WEBVTT - What’s Next for Apple? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.880 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.640 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello, everyone, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.880 welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, and 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:21.720 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.040 Sitting across from me as he typically does, and because 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:26.400 I can't get rid of him and the senior writer, 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:33.240 Jonathan Strickland, I working here no more. That's a colorful 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.000 introduction to our topic. Yeah, we're gonna talk about what's 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.800 next for Apple, what's coming up for Apple now that 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.920 Steve Jobs has resigned. And for those of you who 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:49.200 somehow managed to avoid the news on August twenty, yeah, 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.280 I don't know how you managed to do it. But 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:55.800 then on augustn Steve Jobs sent a letter to the 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.880 Apple's Board of Directors handing in his resignation as see 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:04.040 EO of Apple, although he did suggest or request that 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.039 he'd be allowed to remain chairman of the board. And 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.920 he also suggested that the CEOO, the Chief Operating Officer, 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.360 Tim Cook, be named the new CEO of Apple and 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.720 uh and the board took both of those actions. So 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.200 and yeah, so Jobs is still he's still with Apple. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.760 The way that the News covered this, it sounded like 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.800 Jobs had not only left Apple, but that he was 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.039 gone forever, and that it was almost like eulogies were 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.520 being written. And as far as we know, as far 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:37.480 as we know, the reason for Jobs stepping down he 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:39.839 said he was no longer able to fulfill his duties 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.959 as CEO, which uh he actually I can read the 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:47.040 verbatim the way that he worded this. I have always said, 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:48.760 if there ever came a day when I could no 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.320 longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's chief executive, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:54.800 I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.680 that day has come. I hereby resigned as chief executive 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:02.760 of Apple. So the assumption is that Steve jobs health 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.080 has taken such a poor turn that he just feels 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:11.160 that it is not he's not capable of fulfilling that role, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.440 and he has been on medical leave or he was 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.679 on medical leave since January and and so yeah. But 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.919 the thing is, though, that that is speculation. He did 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.840 not directly say that. I mean, it's you could say that, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.440 you could say it's a safe bet, but it's not 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:32.040 necessarily the whole story and we should not jump to conclusions. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.240 And before we go any further, and we have done 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.040 an episode about Steve Jobs and his work at Apple. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.400 It was an earlier episode. We actually did an episode 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.040 about Steve Jobs, and we did an episode about Bill Gates. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.799 Because these two men were both visionary, They were both 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:53.600 leaders in in the personal computer revolution. Yeah, they both 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:58.040 were dropouts of college and they age, They both are 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.520 incredibly wealthy. They both have very strong personalities and very 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.760 specific ideas of where things need to be. Um, they 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:07.720 have a lot of similarities, there are a lot of 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.800 differences as well. Anyway, we did a podcast about Steve 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.160 Jobs back then that if you are really curious about 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:15.679 the man, I suggest you listen to. We're going to 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.880 cover some of that probably again in this conversation, because 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.760 it's necessary to really understand why people are reacting in 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:27.160 such a strong way to this news. And um, and 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.799 some of it, you could probably say, is to an 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.200 over emphasis on the importance of the news. Not to 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:39.000 belittle Steve Jobs or to say that his contributions haven't 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.560 been enormous to Apple's success. They clearly have been, but 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:48.880 to turn around and say Apple's doomed is a little reactionary. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.720 I think I would go so far as to say 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.280 it might even be a lot reaction. I didn't want 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.839 to react too strongly to how reactionary it might be, 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.200 because then we have a positive feedback reactionary loop open. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.360 I'm not sure I think that the top is still spinning. 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.240 Let's check our inception. Yes, okay, so we're still a 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.280 dream within a dream at least one level down. Um, 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.960 did you hear what Eric Schmitt recently said about Steve Jobs? Yes? 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.640 This is this is pretty phenomenal. Alright, so Eric Schmitt, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:25.000 former CEO of Google, still with Google. So here's what 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.800 he said. Uh that you probably thought you heard but 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:32.200 didn't realize you had not right, it's really early. Well, 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.400 you know, Chris, at this point it's just us. See 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.159 Jonathan's talking. Just agree with what he says. It's easier. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:45.200 Apparently there's a drinking game. So down right, congratulations. I 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.200 hope you guys are being safe out there. Um. No, 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.440 Eric Schmitt said recently that Steve Jobs was probably the 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:57.120 best CEO in fifty or a hundred years, and I 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:01.520 really hadn't heard that. It's you know, that's that's huge praise. 