Steve Jobs

[caeron]

I guess he isn't on his deathbed after all. Too bad.

I have an iphone and I like it quite a lot, but the cult of apple built around a guy whose ego has always outstripped his talent is inexplicable to me.

I'm an old school tech guy, and I remember what a joke his company next was. The mac is great because it doesn't have to interoperate with anything. The ipod and the iphone are great products, but seriously.

[RA1]

Apparently he has screwed up hormones, whatever that might be.

How do you make a hormone? Pinch his tits too hard. Very old joke.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

I'm an old school tech guy, and I remember what a joke his company next was. The mac is great because it doesn't have to interoperate with anything. The ipod and the iphone are great products, but seriously.

True enough -- by being relatively closed, the Apple universe bypasses a lot of trouble that Microsoft can't avoid.

But give Jobs credit for putting infinitely more weight on the user experience than Microsoft ever has. Even Gates gave him that plaudit in a joint on-stage interview a couple of years back. That deficit at Microsoft stems not from interoperability requirements but rather, by Gates's own admission, from the two men's different priorities in setting product and corporate strategy.

Also, in the past Apple charged a premium for a lifestyle statement. But today I think it charges a premium for technology that works better. Interoperability, again, was hardly the cause of everything wrong with Vista, for example.

As for Microsoft, I used to think its worst mistake was not biting the bullet, throwing away Windows/DOS and starting over with a UNIX kernel, as Apple did with the Next O/S. But that is small beer compared with its continuing failure to do much of anything effective to meet the new twin threats of "cloud computing" on the one hand, and on the other hand the proliferation of iPhones and all the other personal devices that increasingly untether you from a PC.

Gates has long had impeccable timing. His decision on when to leave the burning house was no exception.

[TampaYankee]

Jobs: technology giant/marketing muddler

Gates: marketing giant/technology muddler

Pretty much says it all. Both men left their marks. Too bad Jobs wasn't a marketer too.

[caeron]

Personally, I think Gates biggest strength as a business leader was doggedness. He just never let go and never gave up. It was windows 3.1 before anybody used it. He just kept hammering at it. That's something I can respect.

I agree, though, that Jobs did really get that it was the user experience. He just wasn't great about the business/marketing.

Years ago I was on the team that offered to license the Apple interface for all UNIX systems. Apple could have really become a player. They weren't interested.

[BigK]

Jobs: technology giant/marketing muddler

Gates: marketing giant/technology muddler

Pretty much says it all. Both men left their marks. Too bad Jobs wasn't a marketer too.

I've never really thought of Jobs as a marketing muddler. I think Apple's marketing must be pretty good to have created the "coolness" image of Apple.

I'm still fond of Apple even though the last Apple I owned was the IIE (I even owned a Zebek 10 MB external hard drive). I finally threw it out about 7 years ago, but have been using PC'S for 20 years.

I think Gates' greatest talent was out negotiating IBM.

[caeron]

Creating cool in marketing really isn't that tough, though it does require some discipline. That's the sizzle of marketing.

I'm more talking about the marketing of product marketing. Figuring out what you need to do to make your product absolutely compelling. Apple in the computer space has only ever been lackluster at this as you might note by their marketshare. They've clearly found themselves as a consumer toy company, but then they lack the depth and breadth of Sony, so it's hard to call much of a record from an ipod and an iphone.

[BigK]

It was just announced that Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence through June. Sounds Ominous.

[caeron]

What a shock! Steve Jobs lies and tries to control the media. Color me surprised.