Steve Jobs - page 30

With typical modesty and restraint, Steve Jobs today downplayed the iPad hype. Pouring cold water on some of the hyperbole pundits have lavished on the device, he said:

“We think this is a profound gamechanger. We think when people look back some number of years from now, they’ll see this as a major event in personal computation devices.”

He was responding to a question about being surprised by the initial reaction. Here’s what he said in full:

Boy, Steve Jobs doesn’t mess around, does he. Not content with his Google throwdown, he’s challenging the entire telecommunications industry with the iPhone’s new Background VoIP.

OPINION: Steve Jobs saved the most important part of his iPhone 4.0 announcement today till last — the new in-app advertising system, called iAds.

The iAds system is important because it allows the App Store to create a completely self-sustaining app economy that is sealed off from the wider Web.

Tech guru Tim O’Reilly says the App Store is already becoming a rival to the web itself. The App Store, he says, is “the first real rival to the Web as today’s dominant consumer application platform.” Consumers will have no need to visit the web on their iPhones and iPads if they get everything they need from apps, which is bad news for companies like Google.

“This is a new phenomenon,” Jobs said about apps at today’s presentation. This is the first time this kind of thing has ever existed. We never had that on the desktop, so search was the only way to find a lot of things.”

The App Store economy is already pretty well developed. There is the app purchase mechanism itself through iTunes, and in-app purchases, which allow consumers to buy stuff from inside apps themselves. But there was a big hole: advertising. Ads are already a big part of the app economy, but clicking on them typically takes consumers out of the app and into the browser, an experience Steve Jobs describes as jolting.

But now Apple has built a sophisticated ad-serving mechaninsm right into the iPhone (and iPad, natch), which will make the App ecosystem like AOL in the early days —  a walled garden. And one that has it’s own economy: in-app purchases, and now in-app advertising. There will be no need to go to the wider web anymore — and that cuts out Google.

“What’s happening is that people are spending a lot of time in apps,” Jobs said today. “They’re using apps to get to data on the internet, rather than a generalized search.”

No wonder Apple and Google are at war. Google swooped in a bought AdMob just to keep it out of Apple’s hands (so Apple snapped up Quattro instead). Of course, Google isn’t on the ropes yet. Android is Google’s attempt to keep it relevant in mobile, and so far it’s holding its own against the iPhone.

But if early numbers are any indication, the iPad is going to be an iPhone-sized hit. Combine the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, and that’s a lot of mobile devices in Apple’s walled garden.

Andrea Nepori, head honcho at Italian-based TheAppleLounge.com, has alerted us to the fact that maybe Steve Jobs doesn’t have anything to wear.

Check out the worn-out pants and forlorn sneakers in the photo of Jobs, left, at Apple’s Stockton Street Palo Alto store in San Francisco on the iPad’s launch day; now sadly note the same fashion choices in the photo on the right, of El Jobso and Google CEO Eric Schmidt kicking back in Palo Alto, taken a week earlier.

So buy an iPad, and maybe Jobs can afford to pop for some new togs. Seriously, before The Gap starts marketing a replica version of his jeans called the iHole. Because we all know where his critics would take that one.

[Thanks to Andrea Nepori for the photo-illustration.]

UPDATED: Steve Jobs personally demoed the iPad for his daughter at his local Palo Alto store on Saturday, and not, as this post originally reported, “for one lucky customer.” Confusion in the initial post stemmed from typos in a Tweet communicated to Cult of Mac by Twitter user Cédric Lignier, who wrote today to clarify his communication, which should have read:

“Met Steve Job @ Palo Alto today! I gave up my iPad spot 4 let him demoed the iPad 2 his daughter. Unbelievable!”

Jobs was at his local Apple Store on University Avenue in Palo Alto, which did brisk business in iPads Saturday, attracting big crowds. It looks like Jobs walked to the store (he lives nearby and is often spotted walking around Palo Alto). No one seems to have paid him much attention. The staff in the picture above, taken by Lignier, seem more concerned with crowd control.

Meanwhile, the iPad’s top designer, Jonathan Ive, quietly watched the mobs at his local Apple store in San Francisco.