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.479 And you've got to remember Google and Apple do not 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.960 have necessarily the most friendly of relationships with one another. 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.560 They used to be. Yeah, we used to be on 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.000 the board of directors for Apple as well as the 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:15.960 board of directors for Google. He was on both at 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.960 the same time, and in fact stepped down from Apple 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.600 because of some worries that this was sort of a 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:28.680 collusion or perhaps monopolization of of two fields or really 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:33.960 one field, just two different approaches to it. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.279 that that's that's pretty high praise. I mean, there have 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.520 been a lot of really impressive CEOs of all kinds 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.080 of companies, not just tech companies, but I mean just 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.680 the you know, the people who might be considered uh, 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:54.000 Steve Jobs as peers out there, Larry Ellison and yeah, 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.080 I mean just famous tech personality and not just tech either, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.360 because the thing about Jobs is that, you know, Jobs 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.440 definitely left his mark on Apple. I mean Apple, Apple's 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.440 culture and Apple's products are the way they are in 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.800 large part due to Steve Jobs. Not to say that 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.760 the other people at Apple haven't made enormous contributions, fundamental 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.640 contributions to the company's success. They have, but Steve Jobs 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:25.000 is he It's hard to imagine Apple as it is 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.680 today without Steve Jobs in that picture, because he and 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.599 the company are almost synonymous. And so I would compare 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:38.400 Steve Jobs with some other famous leaders who also the 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:43.160 company in some cases literally was synonymous, for example, Walt Disney, 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.040 because Walt Disney had a reputation for having a very 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.080 clear vision of where he wanted his company to go 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.120 and what he wanted to accomplish, and he also had 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.520 a reputation for not wanting to compromise on that vision, 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.560 to do whatever it takes to make that vision a reality, 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:04.760 and he was had a reputation for being a taskmaster. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.400 That working for Disney was incredibly rewarding professionally, but it 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.840 was also really rough. I mean it was it meant 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.200 that you were working harder than you had ever worked before, 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.480 and you were expected to contribute that level all the time. Well, 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.520 a lot can be said about Steve Jobs that is 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.760 almost identical to that, right So, and in fact, you know, 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.400 you even have Jobs as a relationship with Disney goes 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.400 even further because Jobs sits on the board for Disney 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.800 and also was the head of Pixar, So you know 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.600 Pixar is also now a Disney company. So the relationship 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.840 goes beyond just the superficial where you can say Disney 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.960 and Jobs are like this because of I mean, the 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.840 two merged in a way which is, you know interesting. 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:56.720 I think that Jobs is um becoming synonymous with Apple 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:02.440 is in part to two things which are oddly um 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.080 at odds with one another. Um, which is, you know, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.880 he co founded the company and then he was essentially 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.240 forced out of the company. Yeah, that's that's we should 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.040 probably address that a little bit. Um. Yeah, I mean, 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:23.280 the he his strong personality hasn't always served him well, well, 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.080 it hasn't made the best impression on other very influential people. 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.520 So so back in the early days of Apple, and 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.880 we're talking the mid eighties here, uh, Steve Jobs had 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.439 his his behavior. He he clearly was a genius. I mean, 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:41.320 it's already obvious that he was a genius, that the 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:48.120 man was a visionary. But he also had a very uh, well, 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.440 what's the best word to use, strong personality, you'll say, 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:57.520 and and again a desire to attain a vision without compromise, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.360 which you know that can rub some people the way. 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:07.480 And in fact, his inexperience with business lead the Apple's 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.760 board of directors to choose a different person to act 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:15.000 as president and CEO, and that person was John Scully. Yeah, 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.560 Scully actually came from a completely different field. Yes, he 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:23.200 came from pepsi Um and uh, a lot of people didn't. 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:26.480 I didn't like that because they thought, well, you know, 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.120 this is a completely different change, and you know it's 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.439 it's not somebody who is intimately tech and he didn't 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.760 necessarily share the vision that that Apple's founders had when 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.320 they created the company. So then you're asking, well, it 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.000 can you even call Apple the same company that it 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:45.720 was when it started, because now you've got, uh, someone 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.280 who's coming from this from a totally different angle in charge. 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:54.240 And uh, eventually Jobs left Apple. You know, you could 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.840 argue whether or not Apple fired him or Jobs resigned. 