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Steve Jobs And The Oh-So-Cool iMac
from the what's-cool--what-works-what-doesn't dept.
The truly successful technologies and technology companies are utilitarian and dull -- decidedly non-hip. You will never seen a Microsoft or AOL exec talking about how cool the their companies or products are, only how useful and easy to use. They don't really care how much heavy breathing they generate in the media or among excitable teenagers and college students. Those two companies have, in fact, dominated their environments by pointedly focusing on the non-technologically adventurous middle-class and busy business executives and workers and by presenting themselves not as cool but as reliable and accessible. And for this sin they get jeered at -- all the way to the bank. Their motives may be money, greed and power, but they understand what really drives technology in America and much of the world. Steve Jobs does not.
The tech media have served as enablers and co-dependents in Steve Jobs' sometimes-brilliant marketing impulses. Last week, the volatile Jobs projected himself onto the cover of Time magazine by unveiling the oh-so-cool new iMac, a computer as entertainment/culture center, a "hub for music, pictures and movies." It's elegant and affordable, says Time, and takes up little desk space, "but will millions of PC users get it?"
Probably not.
Gates understands something Jobs and media don't. When it comes to technology, it's middle-class consumers and their tastes, needs and expectations that determine success or failure. This is a hard lesson for many hackers and programmers too, who remain bewildered that superior systems like Linux aren't on every desktop. But the middle class, for years abused and exploited by the arrogant tech industry (just think of what poor Comcast subscribers have been going through for weeks now), wants easy of use, safety, utility. Just consider at the telephone, the automobile, or for that matter, Wal-Mart. Apple has demonstrated for years, and so, to some degree, has Linux. Harry and Martha in Dubuque decide which products will enter the mainstream and last, not college kids editing movies or downloading music and DVDs, or using firewire ports to fiddle with video clips.
Apple, perenially aspiring to coolness, has always been the favorite computer of the non-hacker hip and the creative. And of many people (like me) whose entry onto the Net and Web has been made easier for the first programming language that really made sense to non-techies. Jobs' colorful, well-designed, fun and entertainment-centered iMacs and Powerbooks have been getting fabulous press for years. His idea to fuse the desktop with pop culture is, in fact, a powerful one. But it's too soon. The middle-class isn't ready for that. Most Americans don't need the 1,000 songs the iPod can store, and would rather go to the megaplex than edit movies on their computers.
So Apple accounts for only 4.5 per cent of new personal computer sales, according to Gartner Dataquest.
That's probably because Jobs hasn't addressed the central problem facing computer makers: the public doesn't trust them. Burned by years of outrageously poor tech support, increasingly expensive software, and hardware that's almost instantly outdated, middle-class consumers aren't the least bit interested in the coolest new new thing. They want computing that works like TV does -- that's easy to use, takes little space, costs relatively little money and works every time you turn it on, year after year. The public is increasingly wise to tech scams like hardware that's obsolete every 18 months and software that doesn't even last that long. Computers -- even the jazzy new iMac -- are a long way from reliability, and are profoundly mistrusted. In fact, it was only a couple of years ago that the candy-colored iMacs were the next cool thing. Now they're about as hip as Windows 98.
If you're a teenager, Web designer, film editor or visual arts major, or even a loving Grandma, it's great that the iMac allows you to create your own DVDs, organize and edit digital pictures, play CDs or convert MP3's, turn home videotapes into high-quality edited films. What's less clear is whether or not the public -- especially that critical middle-class chunk of it -- wants to do those things on a computer, or is confident about its ability to use machinery that's still more complicated and problematic than its makers seem able to admit.
For nearly a generation now, from Jobs to the makers of instant replay TV machines, some of the best minds in the tech world -- usually the younger ones -- have been crippled and misled by the confusion between what's cool and what's going to be successful, between what's neat and what's necessary. The survivors of the Net's first generation -- brilliant plodders like Gates and Steve Case -- understand quite well that they aren't the same thing, and have, as a result, increasingly come to dominate the Net.
Total gibberish (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think its a stretch to for Jobs to concede that MS won the operating system war - thats why he is trying to fight the total user experience war - something MS can't do unless it wants to start making boxes.
I think Jobs is an egomaniac, but he's also driven by some very appealing ideas about consumer computing, and I'd take his strategy over Katz's punditry any day of the week.
