If Apple bought Google (it already has a third of its value in cash) and it shut down Android, it could create $300 billion in value. If could even throw away all of Google and still walk out with a profit.
—Horace Dediu in Is Android responsible for Apple’s deep market discount? on his blog, Asymco.
So funny!
And because Steve Jobs' birthday was yesterday — he turned 56 — here's an appropriate web site: all about Steve Jobs.com.
Here's a good one: read How Steve Jobs 'out-Japanned' Japan at SFGate.
Note 1: I was an Apple evangelist for a very long time; and while Apple was the underdog, it was fun—supporting a struggling sports team kind of fun. Now Apple is mainstream—I look around in airports and Starbucks cafes around the world and Macs usually outnumber PCs. Almost everybody has an iPhone. Game over. 'We' won. The evangelist can (semi-)retire. Still, Jobs is one of my creative role models and I read avidly about what makes him tick.
Note 2: If you're on a Mac, use Safari's excellent Reader feature to get rid of the annoying sidebar adverts while reading the article.
A yearlong look at technology news coverage by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that 15.1 of tech articles were primarily about Apple; 11.4 about Google; and a meager 3 % were about Microsoft.
When we run a strong story on Apple, we sell three percent more papers. So we run stories on Apple.
—Anonymous New York Times staffer quoted by Gil Amelio in his book On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple.
Via MacJournals.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives recently held a secret meeting with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to discuss how the two companies might work together to take on Apple in the mobile industry, as well as a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft.
Oh, bloatware, your handsome gods (picture) are having sex again!
Mac OS X Public Beta was released 10 years ago — the word Public signified that the product was for sale to anyone with $29.95. That's right: Apple sold a demo.
I bought it in Singapore for S$50.
So this is it: iPhone 4.
People comparing lists of specs will say "most of these things have been done before and are not new on the market, why the fuss?"
Short answer: Because state of the art design and unparalleled experience are not specs on a list. They are the very soul at the center of the Apple device. Specs are secondary.
Very short answer: Welcome to the post-specs world.
Live coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2010—Monday, June 7th, 10:00 AM in San Francisco (08:00 PM Bucharest time):
What's your favorite source?—leave a comment.
They take something small, simple, and painstakingly well considered. They ruthlessly cut features to derive the absolute minimum core product they can start with. They polish those features to a shiny intensity.
—John Gruber, This is how Apple rolls.
Entry no.: 1104
27 May 2010, 10:26 AM
Tags: Apple, business, Microsoft, news, quotations
Comments: 4
Over those past five years, Microsoft’s stock has been largely stagnant: it’s up about 4%. Apple’s stock, meanwhile, is up some 550% over that same time frame.
MG Siegler, Boom, Indeed: Apple Passes Microsoft In Market Cap at TechCrunch.
They'll swap places back and forth for a while, but the trend is solid. Amazing.
One of the things that makes Apple unique is that it never holds focus groups. It doesn't ask people what they want; it tells them what they are going to want next.
—Lev Grossman, Do We Need the iPad? in Time Magazine.
When Steve returned to Apple in 1997 he invited the executives of Adobe over and asked them to help him create a version of their video editing software for Mac. Even though it had been Steve and Apple that put the company on the map twenty years before, they now refused.
—Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.
Before Flash, (and after PostScript,) this Apple–Adobe war happened before, over video editing software. Funny how things turn around.
Three years after launching Adobe, Steve Jobs created a partnership with the company that licensed its PostScript page description technology to drive Apple's new LaserWriter, with Apple also investing $2.5 million in Adobe for a 15% stake in the company.
—Daniel Eran Dilger, Adobe-Apple war on Flash reminiscent of PostScript struggle at AppleInsider.
Before Flash, this Apple–Adobe war happened before, over PostScript.
Entry no.: 1092
13 May 2010, 7:05 PM
Tags: Adobe, Apple, cluelessness, iPad, iPhone, iPod
Comments: 3
Could this passionate We ♥ Apple love declaration coming from Adobe be caused by the fact that the damn customers already decided to buy 85 million iPhones and iPods touch (and a million iPads in the first 28 days) sans Flash?
Update: Zeldman suggests a brilliant answer.
Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it;
and
Flash was created during the PC era — for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards — all areas where Flash falls short.
—Steve Jobs in his Thoughts on Flash open letter about Apple's relationship with Adobe and the refusal to incorporate Flash into iPhone OS devices.
