Last year Apple stunned, excuse the pun, the Mac world and announced it would no longer attend Macworld Expo or any other trade show event effective after Macworld 2009. Many reasons circulated why Apple would make such an incredible decision with most boiling down to expense. Apple didn’t need trade shows, trade shows needed Apple was the governing thought. While that may be true — Macworld 2010 attendance and vendor participation will reveal that answer — there really is more to the reason for Apple’s ignoring the industry standards of dog and pony shows. Three words: Steve Jobs ego.
It’s no new news to make reference to the iCEOs audacity as folklore is strong when concerning Jobs character. Apple does like to put spin on things no matter what the announcement and when it told the world that it was removing itself from the trade show circuit due to cost and the desire not to be forced for product release dates, it sounded “about right” on the surface. However, one has to scratch their head and wonder why not even a year after that announcement, Apple declared to the world, in a building on the same block Macworld is held, the iPad. Okay, so it must have been the cost thingy, right? Well, maybe, but for a company with tens of billions — ya, billions — of dollars in cash, this argument doesn’t seem that valid, either.
Digging deeper into the iPad launch, one finds many interesting facts. First, the gathering was by invite only. A typical Apple strategy. Second, only well known organizations received these invites. Third, the hands-on demonstration was limited, for example CNET was only allowed to have three of its members take a look at the device to prevent “inner cross-over”. Lastly, the public was visibly forced out and prevented from entry. In the end, Steve Jobs ran the show from start to finish down to who was allowed to sit in the halls of his majesty. Plain and simple, Steve is a control freak and he couldn’t command what IDG did with Macworld Expo. So, he pulled Apple out of it.
There are many examples of Steve’s ego getting in the way of catching a bit closer to Apple-related “stuff” such as when he pulled the less than flattering biography iCon from Apple Stores world wide. The stories are extensive how Apple would fail during Jobs’ day-to-day absence during his liver ordeal of 2008/2009. Since Jobs micro-managed everything, down to what color ties his lieutenants could wear (just kidding on the last one…I think) no one thought Apple had a chance without Jobs running the ship. Really, it does not take much to run the case for Apple leaving Macworld because Jobs doesn’t like how he can’t run the show.
I’m on record for loving Apple and its products and I admit many of the reasons I came back to Apple in 2001 was because of the many great things Jobs brought to Apple. Yet, I am also very vocal about what a pompous jerk Steve Jobs is, as well. From suing blogs due to printing leaked information and talking about how they are “breaking the law”, and yet he forgets about all those free long distance calls he made in the 70s using Woz’s Blue Box as well as “ripping off” Xerox PARCs mouse and GUI for the original Mac, to naming his company similar to the then worlds most popular record label and then telling companies with iPod-like names today to “change your name, it’s simple enough;” it’s tough to accept Jobs as the genius the world wants to paint him.
As long as Jobs has a strong product on stage with him, he’ll continue to ride his high horse with little worry of being jousted off of it. Yes, Jobs can give the pseudo finger to IDG and then show the world the iPad weeks before the revised Apple-less Macworld Expo but remember this, Steve, not all empires last for ever. Rome fell and so well you. How you want to be remembered in history depends how you treat those in the present.
Rumor after rumor of Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, impoverished health seems to be bring down the Cupertino-based computer company’s stock price faster than the fall of crude oil and yet still, Jobs hides behind his ego and doesn’t put an end to it. While many critics of the Jobs Health Report cry foul and point out no other company is effected by the well being of its CEO, most of them are all forgetting that those companies don’t have Steve Jobs at the helm. Since day one, Jobs ego has carried, and hurt at times, Apple to great heights. Folklore of his direct hands on for everything from the iPod development to every iPhone application being OK’d by him first has proven that Jobs has his hands in everything. No other Big Honcho can make this claim. To many Chiefs, this would seem a ludicrous task but for Jobs, it’s a necessity. Truth is, this style of running the company has been a great asset to Apple and its stock holders, for the most part, but it is now becoming a liability.
Because Jobs has made it his priority to put all things through the Gates of Jobs (no pun intended), it has created this vacuum in the world of all things Apple. Once Jobs is removed, that vacuum will collapse upon itself. From uneasy stock holders to dismayed Apple fanboys, the companies finances could take a terrible hit by a Steve Jobs void. While it is silly to even care about someone’s health that runs a company — Jobs has surrounded himself with a fine group of lieutenants — again, Jobs has made this all happen because of the precedent HE created. HE has given all the keynotes at Macworld since his return as interim CEO in 1997. HE has been the one presenting the world with new products and services for all of 2008. HE has been the man on the cover of Macworld, Time, Newsweek, and other national magazines. HE was the one that made the monumental deal with AT&T for the iPhone without even showing then-Cingular a stinking sketch let alone a mock-up phone. HE has been the one to make hard-nosed and egotistical comments in the name of Apple since its inception. It’s always STEVE JOBS and no one else in the lime light and making the decisions. So, logic would say, if HE goes, so will HIS company.
