Grooming a Jobs replacement?

My guess is that Apple is hard at work with cloning technology.
--
David Weintraub
qazwartgmail.com

On 13/03/2008 12:46 AM, "David Weintraub" <qazwartgmail.com> spake thus:

> My guess is that Apple is hard at work with cloning technology.

Ah. The iClone then?

--
Nigel Stanger, Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND.
http://xri.net/=nigel.stanger

Big Steve wrote:
[big snip]
> But what that means is that, one day, unless Real Steve Jobs has made a pact
> with the devil (and, given the runaway success of *almost* everything Apple
> have done since he's been back [we don't mention the Apple TV in polite
> company], it's possible ‹ and there was that contract with Microsoft a few
> years ago, which is tantamount to the same thing), he will, inevitably, no
> longer be with us. And someone's got to replace him.
>
> You know, I have a nice black turtleneck. And my name's Steve...

How about Noah Wyle. He already knows the "look".

:)

David

At 6:15 AM -0700 3/11/08, Big Steve wrote:
>So maybe Scott Forstall? I don't know. This will, I'm sure, sound cattier
>than a sack full of kittens, but I simply didn't like him. Maybe it's
>because he's younger than I am, but he simply didn't endear himself to me
>- I'm afraid he simply came across as being a little smug and smarmy. This
>one, too, might have a reality distortion field around him, but
>unfortunately, the distortion will be more toward "Hmm....shame, really...I
>remember when this company made cool stuff, not geek stuff." I simply
>couldn't warm to him - his delivery was weak, I thought, and his manner was
>faintly patronising. I'm sure he's delightful dinner company - to be fair,
>in the slightly less obviously scripted moments, as he was standing behind
>the side-stage iMac, he managed to loosen up and actually sound like he
>worked for Apple, not Microsoft - but, we have to be blunt here, he's simply
>not got it. He also wears a belt, a clear Cupertino faux pas.

Forstall seemed like a deer in the headlights. Although I think with
the appropriate amount of practice he could actually be quite good..
That being said, I don't know about his abilities outside of the
presentation stage.

A better question is how valuable is the presentation at these
things? Sure we all watch them, but if Apple just shipped this stuff
instead of presenting it, what would the harm be?

~Nick
http://www.inmff.net

> Forstall seemed like a deer in the headlights. Although I think with
> the appropriate amount of practice he could actually be quite good..

Really? Speaking as a teacher, I'm not at all convinced. I do something
slightly similar for a living, and I see other folk who do too, and I
realise that even with decades ‹ an entire career even ‹ many folk don't
ever quite get it. But then, as I said elsemessage, there were glimmers. The
force may yet be strong with this one...

Mind you, let's be utterly blunt and honest about this. Real Steve Jobs,
while being much vaunted and ballyhooed as a presentational genius, actually
isn't that brilliant in his delivery. His content is outstanding ‹ the man
knows exactly what to put on a Keynote slide and, more importantly, what to
leave off*, and he structures his presentations with elegance ‹ but the
actual tone and voice aren't that spectacular. There's clearly a certain
ineffable Stevularity that only he can tap into.

> That being said, I don't know about his abilities outside of the
> presentation stage.

He's an Apple VP in his 30s. I'd say he has something going for him.

> A better question is how valuable is the presentation at these
> things? Sure we all watch them, but if Apple just shipped this stuff
> instead of presenting it, what would the harm be?

Enormously valuable ‹ otherwise you can bet your last nano that Real Steve
Jobs wouldn't be doing them. The man's got other things to do, presumably.
Like fly around in his Gulfstream V, for example.**

Think about it. If Apple had simply announced the iPhone last year, then
many people would, I'm sure, have bought the thing. But the reality is that
RSJ has revved the annual pilgrimage to San Francisco into a major event,
and so when he announced the iPhone last year, the expectation was already
at fever pitch, at the moment of unveiling there wasn't a dry seat in the
house, and as a result, it made front-page news. A simple announcement
‹ even on the home page of the Apple website ‹ wouldn't, would it, have
garnered the same degree of publicity?

The reality is that these announcements are *expected.* They attract
attention beyond all reasonable expectation. If Apple stopped them, they'd
just be another computer company. Like Dell.

