Apple CEO Steve Jobs
by John Paczkowski
Posted on May 30, 2007 at 12:20 PM PT
Is that the faint outline of an iPhone I see in Steve Jobs’ pocket? We’ll see.
- 12:20 p.m.: The growth Apple has seen since the Intel transition, Jobs says, has been three times typical market growth worldwide. In the U.S., it’s nearly five times.
- Walt to Jobs: When you changed your name to Apple Inc., people wondered if Apple was exiting the personal computer business. Is it? Jobs says no and stresses Apple’s commitment to the PC business, touts Apple’s forthcoming Leopard operating system.
- 12:25 p.m.: Jobs says Apple is on track to ship iPhone in late June as planned.
Walt: Like the last day of June?
Jobs: (Laughs) Yeah, probably. - Why did Cingular agree to the iPhone deal? Jobs explains that there were two reasons: Music on phones hasn’t been very successful so far. With the iPod, users can do that. Second: Companies have spent a lot of money building these 3G networks, but they don’t have the consumer devices to really use them. Jobs says today’s cellphones deliver a “baby Internet” experience. Presumably, iPhone will deliver the “big-boy Internet” experience.
- Walt: Any undisclosed iPhone features you’d like to share with us today?
Jobs: (Smiles) No.
(Ed. note: Damn!) - 12:35 p.m.: Walt asks if Jobs’s open letter to the recording industry regarding Digital Rights Management was a “getting-ahead-of-the-train” maneuver designed to take advantage of the opposition to DRM that had already been building. Jobs dodges, says people are already getting the bulk of their music unprotected from other sources.
- Jobs: The iPhone is the best iPod we’ve ever made.
- Walt asks why there isn’t a physical keyboard on the iPhone, when RIM and Palm have shown there’s a real demand for them? “Was there no one in Cupertino who thought that was a good idea?” Jobs’s answer: “No. … Once you learn to trust the keyboard, it’s a better keyboard. I’ll bet you dinner that you’ll love it.”
- 12:40 p.m.: Why is Apple successful in the music-player business? Jobs: It’s because Japanese consumer electronics could produce elegant software. And that’s why Apple enjoys the success it does with the iPod. If you look at handsets, the situation is similar. Manufacturers have the hardware down, but they just can’t seem to get the software right. The iPhone is great software wrapped in wonderful hardware, and its software is five years ahead of anything else out there.
- Walt: How many copies of iTunes are out there? Jobs: Lots. Several times more than the number of iPods. Walt notes that that makes it one of the most ubiquitous pieces of software out there–and it’s predominantly on Windows machines. “That makes Apple one of the biggest developers of Windows software around, Walt observes. Jobs: “That’s right. … It’s like offering glasses of ice water to people in hell.” Glad to see you’re doing your part to make tonight’s joint appearance with Bill Gates more comfortable, Steve.
- Whoa. Jobs says iPhone runs “real OS X, real Safari, real desktop email.”
Walt follows up: If that’s true, could other OS X applications run on the iPhone? Jobs says no. They’re not designed to. - 12:45 p.m.: Ah, an Apple TV announcement. Interesting, since Jobs has described the device as a “hobby.”
- Five bucks and a black turtleneck says it’s Internet downloads.
- Oh look, a Pixar trailer! Ratatouille. Jobs is streaming it live on stage via Apple TV.
- Here it comes: “The other thing you can do is buy TV shows.” Jobs pulls up a clip from “The Office.” He says sending stuff from your computer to the Apple TV isn’t the main deal here. “Wouldn’t it be great if you could see YouTube on your TV?”
- Apple will be offering a free software upgrade come June that will allow Apple TV users to view YouTube videos on their televisions. Jobs demos the feature with a clip from “America’s Got Talent.” Odd choice.
- 12:55 p.m.: Walt: Did you ever imagine associating this sort of content with the Apple brand?
- Ah, grand finale: Darwin award for best human sling shot.
- 1 p.m.: Walt asks what sort of video resolution we are talking about here. Does Apple do anything to YouTube clips to optimize them for television? I guess not. Jobs says, “You get what you get.”
- Jobs says Apple TV isn’t a set-top box, or a set-top box replacement. It’s “sort of a new DVD player for the Internet age.”
- 1:05 p.m.: How many copies of iTunes are out there? Jobs: Lots. Several times more than the number of iPods. Walt notes that that makes it one of the most ubiquitous pieces of software out there–and it’s predominantly on Windows machines. “That makes Apple one of the biggest developers of Windows software around,” Walt observes. Jobs: “That’s right. … It’s like offering a glass of ice water to people in hell.”
- Is video on portable devices a success? Jobs once said consumers didn’t want portable video. He says he was skeptical, but customers have proved him wrong. Video is a big selling point for iPods. “People have watched a lot of video on iPods,” he notes. “Video is here to stay on portable devices.”
- Walt asks if iPhone will allow over-the-air video downloads. Jobs says no. It doesn’t make sense to buy media that way. Delivery over the airwaves is too costly
- 1:10 p.m.: On to the Q&A …
- Why is the iPhone a 2½G phone when 3G is available? Jobs doesn’t seem to think 3G is necessary. He touts an iPhone Wi-Fi detection feature that alerts users to available hot spots. He says Wi-Fi is proliferating and it’s “way faster than 3G.”