If Apple, er, Steve Jobs wants to put an end to this madness, he needs to respond to the rumors. Again, it is asinine for such a thing to be done, but it is also foolhardy for the general to ride a chariot at the front of the line during war. Jobs has brought this upon himself with his swelling ego and now he must answer the very bloggers he hates. He must acknowledge their power as well as his miscalculation of monarchy company rule if he desires to see Apple continue its skyward journey. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult for the phoenix to rise out from the ashes for a second time.
Mr. Jobs,
I am an enthusiastic switcher that has brought many friends, colleges, and clients to Macintosh platform. I love Apple products and the experience associated with it. While I understand one company can not be all things to all its customers, I would think healthy competition would be something Apple to welcome. However, based on recent reports of the App Store refusing applications such as Podcaster and now the Opera Mini browser, I would seem to think Apple is actually scared of it. This surprises me coming from a company that defied all odds in the late 90s to which Michael Dell suggested that Apple close down and pay off its stock holders. Yet here we are a decade later with Apple worth more than the company named after Michael to hear it saying, ‘No!’ to apps that are “similar to other iPhone applications’.
I guess your true intent for the iPhone is drive its overwhelming success into the ground much like you did with the original Macintosh in 1986. Make it a close system and you become the gatekeeper. Prevent competition and hold the keys tightly. Steve, what if AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and all the other carriers had told you years ago when you brought the iPhone to them, “No, your phone is too similar to other devices we carry”? You would have fought tooth and nail to have one of them open their network to Apple. But here you are, closing your network. Why? What possible reason could you have that would be justifiable? Your company just recently threw its support to a controversial proposition with a statement saying marriage shouldn’t be held back from any one. Then Apple turns around and tells its customers that they do not have the right to choose what browser or podcatcher they want. Have you knocked at the door of Hypocrisy this Halloween, Steve?
Don’t kill a great platform with your anti-competitive practices, Steve. Stop tricking us into thinking Apple rocks when it just keeps ruining our treats with such foul offerings in our bag. Do the right thing, Steve. Do the right thing.
Remember the good ol’ days when Steve Jobs was all about a good joke and hacking? Like his failed graduation middle-finger banner that was to wish all the on lookers good luck in the coming year, Jobs has failed to consider all the details once again. With Apple lieutenants shooting off their mouths about how it doesn’t care about third-party apps to Jobs himself calling this hacking issue a “cat and mouse” game, Mr. once iCEO is loosing sight of his roots. There was once a Steve Jobs that didn’t care about a record company called Apple Records, Limited or a phone company called Bell while he and Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” used a “blue box” to make free phone calls to where ever. When faced with possible jail time with some local Bay Area cops one very late night with the now famous blue box, Jobs was relieved to have escaped justice and still have use of his box without fear of it being bricked.
Now decades later, the Zen man Jobs himself has a whole new outlook on things. Never mind the fact that Jobs once was able to call anywhere in the world on Ma Bells tab without a feeling of guilt in his bones. Nope, Jobs now wants all-yall that freed your iPhone to be punished for it. Screw you! That’s the message Mr. Jobs is sending nice and loud and believe you me, it’s coming in clear.
What happened, Steve? Maybe a few dollars in the Apple bank account made the difference? When it was you ripping off a big company, that was okay, but now that your company is the one getting ripped, different ringtone, huh? With all the “enlightenment” and other new age stuff Jobs has been known to embrace, it makes you wonder if this is just some bad trip like he had once experienced in the early 70s. I can understand removing the ability to unlock a phone, but to brick one? Man, that’s bad karma, brother. To also flaunt how your phone runs on OS X and then prevent others from exploiting its power, not cool, hommie. Not cool at all. No, this isn’t the Steve Jobs that started Apple with another buddy in his garage. This is a cooperate Jobs that has more similarities to his arch rival in Redmond than the guy that once loved hanging out with Capitan Crunch.
Many, myself included, have poo-pooed Apple for the lack of some features in the new soon to be release iPhone. Some simple, some complex. The major out cry comes from developers and the lack of an API for third-party applications. Others cry foul with no custom ringtones (we cried, too.) Moans can be heard due to the lack of the ability to record video. No true support for Blackberry’s or Exchange Direct Push is another complaint (got us there, again.) But in all this grumbling, I think we’ve forgotten whom Apple is. It is a company that strives to make the user experience the absolute best it can be. Ease of use is always the number one goal at Apple. So is stability. Apple Inc. isn’t into gimmicks. It leaves that to the pros like Microsoft.
No, Apple has spent many years on this to make sure that the iPhone would be the best phone ever…from its start. Look at the ROKR. Apple couldn’t control every aspect of that phone and it failed. Apple definitely learned much from that experience and put that knowledge into its own phone. This phone hasn’t taken four years to build because Apple was bad at this game; it’s taken four years because it’s without a doubt Steve Jobs sent the iPhone team back to the drawing board more than once. Some of those “fake” pictures of iPhones may have in fact have been true prototypes only left to be thought as fakes.