Re:Total gibberish (Score:4, Insightful)
That always seems to be left out.
Re:Total gibberish (Score:5, Informative)
> $1,799 for the iMac.
> iMac advantage: FireWire
Well, a $40 FireWire card for the Dell brings the price points within $20.
> Dell advantages:
> DDR SDRAM vs SDR SDRAM
I'm wondering if anybody notices this kind of thing once Windows is running (or should I say walking?). Windows has so many latencies and bottlenecks
> 80 GB HD vs 60 GB HD
Most people will never notice, and the iMac is always, always ready to receive an external FireWire hard disk just by plugging it in, without any drivers to install. You just plug in and you instantly have more storage. You can boot from that external storage, too. No problem.
> 64MB GeForce 2MX vs 32 MB
> GeForce 2MX
The 64MB GeForce 2MX in the Dell is heavily, heavily compromised by the analog connection to the display. What the user actually sees will be faster on the iMac, with no ghosting or blur. I have both a digital and an analog flat panel here, and I can really, really see the difference when I go to the older machine with the analog connection. Why connect a digital graphics adapter to a digital display with an analog connection? Doesn't make sense today. Apple stopped doing this years ago.
> Scrollwheel mouse with 3 buttons vs 1-
> button mouse
$20 value. You could look at this from a consumer perspective and say "OS only requires one mouse button, not three". In other words, the iMac user can use one or more buttons, while the Dell user can use only two or more buttons. Mouse choice is a personal thing, though, so go ahead and get a third-party mouse and plug it into the iMac. No driver install will be neccessary, either.
> 1 yr phone support vs 90 day phone
> support
The included phone support on the iMac is paltry, but for $300, you can get an AppleCare plan that gives you free phone support for 3 years, as well as a full warranty for 3 years. They basically take care of you like they were your IT department. And if you call up and you don't know square one about computers, they don't treat you like an idiot. They don't ask you to get inside the thing and test stuff.
iMac advantages you didn't mention are:
easier to set up
UNIX compatibility
much, much smaller size
higher-quality display
digital connection between graphics adapter and display
built-in 802.11 antennae for the best range
56k modem is a real modem, not WinModem, so you can install Linux and still use your modem
iMac can mirror its display on an external VGA display, or a TV
easy to use, high-quality software included for making DVD Video discs (iDVD 2)
OS level support for writing data DVD's and CD's as easy as floppy disks used to be (just drag and drop stuff onto the disc in Finder)
no need for anti-virus software and update subscriptions
easy to use digital photo management software with advanced photo printing features for best results with your own printer, and easy ordering of Kodak prints and photo books
iMacs music management software is fully MP3 (no WMA), and is fully featured and not crippled at all
no need to get a Microsoft Passport, or even interact with Microsoft at all
included UNIX software like Apache, emacs, vi, etc.
included office suite (AppleWorks) with MS Office compatibility, and very, very, very easy to use
can boot from any attached storage, including CD's, FireWire disks, iPod, SCSI disks, whatever
boot in Target Disk Mode, and the iMac acts as a FireWire disk you can plug into another computer in order to access the internal drive at high speeds (excellent for service and support people)
iMovie is the best consumer video-editing software, and it's included in the iMac's price.
low-latency audio is possible with even the internal audio on the iMac, and a $35 USB audio adapter can give you low-latency 24-bit stereo audio just by plugging it in and using it (again, no drivers or software to install)
overall, the Mac and UNIX software platforms offer much higher quality than Windows software
better design, better "fit and finish"
easy open RAM door, so the end user can install RAM without even risking losing a screw
higher RAM capacity
more standards support (even the Mac's "BIOS", called Open Firmware, is an IEEE standard
graphical boot loader built into the Firmware, so you don't have to play boot loader tricks to run multiple operating systems (in fact, it identifies attached Linux volumes with a cool Penguin icon by default)
the hard drive in the iMac is the loudest component
iMac wakes from sleep almost instantly and doesn't need to be rebooted or switched off thanks to Mac OS X and Apple's deep sleep modes
Mac OS X is a full multi-user UNIX compatible OS; the Dell's Windows XP Home runs everything as root
I could go on about this for a long time, because I've put in a lot of time on both Mac and Windows systems. Mac OS X itself is outrageously better than Windows. I mean, forget the hardware, forget the RAM and the HD and whatever else
Honestly, to someone who has used both, your Dell vs iMac argument looks WEAK. Very, very weak. You're treated better at every turn with the Mac. While the rest of the industry has increased the numbers in their specs over the past few years, Apple has been very busy actually improving the personal computer. It's been adding up for years now and the new iMac plus a mature Mac OS X is the breakout for all this stuff that they've been pretty quiet about until now. Try one out at an Apple Store
PC market is not an election (Score:5, Insightful)
Thats because only one person can win the election. The Mac is a product in a diverse market - Apple makes money, has a load of cash in the bank, and has loyal users. What are they missing?
