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You're thinking of Steve Jobs circa 2008, who makes pretty white luxury boxes. But the Steve Jobs that counts for is Steve Jobs circa 1978, the Steve Jobs that
by hugh 18y ago
You're thinking of Steve Jobs circa 2008, who makes pretty white luxury boxes.
But the Steve Jobs that counts for is Steve Jobs circa 1978, the Steve Jobs that was making cheap ugly boxes that plugged into your TV. (And of course it was really Woz, but let's leave that aside for the moment.) The point is that Apple started and became big by being a low-end company, and only turned high-end once they were already huge.
- menloparkbum 18y agoChina has the cheap and ugly market sewn up, so by that definition of Steve Jobs, there are already dozens, if not hundreds of Chinese Steve Jobses.
- hugh 18y agoHmm. The Apple I/II wasn't just a cheap and ugly knock-off of another product though, it was an innovative machine that changed the way computers were built. It challenged the existing notions of what a computer had to be and how much it had to cost. The closest analogue I can think of in recent years is the Eee PC, which interestingly comes not from China but from Taiwan. (Support for the notion that innovation comes more easily in democracies? It's only one data point, but still...)
- bootload 18y ago"... But the Steve Jobs that counts for is Steve Jobs circa 1978, the Steve Jobs that was making cheap ugly boxes that plugged into your TV ..." The (production) Apples you refer to have never really been ugly nor cheap. If I remember they had sleek design with easy to get at insides so you could add slots. They always seemed to be on, around the magical $2-3K dollar mark no matter what country you lived in. Who needs monitors when you could use a spare tv? I remember getting my first PC and asking if they had a card to support TV and got blank stares... "no you need a high quality CGA screen instead or an EGA for $$$ more"