Ive, who is famously shy and self-effacing, attended the iPad launch event at the flagship Stockton Street store, which was a mob and media frenzy. It seems few noticed him either, despite being the most famous designer in the world. The one person who did, Matt Galligan, scored this nice picture with him.

Steve Jobs once again made Barron’s annual list of the 30 most respected CEOs worldwide.

Jobs, however, stands out among the global tycoons — other repeat honorees include Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com and John Chambers of Cisco — being called “probably the world’s most valuable CEO.” His career is called “cinematic” and on the eve of the iPad roll-out, Barron’s says, “America could use 1,000 more like him.”

Praise aside, unlike many other rankings, this one isn’t a popularity contest but is based on stock performance.

Here’s why, for Barron’s, Jobs just may be the MVP of the business game:

“Probably the world’s most valuable CEO is Steve Jobs of Apple, as shown by stock dips on news of his medical problems. Apple recently hit a record, with a market value topping $200 billion, a reflection of the Street’s confidence that a healthy Jobs (at least from what we can tell) continues to keep Apple ahead of the game. Jobs likely accounts for $25 billion or more of Apple’s market value.”

This is the latest accolade for Jobs, who was also named most admired celebrity entrepreneur and CEO of the decade recently.

Via Apple Insider

Whether questions like “Will the iPad will live up to its hype?” or “Should I stay or should I go to the Apple store?” are what keep you on edge, now you can ask Steve Jobs.

Head over to Ask El Jobso, the oracle for Apple lovers.

The random response generator was devised by the team at The Apple Lounge after one of their bloggers got a one-word answer from Jobs, generating a ton of  news stories last week.

Kinda like the Magic 8 Ball for Apple addicts, some of the answers generated are from real email answers that the King of Cupertino has recently fired off to people.

Let us know if El Jobso solves your dilemmas big and small.

Although they are supposed to be mortal enemies, Steve Jobs was just spotted chatting amiably with Google’s Eric Schmidt at a coffeeshop in downtown Palo Alto, reports Gizmodo.

Overheard from the conversation were two lines by Jobs. Enthusiastically, “They’re going to see it all eventually so who cares how they get it.” Which seemed to be about web content, said the tipster. And, “Let’s go discuss this somewhere more private,” after they noticed the crowd gathering around… Schmidt was very quiet, listening, and Jobs was doing a lot of the talking.

And as Giz notes, what’s that black thing on the table? An iPad maybe?

It’s not easy being Steve Jobs: one minute, you’re the guy behind the world’s most admired company, the next you’re about to become a pin cushion turning a profit for a journalist as a sitcom.

Still, no matter what you think of Jobs, it’s cool that every now and then he takes a few seconds to answer email from everyday users.

He seems to have been busy with a lot of his famous, less-than-a sentence replies lately, but his answer to an Italian blogger at The Apple Lounge may be the first one he’s sent using an iPad. (Up until March 20, he was still using 3.1.2 iPhone OS.)

Paper dolls aren’t exactly the macho-must have accessory, but you’d be forgiven for one of these gracing your cubicle.

Steve Jobs in paper dolly form comes with standard issue black turtleneck, jeans, wire-rimmed glasses and carries an iPhone. (Maybe in version 2.0 he’ll sport an iPad?)

The cut out for this cubed Steve Jobs paper doll, the handiwork of Jay Hauf, can be downloaded so that you can do a little desk origami and keep him always with you.

Or you can get creative, like Hauf, and design a cube in your likeness to pal around with the King of Cupertino.

Who you calling square?

Via iPhone Savior

Fake Steve creator Dan Lyons just signed a deal to bring Steve Jobs to another small screen near you.

The half-hour series called “iCon” is billed by the presser as “a savage satire centering on a fictional Silicon Valley CEO whose ego is a study in power and greed.”

Making sure the barbs prick will be the job of Larry Charles, director of “Borat” and  “Religulous.” The single-camera show to be aired on cable channel Epix may borrow something in style from his work as writer and producer of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Charles said, “We are attempting to do nothing less than a modern ‘Citizen Kane.’ A scabrous satire of Silicon Valley and its most famous citizen.”

