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So you think you know Apple's Steve Jobs? Very 'Entertaining' Reading

nymag.com — ...the most common descriptor applied to him, by friends and foes and even Jobs himself, is “*****.”; Asked by a writer from Wired, “If you could go back and give advice to your 25-year-old self, what would you say?,” Jobs erupted, “Not to deal with stupid interviews—I have no time for this philosophical *****!"

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  • sgirard, on 10/11/2007, -10/+46This was a really good read. I don't agree with everything the author says, but it did make me think.

    Here's a thought: Is the iPhone more like the Newton, or the iPod?

    The Newton was highly anticipated, highly promoted by Apple and by the press, and was expected to be a sure winner. The Newton was a great handheld computer but it's high price and usability issues (handwriting recognition) slowed it's adoption.

    The iPod didn't generate a lot of excitement in the press when it was announced. It was only available to Mac users, was introduced into a crowded MP3 player market, and if the music player aspect wasn't compelling enough, it could also be used as an external hard drive. Sounds exciting, right? But the iPod has been a great success.

    Like the Newton the iPhone has been highly anticipated by the market, and heavily promoted by Apple and the press. The iPhone is expected to be a sure winner. Like the iPod, the iPhone is entering a crowded market, and has a high price. Like the Newton there are questions about the usability of it's touch-screen interface.

    So which will the iPhone be? The next Newton, or the next iPod?
    • emanggid, on 10/11/2007, -2/+30this is really a great read. and the ending was the best part:

      "What’s at stake for Jobs, then, isn’t money or power—for no matter how the iPhone fares, he’ll still have both in abundance. What’s at stake is the thing that now must matter to him above all: the ending of his story."

      yeah that's sort of spoiler, but i figure most folks won't finish it.
    • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -8/+89Steve Jobs is digging you all down.
    • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/11/2007, -11/+32No matter what I think about Apple, Steve Jobs is helming the company that most responsible for shaping the design and consumer electronic trends in this decade. From curved and shaped computers, to miniature boxes, to the use of shiny plastic and transparent parts, to the emergence of elegance in electronics....

      Apple has made enough fans that they have a huge crowd of people who will buy anything with an Apple logo, including the iPhone.

      Finally, Apple has had its way leading the design trend. Almost every major and minor cell phone manufacturer (except Foxconn which is rumored to make the iPhone) has an iPhone competitor or clone in the works or about to be sold or being sold, such as the LG Prada, Asus Aura, and Meizu has just released its own. Its not debatable that Apple is the Sony of this decade.
    • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -42/+33This article was a hit piece. Sorry. The writer fails to take into consideration exactly how difficult it is for Apple to make masterpieces of post-modern design and I mean "modern" in the sense that style follows functionality. In that recent onstage pairing with Gates, Jobs was not looking down "shooting daggers" to the floor with Gates' remark about wanting Jobs' sense of taste (note to author: anyone can watch that interview, too, and read into Jobs' facial reactions whatever preconcieved notion they bring to it). Jobs was looking down because he was caught hearing his competitor echo his truthful remarks back to him. Gates has no taste, or better, he has no sense of what post modernism is, no sense of putting the culture in his products. Gates ripped off Apple back in the day and would still like to do so. (Vista is just a copy of Tiger OS afterall, plus the viruses). Jobs is a creative forerunner and Gates made his billions making bad counterfeits of Apple products. If I were Steve Jobs, Gates would make me nuts with his slavish imitation of every move Jobs makes.

      The writer missed all that goes into making excellence. Being a cultural innovator and an innovator with style is a very difficult thing to do. That's what all the yelling is about. Apple machines have made their way into the Museum of Modern Art and rightfully so. Apple's designer, Jonathan Ive, was recently knighted for his designs from the original iMac, to the iPod, to the Cube, etc., etc., and he belongs next to Norman Bel Geddes and other important industrial designers of the modern and post modern era.

