- Posts tagged design
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Steve Jobs answers Android UX designer's question
In this interview with Matias Duarte, the head of user experience for Android, I was struck by something the author observed:
"What is the soul of the new machine?" The words are emblazoned across Matias’ laptop display.
It struck me because it sounded familiar, as if that question had already been asked and answered. And it was. By Steve Jobs:
In his WWDC keynote a few weeks ago, Steve Jobs said the following. “You know, if the hardware is the brain and the sinew of our products, the software in them is their soul.”
When Duarte is asked if that's the first time anyone at Google ever asked that question, he replies:
“I don’t think anybody ever asked about the soul,” he answers in a very matter-of-fact way, “This was my question, it was the question I challenged the team with.”
Right. Maybe the team didn't see Jobs' WWDC keynote.
Apple's DNA
The great thing is that Apple's DNA hasn't changed," he says. "The place where Apple has been standing for the last two decades is exactly where computer technology and the consumer electronics markets are converging. So it's not like we're having to cross the river to go somewhere else; the other side of the river is coming to us.
That was Steve Jobs six years ago, and it's proven true each year since. For those wondering how Apple maintains its success, this is it.
The more competitors think Apple's success is only marketing, being cool or having fanboys, the less likely they'll catch up to Apple trying to imitate it. Meanwhile, the Apple Jobs built doesn't spend time chasing the latest strategy du jour. Instead, their focus is to deliver beautiful, functional, easy to use devices, and people will "cross the river" for those.
Apple Discontinues A Failure (in 2001)
Not all was lost, however, the radical design earned it a place at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
What was probably most interesting about the Cube's demise was Jobs quoted as saying:
"That was not a failure of design," Mr. Jobs said. "It was a failure of concept. We targeted the Cube at a professional audience. We thought they would rather have something small on the desk than expandability and we were wrong. It was a wrong concept — fabulously implemented."
Apple's Philosophy Summed Up By Steve Jobs Quote From the D8 Conference
We have at least the courage of our convictions to say we don't think this is part of what makes a great product, we're gonna leave it out. Some people are gonna not like that, they're gonna call us names, it's not gonna be in certain companies' vested interests that we do that but we're gonna take the heat because we want to make the best product in the world for customers. And we're gonna instead focus our energy on these technologies which we think are in their ascendancy and we think they're gonna be the right technologies for customers and—you know what?—they're paying us to make those choices. That's what a lot of customers pay us to do, is to try to make the best products we can. And if we succeed, they'll buy 'em, and if we don't, they won't. And it'll all work itself out.
Lots of good observations from Jobs' D8 interview, but the above might say the most.
It's Adobe Flash he's talking about leaving out, but the gist of the quote has little to do with Adobe or Flash. It's about Apple's philosophy of trying to build the best product and then letting the end user decide. Not some IT group. Not some research or analytics firm. Not some tech pundits. Not some advertising company. Not some record label or movie studio. The end user.
You've got Microsoft trying to please the enterprise, Google trying to please Madison Avenue, NBC, ABC and CBS trying to please cable operators, etc. In each case the consumer is dealt with using rules and practices designed primarily to keep the pleased entity happy, not the end user. The end user comes second. By contrast, Apple takes their products to the consumer, trying to please the individuals that vote by paying with their own money.
Client: “[Indian outsourcer] says he can do this... "
Me: “The entire site’s done in Flash.”
Client: “Huh?”
Me: “It’s a site for iPhone users.”
The ClientsFromHell site is a riot. This sample is one of my favorites. Click the above link to read the whole thing.
