Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

[molman]

Oh and to balance out some of the gooey-eyed writing that is going on around Apple and its achievements, this is worth a read - not that I'm endorsing the conclusion, just that a more critical reflection is worthy with regards to some of these "changed the world" and "genius" phrases that have been thrown around: http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/26/a...ng-yeah-right/

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Harmon

The reason I say Spotify is that I have 4 points of data that keep me in touch with what the kids from 15-35 are up to. These data points are my sons. All 4 of them independently have clued me in to Spotify. All 4 of them have subscriptions. They tell me that this is legalized Napster. They have imported their iTunes libraries to Spotify even though it has a miserable PC interface.

iTunes' house is built on sand.

Well, until Apple rolls out it's cloud music service in a few weeks.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Ryvyan

I generally love Apple products because they are efficient and have lasted longer than other devices. I have no feelings for the iPad, but it does not mean that it has not changed how tablets are now part of our world. (Plus I'm used to touchscreen, thus decision to get Nook STR!)

I have said this a couple of times before but I truly think that they are of better value to me. The Macbook I'm typing this on is 4 years old and going on strong (way less laggy than my sister's 1-year old HP laptop at 2/3 the price); I have had my 3G iPhone for 3 years, a wonder compared to all my other handphones which lasted me less than 2 years; my brother is still using my first iPod 5G which is now going on 6 years.

I've always thought that the major problem with Apple products is that the hardware outlasts the software. I still have an operating Mac Color Classic. But it would probably take some effort to connect to the Internet in any effective way. Still runs Sim City, though...

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Graham

Yet Spotify has the mindshare.

Here comes the sigh.

<sigh>

Graham

Interesting. It's not unusual for the first one in to lose out. Somehow, a head start is not enough.

I just managed to hook Spotify up to my stereo system via Apple TV & Airfoil. I have these grand 40 year old Sansui speakers connected to a not so ancient but still old Yamaha receiver & let me tell you it is really nice. But klutzy. What I need to happen is for Roku to have a Spotify channel.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Well, until Apple rolls out it's cloud music service in a few weeks.

Yes, it will be interesting to see if Apple does something new. It had better. OTOH, Apple does not innovate despite what the media says, Apple just takes other people's ideas and figures out the best way to use them. So maybe they'll just buy Spotify.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Harmon

So maybe they'll just buy Spotify.

And kill it like Lala

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by molman

Oh and to balance out some of the gooey-eyed writing that is going on around Apple and its achievements, this is worth a read - not that I'm endorsing the conclusion, just that a more critical reflection is worthy with regards to some of these "changed the world" and "genius" phrases that have been thrown around: http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/26/a...ng-yeah-right/

And people talk about Apple-lovers... somebody just came out as a true Googler... funny, I have always thought of Google as a parasite building itself on the back of others work and creaming off ad revenue to pay for it all... producing a search engine, that really works well, was great but it doesn't produce the content it helps you find...

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Harmon

I just managed to hook Spotify up to my stereo system via Apple TV & Airfoil.

Nice. I might do this for my wife. She loves spotify.

Zune beat Spotify to the punch too -- $15 a month, and you get to keep 5 (or 10?) tracks as your own every month that you are a paying customer.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Yes, it will be interesting to see if Apple does something new.

I think we already know everything about it that there is to know.

[molman]

Originally Posted by elcreative

And people talk about Apple-lovers... somebody just came out as a true Googler... funny, I have always thought of Google as a parasite building itself on the back of others work and creaming off ad revenue to pay for it all... producing a search engine, that really works well, was great but it doesn't produce the content it helps you find...

Well it was written by someone who is the host of a "Search Engine" podcast (http://tvo.org/searchengine) so obviously you'd want to take it with a grain of salt (just as in reverse I would take anything written by John Gruber similarly), but that said, (and as I said I didn't endorse the conclusion) I did like the element of some critical reflection that I felt did have some validity particularly in counter to the equally unbalanced (and numerous) articles on the other side of the discussion, particularly with regards to the turn of phrase "changed the world".

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by molman

Well it was written by someone who is the host of a "Search Engine" podcast (http://tvo.org/searchengine) so obviously you'd want to take it with a grain of salt (just as in reverse I would take anything written by John Gruber similarly), but that said, (and as I said I didn't endorse the conclusion) I did like the element of some critical reflection that I felt did have some validity particularly in counter to the equally unbalanced (and numerous) articles on the other side of the discussion, particularly with regards to the turn of phrase "changed the world".

No problem with critical reflection just the swap of "I love Apple" to "I love Google" when any of the "I love..." recipients are always flawed...

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

And kill it like Lala

Apple bought Lala for a reason. When it rolls out iOS 5 , I bet we'll see a cloud music Sevice as a feature.

[molman]

Originally Posted by elcreative

No problem with critical reflection just the swap of "I love Apple" to "I love Google" when any of the "I love..." recipients are always flawed...

I think my contention is I reserve "changed the world" for things that really did change the world in a holistic sense, not just an affluent subsection of the world. I feel that if you were to expunge Apple from history the shape of things may be somewhat different, but not to the degree that people seem to imply by their existence. I tend to reserve such phrases for, oh I don't know things like the steam/combustion engine, electricity, penicillin, printing press... you know things that really did change the world. Even phrases like "Genius" is hard to discern in relation to Steve when it's (Apple) creations are the product of many people unlike the works of say Einstein or Da Vinci.

[RockdaMan]

Jobs: What I do all day is meet with teams of people and work on ideas and solve problems to make new products, to make new marketing programs, whatever it is.

Mossberg: And are people willing to tell you you're wrong?

Jobs: (laughs) Yeah.

Mossberg: I mean, other than snarky journalists, I mean people that work for…

Jobs: Oh, yeah, no we have wonderful arguments.

Mossberg: And do you win them all?

Jobs: Oh no I wish I did. No, you see you can't. If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions and you have to, you have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise good people don't stay.

Mossberg: But you must be more than a facilitator who runs meetings. You obviously contribute your own ideas.

Jobs: I contribute ideas, sure. Why would I be there if I didn't?

http://thesmallwave.com/ideas-not-hi...obs-supposedly

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

He is not dead and we don't know why he resigned. We do know that he has been pretty seriously ill of late and most people are assuming that is why he is stepping down.

I think he's stepping down while he's still able to help with the transition of a new CEO. That makes a lot of sense.