      I don't get why this New York writer skips the excellence quotient and how it plays into Jobs' character, except he's still sore Jobs gave him the brush off ten years ago. His facts are also wrong, the more expensive new iTunes songs are cd quality. His prediction of the iffiness of the iPhone fails to consider that people want excellence. The iPhone seems like just one more notch in Steve Jobs' creative belt. And yes, I own a Cube.
    • kKhan, on 10/11/2007, -12/+34@Cooperjones

      I think your post suffers from post graduate, pre job-salary, neo art-snobbery.
    • corporalclegg24, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14That was a very emotional read. Steve reminds me of Phantom of the Opera.
    • teejaded, on 10/11/2007, -1/+21@Cooperjones

      Sure it might mention them, but this article is not about how hard it is to create good design, mp3 quality, or even post modernism, its about Steve Jobs' life. None of the statements you made even pertain to the article or make sense.
    • dn11, on 10/11/2007, -10/+18"This article was a hit piece. Sorry. The writer fails to take into consideration exactly how difficult it is for Apple to make masterpieces of post-modern design and I mean "modern" in the sense that style follows functionality."

      Spoken like a true fanboi. The writer is practically bowing down to Steve's achievements - often describing his life as if he is some sort of mythological hero out of legend. Just because he says Steve isn't perfect you call it a "hit piece"?
    • jeza, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13"His facts are also wrong, the more expensive new iTunes songs are cd quality."

      CD quality? Not quite.... they're using 256kbps AAC, not a lossless format such as Apple Lossless Format. So still a lossy format and some people can apparently tell the difference.
    • firepowered, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2. “From then on, in his view (Job's), Intel was a piece of ***** and nothing we did could change his mind.”

      ummmm..... hmmmmmmmmmmm... come 2005..

      Today, Mac sales are growing three times faster than the PC market as a whole, a spurt that Jobs puts down primarily to Apple’s switch to Intel.
    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -13/+7"The next Newton, or the next iPod?"

      Neither. It will be the first iPhone.

      -jcr
    • airquotes, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3I only read the first page, but this reporter seriously seemed to have a tongue in gate's ass fanboy agenda.
    • ThatsUnpossible, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5@sgirard

      Since the iPhone starts with one of the most successful products in history, the iPod, and then ADDS to it the ability to make phone calls, watch movies in widescreen, surf the web, etc ... I'd say it has a good chance of surpassing the iPod.
    • andburn1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@ shrimpcrackers - I happen to agree with you on some points, but please never ever say "the fact that x is true is not debateable" about an opinion. That Apple is a computing/design pioneer is debateable. You'd be hard pressed to find someone to disagree, but it most certainly is not something like one molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It is not debateable that your statement is debateable. And on digg, EVERYTHING is debateable.
  • colincornaby, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3(sarcasm) BREAKING: Steve Jobs Can Be Kind of a Jerk! (/sarcasm)
  • chaosmachine, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6apparently it's fairly common for CEOs to be psychopaths (literally): http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/96/open_boss.html
  • G33k0ft3chz, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20Is it just me or is the description messed up?
    • ij00mini, on 10/11/2007, -1/+64Nope, it's “just you.
    • floodyberry, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19It's UTF-8 encoded text being misinterpreted as (extended) ASCII somewhere along the line.
  • Billions, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6It's a good article. Interesting summation of what Jobs/Apple has faced and will be facing. I'm a big Apple fan and the pre-hype this article has been getting this last few days was prepping me for an annoying read about how the iPhone will "make or break Apple." (*Sidenote: only a few sentences about that were included). Not as negative or as damning as I'm sure many were hoping.

    So... Could the iPhone's failure sink Apple? Well, the article omits one of the main aspects of Apple's product releases and particularily the mobile phone industry as a whole: They make a new model every 6-8 months. So even a luke-warm reception beyond the "Honeymoon" month following June 29th, they can make changes and updates. Nothing's in stone, we all know that from the article: Jobs at one point swore he'd never allow the iPod on Windows machines.

    The truth is, whether Jobs is the "*****" we all hear about or not, it doesn't really affect my interaction with my Macs or my iPod - they are solid experieces with a lot of intuition engineered into them. Yeah, I'll definitely concede others may be able to offer it at times, but rarely as consistantly.

    • thedragon4453, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12I dont think its really a matter of whether or not jobs is an *****. He gets things done. Apple went from near bankruptcy to thriving. It would be one thing if he were an ***** and Apple went under. But that is not the case. He's backing up his bark.

      Now, do I want to be the guy that has to report to him every day? Not unless its all good news :)
  • dinostabOMG, on 10/11/2007, -10/+1Yeah, *****.
  • jamauss, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3I had no idea Steve “ Jobs “ and “ all over the “. Are you serious? That's worse than Bill Gates when he “ all of the “ at Microsoft. Shouldn't Jobs go to jail if he admits to “ Apple employees?
  • Flavicon, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8Great read! I'll admit, i had to whip out my thesaurus a few times.
  • Xanadude, on 10/11/2007, -9/+10Ask the veteran engineers at Pixar - whom he screwed out of stock options just to increase his share of the payoff - whether he's an ***** or not.
    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -8/+6I'm calling ***** on that. I know a couple people over at Pixar, and I've never heard any of them bitching about getting screwed out of stock options.

