs tells [ deleted because i was full of BS ]
- saurik 6y ago
  (The iPod touch was released after the iPhone.)
replwoacause 6y ago
I don't know what it is, but Kara Swisher annoys me. I feel her questions are usually of poor quality and I'm just not a fan of her interviewing style. Can someone fill me in on what has made her so successful? I think I may be missing something.
- tclancy 6y ago
  Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the reverse and what you might be missing given any number of people do like her?
  - mromanuk 6y ago
    That’s a common heuristic, but it’s used before making up your mind. After you decided that you don’t like someone, would be really hard to see them in a positive way, because your mind will try really hard to confirm you are right about disliking her
  - replwoacause 6y ago
    I am not clear on what you are saying. Can you rephrase? I _am_ asking what I may be missing given so many people seem to like her. What are you saying I should have asked instead? Thanks.
- lstamour 6y ago
  Try listening to Pivot podcast, might change your mind? I’d suggest it’s just a journalistic style of trying to ask the uncomfortable questions. Walt was often seen as maybe too deferential, particularly later on as books and other things entered the mix.
  - replwoacause 6y ago
    Thank you for the suggestion, I will give it a listen.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 6y ago
shaabanban 6y ago
I have to say he was spot on about user privacy 10 years ago and it shows in the platforms today. Starts at around 1:10. > We do a lot of things like that to ensure that people understand what these apps are doing > Privacy means people know what they are signing up for in plain English and repeatedly. Edit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps
jedberg 6y ago
The whole interview was fascinating, but what I found most interesting was when he was talking about a "post PC world" (as in post desktop/laptop). He envisioned a world in which 95% of casual computing was done on a tablet or phone. He said PCs would still be there for work, but most consumers won't own one, just like all vehicles used to be trucks, until people moved to cities and switched to cars, and now some people use trucks but most people use cars. The other really interesting part was when he talked about the need for paid journalism, and how he "doesn't want to live in a society that's just bloggers". Even a decade ago he could see the danger in most people getting their news from un-curated, un-vetted content.
- kunai 6y ago
  > He said PCs would still be there for work, but most consumers won't own one, just like all vehicles used to be trucks, until people moved to cities and switched to cars, and now some people use trucks but most people use cars. And I'm thankful every day that he was so wrong. Even though there are bad faith actors encircling the world of electronics and software attempting to turn everything into a walled garden (and succeeding in many cases), the PC lives. Hurrah. On top of that his analogy makes no sense. By no means were all early cars trucks. Automobiles in cities didn't even really exist in any considerable number until after WWII and the suburban housing boom enabled by exclusionary FHA housing subsidies. Before cars we all rode the streetcar and train. Open systems that allowed mobility without placing a premium on using your own two feet.
  - jedberg 6y ago
    Interestingly, when he was asked about walled gardens, he stated his adamant support for full HTML5 capability that would be on par with the app store, so you would always have access to anything you want. I guess it didn't quite work out that way.
    - kunai 6y ago
      It's funny because we all knew Flash was a scourge on the web and highly inefficient, and we swung so far around in the other direction that now Electron is a scourge on desktop and highly inefficient. Price of progress I suppose.
racl101 6y ago
He wasn't really an ..... oh never mind.
mrgreenfur 6y ago
Pretty refreshing to hear a company leader just say "we want to make the best product". No fluff, no ecosystem, just seemingly straightforward best products and best features. It seems almost bizarre today.
- victords 6y ago
  To be fair, that is not uncommon today. Amazon itself proud themselves in claiming they're "the most customer obsessive company". Or Facebook's and its mission to connect the world. So, I wouldn't say it's bizarre to see that today, but it's bizarre to believe their leaders today.
  - nicoburns 6y ago
    > Amazon itself proud themselves in claiming they're "the most customer obsessive company". Or Facebook's and its mission to connect the world. Neither of those are really a product focus though.
- ecf 6y ago
  Most likely in part due to a majority of current company leaders simply being a product of the MBA degree-mill where they have no new ideas and are taught how to optimize what’s given to them.
leafboi 6y ago
"we trying to make great products for people, and we have at least the courage of our convictions to say we don’t think this is part of what makes a great product, we going to leave it out ... We’re going to take the heat, because we want to make the best product in the world for customers." This part of the interview is so telling. Steve Jobs basically ignores what consumers tell him because people don't know what they want. It's like my girlfriend when she use to talk about how she wanted to date a nice guy but then ends up with an ass hole like me. People don't know what they want and if you want to win in the game you have to know what people want better than they know themselves.
resu_nimda 6y ago
My favorite Jobs masterclass is his talk at Apple's developer conference in 1997 [1]. He had just returned to the company, and a lot of people were unhappy with him and/or Apple at the time. He decided to do an hour long off-the-cuff Q&A session with the developers. Famously, one of the questioners was harsh and insulting, and he handled it with grace. I honestly can't think of another tech CEO that could have pulled off this performance. Maybe Bill Gates? I get the sense that the reality distortion field was very real because he was so clear and eloquent about his mission, it never needed to be scripted or rehearsed, it just came out of him at all times. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig
- Aeolun 6y ago
  Thanks for this one. It’s interesting to see some content from pre-iPhone days. It’s interesting how many of the things he said were correct in hindsight, but may just be because he made it so.
