Comment Re:Amazing (Score 1) 1452
First: all these comments calling Jobs a "salesman" and "marketer" don't understand the first thing about Jobs. You can market and sell crappy products for only so long. The MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad weren't successful because of the marketing; they were successful because they put the user experience first, they made complex technology easy to use, fun to interact with, and vicerally beautiful to hold. Building stuff like that isn't marketing. Building stuff like that is hardware design+software integration, attention to detail, focus on quality, and precision manufacturing on a scale not seen before. Companies can't copy the MacBook Air and iPhone/iOS experience because they lack that coordination and attention to detail.
Second: see above. Hundreds of companies assumed that all they needed to beat the iPod was to "have a pretty plastic shell" and hit all the bullet points, add a few more (FM Radio! AM Radio tuner! Removable Battery!) and they'd make sales. They didn't. Replace iPod with iMac, iPhone, iPad and you have the same scenario.
Third: Repeat after me: design is not separate from functionality. Design isn't how a thing looks, design is how it works. Which is why despite the fact that the Dell Streak supposedly had all the features needed to be a "iPad killer", it turned into an abortion. Why? It worked like crap. Why is the iPad2 selling in such ridiculous numbers? Because it works! If you took an iPad2, and installed an iOS themed Honeycomb on it, it would work OK, but it wouldn't be great. With iOS, the iPad works amazingly well. The Android market is a joke, very few people I know who own android phones have purchased more than a dozen apps. Everyone I know who has an iPhone has a dozen favorite apps, and some have purchased hundreds of apps. Why? Because it works. Functionality is what the design of the iPad2.
Fourth: Whatever dude.