“Talking presciently about the future was seemingly a unique skill of [Steve] Jobs. Indeed, if you go back and look through the vast number of interviews Jobs gave throughout his career, it’s apparent that he possessed a rare ability to look at current technologies from a distance and anticipate how the technological landscape was destined to shift in the years ahead,” Yoni Heisler reports for TUAW.
“Incredibly, Jobs’ uncanny ability to look into the future goes back all the way to the early 80’s,” Heisler reports. “In late 2012, a rare audio tape featuring Steve Jobs speaking at the 1983 International Design Conference in Aspen surfaced. Fittingly, the theme of the conference was, ‘The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be.'”
Heisler reports, “Just 28 years old at the time, Jobs spoke rapidly and enthusiastically for 54 minutes on a wide range of topics. The talk, I think, is proof positive that Jobs was one of the great visionary minds of our time.”
Read more in the full article here.
He read a lot, watched Star Trek, and well, as we know, took a few trips. But hey don’t let that obscure genius.
Exactly. Any (even “ancient”) science fiction novel has any number of these items in it. His genius was not in thinking them up, but in actually making them happen.
Yes, but, just because you saw and heard a drum and violin doesn’t make you a composer like Beethoven. A good engineer or designer looks at the resources around, maybe guides those that are able to develop some of the missing pieces and puts it all together in a way know one ever thought of. That was Steve Jobs!
The iMac was sitting on Jony’s desk, as a prototype. Steve saw it on a tour, before or as he was coming back. Jony has that vision. Tim has the supply matters, settled. At this point, with Apple as we know, Steve was the executioner. So who do we know, that can do that? We would all like to arm chair quarterback that job, but I don’t know. I say the current iPad line-up is just brilliant, 64 bit was the castle retaken.
If they get liquid metal and sapphire on the next iOS device and bring key manufactured parts back into the US.
Monopoly isn’t a word we will be using in the future. You know governments will me making new laws to upset the balance. I mean, who wants to see a game played, that’s already won? That’s why Apple gets the shaft, not because they done wrong, but because they done too good.
I think if you listen to this speech, you’ll see the difference between Steve and Jony Ive’s, the difference between vision and design. I wouldn’t call Ive a visionary. He brings form to the vision and in that sense, he is the actual executioner.
Without Steve Jobs Apple has lost its vision. I suspect that any new product, software, or service Apple develops is due solely to Jobs. Every administrator at Apple are mere caretakers of Steve Jobs dreams and aspirations.
Cute observation but I am sure you will realize that Steve was a bit more than just executioner 😉
Futurism is apart of Apple’s DNA. I was in a very close meeting, a presentation to a few, back in ’91. The vision was apparent, this was not Steve talking, but an Apple executive. Small devices, worn around the ear, Siri like interface… Apple has been thinking about how to tame the beast, in it’s entire existence. They only make money, in my opinion, to further the goal. They are truly trying to change the world. If you want to say this was Steve’s idea and he taught leadership, the plan, well that’s all good.
After Steve left, the failure was not in long term ideas, it was in execution of those ideas. The Newton was a fine idea. The digital camera was good too. Without Apple, you wouldn’t have 3Com (well maybe), Palm, Android, Amiga, etc. We would still be using HP terminals, and IBM PCs. Without Apple, we would still be using MS-DOS.
Don’t forget Apple, under Steve, hired Xerox Park scientists too, and they all didn’t take a walk, they stuck around.
Remember the Knowledge Navigator video?
Say it after me: “Remember the Navigator”
SJ has repeatedly over the years tried to explain to people what Apple’s vision has always been (at least, his vision). He used a hockey great Wayne Gretzky quote, “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”. Don’t make products that fits the technology, but make the technology fit the product. People who are serious about software, should make their own hardware.” – Alan Kay
I can open it and listen to it in Safari, but how can I save the MP3 file so I can listen to it on my iPhone/iPod?
Hold down the option key when you click the link to the mp3 on the Mac. Drag it out of Downloads, into iTunes, and sync.
I’ll bite. That’s nearly $2 MILLION per year from each employee!!!