- pastrami_panda 6y ago
  If someone knows the timestamp of this particular exchange please share.
  - als0 6y ago
    Here is the moment where Steve Jobs receives the harsh question https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022 https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022
    - pastrami_panda 6y ago
      Oh I remember this, I love that part so much. I often think about what he says about starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology, really simple but bright stuff.
    - pharaohgeek 6y ago
      I'd really love to know if the individual asking the question is still with Apple. I'd also love to know what he thinks of the company now.
AnonC 6y ago
To @mh_, the poster of this article on HN and the author of the thinkst blog: Your site doesn’t have a responsive mobile layout on iOS. All I see is a weird version with large fonts that I either have to pan around to read or a “web version” that provides the desktop layout with tiny fonts. You may want to test your site with don’t blockers and ad blockers (I use both).
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
darepublic 6y ago
> There’s been a huge push in recent times for balance, wellness and rest. People are quick to point out how burning the midnight oil translates to diminished capacity and actually increases your rate of errors, but I’ve never seen consistently great work from people unless they too, were working deep into the night on projects they believe in.
_448 6y ago
His talk[0] at sloan school when he was young is also good. His answer to buiness school students (some of whom were in consulting business) is quite revealing of his personality. Doesn't hesitate to talk straight in a very calm way. And very clear in his mind about the views he expresses. Also, very eloquent in putting his views forward. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUhLbV8Nrg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUhLbV8Nrg
- DonHopkins 6y ago
  I transcribed the words and body language of his classic "Focusing is about saying no" talk at WWDC '97: “Focusing is about saying no.” -Steve Jobs, WWDC ‘97 As sad as it was, Steve Jobs was right to “put a bullet in OpenDoc’s head”. Jobs explained (and performed) his side of the story in this fascinating and classic WWDC’97 video: “Focusing is about saying no.” https://medium.com/@donhopkins/focusing-is-about-saying-no-steve-jobs-wwdc-97-ff0174c171d0 https://medium.com/@donhopkins/focusing-is-about-saying-no-s...
ksec 6y ago
I have probably watched all of his talk more than a dozen times. The way he articulate his ideas, something that current Apple is missing. Tim Cook tries very hard to put those message forward, but for some reason he is just not very good at it. ( To me at least ) It doesn't feel sincere. You could feel Steve actually cares. Mac OSX has been living a secret double life for the past 5 years. - Cant believe it has been 15 years since those words. Apple is about to make another transition. And Mac will reach new height, taking even more market shares. It is sad Steve never gets to see this. Apple now has 1B iPhone user, 100M Mac Users, 200M+ iPad users, and a fast growing Apple Watch user base. I know this may sound wired, but I miss him.
- zpeti 6y ago
  Another great insight from him is that companies go downhill once a sales person runs it, not a product person. While I'm sure he thought Tim Cook was the best choice to take over, he's just not a product person, and it shows. I wouldn't say Tim Cook is sales either, just operations. He is very good at that, and he's done a decent job at leaving the product with product people. But after 10-15 years it starts to show. Apple to me clearly isn't what is used to be. The UX issues are creeping in. The products aren't that innovative. There's no industry disruption any more.
  - whywhywhywhy 6y ago
    >Another great insight from him is that companies go downhill once a sales person runs it, not a product person. Here's the video if anyone hasn't seen it [1], think it rings so true to Tim Cook's Apple. The purity of the product vision just isn't there anymore and things are actively made worse for the user just to scrape back a few measly dollars: e.g no longer shipping a short power cable with $2000 laptops. Think it's sad that a lot of the fans of Apple who used to say believe that it doesn't matter if Windows sells more, Mac OS is the better product. Now if you say anything negative about Tim Cook's Apple you just get told how successful it is as if thats a metric for a good product. Just because something is successful and profitable doesn't mean it's good by following that logic there is literally no reason for the Macintosh to exist, everything before it was already successful and it was actually less successful for decades. [1] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4
teekert 6y ago
Ads are getting smarter ;)
santix 6y ago
The full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps
alanfranz 6y ago
> It’s super telling that this 55 year old billionaire would be “working on a presentation he was giving” at 02h00 in the morning. It is probably possible to do great things without burning the midnight oil, I’ve just never seen it personally, or been able to do it that way myself. It is probably possible to survive in good health and shape and reach your 80s while continuously burning the midnight oil, I’ve just never seen it personally. Sure, "burning the midnight oil" is something that can (and IMHO should) be done sometimes. But is that the only (and main) key to success? I doubt it. The lesson about focus is far more valuable.
whywhywhywhy 6y ago
Remember this interview being particularly frustrating with them constantly pressing him to reveal what their future plans are despite absolutely everyone knowing he'd never actually tell you anything so it's just wasting time.
mips_avatar 6y ago
I love reading about Steve Jobs, but I get nervous when Apple's moves get put on a pedestal and blindly emulated. I think a lot of industries are tempted by the myth of Steve Jobs to go for vertical integration. Sometimes a better move is for a company to ride on the waves of innovation in layers below them in the technology stack/supply chains. If there's enough innovation below, picking horses like apple loves to do (firewire, etc.) is a bad move. Setting up your company to benefit from innovations below you is what won Microsoft the PC-wars.