- 1:15 p.m.: Is the iPhone’s platform closed? And if it is, will it be open to developers in the future? Jobs says it’s a security issue, but Apple is working to find a way to allow developers to build applications for it. Jobs says he doesn’t want the iPhone to be “one of those phones that crashes a few times a day.” He adds: “We would like to solve this problem and if you could just be a little more patient with us, we’ll do it.”
- 1:20 p.m.: Jobs cops to reading the Fake Steve Jobs blog. “I don’t write it … maybe Walt does.” I know one thing for sure. I don’t.
More coverage of D5 at The Wall Street Journal.
Comments
Was Steve asked about Microsoft’s announcement today of Surface? I really would have liked to hear his reaction to that.
Posted by Roger Wong at May 30th, 2007 at 2:01 pmWhy is there so little video coming out of this conference? Stills are nice and all, but y’all need to move boldly into the YouTube age.
“But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles”
No, it’s (entertaining and intelligent) print media folks about a mile behind the curve. All Things D? More like Some Things D.
Posted by Michael Coderre at May 30th, 2007 at 2:42 pmThis 3G issue is driving me crazy. Jobs contradicts himself even within this interview!
First, we get this:
“Companies have spent a lot of money building these 3G networks, but they don’t have the consumer devices to really use them. Jobs says today’s cellphones deliver a “baby Internet” experience. Presumably, iPhone will deliver the “big-boy Internet” experience.”
But then, later, when asked about 3G:
“Jobs doesn’t seem to think 3G is necessary. He touts an iPhone Wi-Fi detection feature that alerts users to available hot spots. He says Wi-Fi is proliferating and it’s “way faster than 3G.””
So, Steve, which is it?
As to WiFi being faster than 3G, it depends on the speed of the backhaul. The LAN speed (wired or wireless) is almost never the bottleneck in an internet connection. And my Cingular HSDPA on an HTC Hermes/8525 gets about 1Mbps, comparable to DSL, and WAY faster than EDGE (120Kbps).
*sigh*
So much for being a technology leader, Apple.
Posted by Josh Bancroft at May 30th, 2007 at 4:08 pmRE: Josh Bancroft – “So much for being a technology leader, Apple.”
To imply Apple is not being a technology leader for not including 3G on the US-based iPhone is painting Apple with an amazingly broad brush, the statement disqualifies itself as being valid.
The statement attempts to nullify the other innovations in the iPhone, which is simply not an analytical analysis. Josh, you have thrown out the baby with the bath water… for shame.
What Jobs is simply playing is a hedge game. EDGE is everywhere, 3G is not yet ubiquitous, thus EDGE gets use by everyone, so for the US EDGE it is – for now.
Meanwhile, 3G iPhones will launch in Europe, and will make the iPhone US, sometime in 2008.
As for the rest of this OS X mobile device, it promises to be an incredible experience. Anyone who has seen it or reviewed it hands-on, attests to the leap forward this product is.
Looking specifically at wifi vs EDGE or 3G, let us look at the practicle applications.
- Using the phone in the home = wifi.
- Using the phone in the office = wifi.
- Using the phone in cities and other open network areas = wifi
- Using the iPhone in a car = EDGE.
When using web applications with the iPhone, the user is highly likely to be in a wifi zone the majority of the time (depending on type of user… Mall chicks are irrelevant to the argument, as they will buy one anyways simply because it is cool).
As for EDGE vs 3G in the car or “on the road” I cannot see browsing the web on the side of the road very often, but I can see myself talking on the iPhone while driving, which voice makes the 3G vs EDGE argument irrelevant.
To recap – most of the time – users will browse in a fairly set environment, and a huge majority of these environments have wifi. Ask yourself where you browse today. On the couch, in the den, at the offie (at lunch of course), and there you go – wifi.
What is likely to blow people away is how great a portable browser experience iPhone will be.
Regards
Posted by Mark Reschke at May 30th, 2007 at 9:30 pmThe great thing about 3G is that even if you don’t have a 3G phone the content and how it is being delivered is so much improved over the older EDGE and G networks. The iphone is like this wonderful intelligent catchers mitt, it’s going to get tons of usefull information pushed to it and for the first time the user is going to feel like he is in control of the content and not the other way around.
Posted by Tesco Morrison at May 30th, 2007 at 9:33 pmTo Michael:
Plese visit Brightcove.com OR Marketwatch which captures all the disussions with Steve and Bill.
With respect to iPhone, as co-founder of MobileMonday Toronto, I will add that the mobile industry has been held back by a horrible Internet experience.
Between different UIs and horrible application interfaces, the only REAL users have been those wishing to endure the pain as early adopters.
We embrace the disruption which Apple iPhone (if the expectations and Jobs own comments hold true) may bring to the market. Outside of Nokia (and possibly Helio), there never has been any other ‘contender’ to define the consumer market adequately.
This disruption could shift the entire channel and like Steve said about Microsoft and Apple, it’s about the software — once you have that under control, the user experience is defined.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Facebook is software – they even call themselves a “platform” now with compatible Facebook widgets (apps) entering the game. What does MySpace NOT have? SCALABLITY of platform to encourage the pervasive distribution of applications through a platform that is growing….the answer is in the intelligent design of software.
As Jobs put it, the iPod is software in a nice package tied to a music player and Internet cloud.
Posted by Alex Bosika at June 2nd, 2007 at 4:54 pm