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The genius of Steve Jobs was simply that he had enough taste, vision and authority that the company was actually focused on delivering _products_. The state of

The genius of Steve Jobs was simply that he had enough taste, vision and authority that the company was actually focused on delivering _products_. The state of the average enterprise, like Microsoft and Google, is that various business units and departments have devolved into cargo culting process to satisfy the petty career needs of their managers and workers. It's not complicated. The people in charge not only do not understand product development, but they fundamentally don't care and will get uncomfortable if you try to make them care. It is far too tall an order, and too much work.

rhaway84773 4y ago
The genius of Steve Jobs/Apple was recognizing that phones should become computers. And that people would be willing to sacrifice battery life for that to happen. It’s really that simple. People keep forgetting but the iPhone wasn’t the first Apple designed phone. The Motorola Rokr was. And it was a failure because it was an Apple designed Phone. The iPhone, OTOH, was a computer in your pocket, of which one function was a phone. When the iPhone came out the RIM guys thought it was gonna be a massive failure because it had such terrible battery life and such a terrible typing experience. But it turned out people didn’t care as much about battery life (also, Apple had gained a lot of experience with optimizing battery life through years of tuning OSX to be able to build the most energy efficient laptops) as they did about the massive screen. Typing was a poorer experience, but auto-correct was good enough. The phone guys who spent all their time trying to make longer lasting phones with a better physical keyboard simply could not conceive that those factors might not even be all that important for consumers. Finally, what really blew up the iPhone was the App Store, and it’s hard to see anyone else doing it, because very few companies had the experience building up a high quality developer platform the way Apple had. Very few other companies had the developer following which would build apps for them despite the massive constraints Apple was imposing on them.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  I don't think Apple really designed the Rokr. It was a Motorola E398 with a terrible version of "iTunes" and a horrible 100 song limit as to not cut into the sales of the iPod. Phones as computers was already out there as an idea and Handspring and others had been trying to make it work. The iPhone was more limited as a computer than a competing Palm OS or Windows Mobile device but it was more slick and in some ways polished (although lacking in others). And of course they still had the bulk of then DRM locked digital music/video sales they could leverage to make it appeal to consumers.

rhaway84773 4y ago

The genius of Steve Jobs/Apple was recognizing that phones should become computers. And that people would be willing to sacrifice battery life for that to happen. It’s really that simple. People keep forgetting but the iPhone wasn’t the first Apple designed phone. The Motorola Rokr was. And it was a failure because it was an Apple designed Phone. The iPhone, OTOH, was a computer in your pocket, of which one function was a phone. When the iPhone came out the RIM guys thought it was gonna be a massive failure because it had such terrible battery life and such a terrible typing experience. But it turned out people didn’t care as much about battery life (also, Apple had gained a lot of experience with optimizing battery life through years of tuning OSX to be able to build the most energy efficient laptops) as they did about the massive screen. Typing was a poorer experience, but auto-correct was good enough. The phone guys who spent all their time trying to make longer lasting phones with a better physical keyboard simply could not conceive that those factors might not even be all that important for consumers. Finally, what really blew up the iPhone was the App Store, and it’s hard to see anyone else doing it, because very few companies had the experience building up a high quality developer platform the way Apple had. Very few other companies had the developer following which would build apps for them despite the massive constraints Apple was imposing on them.

goosedragons 4y ago
I don't think Apple really designed the Rokr. It was a Motorola E398 with a terrible version of "iTunes" and a horrible 100 song limit as to not cut into the sales of the iPod. Phones as computers was already out there as an idea and Handspring and others had been trying to make it work. The iPhone was more limited as a computer than a competing Palm OS or Windows Mobile device but it was more slick and in some ways polished (although lacking in others). And of course they still had the bulk of then DRM locked digital music/video sales they could leverage to make it appeal to consumers.