339 points by mh_ 6y ago

Full interview: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps

dvt 6y ago

> It would have been trivial for Apple at that point to hire a team or two to shoehorn a so-so version of Flash onto their devices. (This seemed like an even bigger mistake on the iPad which had just launched). But he is clear and adamant. They are going to make calls they believe are best to shape great products. I don't really think the Flash decision had anything to do with "better products," and simply ecosystem control. Apple had always wanted to keep a very tight control of any ecosystem they inhabited. From their decision to stick with PowerPC as long as they did, to their zoo of Apple-specific dongles, to the Apple Store and beyond. Steve Jobs was a genius in understanding that an ecosystem is orders of magnitudes more valuable if you, as an entity, control it. Valve is another company that did the same thing. > It takes courage to look at a feature that lots of people “want” and make the call to exclude it. This is a lot easier to do when you control the ecosystem. It's not like someone could migrate to using a Samsung-made iPad or something. > In a moment of self-deprecation/levity he quips “We never saw ourselves as in a platform war with Microsoft and maybe that’s why we lost”. It’s a quick flash of him taking himself less-seriously and it’s disarming. This is absolutely untrue, and Jobs is playing the crowd. Not only did Apple definitely see themselves in a platform war, they doubled-down on this with the iPhone. It was always about platforms. Jobs just happened to lose the first time, but he decidedly won the second. > Jobs: We are about making better products, and what I love about the consumer market that I always hated about the enterprise market, is that: we come up with a product, we try to tell everybody about it and every person votes for themselves. They go yes or no, and if enough of them say yes, we get to come to work tomorrow. You know that’s how it works. It’s really simple. Whereas with the enterprise market, it’s not so simple, the people that use the products don’t decide for themselves, the people that make those decisions sometimes are confused. We love just trying to make the best products in the world for ppl and having them tell us by how they vote with their wallets whether we’re on track or not. Not sure exactly how forthright Jobs is here, but -- honest or not -- man, I just want to say this is an incredible answer and motivates me to get off my ass and go build something :)