      Steve funded Pixar out of his own pocket from its founding until its IPO.

      -jcr

    • ogun7, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Actually, Pixar was founded by George Lucas and Uncle Steve bought it from him in 1986 for $5 million. He then sunk $5 million of his own money into the company. Wikipedia man, come on. This is the Internet! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar
    • Xanadude, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3NSResponder: Next time, ask yourself a simple question before clicking the Submit Comment button:

      "Do I have any idea, any at all, of what I'm talking about?"
    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Lucas had a computer graphics department, which Steve Jobs bought and incorporated as Pixar.

      http://alvyray.com/Pixar/default.htm

      -jcr

    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1"Do I have any idea, any at all, of what I'm talking about?"

      That's a question you would do well to ask yourself. I know people at Pixar. Do you?

      -jcr

  • TechCF, on 10/11/2007, -1/+18Please someone fix the encoding of DIGG. ISO-8859-1 and UTF-8 both looks ugly!
    • generationwhy, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2So what should the encoding be if not UTF-8?
  • m2paper, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1Is it just me
  • Cherubim, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3Jobs is still an arrogant jerk but that doesn't seem to faze him. Yes, he's made a mint but what direction is he really driving Apple towards ? Diversification is a good thing but it looks like Jobs may be overextending Apple by releasing products in market segments that are well established and fiercely competitive. I'd rather see Apple focus more on innovation with its computing products instead of playing this "me too" game with the IPhone and AppleTV.





    • marsbar, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1The guy who wrote the article definitely got paid by the word.
    • InitialDMP5, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3I don't know man. I think Apple has done a great job innovating in the computer department. The macbooks are doing fantastic. New LED screens, 4GB of RAM capacity, really fast procs. Multiple OS's. All great things that the other guys aren't doing fully yet.

      Jobs has also said that the appleTV is a hobby in the companies eyes and not this other pillar. I think in about 10 years, it will be a different story.

      I am still not sure about the iPhone. Obviously the market for convergence devices has grown considerably within the last 2 years. RIM has really made a huge splash with the youth market releasing the Blackberry Pearl, and of course the Sidekick by Danger. So the iPhone isn't coming into a market that people aren't buying. The phone will sell out withing the first few months based on the apple brand alone. But I think as a first gen product, it has lots of room to grow. I won't be buying one at launch though. I have a Blackberry 8800 and its great for me. I do envy the Safari browser though!!
  • zaibatsu, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2What a great read. I loved it. And yes Steve is an *****. Ages ago when he took over Apple, I found his e-mail address. It was sj@pixar.com (I'm sure it's dead now). Anyway, I told him how much of an idiot he was to get rid of the clone Macs. He ripped me a new one and told me to just wait for the good things coming. I just dismissed his rants and thought he was a total loser. How in the world could he turn Apple around, not gonna happen. I guess that's why he's a Billionaire and I'm not.
    • kethraal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3" And yes Steve is an *****. Ages ago when he took over Apple, I found his e-mail address. It was sj@pixar.com (I'm sure it's dead now). Anyway, I told him how much of an idiot he was to get rid of the clone Macs."

      So you e-mailed a company's CEO and told him that he was an idiot....

      Who's the *****?
    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Many people were wrong about SJ, myself included. I also thought that killing the clones was a bad idea, before I understood just how bad a deal Apple had made with the cloners.

      -jcr
  • davidlitts, on 10/11/2007, -10/+4To preface this let me say I'm stoned.

    The last line of the article made me think something. When Jobs finally steps down he will leave a beloved philosopher, a masterful artist, and a shaper of culture. When Gates steps down, he steps down as emperor.
    • generationwhy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4I recognize your reasoning and thinking from some of my own journeys through the haze, but since I'm at work I can't really level with you here. Beloved philosopher? :) And didn't Gates already step down, technically? I wouldn't say emperor, rather pioneer, 'cause he pretty much pioneered the PC industry in the beginning.

