“Even in his last days Steve Jobs was thinking of the future,” Thomas Grillo reports for The Boston Herald. “The Apple genius stockpiled fours years worth of blueprints for fresh products to ensure his company’s success, according to reports.”
Grillo reports, “Carl Howe, director of Yankee Group’s Consumer Research group, said he’s not surprised that Jobs was at work on future Apple products, noting that the design registration for the iPad was completed in 2004 but not introduced to the marketplace until last year. ‘It’s not like these guys plan only a quarter or two in advance,’ he said. ‘Jobs anticipated new products years ahead.'”
iPhone 4S “will be the first Apple product release since Jobs’ Oct. 5 death… Howe said the stunning presages [over 1 million units in the first 24-hours] confirm a survey that was completed before the introduction of the new iPhone,” Grillo reports. “Consumers were asked if they were interested in the new Apple phone and a whopping 40 percent of those polled said they would buy a new iPhone without knowing what was in it.”
Read more in the full article here.
Zack Whittaker reports for ZDNet, “Speaking to a British newspaper, sources said Steve Jobs worked on the future of the products he helped design and shape in a bid to safeguard the future of his company.”
“Jobs was also overseeing work on iCloud, in order to future-proof the company against cloud computing competitors, and to enable the company to put into play more advanced technologies which center around the cloud and online experience,” Whittaker reports.
Read more in the full article here.
This was already reported here, at MDN. The “source” is UK tabloid publication.
So “four year” of plans could be “three years” as well as” fourteen years”, it is all usually made-up.
I would suppose that that Jobs oversees concrete products for this and the following year — iPad 3, iPhone 6 (the fifth generation is already taken by iPhone 4S), services, maybe something new else that we do not know year.
But I am sure he conceptualized some approaches and products for like five years or something. However, concrete rendition of these products will already only depend on Apple’s team.
But iPad 3 and iPhone 6, maybe major iMac/MacPro updates that might come next year, some new services for next year — all of this is designed under direct control of Jobs (even though in lesser degree in details since he was ill this year).
Actually, if you are counting it like that, then you’re thinking of the iPhone 7, as the 4S is the 6th iteration of the iPhone.
1- iPhone
2- iPhone 2
3- iPhone 3G
4- iPhone 3GS
5- iPhone 4
6- iPhone 4S
There was no iPhone 2.
iPhone 2?? Think we all missed that one..
Haha. iPhone 2.
They were only available from Chinese resellers on eBay.
Yes there was. 8 & 16gb modle launched 6-7 mos after the first with a slight processor upgrade.
iPhone 2: iPhonier .
There was the iPhone 2 OS, something we would rather forget . . . till 2.1 came out and I (at least) was happy again.
there was no iPhone 2 it went like
iPhone-
iPhone 3g-
iPhone 3gs-
iPhone 4-
Iphone 4s
I think his greater gift to the future of Apple is Apple University.
It’s about an approach and a mindset, not a drawing of some enclosure that will be released 4 years from now.
I remember reading an interview with Steve Jobs back in the mid-80’s when he gave his vision of personal computers as a small, thin device no bigger than a pad of paper. The device had AI, you took it everywhere and you used it for everything by speaking to it. Like a human personal assistant…in a much smaller package.
“HAL, where can I get a cup of coffee around here?”
“HAL, build me a financial model with 20 rows by 10 columns. The first row…”
Getting pretty close… Thanks, Steve
Wow, it only takes mere days before the rest of the world’s media tries to paint Steve Jobs as some kind of Nostradamus or even Leonardo Di Vinci. Though he’s probably closer to Di Vinci in the fact that he was interested in artistry and functionality of his inventions, it amazes me that he’s now said to have “channeled” the future or something.
The reality is, Jobs is gone. Yes, he probably had some discussions about what things might look like 2-5 yrs. ahead, but I think those discussions were on going with a lot of senior Apple people. And, I don’t think there was any grand “vision” other than, watch the markets and their trends, attempt to read what people want, and try hard to think differently and more conceptually than the competitors. Nothing more, nothing less.
This is just perpetuating the myth that it was Steve Job’s magical vision that made Apple what it is, rather than the process that he had a hand in creating.
Apple has always had 5 year plans, but things change and its not like they have the next 5 iPhones sitting in the wings ready to ship.
One thing that has always impressed me about Apple is how far in advance they plan products and software. Take the iPod for example: They installed Firewire in boxes years before the product release, and everybody already had iTunes. So when you bought your iPod, you had everything you needed to get started.
I remember when I bought my Blue and White G3, I saw this Firewire port, and wondered what the heck I needed THAT for. Steve was 10 moves ahead, of course.
FireWire was aimed at video pros (at the time, an important market for Apple) more than iPod users. It didn’t take Apple long to ditch FireWire for USB2 on iPods.
Video was certainly the first usable application for Firewire, but I have a feeling that Steve had more than that in mind when he added it to not only the boxes aimed at high-end audio and video pros, but also the lower-end machines.
As far as USB goes, that decision was made due to the large volume of PC users that were jumping on the iPod bandwagon (pun intended). Rather than make units with 2 ports, they succumbed to USB, since it was ubiquitous to both platforms.
Undoubtedly SJ was a great leader but I don’t think the myth that SJ did everything and was responsible for everything really does anyone any good in the long run. The truth is there was an awful lot of talented people involved and they’re still there.
I have absolutely no doubt that Apple will go from strength to strength in the post SJ era. I’m convinced that the best years are ahead and his real legacy will be that he set Apple up so that it is an organisation that can respond quickly to market trends, has a culture of excellence and impeccable product design. Everything that Microshaft isn’t.
Jobs had his illness for long enough to plan for the worst and he would absolutely not allowed the wrong people to end up in charge of his baby. I’m sure he had the utmost confidence in the people who are now in charge. So should we all.
Actually, Apple released a 2nd version of the iPhone with some enhancements about 6-7 mos. After the original… So yes, there was in fact an iPhone 2….
Wait a minute. There are several manufacturers claiming their product is an “iPhone, too”.
since jobs left, apple is screwed up!