Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is the first Biography that I ever willing to read. Reading this Biography is just like reading a novel, as Steve Jobs changed the world as much as a super hero does. Getting to know how Steve Jobs became Steve Jobs, all that I learnt about Entrepreneurship in my undergrad came back to me. When building the Apple I, Wozniak, who contributed most to the motherboard technology believed:
If it had not been for Jobs, he might still be handing out schematics of his boards for free at the back of Homebrew meetings. It was Jobs who had turned his ingenious designs into a budding business.
Yes, Jobs is the one that has the execution power that turns a great idea into a real product. Like it said in the Chapter Xerox and Lisa,
In the annals of innovation, new ideas are only part of the equation. Execution is just as important.
Execution power may be one of the power that shared by most of the executives, but Jobs has some more unusual power that doesn’t share by most of others – He has the power of Reality Distortion, aka to talk people to do things impossible.
“In his presence, reality is malleable. He can convince anyone of practically anything. It wears off when he’s not around, but it makes it hard to have realistic schedules. “
“The reality distortion field was a confounding mélange of charismatic rhetorical style, indomitable will, and eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand”
He would assert something … without even considering the truth. It came from willfully defying reality, not only to others but to himself. “He can deceive himself, ” said Bill Atkinson. “It allowed him to con people into believing his vision, because he was personally embraced and internalized it. “
“You did the impossible, because you didn’t realize it was impossible. “
As Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, “The spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers the world. “
I didn’t finish the whole book due to so many holds to this popular book, but from how Jobs built the Mac I can see the pattern of the Mac in nowadays and other Apple products.
He believed that for a computer to be truly great, its hardware and its software had to be tightly linked. When a computer was open to running software that also worked on other computers, it would end up sacrificing some functionality. The best products, he believed, were “whole widgets” that were designed end-to-end, with the software closely tailored to the hardware and vice verse.
So there is a reason why Mac has two drawbacks that stops me from owning one myself: overprice and incompatibility. I am not a fan of Mac, but I do see the merits when considering Jobs’s point in an iPhone. It is all thanks to that iPhone is built from the iOS to the hardware that iPhone can run so stable. People don’t need to care about what brand or model of a phone they should buy to enjoy the full benefits of iPhone. Comparatively, when considering Android, I do need to care about brand and model, and have to consider which is the more powerful and stable version that I should choose. Any of the model that has fault can undermine Android’s reputation, and it is much more difficult and resource consuming to build one platform that runs for all. For iPhone, it is simpler. There are only a few models out there and it is easy for Apple to test it all out to find the best user experience.
Some may complain the limitation of iOS, as all applications have to be reviewed before available on Apple’s App Store. However, there is a reason to do it this way.
“Jobs is a strong-willed, elitist artist who doesn’t want his creations mutated inauspiciously by unworthy programmers”
In later years Jobs’s whole-widget approach would distinguish the iPhone, iPod, and iPad from their competitors.
“From the first Mac to the latest iPhone, Jobs’s systems have always been sealed shut to prevent consumers from meddling and modifying them”
I have to say that the review process do make me feel that the Apple’s App Store is more trustworthy, as all the Apps have been reviewed. Hacking is always fun, but that’s not the mass would do. And that’s why iPhone appeal to the general public when Android looks more like for geeks.
That being said, I still admire how Google positions Android. It targets directly at iPhone’s drawbacks that are pretty much like its Mac bothers: overprice and incompatibility. As Android is available to all manufacture, it is much more easy to cover from high end to low end. It enables some manufacturers to average their low cost and produce cheap smart phones for lower ends. And Users won’t need to worry about reinvesting in a totally different platform when they consider switching to another cell phone brand.
Almost every product introduced by Steve Jobs is a revolution, from the first Mac to iPod, iPhone, iPad. One thing doesn’t change: every one of there products defines the trend of technology. Jobs once said:
“We probably only have the opportunity to do a few things really great an do them well. None of us has any idea how long we’re going to be here, nor do I, but my feeling is I’ve got to accomplish a lot of these things while I’m young.”
And Jobs surely did.
