Two quotes that explain why Steve Jobs built products the way he did
Jason Hiner | October 7, 2011 This was originally published in May 2010, but I'm republishing it in light of Steve Jobs' passing because it helps to illustrate why he did things the way he did.
Apple has come under fire recently for its approach to product secrecy that led Apple to push police to investigate Gizmodo for how it handled the lost/stolen iPhone prototype.
The issue has also shined the spotlight on Apple's whole approach to a closed ecosystem with iTunes and the iPhone/iPad App Store. This is often attributed to Apple CEO Steve Jobs being a control freak and Apple being greedy.
There are certainly elements of both of those things driving Apple's behavior. But, I recently ran across an article about Jobs in Success Magazine that had a collection of quotes from Jobs about innovation, including the following two quotes that shed an interesting light on how Jobs justifies the closed ecosystem:
1.) "We think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simple."
2.) "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."
I'm not posting this to defend Apple. There are plenty of others who are willing to do that. I actually think Apple would benefit from a more open ecosystem in both iTunes and the App Store by extending Apple's reach to more devices and more developers. However, these two quotes from Jobs help show that the issue is more complicated than just greed and control.
Reader Comments (3)
Jason: Those two quotes do help give us a basis for the larger direction that Apple has taken. I also agree with your comments about steps in the direction of extending the developer community.
Personally, I don't own any Apple technology. My wife has a generation 1 iPod, but that is her thing that she never uses any more. I really, really, really wanted an iPhone and an iPad. But I can't get my mind off the of the things I have the most issue with: iPhone cost and iPad's App store shackle.
I don't own a tablet. My work phone has a browser, I can run Opera Mini on it so I am functional.
I foresee myself purchasing a generic Linux or Android-based tablet, treating it as a total 'disposable' piece of technology -> and I'll have a much better application ecosystem.
I used the iphone once [the first model] and I thought it was far from user friendly. Of course I have not yet experienced a phone that has such an accurate and responsive touch screen, look and feel and some features that are truly cool. I still dont use an Iphone, but I admire it though. Someday I may buy it for the heck of owning one. Maybe its not about logic, its just about appeal. It has very good resale value in the market.
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