Multi-touch is a technology that is in its infancy and was not around when the iPhone project started. What ever the iPhone was about to release with was most likely scrapped for the multi-touch feature and then pushed back until it was perfectly integrated. This feature alone most likely added another year in development.
No, the iPhone’s lack of features are most likely due to quality issues. I’m sure video recording was in early versions of the iPhone but could not stay in the final release due to stability issues. Talk to many Windows Mobile users and they’ll tell you how video freezes their phones all the time. Exchange Push. Probably removed due to bugs. Custom ringtones? A gift to AT&T so it can later charge customers for this “privilege” and that aspect still needs some more work.
Yes, while I’ve complained about the many lackings in the iPhone, I think the real rationale for features being absent are for the mere reason of hearing, “The iPhone lives up to the hype.” Not many products can ever make that claim and truth is, Friday I think many satisfied iPhone customers will affirm this claim all the way into the weekend and following weeks.
Here’s Steve Jobs at Keynote introducing the iPhone innards. Still, incredible to take in that they could scale OS X down to a phone. Very cool. Hope my Pac Man widget runs on this…
We’ve all read about the mooing and whining of the MacBook Pro and how it’s one pretty hot notebook (and we don’t mean that in the slang term.) For me, I’ve had little issue with my Rev. A MacBook Pro. Sure, I had a battery that gained some weight and bloated out, but that’s Sony’s fault. But it seems some are having even greater issues. A peeling Magsafe end, a warped battery bay, and heat that will leave burn marks on any beach-going MacBook Pro user. David Ciccone of Mobility is one such user.
Seems poor David can’t win. He got a MacBook Pro back in March and has had problem after problem with it. Finally, he just got a new one from a New Jersey Apple Store and thought all was fine, until he got home. The whining sound continued and weeks later more problems ensued. In his book, his MacBook Pro was a lemon. It’s skinned him so sourly, he’s written an open letter to Apple’s Hollywood-like star CEO, Steve Jobs. In the letter, he notifies Mr. Jobs that he will no longer — “never” — purchase an Apple product and he’ll be sure to tell everyone about is poor experience. Is Ciccone being a bit extreme? Maybe.
I have had some minor issues with my Rev. A MacBook Pro, but nothing that would drive me to call the office of the CEO of Apple. Sure, everyone will get a lemon of some sort from just about every company and that just happens in our imperfect world. For the most part, Apple does do everything in its power to correct a fault and I think Ciccone even documents that in his article when he notes how the New Jersey store gave him a new MBP as well as various accessory replacements in a five month period without any grief. I can’t imagine Dell doing this. (How would they even understand such a concept in India? 
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I understand Ciccone’s frustration and I would be just as upset as him if I had had such an experience as his. But I didn’t and most haven’t. I think Ciccone may be a unique, one in a million, customer that just drives his machine into the ground with extreme use. After my PowerBook G4 burnt out its motherboard twice and my Dell Inspiron 1000 once, I learn a valuable lesson: laptops are meant to run all day and night long. Turn them off for a while. Since then, neither computer, nor my MBP, have had heat issues.
It’s my hope that Ciccone gets a new MBP and Apple step up to the plate and resolve this the right Apple way I’m sure it will as this kind of PR is not the kind any company wants to have. Hopefully this doesn’t happen to me, either. 
Where was the aluminum iPod? The glossy MacBook? Tabbed Finder? Windows Virtualization? Didn’t Scobel say there was too many surprises to let slip ’cause Jobs would have his head? (Leo said this on Episode 64 of TWiT.) I don’t know, I like Time Machine a ton, and the Mac Pro does look hot, but, did this meet the hype? For me? No.
I think Wall Street agreed as Apple’s stock (AAPL) fell when all the guys that dress better than Steve Jobs cast their votes of “unimpressed” after the Cupertino CEO finished his keynote speech from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Monday morning. Biz Journals had the headline “Apple stock down on no Jobs’ surprises” which Microsoft’s MSN Money site was more than happy to run. The business world wasn’t moved.
In all, the day ended with no bang. No great stunning new gizmo that no one even thought of but rather, everything — for the most part — that everyone anticipated: a PowerMac replacement running Intel chips with some Leopard highlights. That’s it. Wow, is Jobs losing his touch?
This is one of the problems with past events where hype was the lead horse in the parade of what is Apple and now too many expect too much. Truth is, Leopard isn’t that impressive when compared to other OS X releases and the Mac Pro is a great unit, but not as great as when the PowerMac was first revealed. Yes, on their own in a vacuum of no other previous amazing Apple shows, these would have impressed most, but today, nada. Hope Macworld ‘08 ‘07 doesn’t leave us with this same sick feeling…