“That’s because the cacophony and crowds and celebrity sightings… couldn’t disguise the fact that Apple, the new king of the tech hill, had once again refused to participate in a gathering dominated by old-guard standouts like Sony,” Yang writes. “Not that the lack of an official presence prevented Apple’s fingerprints from being found nearly everywhere at CES. iPhone and iPad accessories were the only things more ubiquitous than celebrity-branded headsets, and most of the show’s plethora of new services and devices desperately touted their compatibility with iOS apps and hardware.”
Yang writes, “In short, despite CES’s parade of CEO keynotes and bold-faced name guests, the man who did the most to shape the show was the one who wasn’t there at all… Jobs’s immersion in Zen and passion for design almost certainly exposed him to the concept of ma, a central pillar of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Like many idioms relating to the intimate aspects of how a culture sees the world, it’s nearly impossible to accurately explain — it’s variously translated as ‘void,’ ‘space'” or ‘interval’ — but it essentially describes how emptiness interacts with form, and how absence shapes substance. If someone were to ask you what makes a ring a meaningful object — the circle of metal it consists of, or the emptiness that that metal encompasses? — and you were to respond ‘both,’ you’ve gotten as close to ma as the clumsy instrument of English allows.”
Yang writes, “While Jobs has never invoked the term in public — one of the aspects of his genius is the ability to keep even his most esoteric assertions in the realm of the instantly accessible — ma is at the core of the Jobsian way. And Jobs’ single-minded adherence to this idiosyncratically Japanese principle is, ironically, what has allowed Apple to compete with and beat Japan’s technology titans.”
There’s much more in the full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
ma
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity !!!!
This is what Apple adheres to…
Excellent article. Thanks MDN.
I have got K.I.S.S. in huge letters above my desk. If anyone comes to me with an over-complicated design, they get shown the letters…
Outjapanned Japan? Does the writer of that article know anything about Japanese electronics at all? They are *nothing* like Apple’s. They were the ones who started with the *FEATURES FEATURES OH LOOK WHAT I CAN DO* craze, but their software is HORRIBLE (anyone who has ever used PS3’s interface, especially the shitty browser knows that*).
THAT is why the iPhone is selling like hot cakes on Japan. Because even the Japanese prefer a phone that works and doesn’t stab you on the eyes rather than a swiss army knife with instructions encrypted on an ancient alien language.
*I love my PS3, but seriously, Sony?
eh? Japan trying to take credit for Apple’s success? let’s have a chinese guy explain it…
@lukeskymac
That’s the point of the article. The Japanese have lost their way. Jobs understands their “Way” and he does it better than they do.
Sony now makes the kind of overcomplicated products you describe, but they didn’t always.
Steve Jobs will go down in history as one of the legends of American business. I really think so.
So what makes Sarah Palin’s head a meaningful object? The bits of flesh it consists of, or the emptiness that that flesh encompasses?
Yes. Yes. I think I’m understanding it now.
“The Japanese have hit the shores like dead fish. They’re just like dead fish washing up on the shores.” ~ Steve Jobs (Playboy, 1985)
lukeskymac
I couldn’t agree more on the PS3 interface. While not as bad as some, I should expect more from a company like SONY. It just makes no sense.
@Manbearpig
My point is that, at least in consumer electronics, they never adhered to “their way” (I assume you are talking about zen stuff). They became famous for cutting edge tech, not user-friendliness…
… Unless they did that a LONG time ago…
@Macromancer
When you say “one of the legends” name one that’s equal. I have noticed other journalists and analysts also pulls silly qualifiers like ‘the greatest CEO of modern business.’ What does it mean, there were better CEOs of more accomplishments (both as game changers and as successful businessmen) in the past eras?
Ma meh.
@Macromancer
What’s equally puzzling is how bad the browser performance is. On my 10 megabit wifi it is painfully slow… even my 1st gen iPod touch loads pages faster!
Or how you can’t listen to music while on the Playstation Store, or while you are tweaking settings…
Or how there is no option to keep songs from repeating once they reach the end of a playlist/album…
Jeez…
what a load of touchy-feely, Oprah-induced psychobabble.
Wabi-Sabi anyone?
The Japanese appreciation for the patina of age, is burnishing my Apple products now..
.:.
Unfortunately, it is ONLY Steve Jobs that understands it. The rest of American business is still clueless.
ma = 马
In chinese, ma means horse. I know the japanese use chinese characters, but pronounce them slightly differently. I wonder what character the japanese use with “ma”.
@lukeskymac
The article states that one of the founders of Sony (not Morita) refused to release a color tv when all of their competitors did. He wanted to wait until they had a breakthrough technology to distinguish themselves from the pack. They finally did with an aperture grille and dubbed it Trinitron. This made Sony color TVs 25% brighter back in the 60’s and allowed them to dominate the market for a long time. They weren’t the first to have a color TV, but when they delievered, they were the best at the time. It’s a long article, well worth the read.
I speak 日本語、and if it is the kanji meaning interval, etc. it is:
間
However, I have not heard this used as described in the article. I think westerners sometimes make too much of all the sitting around feeling spirits kind of stuff they perceive to be prevalent in Asia/Japan…
People tend to forget about Steve’s early Asian influence induced by his drop out at Reed College and trip to India. I believe Steve became a Buddhist during that time and carried those principals throughout his entire business life. It served him well in noting his lesson learned to this day. Some of the MBA’s and so called captains of industry may have well learned some of those lessons had they walked just a 1/4 mile in Steve’s shoes.
The same idea as white space in graphic design just applied in 3 dimensions in industrial design. A little more to it then that it also includes the concept of flow as well.
@krquet
For the 19th century and very early part of the 20th, the first name that comes to my mind is Thomas Edison and GE. During the early to mid-20th century the name that stands out for me is Walt Disney. For a non-US company founder during the latter half of the 20th century, I would list Richard Branson and Virgin up there as well. If you go by the total number of successful companies started across multiple industries, then Branson would win in my opinion. But if you measure in terms of revolutionary products, then I think that Edison still beats Jobs with the light bulb. Plus GE at one time if remember correctly was the largest company by market cap for a while. And as much as some loathe him, Gates did build a highly successful company and monopoly. So if looking just at his 20th century accomplishments, Jobs isn’t the only legendary company founder around. If including the 21st century, then I agree that Jobs so far stands alone.
So….
“Ma” vs “Meh”