      Jobs on his hand, indeed a shaper of culture, but even more so a great visionaire and innovator.
    • 5555, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5To preface this let me say I don't care if you're stoned. I care if your comment adds anything of value to this thread. If when stoned you can't help come across like an idiot, it means you shouldn't post because you're either a) an inexperienced smoker or b) just trying to be funny by copping the 'stoner stereotype'. Either way you give pot smokers a bad name.

      Although not as bad as I expected, down you go.
    • ekboost, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10When Gates "steps down" he's going to be concentrating on working for charity. Jobs is not.
    • seraph82, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Nah, I'd say more of a God than an Emporer, though it saddens me to know it. :(
    • kethraal, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I'm sober, and I actually think that made sense. Jobs has certainly made as big of a cultural impact as Gates (although Gates has made more money). Think of how deeply the iPod is embedded in Western culture at this point -- thousands of years from now, that little white box will be mentioned in dozens of history books, it'll be seen in "ancient" commercials, and one or two will probably be in museums.

      That's pretty damn incredible when you think about it.
    • kethraal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"I wouldn't say emperor, rather pioneer, 'cause he pretty much pioneered the PC industry in the beginning."

      I wouldn't say pioneer. Pioneers explore new ground and create new things. Gates was a great businessman, but he neither explored nor created new markets. Microsoft BASIC was simply bought and rebranded. As was MS-DOS. Even the Windows interface was licensed from Apple (albeit accidentally).

      Pioneer? That term is better suited for Wozniak, Raskin, and Hertzfeld.
    • OMGWTFROFLMAOx2, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Whether you like him or not, there is no denying that Gates has done more good in the world than Jobs could ever dream of. The business decisions he's pulled on the way to making MS #1 pale in comparison to the amount of time and money he's given to help solving REAL problems (not this silly open source vs. MS vs. apple business) in the world.
    • NSResponder, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"there is no denying that Gates has done more good in the world than Jobs could ever dream of. "

      I would give that credit to Melinda Gates, not to Bill. There's no indication that he had any interest at all in helping other people before he married a woman who wanted some respectability to go with the money.

      -jcr

  • FrozenGonad, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6That was really well written. I enjoyed that thoroughly.

    I must say, I didn't pick up on the anger between Steve and Bill at their reunion, I guess I was distracted by that moronic woman who was involved with the interview. "I wish I had Steve's taste", as a quote from Bill referring to the comments by Steve on the documentary "Triumph of the Nerds" was an obvious dig now that I think about it.

    Still animosity there after all these years.
    • zodieman, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10True but Steve certainly had the last word with his Beatles quote. Did you hear the "ahhhs" from the audience on that one? Touché
    • seraph82, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2"Oohs and Aahs" are one thing, 33% of all of the money in existence is another. I think I'd take the money...
  • jaw96, on 10/11/2007, -5/+12I'm convinced Steve Jobs is the Great Gatsby. Everyone wants to be around him, but in the end -- we won't lose any sleep when he dies.
  • diggernick, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Wow! Best read I've had in awhile. This is inspiration material for any business owner.
    I suggest printing this and taking it to the beach or a relaxing place of your own...
  • scott2007, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0I'm wondering if the author could make his style any more thick and inappropriate.
  • clickmyface, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6For all the bad that you can argue about Apple marketing and this crazy cultural obsession with consumer electronics the world has, I still like Steve Jobs. The guy really did stand on the shoulders of giants and say "this is what's next." It started with a friend in a house, and grew to neighbors and then cities, then states, countries and the world. When he was my age he saw something that he was passionate enough to devote his life toward. 30 years ago. He still does that today.

    I can only dream of finding that passion in my life. And I do, every night. So yeah, I admire him in many ways. Not because of iPod or iPhone, but because he's showed me what amazing is.
  • au071, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3These kind of what you should do 10-25 years ago are very stupid. Who cares. It's what he i doing now or in the future that matters.
    • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2 @ au071
      "These kind of what you should do 10-25 years ago are very stupid. Who cares. It's what he i doing now or in the future that matters."

      Wow, it only took you three short sentences to totally contradict yourself. I'm actually impressed with the ignorance.
    • kngstar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0@cooperjones

      Haha, that's hilarious. You get slammed and embarrassed above by like three people, (for good reason, you are a snob that is way to worried about sounding intelligent) and you come and pick on someone just because they can't sound as smart as you. Sadly however, his post made just as much sense as your earlier one.