No word yet on air dates or iTunes availablilty.

Will you tune in or not?

Via Alltop, NYT

Ken from Cooks’ Den has whipped up this snazzy iPad Thai dish in honor of the holy tablet’s launch. Who’s hungry?

Cooks’ Den via BoingBoing

A judge upheld a ruling to let Steve Jobs raze a crumbling mansion in Woodside, California, though a preservation group may appeal the decision, again.

The saga of the sagging 30-room Jackling mansion is a long one. Jobs bought it in 1984 and lived there for about a decade, then rented it until 2000. Built in 1925 for copper magnate Daniel C. Jackling, it sat empty, overgrown until Jobs was granted a demolition request in 2004. (For a good look on just how run down, check out Jonathan Haeber’s amazing photos).

A local preservation group called Friends of the Jackling House went to court and kept the bulldozers at bay.  In May 2009, Jobs submitted more documentation to bolster his argument that razing the house was more feasible than restoring it.

This week a supreme court judge upheld the council’s decision, so Jobs can apply for another demolition permit.

Steve Jobs may be one of the most admired CEOs in the tech industry even if he’s not the richest.

Jobs ranked 136 — down from up 43 spots since last year — in the annual Forbes list of billionaires, far behind Bill Gates (no. 2), Larry Ellison (6), Google founder Sergey Brin (24), Steve Ballmer (33) and Michael Dell who came in at no. 37.

Here’s how they explained his ranking:

“Following months of rumor and speculation, cultish king of the iGeeks presented the highly anticipated iPad in January; ten-inch, multi-touch computer intended to fill gap between smartphone and laptop. Delighted: nerds everywhere. Scared to death: newspaper and magazine publishers. Also unveiled new iBookstore and iBooks application in direct challenge to Amazon’s Kindle; several book publishers have committed to content agreements. Apple shares up 100% in past 12 months. Reed College dropout founded Apple in 1976. Revolutionized music industry with iTunes, iPod. Best investment: bought Pixar from George Lucas in 1986 for $10 million. Created string of hits (Finding Nemo, Toy Story); sold to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion in stock. Today is Disney’s largest shareholder; stake worth $4.2 billion.”

Via Softpedia

We all love Steve, but it’s still common knowledge that our beloved Apple leader can be a bit ornery, especially when he feels like his intellectual property is being threatened. Of course, he doesn’t always get it right, as evidenced by a great little blog post made today by former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, who explains how Jobs threatened to sue Sun over Project Looking Glass and its graphical effects.

Over at his blog, Schwartz writes:

In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”

But Schwartz has a ready retort…

To Be Or Not To Be… Steve Jobs. That is the question.

Well, actually, that’s not the question at all: the real question is whether you will pay good money to see “one of the elite performers in American theater,” Mike Daisey, be or not be the reclusive Apple CEO in a one-man show titled The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Don’t expect a flattering portrayal of Jobs. The official description of the monologue declares that Daisey will follow the “epic story of a real-life Willy Wonka” along his “trail to China where millions toil in factories to create iPhones and iPods.” Did you get that? Forget Oompah-Loompahs, Jobs apparently has millions of his own diminutive ethnic slaves to work at his Wonka factories.

We’re guessing that Dickey isn’t going to be afraid to play fast and loose with the facts in order to embellish the internal struggle of a charismatic tech leader and grand poombah of the Cult of Mac… but it’s not like he doesn’t have the credentials. Daisey’s first big theater break came from a show focusing on his employment at Amazon.com, and he’s also done a one-man show in which he portrayed another enigmatic cult leader: the one great nemesis of Lord Xenu himself, “Commodore” L. Ron Hubbard.

If a questionably sourced monologue about Jobs piques your interest, you’ve got plenty of time to pick up tickets: The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs won’t hit the stage until January 14, 2011.

[via Valleywag]

Saturday Night Live spoofed cubicle-based reality show Undercover Boss — where the corner office guy or gal climbs back down the career ladder to go incognito as a menial employee — with Undercover Celebrity Boss.