vmception 6y ago
Yes, I'm not sure it was intentional but your post could be balanced by pointing out the advantages for the consumer when there is ecosystem control and vertical integration. Apple took a calculated and different approach than other mobile entrants and it has paid off. When you look at Android, it has similarities to the Mac vs PC dichotomy except much worse, where the OS provider doesn't care what happens, the OEM manufacturer doesn't care what happens, and a few other players don't care what happens either (ISP, open source community). Only Google and Samsung attempt at caring, and even then it is a disaster as there is no way to getHuman().
jjtheblunt 6y ago
Internal discussions in Apple, in the hardware division where I was, were obsessed with the Flash runtime (and apps runnning on it) devouring battery. It's worth remembering that, at the time, the iPhone was quite new and establishing a foothold in the cellular product ecosystem, not the app ecosystem, wasn't guaranteed, and as such was very self conscious about battery life compared to things like a Treo.
- majormajor 6y ago
  I ran Flash (for ESPN streaming) on a 2010 HTC and yeah, it chewed through battery pretty quickly. It was also a pretty shitty user experience, forcing inflexible web-optimized flash into the phone form factor. Those problems could've been overcome, but it's definitely not like Flash on day 1 would've been good for any users.
  - scarface74 6y ago
    2010 was four years after the iPhone.
    - majormajor 6y ago
      Well, three, but who's counting. And yeah: so imagine how bad it would've been then, if it still sucked that bad on 2010 smartphones.

baron816 6y ago

Sorry that this is off topic, but what’s the situation with the term “masterclass” now that we’ve determined that we shouldn’t use the word “master”. Same with “masterpiece,” “master craftsman,” “headmaster,” “master Jedi,” etc. edit: I’m genuinely curious about this, and don’t have a position on the “master” thing. Not trying to start a flame war.

dijit 6y ago
I think words like 'masterclass' will not change. "Mastery" of a skill or topic is largely different than being a 'master' of a set of nodes. Saddens me that you got downvoted for asking an earnest question, I guess people are scared of what this topic will devolve into.
- blacklivesmatr1 6y ago
  I'm curious as well. I 100% support black lives matter and started to rename some git repos from master to main but I notice this master used in git isn't a master/slave type of master but the master copy, the version that every thing looks to as the source of truth. This is not the same as the original. Version 75 is not the original, version 1 is, but it is the master. I don't mind renaming those to main in fact I started looking into automating the conversion but at the same time it does seem like mission creep. main doesn't actually have the same meaning. In pressing CDs/DVDs/Blu-rays we have "gold masters" which are used to create the molds for the presses for the discs. A master key opens all locks. Those usages all seem unrelated and arguably so does the git usage. Removing master/slave from tech seems 100% correct. Removing all uses of the word "master" like Darth Vader "I was but a learner but now I am the master" seems wrong and if we aren't going to remove all of them then why are we remove it from git since like those others usages it and zero relation to the problem?
  - dijit 6y ago
    You can think of it more as a return to normalcy, "master" in VCS is relatively unique to git. p4/piper is MAIN SVN is 'trunk' mercurial is 'default' -- I'd be upset if we were changing commonly held terminology or if it had more meaning.. but it's completely arbitrary and all it costs is the minor reeducation of all github/git users and the invalidation of all prior documentation.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago

the story jobs tells [ deleted because i was full of BS ]

saurik 6y ago
(The iPod touch was released after the iPhone.)

replwoacause 6y ago

I don't know what it is, but Kara Swisher annoys me. I feel her questions are usually of poor quality and I'm just not a fan of her interviewing style. Can someone fill me in on what has made her so successful? I think I may be missing something.

tclancy 6y ago
Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the reverse and what you might be missing given any number of people do like her?
- mromanuk 6y ago
  That’s a common heuristic, but it’s used before making up your mind. After you decided that you don’t like someone, would be really hard to see them in a positive way, because your mind will try really hard to confirm you are right about disliking her
- replwoacause 6y ago
  I am not clear on what you are saying. Can you rephrase? I _am_ asking what I may be missing given so many people seem to like her. What are you saying I should have asked instead? Thanks.
lstamour 6y ago
Try listening to Pivot podcast, might change your mind? I’d suggest it’s just a journalistic style of trying to ask the uncomfortable questions. Walt was often seen as maybe too deferential, particularly later on as books and other things entered the mix.
- replwoacause 6y ago
  Thank you for the suggestion, I will give it a listen.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
6y ago

shaabanban 6y ago

I have to say he was spot on about user privacy 10 years ago and it shows in the platforms today. Starts at around 1:10. > We do a lot of things like that to ensure that people understand what these apps are doing > Privacy means people know what they are signing up for in plain English and repeatedly. Edit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps

jedberg 6y ago

The whole interview was fascinating, but what I found most interesting was when he was talking about a "post PC world" (as in post desktop/laptop). He envisioned a world in which 95% of casual computing was done on a tablet or phone. He said PCs would still be there for work, but most consumers won't own one, just like all vehicles used to be trucks, until people moved to cities and switched to cars, and now some people use trucks but most people use cars. The other really interesting part was when he talked about the need for paid journalism, and how he "doesn't want to live in a society that's just bloggers". Even a decade ago he could see the danger in most people getting their news from un-curated, un-vetted content.

