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Steve Jobs' Macworld Keynotes, 1998-2008
Ian Lamont writes "The Industry Standard has put together a collection of video highlights from Steve Jobs' Macworld keynotes since his return to Apple in the late 1990s. It's interesting to watch. Jobs was basically able to turn tech product demonstrations into convincing consumer spectacles that made even the simplest product feature — such as the handle on the clamshell iBook — seem innovative and utterly desirable. And while his appearance changed greatly over the years (compare his 1998 iMac demonstration with his "iPod Mini" keynote in 2004, when he was reportedly trying to treat cancer with a special diet), his enthusiasm never waned. Of course, he may make appearances at Apple's WWDC or other events, but a Macworld expo with Phil Schiller headlining just won't be the same."
What about the one from 1997, when he came back from Apple after leaving/getting fired?
If 10 years ago you would have told me that a 40 something balding man in a black turtleneck could make consumer computer technology look svelte, I wouldn't have believed you. I still find it hard to believe today. For all the weirdness, secrecy and--reportedly--heavy handedness, Jobs does some amazing work highlighting the positive aspects of Apple's products.
I think it's his confidence and an earnest belief that the product has been engineered to the highest standards that helps him be such an effective salesman. Bill Gates tried to capture some of that same humanity and enthusiasm in his Seinfeld commercials and somehow failed miserably. Perhaps it's Gate's lack of a publicaly accessible side. Or it could be that he's just a robot sent from the future.
Whatever you think about Apple (expensive, overly trendy, defectivebydesign, overly lawyered, Lord Job's GIFT to his children), Jobs does a pretty amazing job of selling it. My girlfriend pointed out that during his introduction of the iPhone, he not only enumerated the features of the device, he also taught everybody how it works. That's a pretty deft presentation.
This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen... --Hobbes
Well at first it appeared that the tag was read as "rip steve" rather than the (hopefully implied) "R.I.P Steve" and I was a little scared, but yes apparently you are the one who tagged this because he is not _dead_ per se, just removing himself from the Mac scene a little (you can't expect him to completely leave what he loves/does best, now can you?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE
Steve Jobs, visionary leader of Apple Computer, has died - and come back, better and stronger.
The news was carried in an obituary run by Bloomberg late last night, which was pulled when news of his resurrection came through.
"They don't call it the Jesus Phone for nothing," Jobs laughed with reporters, before eating their tasty, tasty brains.
Jobs' new cyborg arsenal includes wifi, 3G, laser cannons, a flame thrower and a can opener, all running on Mac OS X Robosteve. Bundled applications include an enhanced hypnotic force field based on the one he uses at MacWorld keynotes. "I can't wait to try it on Bill," he said.
Disney, in which Jobs is the single largest shareholder, remained unaffected. "Steve's just working with the way we do things here," said the disembodied computer-hosted soul of Walt Disney, who was decanted to a computer in 1966 to avoid being declared legally dead, so that copyright in his works would never, ever run out.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
It seems like bad business practice (a liability?) for the fate of an entire company to be tied to one man, but there it is: people do not trust Apple to innovate sans Jobs. Rather than wait for the guy to drop dead or decide to quit. They have to start weening the public off of the idea that Steve Jobs sits in a big room, thinking up ideas that later become the products people crave.
The fact of the matter is Jobs has brought an atmosphere and mindset to Apple that they'd been lacking for a long time. And while people are -often legitimately- prone to question how truly innovative Apple's products are, it's hard to argue that the hype is often legitimate, and they at least have designs that contain and lack just the right number of features with the right amount of polish for a majority of users, to the point where they are willing to pay a premium for the product.
Separating the Steve Jobs from the idea that Apple is what has to be done, and it's going to be rough.
Look at how he manages to always bring up an US versus THEM mentality, which is highly reminiscent of religion. I don't think that it's actually some "clever marketing ploy" by Jobs--I feel the guy really obsessively strives for purity, always taking older stuff out and bringing some new stuff that has never been done before. This purity craziness makes some fantastic products, such as the iPhone, and others which are only conceptual, like the cube. My macbook air, for instance, was just sold to some other sucker. That thing is beautiful, but at the same time it is a concept machine. 80GB with no expansion? "Oh but that's the purity of it; nobody has a thinner notebook"....
Steve or no steve, the what-are-apple-bringing-out-next keynotes are a big tech highlight. They always get lots of news coverage- e.g. this piece!
