3 ms·
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not abou
by evanm 14y ago
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.
-- Steve Jobs, Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998
- hazov 14y agoIBM do invest in pure science with the expectation that something out there bring a totally new field or technology, Apple does not. The transistor was invented in one of those large R&D units, Bell Labs from AT&T, maybe it did not brought money as the Mac or the iPhone but it was real innovation, you could always argue that it was all about people but I think without AT&T money it would have appeared much later in history. EDIT: deleted some unnecessary words.
- tensor 14y agoMost of Apple's innovations are not publishable as science papers. In contrast, IBMs innovations are routinely of publishable kind. Microsoft, HP, and Google also do a lot of "hard" computer science or engineering work. Apple's UI and integration innovations not nearly in the same class as those of the others. That's not to say Apple doesn't help society, or that it's not creative. But it's certainly not doing the same type of work as the others. In fact, many of the technologies that Apple has purchased, such as Siri, would not exist without lots of funding into solving the harder problems.
- sliverstorm 14y agoIn fact, many of the technologies that Apple has purchased, such as Siri, would not exist without lots of funding into solving the harder problems. That doesn't mean they wouldn't like to take all the credit for it ;)
- CrankyPants 14y agoYou can do better.
- lachlanj 14y agoThis quote should go to the top of the page!