Like many people probably reading this blog (ok, I overestimate the popularity with the word "many" there) it feels like a bit of a milestone now that Steve Jobs is no longer the head honcho of Apple. I've read enough about how he will now be superceded, but is still going to work on some projects that require his attention - most notably (hopefully) taking the "hobby" of AppleTV into our living rooms. I wish him great success, and I really wish great success to Tim Cook, not just because he is about to become the most prominent gay man of public life, but because I think Apple's core philosophy is one that I largely agree with.
What struck me when I was reading through these weird eulogies for Steve Jobs who is, as far as I know, still with us in physical form, is how he, in this day and age of overstating what the internet and technology is doing to us, seems to be quite a conservative as regards the future of our symbiance with technology. From these quotes it seems pretty obvious to me that he really sees technology as a tool to boost productivity but not by making people adopt it so that they can change what they are doing, but so that it becomes part of their lifestyle. In this way, the strategy is so insidious as to actually be something that I make a part of my being in the end - I now carry my iPhone around (as I did with my iPod) and it has made me more aware of the world on a more constant basis. It first started with music, but now it spreads to politics, culture, art, business, but also other people.
I guess all this has more to do with the Internet than with Apple as such, but the Apple ethos under Steve was never to really depress any of these things - in fact, for me, they've been enabled to flourish, and I feel more atune to them because of their presentation. I could watch films, read books, articles, browse products I might want to buy, explore places I'd never been to, etc. all on my computer and devices on a computer - however, because my iPhone/iPad/Mac works so well and offers me such great apps and looks so damn good to look at, it means that I do it a lot more than I otherwise would spend on them. Why? Simple, I enjoy them. They make information fun in a way that it is not entirely in its raw state. (Ok at this point, I should probably say that there is a larger debate here that I don't particularly want to get into about the effect of the consumption of culture through these devices - but suffice to say, I am reading a hell of a lot more books on my iPad than I ever was in print form, so my personal affection comes also from this fact)
In this, I think comes Steve's genius - I value Apple's products not because they are nice to look at, and not because I particularly want to patronise his company above all others, but because i somehow feel that the service he gives me with them makes my life somehow more worthwhile. The reason is precisely because they are beautiful, intuitive to interact with, don't try and make me completely change my mode of working so that I can understand how they work... and in this way, I find that this is the way I want my technology to work. Of course, in the future, when our children are hopefully doing Ruby as a Foreign Language in schools and JavaScript has become a necessary part of the curriculum (or even better - their maths GCSE would consist of constructing their own programming code!), then the kind of closed system of Apple won't have a place in the world, but before then, I just prefer to go with the Steve Jobs route personally. I want to go about my life, or more, my extended existence of the physical world and the virtual, in a way that doesn't hinder my enjoyment of it.
For the moment, I feel that Steve Jobs gave me that, and I feel the team at Apple want to give me that. Until somebody comes along and makes something more intuitive and pleasant, I will continue to pay that premium, because I don't see it as a premium on the product - it's a premium on the life I want to lead, and a premium on the ease with which I live it.
And for that all, I thank you Steve, and wish you luck, Tim.
What struck me when I was reading through these weird eulogies for Steve Jobs who is, as far as I know, still with us in physical form, is how he, in this day and age of overstating what the internet and technology is doing to us, seems to be quite a conservative as regards the future of our symbiance with technology. From these quotes it seems pretty obvious to me that he really sees technology as a tool to boost productivity but not by making people adopt it so that they can change what they are doing, but so that it becomes part of their lifestyle. In this way, the strategy is so insidious as to actually be something that I make a part of my being in the end - I now carry my iPhone around (as I did with my iPod) and it has made me more aware of the world on a more constant basis. It first started with music, but now it spreads to politics, culture, art, business, but also other people.
I guess all this has more to do with the Internet than with Apple as such, but the Apple ethos under Steve was never to really depress any of these things - in fact, for me, they've been enabled to flourish, and I feel more atune to them because of their presentation. I could watch films, read books, articles, browse products I might want to buy, explore places I'd never been to, etc. all on my computer and devices on a computer - however, because my iPhone/iPad/Mac works so well and offers me such great apps and looks so damn good to look at, it means that I do it a lot more than I otherwise would spend on them. Why? Simple, I enjoy them. They make information fun in a way that it is not entirely in its raw state. (Ok at this point, I should probably say that there is a larger debate here that I don't particularly want to get into about the effect of the consumption of culture through these devices - but suffice to say, I am reading a hell of a lot more books on my iPad than I ever was in print form, so my personal affection comes also from this fact)
In this, I think comes Steve's genius - I value Apple's products not because they are nice to look at, and not because I particularly want to patronise his company above all others, but because i somehow feel that the service he gives me with them makes my life somehow more worthwhile. The reason is precisely because they are beautiful, intuitive to interact with, don't try and make me completely change my mode of working so that I can understand how they work... and in this way, I find that this is the way I want my technology to work. Of course, in the future, when our children are hopefully doing Ruby as a Foreign Language in schools and JavaScript has become a necessary part of the curriculum (or even better - their maths GCSE would consist of constructing their own programming code!), then the kind of closed system of Apple won't have a place in the world, but before then, I just prefer to go with the Steve Jobs route personally. I want to go about my life, or more, my extended existence of the physical world and the virtual, in a way that doesn't hinder my enjoyment of it.
For the moment, I feel that Steve Jobs gave me that, and I feel the team at Apple want to give me that. Until somebody comes along and makes something more intuitive and pleasant, I will continue to pay that premium, because I don't see it as a premium on the product - it's a premium on the life I want to lead, and a premium on the ease with which I live it.
And for that all, I thank you Steve, and wish you luck, Tim.
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