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Steve Jobs Hates Buttons

ElvaWSJ writes "While many technology companies load their products up with buttons, Steve Jobs treats them as blemishes that add complexity and hinder their clean aesthetics. The iPhone is Steve Jobs's attempt to crack a juicy new market for Apple Inc. But it's also part of a decades-long campaign by Mr. Jobs against a much broader target: buttons. The new Apple cellphone famously does without the keypads that adorn its rivals. Instead, it offers a touch-sensing screen for making phone calls and tapping out emails. The resulting look is one of the sparest ever for Apple, a company known for minimalist gadgets. "

19 of 713 comments (clear)

  1. Obviously... by gregarican · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should have had the Thing using one of the prototype iPhones in the first Fantastic Four movie when he was trying to call his girlfriend..."Damn buttons!!!"

  2. Blemishes by sjonke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Similarly, CmdrTaco considers editors to be blemishes that add complexity and hinder the clean aesthetics of Slashdot. He considers them to be blemishes that add complexity and hinder the clean aesthetics of Slashdot.

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    --- What?
    1. Re:Blemishes by berashith · · Score: 3, Funny

      i would agree that dupes are blemishes that add complexity and hinder the clean aesthetics of Slashdot, and should be consolidated into single articles that dupe themselves inside of themselves to avoid blemishes that add complexity and hinder clean aesthetics.

  3. Alternate Keypad by Drew+McKinney · · Score: 5, Funny
    Funny Jobs hates buttons. Because you know what I hate? Alternate Keypads.

    From the Best Site in the Universe:
    On an iPhone, you have to press an additional button that opens up an alternate keypad that will allow you to type numbers and punctuation. So typing something as simple as elipses (...) requires you to tap your finger 9 times. Enjoy your phone, losers! People like me who have shit to do will stick to a keyboard that doesn't have its lips wrapped firmly to the user-interface equivalent of a throbbing dong
  4. Maddox's Take on the iPhone and... BUTTONS by madsheep · · Score: 4, Funny

    Note: This is *NOT* child or work-safe material, but is funny as hell whether you like the iPhone or not. If you haven't seen it and have a sense of humor..read on:

    http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ip hone

  5. Fastest dupe ever by jsse · · Score: 5, Funny

    "While many technology companies load their products up with buttons, Steve Jobs treats them as blemishes that add complexity and hinder their clean aesthetics.....While many technology companies load their products up with buttons, Steve Jobs treats them as blemishes that add complexity and hinder their clean aesthetics. "

    CmdrTaco managed to break the record of fastest dupe by duping first sentence in the same headline.

  6. Of Course He Does by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Freak button accident when he was seven.

    It's no coincidence that he always wears a mock turtleneck sweater with no buttons to kill him on the front and a pair of zippered jeans.

    You think Ballmer's a nut, you should see Jobs talk to his employees: "For every button I find on this interface, I shall kill you ..."

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    My work here is dung.
  7. chicken or egg? by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 5, Funny

    *looks into the future*

    How do you turn off the monitor?

    It's easy, you just use the touch screen button there.

    Oh, then how do you turn it back on? ...

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    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
    1. Re:chicken or egg? by Himring · · Score: 4, Funny

      clap

      --
      "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
  8. Re:Mrs. Jobs is a lucky woman by saider · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's still going to insist that the interface responds the way he wants it to when he touches it.

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    Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
  9. Re:Buttons!? by briggsb · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's why the next-generation iPod will have no user interface controls.

  10. Re:Problem is.... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

    And we should value the opinions of people who spend $2,500 on a remote?

    Sure, if they were my customers spending $2500 on a remote, I would value their opinions most highly.

    Would you like an extra button on that button sir?

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  11. Re:Problem is.... by paeanblack · · Score: 5, Funny

    No interface control is intuitive by itself.

    The nipple. All other interfaces are learned.

  12. Re:Buttons as Features by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can text a message on my cellphone without looking at the phone because there is a tactile reference to where each key is located.

    So you're the guy who sent me the message "AKI( Ekdlu WO.T 67Grtgixool;"?

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  13. When did Jobs morph into Steve Martin? by Arcane_Rhino · · Score: 3, Funny

    He hates these buttons! Stay away from the buttons!

  14. Re:Problem is.... by HarvardAce · · Score: 4, Funny

    Personally, I prefer a knob that's connected directly to a Potentiometer for volume control, but that's just me. Only if it goes to 11.
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    Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
  15. Re:Buttons!? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 5, Funny

    However, I want a few dedicated buttons for important functions like volume, power, and send/hang up. I take it you're not a big fan of dragging your call to the trash when you're done talking.
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    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  16. Re:Buttons!? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also, when you're using the stereo headset, you can click and double-click the microphone button to answer, hang up, pause and jump to the next track. I know I've had phone conversations where I've wanted the other end of the conversation to jump to the next track at the push of a button.
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    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  17. Re:Buttons!? by shmlco · · Score: 3, Funny

    "... play music, play games, watch movies, download shit, or rub my balls."

    Ummm... that last point. Is there a phone... ah, never mind.

    --
    Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.