Q.E.D.
Update 1 Adobe's CEO: No, no, we are open, you are closed.
Update 2 Microsoft weighs in: Flash bad, HTML5 good. Jesus!
Police seize Gizmodo's computers in iPhone probe. Pretty convincing for “a marketing ploy”.
Publishing the name, photographs, and personal information of the Apple engineer who lost the phone is irrelevant to the story. It was the dick move to end all dick moves. [...] This, I’m deeply offended by.
—John Gruber in Gizmodo and the Prototype iPhone, the account of a high-profile theft.
After the previous one-line review, Gruber comes back with an epic one in 7,300 words. If you intend buying one, read it. Or not.
In the courtroom, in the case of Apple v. Apple — the Beatles' record company disputing the computer firm's use of its trademarked name — the judge wondered aloud from the bench whether he should recuse himself because he is an iPod fan.
—Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.
Ive himself had become something of a British cultural icon. For his design work on the iPod and products like the iMac, he was named "the most influential person in British culture" for 2004, beating out contenders who included Ewan McGregor and J. K. Rowling. A computer designer had won out over the creator of Harry Potter!
—Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.
I feel like I'm high.
—John Gruber via Twitter.
Entry no.: 1041
1 Apr 2010, 7:25 PM
Tags: Apple, interview, iPad, quotations, Steve Jobs
Comments: 0
In 1984, Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was the first person in Britain to own a Macintosh computer, and I was the second.
I have met five British Prime Ministers, two American Presidents, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson and the Queen. My hour with Steve Jobs certainly made me more nervous than any of those encounters. I know what you are thinking, but it's the truth.
—Stephen Fry in his sparkling The iPad Launch: Can Steve Jobs Do It Again? article in Time.
Apple uses simple store updates to manipulate the media and create free buzz and excitement around the brand in the same way that its annual product releases have become national news events.
It's iGenius.
—Abe Sauer in Apple Brand Will 'Be Right Back' at brandchannel.
This is Apple’s way of asserting that they’re taking over the penthouse suite as the strongest and best company in the whole ones-and-zeroes racket.
—John Gruber on Apple bragging about making their own CPUs, their annual revenue and their size compared to companies like Sony, Samsung, and Nokia in The iPad Big Picture blog post.
It might be the future.
Blogs covering live the Apple 'latest creation' event:
Also:
If you follow a source not on the list, please share the URLs in comments. Thank you.
My own fascination—and professional interest—with the Apple tablet is how convinced I am that it will be what my friend Andrew DeVigal, of The New York Times calls “the game changer”.
—Mario R. Garcia in his Apple’s Tablet: today is D day blog post.
It’s not easy. Print still has a tangible, innate value. The web does not.
If the stars align, Apple could unleash a device that’s sexier than reading a magazine.
If they did it right, publishers like me might finally be able to sell something digital that people would actually buy.
—Derek Powazek, the editor and publisher of Fray, in his blog post What I Hope Apple Unleashes Tomorrow.
This will be the most important thing I've ever done.
—Steve Jobs on Apple tablet, allegedly, as per TechCrunch's report.
It's that big.
You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem. You are what’s wrong with this country.
—Fake Steve, about Randall Stephenson, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of AT&T after Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of Mobility and Consumer Markets, suggested creating incentives that would encourage people owning iPhones to stop using AT&T’s data network so much.
Entry no.: 890
8 Nov 2009, 8:09 AM
Tags: applause, Apple, business, press, recognition, Steve Jobs
Comments: 2
Fortune's The decade of Steve:
Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.
Applause deserved.
Also: Don't miss Rarely seen Steve Jobs, Top 10 moments in Steve Jobs' career and 8 stars speak out on Steve Jobs features.
John C. Dvorak about the Mac, 1984:
The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a “mouse”. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. I don’t want one of these new fangled devices.
Visionary.
Via DF.
New toys today:
Shiny!
Update: New Apple Remote, improved AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.
"A billionaire can buy homes, cars, clothes that the rest of us cannot afford. But he cannot buy a better phone, at any price, than the iPhone that you can have in your pocket today." John Gruber.
That's both amazing and kinda last-page-in-the-book sad.
Now what?
You’ve got to wonder when Apple is going to change the name of the iPhone. The phone part of the device increasingly seems like an afterthought, not the main attraction. The main benefit of the device is that it does everything.
