During an
Apple earnings call two years ago, the late
Steve Jobs made a comment that’s having a profound impact on not only the tech industry but also many other industries whose products and services are becoming infused with and enriched by technology. Jobs was talking about the indispensable value of software, and about how companies that have focused almost exclusively on hardware and have not invested vigorously enough in software will find it increasingly difficult to innovate, to dazzle customers, and to compete. It’s also important to note that the circumstances surrounding Jobs’ remark: while he typically did not participate in Apple’s quarterly earnings calls, he chose to join the call on Oct. 18, 2010 because it marked the first $20-billion quarter in Apple’s history. Last month—just two years after Apple cracked that $20-billion mark—Apple reported
quarterly revenue of $36 billion. Clearly, this was a guy who knew what he was talking about. And of all the comments he made during that call, here’s the one that sticks out most in my mind—and it’s the one that connects Apple’s strategy with the $60 light bulb and indeed the entire future of technology:
You’re looking at it wrong. You’re looking at it as a hardware person in a fragmented world. You’re looking it as a hardware manufacturer that doesn’t really know much about software, who doesn’t think about an integrated product, but assumes the software will somehow take care of itself. . . . And you assume that the software will somehow just come alive on this product that you’re dreaming of, but it won’t.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2012/11/16/steve-jobs-the-60-light-bulb-and-the-future-of-technology/
During an Apple earnings call two years ago, the late Steve Jobs made a comment that’s having a profound impact on not only the tech industry but also many other industries whose products and services are becoming infused with and enriched by technology. Jobs was talking about the indispensable value of software, and about how companies that have focused almost exclusively on hardware and have not invested vigorously enough in software will find it increasingly difficult to innovate, to dazzle customers, and to compete. It’s also important to note that the circumstances surrounding Jobs’ remark: while he typically did not participate in Apple’s quarterly earnings calls, he chose to join the call on Oct. 18, 2010 because it marked the first $20-billion quarter in Apple’s history. Last month—just two years after Apple cracked that $20-billion mark—Apple reported quarterly revenue of $36 billion. Clearly, this was a guy who knew what he was talking about. And of all the comments he made during that call, here’s the one that sticks out most in my mind—and it’s the one that connects Apple’s strategy with the $60 light bulb and indeed the entire future of technology: