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Yeah, like Steve Jobs making sure the NeXT factory looked pretty by painting the robots is an example of silliness because NeXT failed. Yet if Apple showed tha
by smackfu 14y ago
Yeah, like Steve Jobs making sure the NeXT factory looked pretty by painting the robots is an example of silliness because NeXT failed. Yet if Apple showed that off in a product video today, it would be held up as attention to detail.
- mikeash 14y agoNeXT didn't really fail. They had a reasonably profitable exit by being bought by a large tech company, and subsequently basically took over the acquiring company and drove it to become incredibly successful. But of course the popular image of NeXT is that it failed, so your point still stands entirely.
- wtallis 14y agoAnd perhaps most importantly, while it was an independent company, NeXT was operating under a very restrictive non-compete agreement that forced them to go after only low-volume segments.
- mikeash 14y agoI hadn't heard about that, do you have any links to more info? It sounds interesting.
- philwelch 14y agoNeXT's acquisition valuation was far below the valuations it accepted investment at years before. I'm pretty sure it was a net loss for its investors, if not directly that certainly on an opportunity cost basis.
- nicholassmith 14y agoFrom what I've read about the olden days, it was actually viewed as attention to detail then.