“‘There’s just one more thing,’ says Steve Jobs, as he does near the end of most Apple product launches. The phrase delights the Mac faithful in the audience in San Jose because they have come to believe that something wonderful, perhaps even magical, is about to be introduced into their lives. There was the iPod, of course, which now owns 75% of the mobile-music-player market, and the iTunes online music store, which now accounts for 84% of all legal sales of downloaded digital music. There have also been triumphant advances in nuts-and-bolts technology—from built-in wireless Internet to optical drives that record CDs and DVDs. No wonder “one more thing” often induces panic, and then a copying frenzy, among Apple’s rivals from Seoul to Shanghai to Seattle,” Peter Lewis writes for Fortune.
Lewis writes, “As his company moves deeper into music, video, consumer electronics, telephony, software, and services, Jobs is asked, How does he describe Apple Computer Inc. these days? He responds by picking up the new Apple remote control device and placing it against a giant, peanut-shaped remote that comes with a computer running Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition PC operating system. The Apple remote, sleek and white and smaller than an iPod, has six buttons. The Media Center PC remote is a handful, with more than 40 buttons. ‘Apple is a company that takes complex technology and makes it easier and simpler to use,’ he says, and seems satisfied with his answer. But moments later he smiles, and refines his definition: ‘Our goal is to stand at the intersection of technology and the humanities.’ In other words, Apple has many ‘one more things’ to come.”
Full article here.
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bring em on.
A statement of purpose for the ages. I’m trembling.
For Apple, that intersection is a good place to be.
There is a lot of money to be made in the consumer space once you convince folks that they do not need Windows at home just becasue they use it at work.
Decide for yourself. Your IT department should not dictate how you spend your hard earned dollars at home.
Notice how there is this lack of excitement for the Apple product announcement tomorrow?
Contrast it with last week.
Last week it was iPod. YEEEE-haaWWW!!!!
This week it is Apple computers. Ho-Hum. Who cares? Nothing happening in Apple computers until the Mactels come out.
Let´s talk about iPods.
… thus Apple’s abstention from the office suite and hardcore gaming markets.
Queeezie .. regarding tomorrow’s media event:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8124?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550
Brace yourself ..
‘Our goal is to stand at the intersection of technology and the humanities’
This is actually an incredibly admirable goal. If you recall Bill Gates previous goal to “get a pc on every desktop” and compare the two goals it gives you some insight into the nature of the two companies. Jobs goal really IS to simplify and thereby make more accessible the things that technology can do to improve our lives, entertain us, and facilitate communications. Gates goal was (and really still is) far more militant in its essence. It’s a goal of domination and conquest. He succeeded and some might argue that it’s been a good thing. It’s hard to dispute that Windows and Microsoft have done a lot to change the world for the better. Are they to blame for not building a more secure system. Absolutely. It’s been awful. And are they to blame for maintaining a megalomanical mindset toward competitors? No doubt about it. Microsoft represents the first wave of personal computers. By that I mean the last 20 years they have been dominant just as IBM was dominant in computers before them. But thankfully their grip is lessening. The next wave will be driven by Steve Jobs and open source computing (and by the Chinese in many parts of the world…don’t doubt this). Jobs may not be a genius but he does genius level things and produces FAR better software and hardware than most of the companies he competes with. He understands in a deeper way, how technology and people interact. That fact alone is what is driving this next wave… and I thank him for his brilliance and dedication.
“Jobs says he’s happy with Apple’s part of its first telephony experiment. “There are more phones yet to roll out,” he says with a sly smile, adding, “Cingular has been great to work with.”
Motorola has NOT been great to work with??? Is this a hint to iPhone?
Will there be a site that will do Live coverage of tomorrow’s event?
MW:Answer… What will be the answer of my questions.
Lets see, would you rather have Steve or Bill stand at the intersection?
Arrogance. From Businessweek? Surely, Ronald Glover had his tongue in his cheek as he said,”…smarten up – or be left behind.” Glover has a point, though. I have a different approach to something like that same point.
We are reading about the use of needless arrogance these days from places like the White House. I suspect we’ll be seeing some staffers going to prison soon enough but more importantly, we’ll increasingly suffer the depressing lack of confidence in a leadership for which we once held hope. We’re finding that some major corporations can’t do their accounting properly. The quality of our lives is going south fast for all these and a number of other reasons. We’re all becoming kinda desperate, aren’t we? It all drags at our spirit, our soul.
There’s a bright spot to be found. The world’s most innovative company has its hands on a wonderfully convenient, integrated combination of software and hardware. The combination works, simply put, but it also inspires us like not much else does. The personality at the head of this company has our complete attention for a reason that has become more noticeable lately. What Apple Computer is doing these days is of great significance to us. We know now; as a people or a nation, we cannot afford to allow Steve Jobs to fail.
More importantly, this combination of technology that Apple has created for us cuts across every master process of civilization. I realize few will grasp the significance of this reach here but accept my apology and bear with me a moment longer. Apple Computer’s technology – it sounds so simple when we speak of iPods, iTunes, and the services of the iTunes Store – may serve as an accelerant, a catalyst in the development of every form of culture on this earth. If you think I’m stretching things here, ask around. Perhaps it will suffice to say that in the presence of an accelerant, we best be prepared to run, not walk. My thrust here is that as a community of nations, the world cannot afford to let Steve Jobs fail.