      You have your element though, just not with people who know anything. I'm sure you are fantastic at convincing unintelligent, or weak willed people you are quite the scholar. :)
  • Hoodwink, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4Why are you people so ***** obsessed with Steve Jobs? There seems to be a new "Jobs" article every 2 seconds on digg. Really, why do you care so much about a pompus, arrogant, corporate fat-cat that does not give 2 ***** about you? All he wants is your money, but you people worship him like a God. No Digg, I am sick of this garbage.
    • MacParrot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I don't dispute a single thing you said. However, which of any of us will be remembered when we passed? What great accomplishments will be brought forth to have people say "This is what (insert name here) created."

      People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs deserve their accolades. The computer sitting in front of you is proof of that.
    • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I guess when you do a great job like Steve Jobs, people get jealous and try to copy you and then call you an a hole. I think Gates is more despicable than Jobs, personally, because he is a thief who tries to look good by giving away his money. Just think of all the hours PCers have lost out of their lives due to spyware and viruses. Gates' IT people make money on that. Apple doesn't have the parasitic IT hordes to support like Gates does. Hey, that's another one of Jobs' accomplishments!
    • snowwrestler, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Because he's really successful, and there's no clue as to why. He's a college dropout. He's had no formal education in computers, business, marketing, etc. He does things that would get most business people fired--showing up for important presentations in jeans, important meetings late and in ratty shorts. He obsesses about seemingly pointless stuff and blows up at people with little provocation.

      In short, he's like many ego-driven, style-obsessed, contentless blowhard assholes you might run into. Only, he makes billions of dollars and runs one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world.

      He's like a prodigy, or a mad genius. Way more has come of out his life than has gone into it, and he has succeeded wildly where thousands of people like him go down in flames. Why? There's no good answer. That's an enticing mystery for most people, who want pointers and examples on how to become more successful in their own lives. They want to know how he does it.
  • zdiggler, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I know an ***** when I see one. Well sometime you gotta be an ***** to get thing come out right.
  • marsbeyond, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3It would be nice to finally see the cell phone replace the laptop and everything else electronic. I think the Iphone is just the latest stab at it. Human beings were not made to sit behind a computer 8 hours a day. There are many other domains that I wish Steven Jobs would delve into. I wish he would end world oil slavery. Fusion power is just around the corner. I wish he would build electric cars. I wish he would build downdraft energy towers with camelina plants underneath the tedlar sheets for biodiesel so America could achive energy independence. I wish he would look at personal spacecraft and flying cars. The software/computer industry is so limited in range. Computers should be able to link to the human mind. I should be able to think, and say in my head, "computer calculate so and so" for me. And we should be able to hear the answers in our heads. This article is florid, Steve Jobs is insanely great, but I don't think he is god, and I don't think he thinks he is god.
  • chrism1128, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8"***** 1, Genius 2, Sociopath 3"
    That sounds about right. I do think that he is a brilliant dick head.
    I hate the guy, but he does come up with some cool stuff.
  • tomzer1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+14Okay, the article opens with picking on how old Steve looks. Yeah, you see it if you've followed The Steve a while. But while it picks on his looks, the article totally fails to mention that he probably lost 10 years of his hair and skin tone to CANCER! The tough S.O.B. fought off a rare form of PANCREATIC cancer recently. Lord! Give the guy some credit for even walking out on stage and doing two hour demos for the last couple years since.
    • mstoneburner, on 10/11/2007, -10/+3I'll bet you'd suck his dick if you had a chance, fanboi.
  • MetisElara, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3Good ***** god. Digg me down if you have to. Damn that writer is a ***** spaz. Saunters? Dorian Gray, frail-seeming, halting and labored? Somebody is waaaaay too passionate about writing and he sounds like an idiot. I've been through a thousand writing courses and by the tenth one I had already realized that the main thing in writing is not to sound too passionate; and that's what the tenth class was about. They taught me to disappear from my writing as much as I could. They taught me not to show self-adoration. They said that if my writing expressed anything I had learned grammatically that my readers hadn't, I would sound like a self-obsessed jackass. ***** self adoring SPAZ. I bet you he feels like he wrote a masterpiece. I pulled out some ***** I wrote five years ago and that's how I sounded. My stories were full of the dumbest *****... You can tell how into myself I used to be. I adored my own writing, and it was ***** retarded just like this guy's. Thank god I'm past that *****. Why is this guy writing articles? He needs to choke.
    • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2@MetisElara

      Totally agree. The article was obnoxious. But Diggers aren't the most literate geeks on the planet; they don't get agitprop.
    • hunchback, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1And the ending line about Jobs worrying about the ending of his story, I assume all high profile people near retirement worry about their "story"? And is the writer trying to say Jobs is going to retire right after iPhone? What total BS! He is trying to make Jobs sound absolutely vain, understood, but thats such a weak ender and last pot shot.
    • xmetal, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4this is a sad comment on modern society and writing skills. You should EXPECT and DESIRE articles written this way. With words and concepts above a 6th grade level. Instead, people bitch and moan because they have to slightly think, or heaven forbid, learn a new word.

