Jobs on Android, Bill Gates, Kindle, cable cards
updated 02:40 pm EST, Wed January 16, 2008
Jobs on Kindle and More
Although Apple is making an aggressive push into movie rentals and other fields it has not tried before, much of the electronics industry is still headed in the wrong path and misjudging its audience, company head Steve Jobs has said in a new interview with the New York Times. The executive particularly cautions that while the iPhone's own success is uncertain, Google may have unintentionally damaged its own efforts to influence the mobile world with the Android operating system by creating a conflict of interest where its own OS will compete against rivals who may also carry Google software.
"I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them," he says. "It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners."
Jobs also dismissed the Amazon Kindle as a fundamentally flawed product. As reading itself is on the decline, an attempt to turn around the book industry through a new e-book device will ultimately fail, according to the senior official. "It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore," he explains.
Likewise, the Apple official adds that his company is unlikely to branch into producing devices with CableCARD support even as it begins renting HD movies and continues to sell TV shows. The removable HDTV tuner format's market situation is said to currently be "loopy" and not truly connected to Apple's, which more closely resembles the DVD rental and sale format.
However, the executive also reserves compliments for outgoing Microsoft head Bill Gates, which has often been misperceived as a direct challenger. The retirement is "a significant event," Jobs says. "And I think [Gates] should be honored for the contributions he’s made,"
Kindle
01/16, 03:26pm reply
Steve - man are you wrong about nobody reading anymore. That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever hear you make (if in fact you really made it). I am the Tech Guru (through no fault of my own) for a very large Midwest region, and I (even though I buy audiobooks from time to time) read voraciously! What we need is a ebook that is thin as "Air", Hi-rez, 6x9" or larger and FULL COLOR. by now this should be a no brainer! It should also have enough Flash RAM to store respectable number of books and publications, with easy WiFi direct download, and the option to export to your computer (to put on CD, or whatever). all the other goodies, like hyperlinks, etc., are a given. A lovely iPhone type interface would be the capper, as would a touch screen! I'll get right on it ;-o)
thinkman
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Joined: Jan 2005
thinkman--
01/16, 03:42pm reply
Jobs is correct and you are wrong. The number of people buying books and reading in the US has been on a steady decline for the past few decades.
I find this distressing and would hope that Steve would do something to stimulate interest in the written word, but in his critique of the Kindle he was factually correct to note that it's an industry in decline.
garmonbosia
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Joined: Aug 2002
depressing but true
01/16, 03:48pm reply
I think, sadly, that Steve is right. Reading is on the decline. And often, what people do read is c***. That includes, pretty much by definition, any book promoted on Oprah.
climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001
Amazing!
01/16, 03:57pm reply
It turns out that Jobs thinks what Apple is doing is on the right track, and what other companies are doing is going down the wrong path.
Man, what insight. And this from an objective point of view!
I don't buy his argument on Android, though. If Google has already achieved their goals, as he claims, then how can Android hurt them. And it only hurts them if companies are petty and refuse to play nicely because Google now dares get into their realm (oh, wait, that's Apple).
It couldn't be that Jobs feels threatened since Android is open and can be enhanced by many a different company, can it?
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
Reading
01/16, 04:26pm reply
Nobody reads any more, oh wait, I'm reading this...c***
RKDinOKC
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Joined: Jul 2007
cover up
01/16, 04:55pm reply
That's what he said right now. Give it another year or 2 and he will come back and said, "Our iPhone is now also an eBook".
coffeetime
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Joined: Nov 2006
Hmmmmm...
01/16, 05:17pm reply
Fundamentally flawed? The Kindle is sold out, they can't make them fast enough! Jobs should be making Amazon a partner, not an enemy. The open network design of the Kindle is brilliant, something that Apple should have tried with the iPhone. Instead the iPhone is "fundamentally" handicapped by the population of people who won't sign two-year contracts or do business with AT&T.
TheSnarkmeister
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Joined: Jun 2007
Does "Sold out" sell?
01/16, 06:39pm reply
The Kindle is sold out (according to it's sole vendor) but I don't think that's really something to have pride or faith in -- Apple closed their last US manufacturing facility in Sacramento as they couldn't make the xServe fast enough. The Kindle is an interesting idea, but man the design/UI is uglier than all get out. Oh, and I can pay twice as much to get the same magazines but in grey-scale not color? Yeah, that's a winner.
dimmer
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2006
KIndle Sales
01/16, 07:08pm reply
How many Kindle's have been sold? It may be sold out. But how many were manufactured? 500, 1000, 10000, 1000000? Have they published actual sales figures for the Kindle? If they have please provide me with a link to the data.
Btw, 4 million iphones sold and capturing 19% of the smart phone market doesn't sound like a fundamentally handicapped product to me. I bought one today so they can add me to the list of satisfied customers. I hope you'll enjoy your Kindle as much as I enjoy my iPhone.
zdezyne
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Joined: Feb 2001
what???
01/16, 07:43pm reply
Why can't cable card be part of the strategy? Because then people would buy less TV Shows from Apple? Give me a break! Its loopy? If that industry is loopy its only because no one has stepped in and made an easy way to hook a cablecard to computer. TiVo may be great, but I'd rather just use my computer. And now cablecards support two way communication.
Oh well. Maybe El Gato will make something along these lines...I hope.
moo083
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Joined: Jan 2006