Steve Jobs

Not running or biking related so feel free to skip or tell me I'm a saddo. But I wrote most of this the other week when Steve Jobs announced his resignation so thought I may as well post it.

Steve Jobs resigned, nothing to do with this blog really then but couldn't let it pass without saying something. It says a lot about Jobs' vision and about Apples virtually unique appeal that his resignation is such big news worldwide. How many of the other 50 biggest companies in the world have a similar figure? I reckon you could count on one hand those with any sort of such claim and probably none of those have a genuinely arguable case. Whether this is good or bad depends an awful lot on your point of view.

Apple haters would argue that the fanboys have no sense of proportion and that the Jobs cult of personality is overblown. I'm not going to argue that popularity alone is a sign of quality but as someone who hooked into Apple products just before their explosion in popularity I do like to think that this phenomenon is quality based. In my opinion Apple have based their success on making consistently good products 'that just work', it's not their fault that this makes them stand out from other companies so much.

What this desire for quality always meant was that unavoidably the prices for Apple stuff was a little steep, consumers got to choose whether price or the quality of the experience was their priority. The problem now for Apple's competitors is that this dynamic is changing. Huge economies of scale have put the IPad in the position where it's on a level playing field with it's competitors. Use the devices and the decision is a no brainer, the iPad having 90% of the market speaks for itself. All the guff about flash and openness shows itself for what it is, the excuse to go Android for cost reasons. There's nothing wrong with that but people hate admitting it.

Anyway, back to Jobs. I'd like to thank him for showing that being popular does not require being cheap, and that people will buy quality if you make the case compelling. Strange as it is to admit, I think my life is just nicer thanks to the things this guy has had a part in introducing and that makes him cool in my book. I hope that this transition has been planned for some time and does not mean he's had a big downturn in his condition and that he gets to enjoy easing back a little. Have a good one man.