      Very sad.
    • walkerj, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@xmetal
      There is of course the school of thought contending that news articles should be as concise as possible. That said, I like the tone and style of this article. There is place for both kinds of writing.
  • iFox, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Oooh Steve Jobs was sexy in 1981!
  • vulapine, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think that John Heilemann (the article's author) wants to be Tom Wolfe.
  • joebaloney, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Incredible. You are telling me that the guy who told his "best friend" Wozniak that if they designed Breakout for Atari in 4 days, they would get some money. Then hung out while Woz stayed up for four straight days putting it together. Then collected $4000 bucks. The told Woz he got, ummm $1600 I think and gave him half of it. Is an *****? Hard to believe.
  • ylon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The following observation merits some thought: "What’s at stake for Jobs, then, isn’t money or power—for no matter how the iPhone fares, he’ll still have both in abundance. What’s at stake is the thing that now must matter to him above all: the ending of his story."

    I personally don't believe that this is the case. Like most devices and innovations brought forth by Apple, the iPhone is not an end in itself. Apple has a very long track record of introducing interstitial hardware and software that is a result of pushing towards a common end goal. The question is what is the end goal? The iPod, the media store, Mac OS X, the iPhone, the alliance with Google, etc. etc. are all just steps along the way to a greater goal.

    I personally believe that the google video of the all encompassing information management device that was posted on June 3 is a much more accurate idea as to what the ultimate goal is. If you connect the statistical dots along the way they are pointing towards this:
    http://digg.com/apple/Apple_s_prediction_of_computing_in_2010_from_1988
  • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5kkhan
    "I think your post suffers from post graduate, pre job-salary, neo art-snobbery."

    Actually I only minored in Art for one year before grad school and I am a woman who has worked in media for the past twenty years. And what do you do for a living, sir, that qualifies you to critique my critique so vaingloriously?

    @ teejaded
    "Sure it might mention them, but this article is not about how hard it is to create good design, mp3 quality, or even post modernism, its about Steve Jobs' life. None of the statements you made even pertain to the article or make sense."

    Actually, I think Jobs' extreme characteristics are a result of his pursuit of excellence. So my point was precisely -- on point.


    @ dn11

    "Spoken like a true fanboi. The writer is practically bowing down to Steve's achievements - often describing his life as if he is some sort of mythological hero out of legend. Just because he says Steve isn't perfect you call it a "hit piece"? "

    No. And I'm a fangoil not boi. I'm not criticizing the writer for sizing up Jobs' imperfections. I'm criticizing him for failing to take into account what the pursuit of excellence does to one's personal life and character. It makes you seem like a tyrant on one hand and a god on the other. The writer mentions the three act dramatic structure but fails to discern what drives Jobs so hard, the first rule of dramatic construction. What drives Jobs is obvious in his work. He wants to be excellent and has largely achieved that in sucess after success --- the original Mac. The icon desktop. The first Powerbook. Pixar. The iMac G3. The iPod. The Cube. The iBook, The Titanium Powerbook. The OSX operating system. The Shuffle. iTunes. And now the iPhone.

    Uh, I can't really think of a more illustrious set of accomplishments in the world of industrial design since the heyday of the Machine Age.

    @ frantix "@Cooperjones, well written post. You write very well but unfortunately are in your own world without a clue."

