Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple citing ill health in August 2011. There were accolades in the media for his work at Apple. A company that he started .twice!. What is so extraordinary about Steve? He did not have any qualifications or specialism – he was not a hardware engineer nor was he [...]
Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple citing ill health in August 2011. There were accolades in the media for his work at Apple. A company that he started .twice!. What is so extraordinary about Steve?
He did not have any qualifications or specialism – he was not a hardware engineer nor was he a software engineer. He was not chained to either. He was a technologist visionary. He could see the big picture where others were stuck in the detail.
I have written about him previously and have considerable respect for him and his work.
Comment: “Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, has been voted the CEO of the decade by Fortune magazine.”
Jobs started Apple twice. The first time with Steve Wozniak in the 1970s and the second time when it had problems in 1998. He now leaves Apple the largest company by stock market valuation (larger than Exxon/Mobil). Isn’t this the dream that every founder wants – retire when your company is on a high?
Apple is in now leading the field in personal technology. As he retires, I am sure that he has already laid the ground work for future generations of products. His successor, Tim Cook, excels in getting the product to market efficiently and effectively.
Some observations of Steve Jobs.
1. Apple concentrates of specific areas. They do it very well. Also, they bring it to market very quickly, That is their speciality. They do not grab any opportunity. In the PC/windows, there are lots of good but also bad areas,
2. Jobs was driven my passion and not financial success. This passion is reflected in his products which people LOVE. In return, he gets the passion and Love from his customers. They not only adore his products they buy them in droves.
3. It is Jobs vision in the application of this technology. Hence his successes in Movies (Pixar) and music (iTunes).
4. Apple do not use Focus Groups in the design of new products. Steve Jobs uses Apple Staff who use the technology already. They are the best persons to give informed opinions. KISS (Keep it simple)
5. Apple products are designed to be used – its designs are intuitive enough so that so no user guide is supplied. Should you require help, there is a superb after sales including their Genius Bar.
6. Jobs vision in the technology field has led Apple to dominate scene with the next generation of technologies – the tablet (iPad) and the smartphone (iPhone) and now the fading star – the music player (iPod). It goes to show, Microsoft had recognised that the tablet is the next generation of computing but after decades or work, it is Apple that is dominating the tablet market with the iPad.
7. One of the most inspiration quotes that I have read.
“Our time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
8. One of the most inspiration videos that I have seen. Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
I will be posting a feng shui analysis of the current Apple Campus. A feng shui analysis of the future Apple Campus has been posted
I am sure, he will be appearing in future Apple presentation. This is not the last of the Apple co-founder.
Steve Jobs – Technologist Extraordinaire
(c) Copyright – Dr Michael Oon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide 2011.
Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel, at 23, became the youngest World Champion in the final race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. I found that it was the most exciting season that I have ever followed with 4 possible contenders on the last race. It was certainly exciting! I look forward to the 2011 series with anticipation. [...]
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel, at 23, became the youngest World Champion in the final race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. I found that it was the most exciting season that I have ever followed with 4 possible contenders on the last race. It was certainly exciting!
I look forward to the 2011 series with anticipation. It is only 15 weeks away.
A look at the teams with their drivers.
Red Bull: They had the fastest car.
Vettel: A worthy champion with immense talent. Has a good positive attitude which is shown in how he performs. He also learns from his mistakes. He made a number of serious mistakes in the 1st half of the season but these mistakes did not re-occur. This is a wonderful quality.
Webber: He has an attitude of being the victim. He needs to get over this to progress significantly above where he is. He had spent years “struggling” in the mid-field where he appears to be most comfortable. He has to make the most from this opportunity of driving the best car in the business. Or else, someone else would be sitting in that seat!
McLaren: The team home base (factory) is just down the road where I live. Superb technical skills but, the upgrades did not work immediately. As mentioned earlier, their building of a circular design, this slows down the progress of the business. McLaren showed how competitive their car could be only on the last race of the season. Just think if they could get it right for the 2nd half of the season. They would have won both championships – constructors and drivers. Weren’t they leading the championship at the half way stage?
Hamilton: Superb attitude and driving skills for a F1 driver. Always on the go.
Button: A much more relaxed type of person than say Alonso and has managed to fit into the McLaren system in his first year.
Ferrari: Not the fastest car but managed to solve some aerodynamics issues to catch up with Red Bull. Hence it was far more competitive towards the 2nd half of the season.
Alonso: One of the best drivers around and had a superb 2nd half season. However, he was unlucky not to get 4th place in Abu Dhabi to win the 2010 Drivers Championship. A credible performance for this season.
Tony Fernandes – A man that I admire. He built up AirAsia by understanding the changes in the social environment that we are in. He is now indulging in his passion – F1 Motor Sport. He had a credible 10th position or the best of the new entrants. However, his team did not fulfil the initial promise when they started. They did not get a single point in this season.
Let us see what happens in 2011 when Proton cars are going to be part of Renault racing as Lotus-Renault. He will have to re-name his own team from Lotus to 1Malaysia perhaps?
Dr Michael Oon
Nokia drops Kallasvuo as chief executive. Kallasvuo who? you might ask. The world’s largest mobile phone maker is now suffering from the game change with the onslaught of serious smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry and phones using Google “Android” operating system. Nokia is a product of the mobile phone era. It perfected the art [...]
Nokia drops Kallasvuo as chief executive.
Kallasvuo who? you might ask.
The world’s largest mobile phone maker is now suffering from the game change with the onslaught of serious smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry and phones using Google “Android” operating system.
Nokia is a product of the mobile phone era. It perfected the art of re-packaging a mobile phone with a new shell. This created a churn in mobiles. However, the game changed with the coming of the iPhone with added on-line functionality and introduced with the “Apple Hype”.
Admittedly, Nokia had come up with smartphones with similar functionality and earlier to the iPhone, but nobody knew about it. Nokia is known for churning out new mobiles and people just got bored with all these new models. But when it introduced significant new technology, no one noticed. It was always associated in the repackaging of mobiles. Nokia had been crying wolf too long.
Who have they employed as the new CEO? Stephen Elop from Microsoft. Just making an observation, Microsoft has also lost its way. It stuck in the previous generation of technology.
In my opinion, Nokia probably had difficulty in attracting a serious game player to be their CEO. If you are already in the fast stream (Apple, Google, Facebook etc), would you want to move to a “has been” technology company?
I have previously posted a blog Technology companies are one product companies.
The exception is Apple because of Steve Jobs and his background.
The business environment of the Technology companies changes faster than traditional businesses. Companies are a collection of people. Individual people do not like change. Change is even more difficult when there is a group of people. It is even more difficult when success had been achieved by working in that particular way.
Change happens all the time. Adapt to change and survive.
Here are some relevant quotes:
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” Bill Gates (Co-founder of Microsoft)
“Stay: hungry.” Steve Jobs (Co-founder Apple Inc)
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin
Dr Michael Oon
