The Apple Revolution!
By AZAM on July 4, 2007Steve Jobs is the archetypal icon and is representative of the many revolutionary innovations that occur in Silicon Valley. Apple wasbehind the innovations that launched the PC and now expanding beyond. Steve Jobs is synonymous with Apple Icon even as he was forced out of the company he founded. Steve was brought back as head of organization and the revolution continues on at Apple.
Steve Jobs was always ahead of the games and focus on the future of technology. Steve Jobs at Apple focused on making technology simple and accessible through design. Steve understood the power of technology and identified early the influence of design on
usability.
Steve Jobs brought the technology to the masses. Xerox PARC was the lab at the heart of the innovation in the valley. Steve was able to combine the GUI and mouse to unleash a revolution that transformed the personal computing. The Mac Daddy of technology was so simplistic and beautiful machine that the industry needed emulate in order to advance the entire the industry. Microsoft’s Windows largely copied the design and functionality of the Mac operating system and made computing on the IBM standard. The Wintel model (Microsoft Windows, Intel Pentium, and IBM standard PC) emerged and dominated much of thePC revolution in the 90s. Microsoft ended up settling lawsuit based on copying of the MacOs for 1B which was pretty large at the time and pretty minuscule to size of the franchise and money made which is still at core of Microsoft’s business and revenue stream.
In essence, the difference between Apple and Microsoft:
Apple is able to bring together technology innovations in sleek and
simple designs that are incredibly user friendly and easy to use.
Microsoft has been able to acquire and emulate technologies, and
Microsoft has been better at marketing and deriving revenues from
their version of technology.
Best put
Steve Jobs describes that Microsoft lack any sense of taste and lacked
innovation:
Steve Jobs
The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste,and what that means is - I don’t mean that in a small way I mean that in a big way. In the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their products. And you say why is that important - well you know proportionally spaced fonts come from typesetting and beautiful books, that’s where one gets the idea - if it weren’t for the Mac they would never have that in their products and so I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft’s success - I have no problem with their success, they’ve earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products.”
Steve Jobs returns to Apple with the acquisition of Next. Next was the next generating operating system that is incorporated in Apples OS. It is interesting to see in the Silicon Valley the separate ofHardware and Software guys. Apple was essentially both hardware andsoftware, and maybe key in the reason why Apple design standards out both in hardware and software. The whole industry was pushing forHorizontal manufacturing going against Vertical integrated companies. The Wintel model unleashed the PC Revolution by making the PC costcompetitive with each other and affordable.
In the end, IBM exited the commoditized business and focused on services. The revolution is moving away from the PC Centric model and more towards the Internet Revolution currently underway.
While the Industry was playing Musical Chairs Steve Jobs was the last man standing with a solution for the MusicIndustry. The media industry was plagues with easy access to pirated media and was on the defensive. Napsters and KaZaA were spreading peer2peer and was undermining the interest of media publishing industry. Steve Jobs in a single swoop offer a simple solution to the problem with a software platform and device. Apple with the IPod was able to dominate the industry and set standard for the future of the way the media would be consumed in digital format. The simple and sleek form factor design dominated the mindshare of consumers and must have item. You were not simply cool if you did not have one to download your media content. The dominance of the Apple iPod and iTunes is simply best understood my market share in respective categories which is dominates. In fact, Apple computers recently change its name from Apple Computers to Apple representing their increasing role in consumer electronics industry.
The launch of the iPhone combines the features of the iPod with a cellular phone. This is hardly new with a number of phone offering multimedia and mp3 players in additional to a mobile phone. What is different is the UI to navigate through then functioning of phone and multimedia. The touch screen is a departure from most keypad tactile functioning mobiles and smart phones. The phone is supposed to be the first truly functional phone with access to internet in full form rather than clips of web page of interest. There may be some issues with the iPhone such as connectivity 2.5G and other hard/software issues may become apparent over time. . Based on recent professional reviews, the iPhone is the most promising convergence of multimedia and mobile device and will continue in newer versions of the product.
Say goodbye to the TV
Steve Jobs mentions that the AppleTV device is just a simple hobby and is no big deal. He says that many have tried to tackle the problem and failed miserably. In other word nothing revolutionary yet. Just like the PC and small number of computer hobbyists that turn the PC into a large industry that continues to expand. It sounds like a very obvious play down on the strategy of the network entertainment system that Apple will eventually develop. I would say that it was coming since apple developed small mini mac. Small is indeed beautiful and potentially deadly like a virulent virus that take over the current systems and its defenses. There must be a different way of thinking on good functioning viral events that benefit a large population. The Apple revolution is far from remote. You will have a Front Row seat to the company that brings your simple iLife into a system full of meaning.
>From The Beatles
Revolution
You say you want a revolution
Well you know
we all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world
Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright
Alright! Alright!
Tags : apple, iLife, iPhone, iPod, Microsoft
[…] Technovia wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Steve Jobs is the archetypal icon and is representative of the many revolutionary innovations that occur in Silicon Valley. Apple was behind the innovations that launched the PC and now expanding beyond. Steve Jobs is synonymous with Apple Icon even as he was forced out of the company he founded. Steve was brought back as head of organization and the revolution continues on at Apple. Steve Jobs was always ahead of the games and focus on the future of technology. Steve Jobs at Apple focus […]