kunai 6y ago
> He said PCs would still be there for work, but most consumers won't own one, just like all vehicles used to be trucks, until people moved to cities and switched to cars, and now some people use trucks but most people use cars. And I'm thankful every day that he was so wrong. Even though there are bad faith actors encircling the world of electronics and software attempting to turn everything into a walled garden (and succeeding in many cases), the PC lives. Hurrah. On top of that his analogy makes no sense. By no means were all early cars trucks. Automobiles in cities didn't even really exist in any considerable number until after WWII and the suburban housing boom enabled by exclusionary FHA housing subsidies. Before cars we all rode the streetcar and train. Open systems that allowed mobility without placing a premium on using your own two feet.
- jedberg 6y ago
  Interestingly, when he was asked about walled gardens, he stated his adamant support for full HTML5 capability that would be on par with the app store, so you would always have access to anything you want. I guess it didn't quite work out that way.
  - kunai 6y ago
    It's funny because we all knew Flash was a scourge on the web and highly inefficient, and we swung so far around in the other direction that now Electron is a scourge on desktop and highly inefficient. Price of progress I suppose.

racl101 6y ago

He wasn't really an ..... oh never mind.

mrgreenfur 6y ago

Pretty refreshing to hear a company leader just say "we want to make the best product". No fluff, no ecosystem, just seemingly straightforward best products and best features. It seems almost bizarre today.

victords 6y ago
To be fair, that is not uncommon today. Amazon itself proud themselves in claiming they're "the most customer obsessive company". Or Facebook's and its mission to connect the world. So, I wouldn't say it's bizarre to see that today, but it's bizarre to believe their leaders today.
- nicoburns 6y ago
  > Amazon itself proud themselves in claiming they're "the most customer obsessive company". Or Facebook's and its mission to connect the world. Neither of those are really a product focus though.
ecf 6y ago
Most likely in part due to a majority of current company leaders simply being a product of the MBA degree-mill where they have no new ideas and are taught how to optimize what’s given to them.

leafboi 6y ago

"we trying to make great products for people, and we have at least the courage of our convictions to say we don’t think this is part of what makes a great product, we going to leave it out ... We’re going to take the heat, because we want to make the best product in the world for customers." This part of the interview is so telling. Steve Jobs basically ignores what consumers tell him because people don't know what they want. It's like my girlfriend when she use to talk about how she wanted to date a nice guy but then ends up with an ass hole like me. People don't know what they want and if you want to win in the game you have to know what people want better than they know themselves.

resu_nimda 6y ago

My favorite Jobs masterclass is his talk at Apple's developer conference in 1997 [1]. He had just returned to the company, and a lot of people were unhappy with him and/or Apple at the time. He decided to do an hour long off-the-cuff Q&A session with the developers. Famously, one of the questioners was harsh and insulting, and he handled it with grace. I honestly can't think of another tech CEO that could have pulled off this performance. Maybe Bill Gates? I get the sense that the reality distortion field was very real because he was so clear and eloquent about his mission, it never needed to be scripted or rehearsed, it just came out of him at all times. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnO7D5UaDig

Aeolun 6y ago
Thanks for this one. It’s interesting to see some content from pre-iPhone days. It’s interesting how many of the things he said were correct in hindsight, but may just be because he made it so.
pastrami_panda 6y ago
If someone knows the timestamp of this particular exchange please share.
- als0 6y ago
  Here is the moment where Steve Jobs receives the harsh question https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022 https://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig?t=3022
  - pastrami_panda 6y ago
    Oh I remember this, I love that part so much. I often think about what he says about starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology, really simple but bright stuff.
  - pharaohgeek 6y ago
    I'd really love to know if the individual asking the question is still with Apple. I'd also love to know what he thinks of the company now.

AnonC 6y ago

To @mh_, the poster of this article on HN and the author of the thinkst blog: Your site doesn’t have a responsive mobile layout on iOS. All I see is a weird version with large fonts that I either have to pan around to read or a “web version” that provides the desktop layout with tiny fonts. You may want to test your site with don’t blockers and ad blockers (I use both).