They have in fact succeeded by not going after the middle of the market, where they would have been creamed.
Re:PC market is not an election (Score:4, Insightful)
They have in fact succeeded by not going after the middle of the market, where they would have been creamed.
They're missing the middle of market, where they are being creamed. You can see right into a company's marketing strategy by its ad campaign--in Apple's case, lots of horizontal marketing: TV ads, corporate stores at the mall, cheesy magazines, etc. Their bread and butter right now is that loyal user base in the design space, but who wants all of their eggs in one basket? Jobs wants a mac on Joe and Tina Everyday's desk, and hasn't been able to pull it off with the flash, glamour, expense, and proprietary nature of the Mac line.
Re:Total gibberish (Score:5, Insightful)
When was the last time someone said 'wow, I had a great burger yesterday?' - Mickey D's might make more money, be in more cities, may even be the staple food of millions, but no-one can ever say that THAT is the sole benchmark of success.
Jobs has a very different view of success, as was pointed out in a very insightful article by Bob Cringely. [pbs.org] Mac & Linux users (deluded though we may be) choose not to use PCs or Windows because we prefer something which is different.
And let's not forget, you use a computer to do a job, you eat food to do a job (keep you alive). Linux or Apple may be a niche market, and might stay that way - but don't accuse Steve Jobs of FAILING, or of NOT UNDERSTANDING what he does, anymore than you criticise your favourite restaurant for not being a huge multi-national burger bar.
Re:Total gibberish (Score:5, Insightful)
What Katz is saying is that McDonalds is more successful (with success defined, I assume, as profits) than a 5* Michelin-approved restaurant. From a purely profit standpoint McDonalds is the champion. BUT, as you so rightly point out, there's more to something than necc. who makes the *most* money.
I assume that most 5* eateries do well enough to keep their staff employed, their investers happy and those that appreciate fine dining happy.
The same goes for Ford vs. Lamborguini (a spelling hatched job), or any other mass market vs. high end product.
I personally have some tastes that are more center of the road (therefore own stuff that lots of other folks own) and some that are more unique. I think that everyone does. So Apple markets a machine that appeals to me. I ask Mr. Katz, what's wrong with that?
Re:Total gibberish (Score:5, Insightful)
The real problem is that you won't concede that computing is developing niche markets. Something I would have though linux users would have been able to appreciate implicitly.
The logic is quite simple - Jobs understood that Apple was going to get creamed competing head-to-head with MS. There is no doubt of that. So he moved Apple into a new market - stylish, highly integrated hardware and software that aim to extend the computing experience outside of the OS.
As a result, Apple is making out just fine. Financially they are sound. They have great products and are creating an appealing product vision with their retail outlets (which admittedly are a loss leader).
They've found a way to survive against MS. Whats the problem??
Re:Total gibberish (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? It terms of market share yes, but technologically no. OS X is a big step forward, and a whole other component of the iMac's utility and cool. Plus Apple is still shipping millions of PC's a year -- with similar revenues as Gateway, but a far better balance sheet.
I think Katz's gibberish about the "middle-class" is wrong is not because the tech industry has overlooked them, or is trying to be 31337 kewl. Katz is wrong to think that misguided tech notions of cool are what cause Harry and Martha Homeowner to be overlooked. The reason the middle class is a hard sell is because personal computers are still a nascent technology. The technology hasn't evolved to the point where it is totally acceptable or suited to everyone. Our culture hasn't evolved to place the proper niche for computers in the home. After twenty-five years of the PC, we still have a way to go. When the automobile was twenty-five, black utilitarian Model T's ruled the rutted dirt roadways. A quarter century since PC's first appeared, beige utilitarian Windows boxes clog our mostly narrow-band information superhighway.