My message is simple, and it is not meant to be said in arrogance: don’t fight Steve Jobs, please.
In functionality and efficiency, Apple Computer’s technology is difficult to equal. We can’t afford the time and effort required to equal what Apple has done for us. For the sake of Apple’s competitors’ limited and strained resources, their best intentions might address the ways and means to support what Apple has begun. Folks, this world is a mess and anything we might do to accelerate our unity will be greatly appreciated. In the overall context of things, what Apple has done is just a beginning, the showing of the way, the light. There so much more to be accomplished. There’s plenty of room on the road ahead for investments. Can’t we humble ourselves enough to seek some common good?
Common good. That’s likely to be what Apple’s vingles are all about. The content, the throughput, of Apple’s technology warrants the close support of our artistic and technical communities. We can afford negotiate and argue in appropriateness but remember the above stated adage: don’t fight Steve Jobs, please.
There are sound reasons not to become embroiled in a protracted fight here. Listen to the world news and you’ll get the picture. We have troubles we’re not handling very well, troubles that must be addressed by our artistic and technical communities. Apple can provide the means to get our messages to places where they might do some good but there’s work to be done in preparing all those messages. It’s hard work, believe me. And there are problems arising ahead which we don’t address every day here at home.
To the underdeveloped part of the world, the sense of urgency brought on by Apple’s technology may come to be seen as a threat. The urgent necessity, even though it is more than warranted, may drive the non-competitive mad. We may well see Apple’s emerging system contributing to the foundation of the world’s next iron curtain, the one to become erected around the Muslim community. And this statement leads us back to leadership. Will this world ever have enough competent leadership?
Just don’t fight Steve Jobs, please.
ERic: Depends on if I was driving.
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which is exactly why Apple *NEEDS* to make a cell phone. I haven’t used a cell phone yet that isn’t confusing, overloaded with useless crap, and a pain in the @ss in some way.
What would be killer, imho, is a cell phone with computer software to go with it. Then you could personalize it, asign ringtones to friends, put their pics in their all with the comfort of being in front of your computer with nice big easy Apple program to use.
Good Stevie. Now, make a mouse that works.
This intersection is “ground zero” for the future and Apple does have the advantage because they understand it AND control the whole widget (regardless of what piece of hardware/software it is) while the PC crowd has a long list of companies hoping they can patch into an over bloated system and make a buck.
Steve Jobs is without doubt the most interesting CEO in the US. He can contemplate the future better than most, understand how to get there and work at a minute detail level. His goal of making the best possible product is supported by strong control of projects and (surprise, surprise) getting all departments working together on a project from day one.
‘Apple is a company that takes complex technology and makes it easier and simpler to use,’ he says, and seems satisfied with his answer.
—
I’d like to point out that THIS IS WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS FOR!
Putting out complex technology that is complex to use.. is not a service to consumers, and hence, not worth paying for.
You wouldn’t buy a car that was powered by your own feet, or take the bus, knowing that you had to walk 45 minutes to the nearest stop..
Steve is really in his element. I just watch a video from 1992 when Steve was demonstrating the NeXT computer, and he was showing off the Dock that’s now in OS X. He really loves simplicity.
Steve is really in his element. I just watch a video from 1992 when Steve was demonstration the NeXT computer, and he was showing off the dock that’s now in OS X. He really loves simplicity.
mike –
Half right. Technology is to make something that’s difficult simpler, or to do something that’s otherwise impossible for the unaided human being.
A computer that can accurately measure the size and location of a particle in short enough time to be useful to the application is technology. It may be very very complicated and difficult to set up and operate, but without it, the task is impossible.
A straightedge ruler is technology that takes the difficult (drawing a straight line) and makes it simple.
Jobs is talking about taking the “impossible” category and giving it the “simpler” treatment. Which is great, but he should be careful not to scoff at the things he’s making simpler. Because not too long ago, they were impossible. And he didn’t change that. Someone else did.
Apple has very little experience making the impossible possible. They have a LOT of experience making the possible convenient.
“Apple’s goal is to stand at the intersection of technology and the humanities”
Then they are renaming Mariani Avenue and Infinite Loop? (rimshot)
– Literal Man
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“Apple has very little experience making the impossible possible. “
-PC Apologist
****
There was a time when the idea of a “Personal Computer” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of “Desktop Publishing” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of a “Personal Digital Assistant” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of moving data to an external drive at 400mb/sec seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of a “Secure Consumer OS” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of a “Home Movies on Your Computer” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when connecting to the internet wirelessly seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when the idea of “having your entire music collection in the palm of your hand” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
There was a time when “legally selling music over the internet” seemed impossible: Apple showed us it was possible.
So my question to you, PC Apologist is: What seems impossible to you today?
When you’ve done nine impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the restaraunt at the end of the universe…
I stand by my previous statement. Technology is worthless if it doesn’t make things easier.
PC Apologist.. is rambling. He agrees with me, he just tried to shoehorn something in there about.. er.. Apple copying MS.. or something..
How transparent…
…what a segue.. Speaking of transparent.. have you seen Vista Beta 1..?!
Couldn’t resist! MW – I swear- “bill”
As in, Eric, I’d put Bill in the middle of the busiest intersection I could find!