    Then it wasn't a well-written post. Sorry if my world offends you, but I appreciate when people go for it with their careers. Like Steve Jobs.
    • frostieDude, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@Cooperjones

      The first PowerBook isn't one of Job's accomplishments. Apple released the first PowerBooks, the PowerBook 100, 140, and 170 during the tenure of John Sculley.
    • dn11, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"No. And I'm a fangoil not boi"

      Sorry for the stereotyping. I don't think the author is overlooking the excellence or originally of Steve's successful products, he just isn't as focused on the design aspect as you are. One of the last paragraphs reads:

      "Less than two weeks from now, when the phone hits the streets, the consumerist pandemonium will likely be hysterical. Once again, Jobs may have fashioned a totemic object that will capture the culture—and cause rival CEOs to have coronary events. No one else in history has pulled of this kind of coup, as Jobs has, with four different products. The Apple II. The Mac. The iPod. The computer-animated feature film. Betting against a track record like that would be a dangerous wager. Especially when you know, deep down, that you want an iPhone. Bad."
  • Swift2, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2One thing that sets Jobs apart is that he isn't controlled by this nonsense. Some WSJ reporter writes a book that plots the rise, fall and rise of Jobs. Okay, fair enough. It imposes a dramatic structure to better understand the "story." But here's the truth: the story is not true, of its nature. We have no idea what structure Jobs gives to it.

    If he accepts this structure, he has nowhere to go. Okay, I've saved Apple, which I founded. Time to ride off into the sunset, etc. Great. With that attitude, you do nothing. Oh, wait, you do one thing: you write dumb articles for New York.

    It's obvious, too, that the press has built up Jobs, now it's time to start tearing him down.

    It's analogous to so much of our so-called political press. Over and over, we're told that Hillary isn't "authentic," while Giuliani is "authentic." You know when somebody's authentic when you know the person, and even then, you're often not sure. What does a politician want to do? What's their plan? That's their character. All the rest is media hype. The Wired reporter at the beginning, "What would you tell the 25-year old you?" deserved a punch in the face, not just an insult.

    This is a year of great accomplishments for Jobs, and a big gamble. If the iPhone hits, he's in the same league as Henry Ford. But it could be a failure. But this year, he's started the process of abolishing DRM in music. He's finished the transition to Intel, all his machines are selling very well, and the iPhone has a chance of being another category changer.

    Yes, he's aggressive. He calls people assholes. I don't know if I could take working for him as an engineer or designer, but I'd be telling my grandchildren about it.
    • dn11, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Ok... but there is always going to be this obvious question - how long does Steve keep at it and how does he end it? As things are now Steve IS Apple. It is a unique thing for a major corporation to rest so much of it's identity in the hands of one man some 30 years on from it's inception. Henry Ford is a good comparison - it was very difficult for him to relinquish control to his successors, but even he HAD successors. So far Steve stands alone - who is even in the same universe as him? To me, and to the author, this is where much of the buzz about Apple being bought by Google comes from - it would be a way to eventually pass on the company to individuals who's visionary abilities and aspirations seem to may match his own.

      All in all, I thought it was a very good realistic article. I don't think the author is trying to tear Steve down from his pedestal - he is just acknowledging that if indeed Steve is the singular visionary he is painted as, that strength and self confidence inherently comes with flaws, and it isn't impossible for him to be wrong.
  • shadowspawn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0digged for the use of the word "grokked"
  • neffy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/06/backlash-begins.html
  • Leadhyena, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3This is the most telling quote in the story (page 7):

    "For 30 years, Jobs has hewn to the conviction that Apple’s strength is that, as he puts it, the company makes “the whole banana”—hardware, software, and everything in between. This approach is no small part of the reason that the Mac was trounced in the PC market by Windows. On the other hand, it explains why Apple thumped everyone with the iPod. Whatever its virtues and demerits, however, the whole banana has been Jobs’s ideological touchstone. And now he is entering a business where success or failure will depend on the efficiency and savvy of not just another company, but of AT&T. Oy vey."

    Totally true. In that interview with Jobs and Gates, Jobs was trying to play up how the company can cooperate with others, but we know that Apple can be downright nasty, even ditching the makers of their processor just because they couldn't agree on a deal (and you thought the move to Intel was all about speed and compatibility...). This honeymoon with AT&T will not end well, and Apple will have a hard time picking up the pieces.
  • colonels1020, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4I think he really has peaked and is running out of new ideas. I mean, look at Leopard. It looks just like some of the Vista betas. And what new features are there in Leopard that Vista doesn't already have? A reflective Dock? Whoopty-freakin-doo.
    • Kyan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Dugg for Whoopty. I always thought it was Whoop-dee
  • seraph82, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1"Given an early glimpse of the Segway high-tech people-mover, he bellowed, “I think it sucks,” then later called the company’s founder, trashed his CEO as a “butthead,” and said his marketing chief “should be selling Kleenex at a discount store in Idaho.” Implored by the government to take part in the federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, he snapped at the United States assistant attorney general, Joel Klein, “Are you going to do something serious? Or is it going to be dickless?”"