I was just thinking about that — for me the iPhone is firstly a messaging and Internet device (E-mail, SMS, Twitter, browser etc), secondly a camera, then a scheduler and a note-taking device and in the end a phone.
Yesterday's Apple It's Only Rock and Roll event in a nutshell:
Good. This buys us time to save money for the tablet.
"Apple One changed he world, Apple II changed the world, Macintosh changed the world, the iPod changed the world and maybe this phone will change the world. There are five things — you cannot call that 'luck'!" Guy Kawasaki
Yesterday, July 11th, the iTunes App Store celebrated its first birthday — with far beyond 1 billion downloads and more than 58,000 distinct applications available.
I have 83 84 (just bought one more while I was writing this) apps in my phone out of the 104 105 I've downloaded over the time. I think the majority of them are not freeware and I can say this: without iTunes App Store an iPhone would be just a regular (okay, sexier than the rest) smart-phone.
Orange will launch the iPhone 3GS in Romania on 31st of July [link in Romanian].
That seems like a two weeks delay from the initial July 17th target date.
I'm not really eager to join the conversation on such a private topic, but here's the fact as reported by The Wall Street Journal:
Steve Jobs [...] received a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. The chief executive has been recovering well and is expected to return to work on schedule later this month.
Updated already? Here are two in-depth looks at what's new in iPhone OS 3.0:
iPhone 3.0 Push Notifications doesn't seem to work with Orange Romania for the time being.
Update 1: I was wrong about Orange—once you have installed an application that uses Push Notifications, a menu option appears in the main “Settings” app where you can configure your Push Notification preferences. No menu if you have no compliant apps, though.
Update 2: Dan Berte reports that Orange might have "some port limitations on the data plan" which could cripple Push.
Update 3: Mystery solved: no Push Notifications in Romania.
Update 4: Mystery re-solved: I was wrong.
And, of course, a guided tour of Apple's new baby, the iPhone 3G S.
P.S. With a new camera (the current one is crappy) and a new operating system this is — for me, at least — the end of history: as soon as I get it I won't care about phones anymore, just as I don't care about computers anymore, being perfectly happy with my MBP. Problem solved. Case closed.
"Would Wager Heavily Upon: A next-generation iPhone to be released in July, with roughly double the CPU horsepower and an improved video-capable camera, with 16 and 32 GB storage capacities."
"Apple, it seems, thinks of apps as content created by developers in the way that music is created by musicians and movies are created by filmmakers."
Adam Lisagor, on Apple's “on the App Store” instead of "in the App Store" or "at the App Store".
Via DF.
"Every now and then, I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'"
Melinda Gates admits to having iPhone envy.
Hello Macs in the White House!
"Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs’s current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food. Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse, these people said."
The New York Times' report on Steve Jobs’s health.
Via DF.
"However, and I know I'm alone in this, and it's futile, but could people please, please, please not lose their fucking minds about this, and try to be even barely rational?"
"For obvious reasons, today’s announcement from Steve Jobs that he’s taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June is, to say the least, worrisome."
John Gruber, Godspeed.
Interviewed by Financial Times, Ballmer conceded that Apple's iPhone has "clear market momentum".
Don't abandon now—after that historic “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
What a terrible disappointment! I feel let down.
Here:
Yeah.
Gruber's Macworld Expo 2009 Predictions lineup.
"My doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment."
Steve Jobs in a letter addressed to Apple community.
Chapter closed.
"For the first time, iPhone sales exceeded sales of Microsoft Windows Mobile devices worldwide and in North America," Gartner reports.
“We have removed the KnowledgeBase article because it was old and inaccurate,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans, told Macworld. “The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box.”
Removed — but not before the KnowledgeBase article stirred up some hysteria.
Wondering how to configure this or how to do that with your iPhone? Have a look at Apple's page of iPhone Tips & Tricks.
"Motorola RAZR, which has long held the title of most popular phone in the US, has been surpassed by the iPhone 3G as the leading handset purchased by adult consumers in the US during the third quarter of 2008" according to the latest data from the NPD Group — ArsTechnica reports.
"As measured in revenues, not units, Apple has become the third largest mobile phone supplier. Let's look at the ranking.
1. Nokia, $12.7b
2. Samsung, $5.9b
3. Apple, $4.6b
4. Sony/Ericsson , $4.2b
5. LG, $3.4b
6. Moto, $3.2b
7. RIM, $2.1b
Pretty amazing." Steve Jobs.