I'll get my coat.
Steve

*Don't ‹ just don't ‹ get me started on Powerpoint. At school last week I
had to sit through a PPT presentation that embodied everything that's worst
about PPT presentations. As each slide appeared on the screen (in edit mode,
no less ‹ the toolbar was visible across the top, the other slides were
visible down the left side of the screen), the presenter read the hundred or
so words on the slide. And then, when one slide had the words "Students
write the school number," she said "And the school number is 1234." The only
*truly* valuable piece of information, and it wasn't even on the bloody
slide.

The government should licence and severely restrict PowerPoint use. Use of
PowerPoint without a licence should be a capital crime ‹ first offence, no
questions. And that from a pacifist libertarian.

**You know, this bothers me about RSJ. They bought him the private-jet
equivalent of an eight-processor Mac Pro, and the man doesn't even bother to
fly it. If I were Steve (and, in a very real sense, I am), you'd have to
drag me kicking and screaming out of the left seat...

On 3/14/08 10:49 AM, "Big Steve" <bigstevemactampabay.rr.com> wrote:

> Mind you, let's be utterly blunt and honest about this. Real Steve Jobs,
> while being much vaunted and ballyhooed as a presentational genius, actually
> isn't that brilliant in his delivery.

I agree 100% and I've said it for years - Steve Jobs is *not* that great a
presenter.

> **You know, this bothers me about RSJ. They bought him the private-jet
> equivalent of an eight-processor Mac Pro, and the man doesn't even bother to
> fly it. If I were Steve (and, in a very real sense, I am), you'd have to
> drag me kicking and screaming out of the left seat...

Like you said, he has better things to do. :)

--
Shawn King
Host/Executive Producer
Your Mac Life
http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com

On 14-Mar-2008, at 14:55, Shawn King wrote:
> On 3/14/08 10:49 AM, "Big Steve" <bigstevemactampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>> Mind you, let's be utterly blunt and honest about this. Real Steve
>> Jobs,
>> while being much vaunted and ballyhooed as a presentational genius,
>> actually
>> isn't that brilliant in his delivery.
>
> I agree 100% and I've said it for years - Steve Jobs is *not* that
> great a
> presenter.

The whole key to his brilliance is that he seems like a regular guy,
not a presenter.

On 3/15/08 8:50 AM, "LewisGmail" <gkremegmail.com> wrote:

>> I agree 100% and I've said it for years - Steve Jobs is *not* that
>> great a presenter.
>
> The whole key to his brilliance is that he seems like a regular guy,
> not a presenter.

Perhaps the first time Steve Jobs has *ever* been described as a "regular
guy". :)
--
Shawn King

>>> I agree 100% and I've said it for years - Steve Jobs is *not* that
>>> great a presenter.
>>
>> The whole key to his brilliance is that he seems like a regular guy,
>> not a presenter.
>
> Perhaps the first time Steve Jobs has *ever* been described as a
> "regular
> guy". :)

Shawn:

        Small distinction: Description used term "seems" --so perhaps he's
better presenter than sometimes given credit for....or does that make
him a "politician" ?? !!
        Reagan long was awarded term "Great Presenter", even for his most
egregious efforts, but history has now gone a long ways towards
correcting that initial impression --as it may also here for friend
Steve...

Hankatlma

On 15-Mar-2008, at 07:30, Shawn King wrote:
> On 3/15/08 8:50 AM, "LewisGmail" <gkremegmail.com> wrote:
>>> I agree 100% and I've said it for years - Steve Jobs is *not* that
>>> great a presenter.
>>
>> The whole key to his brilliance is that he seems like a regular guy,
>> not a presenter.
>
> Perhaps the first time Steve Jobs has *ever* been described as a
> "regular
> guy". :)

Hey now, that's not what I said. But really, when he's giving one of
those keynotes he seems a lot more like a regular guy than most. He's
not jumping around like Ballmer-monkey, and he's not talking in
marketing-speak.

The Xserve line and the Mac OS X Server software is currently being mismanaged. This is causing a lot of damage to Apple's reputation. The Xserve was Steve's attempt to show that Apple Computer was a 'big kid' and could produce professional product. However, Apple Computer is no more and Apple is a consumer electronic/media/phone company more and more. If the best Steve can do is let Server wither and die, then he needs to be replaced.