It mystifies why Apple have decided that they can be dispensed with. Dell would kill to have this.
Just goes to show you what you can do if you truly believe in your products.
Personally i think he's a pompous jerk and is often shortsighted, but I cant deny he's the master of marketing.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Oh, but you know its true!
[...] spectacles that made even the simplest product feature -- such as the handle on the clamshell iBook -- seem innovative and utterly desirable.
Spectacle?! You're kidding me. this is the easiest job in Silicon Valley? to arouse Mac fans and convince them to buy more Apple stuff. c'mom, that's as labourous as convincing an alcoholic to have another drink!
that Jobs may be unique in that he has the skills to manage a major company, at the same time he really, really cares about the product. That's what comes across in videos; it's not that his keynotes have a great deal of razzmatazz, it's that they have conviction. That is the source of the famous reality distortion field. At the same time, he also brought classic management common sense to Apple, simplifying their product line to fit a well chosen market position, streamlining the manufacturing end of the business.
I really think this combination is rare. There are lots of entrepreneurs who start businesses, to whom management is something they have to do in order to create products. There are lots of high flying managers for whom, at the end of the day, a company is merely a machine for efficient profit generation. I think Carly Fiorina at HP was an example of the latter. It wasn't that her ideas were, in a generic sense, bad. It's that she didn't have a sense for what was right, and more importantly, unique at HP. People see her as the manager that destroyed HP; that's not quite right. She is the manager who turned HP from an unique institution into just another big company.
I suppose it may be that a more or less standard company is easier to run; you can get generic B school grads employing motherhood and apple pie practices and turn a normal profit, or with luck a tiny bit more. But while the process of converting an unique company into something easier to grasp, there is a spark of imagination and creativity that is lost.
Whatever Jobs faults may have been, you can't say he was an ineffective or inefficient manager, nor can you say he treated the products of the company as merely profit centers. Apple is a company with personality, with a sense of uniqueness and mission, things which business plans give lip service to but usually aren't reflected in reality.
Jobs is a manager for whom the details of a product matter. People snicker about the reality distortion field when the crowd goes wild when Jobs announces the iBook will have a handle, but I don't think they get it. Whether or not a handle is something a laptop ought to have, details matter. I wish other manufacturers had this attitude; they copy stylistic elements from Apple, but while the result may or may not look great, they still miss important details like managing the cord on the power brick, or the power connector itself.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
does anyone know of a video archive of all of jobs' keynotes since he has returned to apple? try as i might, i've only been able to gather a few that i've found from youtube and itunes.
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Scared? Upset maybe, distressed, distraught. But scared? At what, what might happen to Apple? It's an odd day when one is scared for the sake of a multi-billion dollar corporation...
We've all seen what Apple is like without Steve. We don't want to see it again. He keeps bring out desirable products and that makes us happy. It also gives his opposition fits.
Spoken like one who's livelyhood/retirement is not tied up in their stock. But I don't own any Apple stock... the only Apple product I have is an iPod shuffle -- hardly a high-dollar item.
Unfortunately, it's just not funny. I got bored after reading the first section. It made me smile in a few places but not even an audible chuckle. It just comes off seeing angry, petty, and formulaic.
I mean, the encyclopediadramatica article on Steve Jobs is at least trying, and worthy of a laugh.
Seriously. Who CARES.
OK so "widescreen" then.
Why do peple get so excited at being marketed to?
jobs says "look how small it is!" and gets applause. everybody is suckig his dick like crazy.
i never had thatreaction when i said the same thing. all i got was sobbing. definately no dick sucking
Depends how far down they went when they did his colostomy.
he title? ...
Oh, that's why
'cause it's hilarious (and sad) how after Apple bought NeXT people at MacWorld were cheering for demos which were repeats of previous NeXTWorlds.
William
(who didn't wait, but switched to using a NeXT Cube in college)
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
(who didn't wait, but switched to using a NeXT Cube in college)
And from the adoption of both NeXTStep and Objective-C, it's clear you made the right choice.
Martin
(who used afterstep to make his Linux system look like NeXTStep about the same time he dropped out of college)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Ten years of Jobs keynotes summarised.
Of course I didn't RTFA.
and where would we be without our false idols
Here's another good collection of keynotes from the same period:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8L39UwOS-Y
was the one where he announced over priced under hardwared junk.