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Steve Jobs: "It turns out the same thing can happen in technology companies that get monopolies, like IBM or Xerox. If you were a product person at IBM or Xero

Steve Jobs: "It turns out the same thing can happen in technology companies that get monopolies, like IBM or Xerox. If you were a product person at IBM or Xerox, so you make a better copier or computer. So what? When you have monopoly market share, the company's not any more successful. So the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, and they end up running the companies. And the product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products. The product sensibility and the product genius that brought them to that monopolistic position gets rotted out by people running these companies that have no conception of a good product versus a bad product. They have no conception of the craftsmanship that's required to take a good idea and turn it into a good product. And they really have no feeling in their hearts, usually, about wanting to really help the customers."

elromulous 3y ago
Wouldn't this apply to today's Apple?
- zeroonetwothree 3y ago
  How is Apple a monopoly?
  - nativeit 3y ago
    In much the same way Boeing is—they are one of only two options.
    - kaesar14 3y ago
      Not sure I buy that. They're one of only two options in operating system but one of many in hardware models. They're much less able to win regulatory capture being a far less regulated industry and in a consumer market.
      - Filligree 3y ago
        Pray tell, what are my options in hardware if I want a laptop with a good (Apple-level) touchpad, battery life, screen and performance? You could argue I'm just saying they're high quality, which may be true, but the software has been degrading and I have no options if I value openness _and_ quality.
        kaesar14 3y ago
        How is being the only good company making laptops a monopoly? Seems like you recognized that point in your second paragraph but bears repeating how ridiculous of a comparison to Boeing that is
        panick21_ 3y ago
        I don't give a shit about touchpads. Apple for the majority of its history didn't have superior performance and even today they have some product that are under-powered in regards to ram. I can flip it and mention features that Apple products don't have that I like. But this isn't actually an argument for monopoly. That just an argument that you like a company more then the other.
    - dghlsakjg 3y ago
      That's pretty much the textbook definition of an oligopoly which is explicitly not a monopoly.
  - smallmancontrov 3y ago
    In the "gigantic moats with minimal connection to product quality" sense. The app store and rich messaging have clear two-sided-market dynamics and they own a bunch of customer photo albums too. Anticompetitive market structure is bad for consumers loooong before it results in an actual literal "only one company in a broadly defined niche" monopoly.
- ortusdux 3y ago
  Arguably yes. I'll note that the quote was from 1995 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs:_The_Lost_Interview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs:_The_Lost_Interview
- jmondi 3y ago
  If Apple was a monopoly, sure. But Apple is not a monopoly.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    People so eager to defend Apple from "monopoly" that they completely ignore the point, which is equally valid when you are not a monopoly but have a extremely sturdy market penetration.
- quesera 3y ago
  I don't think so. The examples of IBM and Xerox were truly dominant in their day. I'm not going to get into the definition of "monopoly" here. But there's a reason for the "No one ever got fired for buying IBM" quote, and there's a reason that "Xerox" is/was basically synonymous with "photocopy". No one calls an Android device an "iPhone". Apple captures basically 100% of the market excitement and profit, but not sales or penetration. Apple is not dominant anywhere near what IBM and Xerox were. So, for me this fails the test of ~"sales and marketing running the company and not bringing forward great new products". Apple is still delivering. Apple is not all things to all people -- but no one is without choice. I think Apple, and Apple customers, are happy with Apple.
nradov 3y ago
What's your point? During the recent troubles at Boeing, very few of their top executives came from sales and marketing backgrounds. The commercial airliner business is completely unlike the consumer electronics or office automation businesses. Airliner customers are a lot more sophisticated and care deeply about product quality issues which impact their own businesses.
RyanHamilton 3y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0

elromulous 3y ago

Wouldn't this apply to today's Apple?

zeroonetwothree 3y ago
How is Apple a monopoly?
- nativeit 3y ago
  In much the same way Boeing is—they are one of only two options.
  - kaesar14 3y ago
    Not sure I buy that. They're one of only two options in operating system but one of many in hardware models. They're much less able to win regulatory capture being a far less regulated industry and in a consumer market.
    - Filligree 3y ago
      Pray tell, what are my options in hardware if I want a laptop with a good (Apple-level) touchpad, battery life, screen and performance? You could argue I'm just saying they're high quality, which may be true, but the software has been degrading and I have no options if I value openness _and_ quality.
      - kaesar14 3y ago
        How is being the only good company making laptops a monopoly? Seems like you recognized that point in your second paragraph but bears repeating how ridiculous of a comparison to Boeing that is
      - panick21_ 3y ago
        I don't give a shit about touchpads. Apple for the majority of its history didn't have superior performance and even today they have some product that are under-powered in regards to ram. I can flip it and mention features that Apple products don't have that I like. But this isn't actually an argument for monopoly. That just an argument that you like a company more then the other.
  - dghlsakjg 3y ago
    That's pretty much the textbook definition of an oligopoly which is explicitly not a monopoly.
- smallmancontrov 3y ago
  In the "gigantic moats with minimal connection to product quality" sense. The app store and rich messaging have clear two-sided-market dynamics and they own a bunch of customer photo albums too. Anticompetitive market structure is bad for consumers loooong before it results in an actual literal "only one company in a broadly defined niche" monopoly.
ortusdux 3y ago
Arguably yes. I'll note that the quote was from 1995 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs:_The_Lost_Interview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs:_The_Lost_Interview
jmondi 3y ago
If Apple was a monopoly, sure. But Apple is not a monopoly.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  People so eager to defend Apple from "monopoly" that they completely ignore the point, which is equally valid when you are not a monopoly but have a extremely sturdy market penetration.
quesera 3y ago
I don't think so. The examples of IBM and Xerox were truly dominant in their day. I'm not going to get into the definition of "monopoly" here. But there's a reason for the "No one ever got fired for buying IBM" quote, and there's a reason that "Xerox" is/was basically synonymous with "photocopy". No one calls an Android device an "iPhone". Apple captures basically 100% of the market excitement and profit, but not sales or penetration. Apple is not dominant anywhere near what IBM and Xerox were. So, for me this fails the test of ~"sales and marketing running the company and not bringing forward great new products". Apple is still delivering. Apple is not all things to all people -- but no one is without choice. I think Apple, and Apple customers, are happy with Apple.

nradov 3y ago

What's your point? During the recent troubles at Boeing, very few of their top executives came from sales and marketing backgrounds. The commercial airliner business is completely unlike the consumer electronics or office automation businesses. Airliner customers are a lot more sophisticated and care deeply about product quality issues which impact their own businesses.

RyanHamilton 3y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGKsbt5wii0