Steve Jobs sticks a “mainentance” badge on his signature black turtleneck and tries to sell an unimpressed secretary on the iTrash and the iTrash Shuffle.

Jobs, likable if clueless in a Michael Scott sorta way, gets a much kinder send up — some say too kind — than the other celebs, most of whom (Sir Richard Branson, the Olsen twins) are barely undercover before they say stuff like: “Because I’m Martha f*ing Stewart. ”

(It’s a Hulu video, which means if you’re outside the U.S. to you’ll need to install something like Hotspot shield to view it. It’s a drag. We know.)

Via Geekosystem

Tomorrow is Steve Jobs’ 55th birthday. Many happy returns Steve.

Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955.

To celebrate his birthday, we’re replaying Jobs’ great 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University’s graduating class.
Delivered just a year after being treated for cancer, Jobs is uncharacteristically open about life and death. If you’re interested in learning more about when Steve Jobs was born, check out this detailed look at his life and legacy.

Jobs tells three simple stories from his life, and they all include some some great advice. He advises to trust your gut, follow your heart and do what you love.

It’s a great speech. The video is 15 minutes long. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

The video and full transcript of the speech after the jump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LQNNv7MFLE

Lots of folks have proposed at Apple stores or even had Apple-inspired wedding cakes, but do you love Apple enough to say iDo there?

This might be the first couple to get hitched at an Apple retail without permission, flash-mob style, by a celebrant dressed like Steve Jobs who pronounced the solemn vows from an iPhone. The news was first tweeted by an Apple employee of New York’s Fifth Avenue store.

Steve Jobs unloaded on Flash during a meeting with Wall Street Journal executives last week, according to Gawker.

Jobs met with editors of the Journal to show them the new iPad. The Journal make widespread use of Flash on its website for video, infographics, etc., and editors raised concerns about the absence of Adobe’s plug-in.

According to Gawker: “Jobs was brazen in his dismissal of Flash, people familiar with the meeting tell us. He repeated what he said at an Apple Town Hall recently, that Flash crashes Macs and is buggy.”

Steve Jobs is finally cooperating with an official biography, the New York Times reports.

Jobs will collaborate with Walter Isaacson, author of two well-regarded biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger.

The book, which is in the early planning stages, would cover the entire life of Mr. Jobs, from his youth in the area now known as Silicon Valley through his years at Apple, these people said.

Mr. Jobs, who will turn 55 on Feb. 24, has invited Mr. Isaacson to tour his childhood home, one person with knowledge of the discussion said.

… Cooperation with Mr. Isaacson could be a sign that Mr. Jobs has emerged from his recent health battles with more of an interest in shaping his legacy.

Modern day hippies and endless jamming may not be among the first images that spring to mind when you think about Apple’s products and customer base, but check this promotional video for the premier Jam Band confab in the United States, the High Sierra Music Festival, and see how well the two play together.

High Sierra impressario David Margulies does a quite credible job of mimicking the classic Steve Jobs Keynote presentation method introducing the 2010 festival, to be held 4th of July weekend in Quincy, CA — he even incorporates images of the highly anticipated iPad to excellent effect and coins a new catch-phrase especially suited to his product: there’s an act for that!

The High Sierra clip is obviously a spoof, but it actually works to engage the viewer in the content, suggesting the elements of Job’s presentation style — if not, perhaps, the mock turtleneck and jeans — lie at the root of any successful product pitch.

Someone is looking for a Steve Jobs look-alike for an “impersonator event” on Friday and Saturday in San Francisco’s SOMA — the area around Macworld.

The actual job isn’t specified, but looking like Steve is important, of course, but so is “punctuality.”

“If necessary, we can provide a black turtleneck and glasses,” the Craigslist ad says.

Pay is $100 a day. Wanna bet it’s handing out Gold Club flyers?

Full text of the Craigslist ad after the jump and check out our Gallery of Uncanny Steve Jobs Look-Alikes

Steve Jobs doesn’t follow a presentation template but as outlined in my new book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, he does consistently follow the same principles that have turned Apple product launches into an art form. The iPad announcement on Wednesday, January 27th was no exception: classic Steve Jobs.

Photos courtesy of Gizmodo.