    .... wow. I'm an ***** too, but... wow. What an ******!*
    • Aang, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Jobs to Klein: “Are you going to do something serious? Or is it going to be dickless?”"

      Jobs was so right! As Leo Laporte (or one of the TWiTs) said the other day, Microsoft is a company so powerful even the US Government couldn't break it up.

      Sorry, guys I was happy when my Toshiba died and I love my MacBook Pro. I'm not a fanboy, I'm just a computer since the TRS-80, Apple II, Mac Original, IBM PC, Win 3.1, 95, 98 ME, XP 2000, etc. I've used them all. I even programmed a AT&T Unix PC a in college. - yuk!

      I've also got a StinkPad and a brand new Dell XPS on another desk. The StinkPad has nothing to love. It is light, though. The XPS is heavy, ugly and resembles a shrunk cargo container from Star Trek.

      My MacBook Pro is the pinnacle of computing so far. Digg me down if you must, but accept the truth.
  • simplejoe79, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1WOW.....it was really cool......

    "What’s at stake for Jobs, then, isn’t money or power—for no matter how the iPhone fares, he’ll still have both in abundance. What’s at stake is the thing that now must matter to him above all: the ending of his story."
    ^^^^^yeaah liked this part alot.....
  • andy78, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3the thing I didnt get about the article. is that the author says that the iphone is being thrusted upon apple by jobs in his long journey towards world domintation or whatever...

    which reminds me of all those articles by these same type of writers, knocking on steve for not presenting the "long-rumored", "ipod phone" years ago. we pushed him to do this. we really, really did.

    now that he did it, let the monday morning quarterbacking begin.
  • JGailor, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Still waiting for my chance to punch him in the face. Just to remind him that despite all his successes, he's just a person.
  • andburn1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1This isn't news. I've heard from pretty much everyone I know that lives in LA and has met or knows someone else who has met him that Steve Jobs is a dick. Say what you want about his products... he's no philanthropist, and he's no golf buddy.
  • bimtott, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2While I do appreciate the scope of this article, and it's archetypal analysis of Jobs, I honestly don't care if he's the world's biggest douche or Jesus Christ reincarnate.

    I buy his stuff; I'm not bringing him home to meet my parents.
  • jdent08, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I am going to go out on a limb here.

    I didn't really like the article, there wasn't much interesting in it. Mainly a big piece focusing on speculation about the iPhone. A little of Jobs, but nothing revealing or that in-depth. Sounds like this writer is just some wannabe that wrote his whole article without ever actually talking to Jobs at all.

    Very lame. Buried for lameness.
  • TekJansen64, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0I love how people are always saying that because of the iPhone all the other cell phone companies are making their copies. But wait, a number of these "iPhone knockoffs" are already on the market. So what makes you think that these other companies aren't the ones who originally came up with the design? Oh wait i remember, it's because Apple is the one who makes the iPhone and they are not a massive company that is only concerned with making money like Microsoft. After all the iPod was made to improve the lives of everyone on earth right?
  • Cooperjones, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0 kngstar
    "you are a snob that is way to worried about sounding intelligent) and you come and pick on someone just because they can't sound as smart as you. Sadly however, his post made just as much sense as your earlier one. You have your element though, just not with people who know anything. I'm sure you are fantastic at convincing unintelligent, or weak willed people you are quite the scholar. :)"

    Uh, watch the personal attacks, pal. How did you possibly get from Steve Jobs excellence to how I personally am adept at "convincing weak willed people" anything about anything? How did you get from that New York article and commentary that, you know, I am personally, a snob? Huh? Do you know what libel or slander means? It is actually a crime. Figure it out.

    And then, keep the personal attacks to yourself.
    • davidlitts, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2you a little self important aren't you?
  • SWMpls, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Great article. Interesting insights into the online music industry in there, too.
  • beckspace, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1waaait a minute... google to buy apple? Hmmm... why? I cant see the connection. is like coca cola making beer
  • LeeSoong, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It seems that when you set world wide goals and aspire for greatness,
    that dealing with mundane 'normal' people is extremely frustrating...

    I bet every Digg leet xpert feels the same way . . .
  • LeeSoong, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Gee - I get tired of the 'Apple's Never gonna make it!!!' writers like this one.

    Dismissed.
  •  

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