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:03.240 It's kind of essentially Scully kept pushing, pushing Jobs further 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.640 and further to the edge of the company. I think 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.800 they ran them off. Yeah. Yeah, essentially it's almost like 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.680 if I'm nasty enough, they'll go away sort of thing. Um, 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.880 that's oversimplifying it, but essentially that's what's happened. And then 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:18.439 so Jobs leaves the company, and then he goes off 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:22.840 and does his own thing. Meanwhile, Scully's tenure at Apple 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.360 is not the best thing for that company. It's the 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:31.200 company starts to have some serious issues over the next decade. Yeah, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:34.840 it had. It had supply problems. UM. They were known 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:40.160 for creating multiple computers with hard to Basically we're using 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:44.480 a numbering system. At that point, UM they had and 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.840 and the numbering system. It wasn't clear necessarily what computer 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:52.679 was what UM. The differences between the pro and consumer 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:57.600 computers was confusing, and they and Scully started to do 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.680 something that Jobs absolutely refused to do. Well, there was 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.920 one more thing before I was going to add that 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.760 simply that they were also known for quality problems, which 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.600 is not something that a lot of people associate with 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.559 Apple in two thousand eleven, but at the time there 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.560 were no Yeah, they were known for releasing lemons, complete lines. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.720 You know the UM you know this particular model number 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.680 five thirty stinks. Don't ever buy this computer because it's 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.120 just a terrible, terrible design. Well, the the other thing 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.200 that Scully did that Jobs definitely did not approve of 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:38.120 was essentially approving clones of Apple devices other manufacturers to 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.120 be able to use um TO to incorporate Apple's technology 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:46.480 into into their own machines. That's not something Jobs was 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:50.880 ever interested in. And UH. It was what enabled Windows 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.080 to become as big as it was was IBM's decision 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:59.040 to allow clones of its machines, so it had there 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.679 was precedence for this move, but it ended up not 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:06.800 being the right idea for Apple. And in nine the 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.280 company Apple, the company decided to purchase a company called Next, 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.480 which was Steve Jobs's company. It was a company that 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:19.880 was dedicated to creating uh new computer systems specifically for 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.600 educational purposes, not just educational purposes, but that was like 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.120 the main focus. Yeah, I was aimed at that market. Now, 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.480 there were other competitors that I mean basically people analysts 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.800 were saying at the time that Apple was doomed. Um. 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.840 You know, Michael Dell actually was famous in his proclamation 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:43.400 that Apple should be uh sold off and the proceeds 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.240 be redistributed to its stockholders because it was in such 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:51.319 bad shape. Um. Wired magazine had a famous cover and 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.840 UH in which they were talking about Apple's problems and 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.360 what should be done, if anything, to save the company, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.199 if anything could save the company, and um, it was 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.160 pretty widely own and they had an operating system that 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:05.280 was languishing the next version of its operating sy Some 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.680 people kept saying, when is this thing coming out? It 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.600 doesn't look like it's ever coming out, and they said, 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.840 well they're There are rumors going around that Apple was 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:17.600 looking to buy Next or some other companies, one of 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:22.600 which was buh B as in b operated Um had 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.719 a computer called the b Box, which was a was 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.079 pretty innovative for its time and at four processors and 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.640 was led by a former Apple executive named Jean Luis Gassa, 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.480 who also has a strong personality, and a lot of 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.599 people thought it was down to be versus Next, or 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:39.160 at least a lot of people that I was reading 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.200 about at the time because I was actually following this. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:47.960 And Apple decided to acquire Next outright, and they sort 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.320 of acquired Steve Jobs along with it. A lot of 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.280 people thought that Apple was more interested in Steve than 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.920 was the Next operating system, although Next operating System did 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.960 play a fundamental role in what would become the new 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.400 version of mac OS. But yes, so Steve Jobs comes 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.960 back to Apple and before too long becomes the new 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:13.400 president and CEO of Apple, and at that point Jobs 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:18.000 started to to undo some of the changes that Scully 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.760 had made during his tenure. He completely remained Apple, I 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:22.720 would go so far as to see and it took 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.160 some years before Apple really started to see he some 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.360 big success because at this point, really, and you could 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.840 argue still today, Mac max just consisted of a very 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.960 tiny portion of the personal computer market. They just really 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.760 didn't make a huge dent. It was mainly PCs, so 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.680 Windows based machines, and then there was a tiny slice 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:48.720 of Apple products. But also, I mean, just in just 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:52.160 to put it in perspective, at that point, Windows was out, 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.080 was coming out. I mean, Windows was really hitting its 0:14:55.080 --> 0:15:00.280 stride in making inroads to the desktop in businesses all 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.480 around the world. Yeah, it was essentially the business operating system. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.600 It was much more polished than Windows three point x um, 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.760 much more polished it was. It was a huge leap 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.760 forward for Windows. So I mean Apple had that was 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.520 the wrong time, the exact wrong time for Apple to 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.680 be stinking it up. So job starts making changes. But 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.200 it's not really until about two thousand one that the 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:28.600 next huge thing happens that really pushes Apple forward, and 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:32.840 that's the introduction of the iPod and MP three players 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.280 existed before the iPod came out. It's not that the 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:40.120 iPod was a new idea, but the iPod had an 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.360 elegant design compared to the other MP three players that 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.840 were out on the market at that time. And Steve 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.640 Jobs is, uh, he's many things. He's a visionary, he's 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:56.400 a powerful leader, but he's also incredibly um good at 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.360 marketing and and getting a message across and getting you 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.760 to believe then buy into that message. You could walk 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.240 into an Apple keynote completely skeptical and walk out thinking 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.920 I gotta get to an Apple store. Now, well, there 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.160 weren't any Apple stores in two thousands, and an Apple 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:17.479 didn't make anything other than computers and operating systems. UM. 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.240 Actually it did make other software, which it spun off, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:24.200 actually spun off a division of itself called Claris, which 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:26.840 made all kinds of other software. I mean, they were 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.080 into They even had their own work suite UM, and 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.120 they had some other stuff they did. They did have 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.280 the Newton, which was a p d A and the 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.400 the Image, which wasn't an educational device that people kind 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.680 of wish they still made for a while. I just 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.920 think of the Simpsons with the Newton. Yeah, make a note, 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:50.680 Beat up Martin, eat up Martha. But yeah. Handwriting recognition 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:57.040 was well known for noting, um, that will get somebody 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.240 who really loves their Newton, who still uses their Newton? 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.160 Who who can will? Even the creators of the Newton 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.439 admit that the handwriting software was not quite ready it was. 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.480 That was one of those things where the company was 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.640 pushing for it before the the hardware and software were 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:17.720 fully baked Apple, fully baked pie Pie. So so, Steve 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:22.399 Jobs introduced a new scheme in which they would create 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:28.240 a consumer line of portables and desktops, and a and 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.440 an educational line which was sort of off to the side, 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.680 and then the pro line of of portables and desktops. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.159 Then you had the iPod, and then in two thousand 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:41.400 seven you had the iPhone, and in two thousand ten 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.639 the iPad. In fact, way back when the iPod was 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:48.439 coming out, Jobs had already predicted something that has come true, 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.400 which is that the digital lifestyle would be one where 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.679 we would have a lot of digital devices and the 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.840 personal computer would become more of a synchronous zation hub 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:05.800 and less of a of a focus on your computing time. Essentially, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.000 he predicted the post PC era. And you could argue, 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:11.960 and we have argued, that we are in a post 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.119 PC era. It's not that the PC has gone away. 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.200 It's not that it's not important. It's just that we 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:21.840 are using other devices to interact with the Internet and 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.440 to do just basic computing that have nothing that that 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.800 do not resemble desktops or laptops. It's more we get 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.960 our information from more places than just our PC, right, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.639 and more frequently than we do with our PCs in general. 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:37.840 I mean, I sit in front of a PCL day, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.320 so I get a lot of my information from my PC. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:44.240 But otherwise I no longer feel like, you know, I 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.720 still carry that experience with me when I walk away 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.600 from the PC because I have a smartphone. And so, yeah, 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.919 what Jobs was saying has come true. Uh he also 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.080 uh he also was really good again at at selling 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:02.240 these ideas like like the iPad AD. I was famously 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.840 skeptical about how the iPad would do in the market 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:10.119 because I was thinking of the old tablet computers, and 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.239 tablet computers have been around for a while and they 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.879 just never took off the consumer market, and I was thinking, 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.280 how the heck is Jobs going to convince people that 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.520 they need a device that historically no one has wanted, 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.080 right And I know I'm exaggerating by saying no one, 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.960 but for the sake of argument, I recently had a 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:34.680 conversation with Wilson Tang from c NET and he gave 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.960 me his perspective of what he thought one day when 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.120 it was after the iPad had been announced, but before 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.560 he had he had purchased