Mister Katz, I think you over estimate the tech sector's ability to provide palatable innovation for new technologies. That's an easy way out to explain so much failure when Microsoft is dominant in fulfilling network effected utilitarian need. I also think you under estimate Harry and Martha from Dubuque. They will make changes in their daily lives as they find ways that computing is personally useful to them. They will find new ways of exploiting the computer for themselves. It just takes time, and we've only just gotten started. Superior form factors, better devices, better interfaces, and better platforms will eventually restore diversity to the tech sector, just as it has for automobiles. Along the way, our culture and economy will change along with it.
Regards,
Reid
"ONLY 4.5%" (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"ONLY 4.5%" (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is Apple's retail manifesto:
Apple currently has around 5 percent market share in personal computers. This means that out of one hundred computer users, five of them use Macs. While that may not sound like a lot, it is actually higher than both BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's share of the automotive market. And it equals 25 million customers around the world using Macs.
But that's not enough for us. We want to convince those other 95 people that Macintosh offers a much simpler, richer, and more human-central computing experience. And we believe that the best way to do this is to open Apple stores right in their neighborhoods. Stores that let people experience firsthand what it's like to make a movie right on a Mac. Or burn a CD with their favorite music. Or take pictures with a digital camera and publish them on their personal website. Or select from over 300 software titles, including some of the best educational titles for kids. Or talk to a Macintosh 'genius' at our Genius Bar. Or watch a demonstration of Mac OS X, our revolutionary operating system, on our theater's giant 10-foot diagonal screen.
Because if only 5 of those remaining 95 people switch to Macs, we'll double our market share and, more importantly, earn the chance to delight another 25 million customers. Here we go
Shop different.
Re:"ONLY 4.5%" (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"ONLY 4.5%" (Score:5, Insightful)
Try giving a Word Bird (who has only ever started up windows and double clicked on 'Microsoft Word 97') MacOS X. To her at least, the experience is completely bewildering.
I'm a little lost.. To install Office I grab the folder off the CD and drag it to the Applications folder.. I know where I just dragged the folder, so I can find it when I need the app. It's not a mysterious thing to most people.. If I want a shortcut, I drag the app to the to dock and a shortcut is created.. I click the Word icon on the dock, or in the Applications folder and Word launches. It looks nicer similar to and contains most of the Windows version of Word..
I know of 6 people who sat down in front of OS X for 5 minutes at the Apple Store or at a friends place and have decided to sell their Windows machines (many of which are under a year old) for new Macs and OS X. These are geeks and teachers mostly who have never used anything but Windows or Unix and immediately recognized how much friendlier OS X felt.. A number of the researchers here have purchased Macs for their desks. They code in project builder (which are generally run on Athalon boxes running Linux), write papers using TexShop (PDFLaTeX), touch up figures using Adobe Illustrator for OS X, read the interdepartmental memos using Word v.X, and maintain their grades in an Excel v.X spreadsheet... The point is that a lot of people are seeing Macs and saying "Wow! You mean I just drag and drop things where I want them and it works? Damn!! That's cool!" and that's what Apple is selling...
Form has a place too. (Score:4, Interesting)
Make the user happy and make the machine functional and you'll never go wrong.
Form AND Function (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple understands that form and function are not independent variables. For Apple form is a basis for function.
Consider the new iMac. Here is a quote from yesterday's Ive interview reported on /.,
"The new shape emerged shortly afterwards: a dome is the only shape that lets the screen swivel without having "preferred" positions, maximises stability and offers lots of horizontal space. After that, it was the fine detail - of which there is a huge amount.
"
Thus we learn that the dome isn't there simply for asthetics, it is there for functional reasons.
And that is how Apple views design. Not as a veneer to be layered on a finished device but as an integral part of said device.
Steve M
Ease of Use (Score:4, Insightful)
Cool PC's and laptop draw additional users. But, it's not all about that at Apple. They're trying to put together the easiest to use and most powerful system that they can (at the same time). That's the hard part. The growth of Mac seems inevitable as it becomes as BSD box with the coolest hardware and the most capabilities.
It is not understanding PC users that brings Gates to the top. It is the fact that he uses monopolistic powers and bully tactics to force people and competitors to use his sytems. Maybe Steve Jobs just isn't that mean.
P.S. I'm not a Mac user... but, I may be one soon.
Re:Ease of Use (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't Microsoft invent Open Source? Let's give credit where credit's due!
(Yes, I'm kidding...)