"If Apple is really phasing out all matte displays, as they seem to be, then the era of Apple as the standard-bearer of the design profession may be at an end."
Derek Powazek on the reflections on the new MacBook Pro.
On the same issue.
"What we’re seeing may be the beginning of the end of CPU hertz as the rule-of-thumb metric for system performance."
John Gruber on Apple changing the rules again with their new MacBook portables.
“Hi Steve Jobs. We now updated to the new iPhone Firmware 2.1 and it definitely made things go much smoother! But we all still miss one feature: we’d like to be able to disable the annoying autocorrection! At the time it is really not Apple-like. Please let your developers make a simple switch button to turn autocorrection off (they propably will do that in 20 seconds, right?). Thank you very much!”
Sign the iPhone autocorrection petition. 9,370 signatures and counting.
In about an hour at:
Let it rock then.
Orange Romania takes iPhone pre-orders as from this morning for the August 22nd launch.
Relax, there are no strings attached.
Entry no.: 513
30 Jun 2008, 10:36 PM
Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Microsoft, quotations, Windows
Comments: 0
“Perhaps, but I don’t know if it has the intestinal fortitude.” Apple's Avie Tevanian answers to the question whether Microsoft can re-architect Windows from the ground-up.
Via DF.
Entry no.: 500
9 Jun 2008, 7:05 PM
Tags: Apple, event, iPhone, Mac OS X, Macintosh, news, Steve Jobs
Comments: 0
Here:
P.S. Blog entry № 500.
"France Telecom's Orange said in a one-sentence statement that it will sell the handset in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland and African markets later this year."—see the Associated Press release. Via Brandly yours.
"By choosing to compete on design instead of technology alone, Apple seems to have found a loophole in the Innovator's Dilemma." Why Doesn't Apple Face The Innovator's Dilemma?
"Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network." From Vodafone's press release cited by DF.
Entry no.: 477
29 Apr 2008, 12:18 AM
Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Macintosh, quotations, Windows
Comments: 0
“I think people are really noticing the difference between Mac OS X and Windows to a greater degree than ever before.” Steve Jobs about Apple's 51% increase in Macintosh sales.
John Siracusa writes a wise post for the old-school Stevenote diehards to read and meditate upon.
iPhone, six months after debuting, is already outselling all Windows Mobile phones combined. Via DF.
Entry no.: 326
5 Nov 2007, 9:40 AM
Tags: Apple, cluelessness, humor, iPhone, iPod, lists, Macintosh, press
Comments: 0
Predicting Apple's future was always an extreme sport for involuntary jackasses. [Via DF]
"I’d shut down [Apple] and give the money back to the shareholders." Michael Dell, ten years ago. Clever tip. [Via DF.]
Apple unveiled the new iPods: new iPod classic, new iPod nano (ad) and brand new iPod touch (tour). Plus iTunes® Wi-Fi Music Store. Watch Job's keynote.
"Today isn’t a good day to be a Zune fan, that’s for sure. Why? Because Apple unleashed a new wave of iPods today, and they’re every bit as impressive as I was fearing they’d be. This was no simple product refresh with memory bumps and price drops — no, this is a whole new generation of iPods." Zunethoughts.com [via DF]
Entry no.: 222
30 Aug 2007, 9:53 PM
Tags: Apple, best practice, bewilderment, design, iPhone
Comments: 0
"If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride." Anssi Vanjoki -- Nokia's Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia on Nokia copying the iPhone. Read Nokia's iPhone — no, seriously at Engadget.
iPhone is “like someone assembled the finest orchestra the world, but decided to leave out the trumpets”, says Mike Davidson, (yes, the inventor of sIFR). For one if the best iPhone reviews, read his Letting go of the Trumpets: A Week with the iPhone.
The iPhone is out in the wild now and swarms of enchanted buyers are giving it glowing reviews. For an UI expert opinion head to John Gruber's iPhone First Impressions and while reading it, stop for a second and think — this is only the first version of it, iPhone 1.0.
Al and Laura Ries in their mysterious anti-iPhone crusade [1, 2, 3, 4]: "The iPhone will do a lot of things but it will do nothing well. And that is why it is destined for failure" and "If the iPod is the biggest success of the 21st century then iPhone is likely to be the biggest flop of the 21st century." Strong words, bold predictions. One comment reads "Ries, you're dated."
Steve Jobs' keynote address WWDC San Francisco 2007 is available as video-on-demand on the Apple's new website. Enjoy.
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