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

darepublic 6y ago

> There’s been a huge push in recent times for balance, wellness and rest. People are quick to point out how burning the midnight oil translates to diminished capacity and actually increases your rate of errors, but I’ve never seen consistently great work from people unless they too, were working deep into the night on projects they believe in.

_448 6y ago

His talk[0] at sloan school when he was young is also good. His answer to buiness school students (some of whom were in consulting business) is quite revealing of his personality. Doesn't hesitate to talk straight in a very calm way. And very clear in his mind about the views he expresses. Also, very eloquent in putting his views forward. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUhLbV8Nrg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUhLbV8Nrg

DonHopkins 6y ago
I transcribed the words and body language of his classic "Focusing is about saying no" talk at WWDC '97: “Focusing is about saying no.” -Steve Jobs, WWDC ‘97 As sad as it was, Steve Jobs was right to “put a bullet in OpenDoc’s head”. Jobs explained (and performed) his side of the story in this fascinating and classic WWDC’97 video: “Focusing is about saying no.” https://medium.com/@donhopkins/focusing-is-about-saying-no-steve-jobs-wwdc-97-ff0174c171d0 https://medium.com/@donhopkins/focusing-is-about-saying-no-s...

ksec 6y ago

I have probably watched all of his talk more than a dozen times. The way he articulate his ideas, something that current Apple is missing. Tim Cook tries very hard to put those message forward, but for some reason he is just not very good at it. ( To me at least ) It doesn't feel sincere. You could feel Steve actually cares. Mac OSX has been living a secret double life for the past 5 years. - Cant believe it has been 15 years since those words. Apple is about to make another transition. And Mac will reach new height, taking even more market shares. It is sad Steve never gets to see this. Apple now has 1B iPhone user, 100M Mac Users, 200M+ iPad users, and a fast growing Apple Watch user base. I know this may sound wired, but I miss him.

zpeti 6y ago
Another great insight from him is that companies go downhill once a sales person runs it, not a product person. While I'm sure he thought Tim Cook was the best choice to take over, he's just not a product person, and it shows. I wouldn't say Tim Cook is sales either, just operations. He is very good at that, and he's done a decent job at leaving the product with product people. But after 10-15 years it starts to show. Apple to me clearly isn't what is used to be. The UX issues are creeping in. The products aren't that innovative. There's no industry disruption any more.
- whywhywhywhy 6y ago
  >Another great insight from him is that companies go downhill once a sales person runs it, not a product person. Here's the video if anyone hasn't seen it [1], think it rings so true to Tim Cook's Apple. The purity of the product vision just isn't there anymore and things are actively made worse for the user just to scrape back a few measly dollars: e.g no longer shipping a short power cable with $2000 laptops. Think it's sad that a lot of the fans of Apple who used to say believe that it doesn't matter if Windows sells more, Mac OS is the better product. Now if you say anything negative about Tim Cook's Apple you just get told how successful it is as if thats a metric for a good product. Just because something is successful and profitable doesn't mean it's good by following that logic there is literally no reason for the Macintosh to exist, everything before it was already successful and it was actually less successful for decades. [1] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4

teekert 6y ago

Ads are getting smarter ;)

santix 6y ago

The full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps

alanfranz 6y ago

> It’s super telling that this 55 year old billionaire would be “working on a presentation he was giving” at 02h00 in the morning. It is probably possible to do great things without burning the midnight oil, I’ve just never seen it personally, or been able to do it that way myself. It is probably possible to survive in good health and shape and reach your 80s while continuously burning the midnight oil, I’ve just never seen it personally. Sure, "burning the midnight oil" is something that can (and IMHO should) be done sometimes. But is that the only (and main) key to success? I doubt it. The lesson about focus is far more valuable.

whywhywhywhy 6y ago

Remember this interview being particularly frustrating with them constantly pressing him to reveal what their future plans are despite absolutely everyone knowing he'd never actually tell you anything so it's just wasting time.

mips_avatar 6y ago

I love reading about Steve Jobs, but I get nervous when Apple's moves get put on a pedestal and blindly emulated. I think a lot of industries are tempted by the myth of Steve Jobs to go for vertical integration. Sometimes a better move is for a company to ride on the waves of innovation in layers below them in the technology stack/supply chains. If there's enough innovation below, picking horses like apple loves to do (firewire, etc.) is a bad move. Setting up your company to benefit from innovations below you is what won Microsoft the PC-wars.