one, and it really makes 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:44.960 a lot of sense. He said. He was on the 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:47.879 subway in New York and he was looking around and 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:49.880 he saw that someone was reading a book, and someone 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.119 else was reading a newspaper, and someone was playing a 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.880 game on a device, and someone's listening to an MP 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.240 three player. And they thought, wait a minute, that's what 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.160 this is for. That's what this iPad is for. It's not, ah, 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.520 it's it's not that it's taking it's creating a new 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.400 space or whatever, but it's it's it's almost like, it's 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.119 not that it's replacing smartphones. It's not that it's replacing 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.840 m P three players or video game controllers. It's that 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:15.240 it's doing all of these things at the same time, 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:20.399 and it's replacing paper. It's replacing books and newspapers in 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.159 the sense that you can then consume them on this 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.720 one device and you don't have a larger form factor 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:27.800 you have to deal with when you're done with the 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:30.680 whatever the thing is, whether it's a book or a newspaper, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:32.639 you don't have to throw it away or file it 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:34.680 away or or you know, put it on a bookshelf. 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.880 You just you can get another file and look at that. 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.080 And when you think about in that perspective, uh, it 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.320 really that's exactly what Steve Jobs did. He showed that 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.359 this is how you could use this device and how 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:51.800 it would give you a lot more flexibility in the 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.560 way you consume media and play games and all of 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:57.400 these sort of ideas. And uh and I just did 0:20:57.400 --> 0:20:59.880 not see that. I didn't see it until Jobs took 0:20:59.880 --> 0:21:02.560 the stage and explained it to me. And that's one 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:04.320 of the things that you gotta argue about Jobs is 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:07.480 that he really is a visionary, when he really is 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.920 a kind of person who gets an idea and can 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.600 see it and the value in it before anyone else does. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.879 And then he can, even more amazingly than that, convince 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.919 you to agree with his point of view. But you know, 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.240 the day before you never would have considered it the 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.400 day after. You can't imagine it any other way. It's 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.439 the reality distortion field. Yes, that often we'd call it 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:34.919 the reality distortion field. That you know, it's magical. I 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.359 think you're gonna love it. Right. One more thing too, 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.440 but one more thing that hasn't been around for ages, 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:46.520 but he was famous for leaving the most compelling, most 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.720 wow factor element out of a product release until the 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.960 very last minute when he was on stage. One more thing. 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.239 It's kind of like the Columbo One more thing. It's 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.920 when he drops the hammer and you and you get 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:02.360 that like he figured it out. He knew the game 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:06.200 before you even knew you were playing. It's the kicker. Yeah, yeah, 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:10.040 that's um. That's the thing too. Because I would not 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:15.440 necessarily have imagined that people would tune in to a 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:21.719 computer companies product announcements for entertainment. Yes, you have. You 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.160 have people taking time off of work to log into 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:29.800 a systems to watch either to watch the keynote live 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.840 or to watch some tech journalists covering the keynote live. 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.359 And you know, you have live blogs that blog line 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:40.720 by line what's being said on stage, and people are 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:43.960 just furiously refreshing their pages to see what the next 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.600 thing is that is. I mean, how many other companies 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:51.159 have that Google? Maybe? Well, they and and this is 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:55.800 one of those things that other companies have realized that 0:22:55.840 --> 0:22:59.879 Apple was doing well with Steve Jobs's help. Um, and 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:03.320 people like Google have done that with and and more 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.200 and more. You see tech news outlets like see net 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:10.920 going to Google I oh and talking about the next 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.920 version of Android and telling you what the new thing is. Um. 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.520 We saw it somewhat with Palm with the web os 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.480 a little bit. It didn't really pan out well for them. 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:23.520 But but you have to have someone when you're doing this. 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:25.960 You have to have someone who's charismatic. And Steve Jobs 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:28.920 showed the tech industry, look, you guys, we can make 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.800 products that make people sit up and take notice. You 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:35.560 just got to show them the right way, right, Yeah, 0:23:35.560 --> 0:23:37.280 he can. You can do this. You can. You can 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:40.560 introduce a totally revolutionary product that no one had any 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.320 desire for the day before it. I had no knowledge 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:46.120 of it, and just you can create the market for that. Yeah, exactly. 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:48.160 You could put that in front of somebody and not 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:51.320 say anything, and that person may find it compelling or 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:53.200 they may just walk away. But if you show them 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:55.720 why it's compelling, then you've got them. You hooked them, 0:23:56.000 --> 0:23:59.800 and and you gotta agree. I mean, the iPad sales 0:23:59.840 --> 0:24:03.000 a loan show that that's true. But I wanted to 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:06.000