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Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 09:24 AM
  #16  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

No doubt, I'll admit that Mac has nothing for games.

It might be a chicken and egg thing too. There are very few games for a Mac, so maybe there is not much pressure at Apple for them to play well.

In my office, I have a imac on one desk and directly across the room, I have a new HP. I feel like Batman's 2 face villan having to turn my chair around to use the "other" one.

I didn't buy either computer for gaming. So, I can't speak on PC gaming. Heck, the last computer game I played was Starcraft and it worked great on my imac.

I work on computers all day long. When I want to play a game, I want to lay on the couch and play PS2.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 09:26 AM
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by PacerX
Better looking? Mac.

Better operating? If speed is one of your criteria, PC's will crush any Mac in existence, particularly in the area of high-end graphics. Why? Games... games are the big technology pressure in home computing right now, and the PC's OWN the game market.
Speed is relative. Just as in the car world, there's the speed you read about in magazines and then there's the real world. If you're referring to the benchmarks in all the pc mags, then you are correct, PC's generally win out against the comparable Mac.

In the real world, or at least in my experience, it takes longer to do just about anything on our PC's compared to our Mac's.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 09:41 AM
  #18  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by dream '94 Z28
That's a really one sided and, for lack of a better word, un-educated comment..although I've come to expect no less from the 'black turtleneck sweater brigade.

One one hand I agree with him that it's frustrating to see a concept car watered down for production, but there are a whole slew for factors that has happened between show car and production. This isn't just cars, but industrial designers in general aren't very good at designing for production and then whining how engineers ruined everything (just for reference, I'm an industrial designer, I work around these issues all the time).

-From concept to production you have to take into production costs AND prodution capabilities or realities (in not uncommon for a designer to photo- realistically 'design' something and it's not close to being able to be produced). I have a design engineer friend who tells me this on a bi-weekly basis. The stories are not funny anymore.

-depending on the market you've got to decide how big a market you want to capture, thus you have to please more people and thus you get a little closer to vanilla.

-ergonomics (until the next beig step in human evolution, things can only be put in a certain place...and if you've seen the original iMac's mouse, Steve Jobs could use a lesson in ergonomics or at least give more than lip service to 'form follows function').

Cars and computers are completely different beasts. Nice to see Jobs hasn't lost his 'artist's ego'.....
All of your points are exactly Jobs' point. If cars were designed in a manner similar to the way Apple designs computers, iPods, etc., then there would be experts in all relevant fields working together with the designer. That way, the designer can come up with an attractive concept that was still workable as a production car (or computer).

Yes, the industries are extremely different, but the philosophy used at Apple can be applied to any industry.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 09:48 AM
  #19  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by JakeRobb
All of your points are exactly Jobs' point. If cars were designed in a manner similar to the way Apple designs computers, iPods, etc., then there would be experts in all relevant fields working together with the designer. That way, the designer can come up with an attractive concept that was still workable as a production car (or computer).

Yes, the industries are extremely different, but the philosophy used at Apple can be applied to any industry.
I think you mis-interpretted my rant. My issue was Job's crack that auto companies don't seem to be able to take concepts right to production as is when there's a ton more give and take than there is in any iPod or Mac.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 09:48 AM
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

[QUOTE=
Yes, the industries are extremely different, but the philosophy used at Apple can be applied to any industry.[/QUOTE]

It cracks me up that people now see Apple as a success.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:03 AM
  #21  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by falchulk
It cracks me up that people now see Apple as a success.
It is pretty ironic, but when you think about it, they are a big success.

They diserve some credit for even being here. They should have become a footnote in the history of personal computers by going out of business in the mid-ninetees. Instead they held on, and found a new source of profit. In the process, they've had to learn to coexist with Microsoft - which doesn't like coexisting with anybody - and had to consistantly out market and out innovate Sony.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:04 AM
  #22  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by falchulk
It cracks me up that people now see Apple as a success.
I have seen Apple as a success for a very long time. They were mismanaged for a few years in the mid 90's, but things have been going very well for almost ten years now. They were great in the 80's, too.

Please, tell me why I shouldn't see them as a success. I'm so curious...
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:06 AM
  #23  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Making a computer design, isn't veryhard. They have a bunch of stuff, put it in a box, then make the box colorful, maybe have curved edges, maybe have a special blue light on it. For cars, you can just throw a ram-air styled hood on any car. It has to be designed a certain way. I do understand his point though, about different departments not really working in synch with eachother. That problem has been address by GM though, and should become increasingly apparent.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:07 AM
  #24  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by dav305z
It is pretty ironic, but when you think about it, they are a big success.

They diserve some credit for even being here. They should have become a footnote in the history of personal computers by going out of business in the mid-ninetees. Instead they held on, and found a new source of profit. In the process, they've had to learn to coexist with Microsoft - which doesn't like coexisting with anybody - and had to consistantly out market and out innovate Sony.
The ipod success was the result of marketing and copying the best features from other products. There were equally good players with equally good interfaces available from other MFG's. They just did not have the name recognition that Ipod got from their advertising blitz. Apple does not even make much on the hardware itself and the artist unions are now wanting a bigger slice of the payday from the ipod store. That means that they will be making less and less from that revenue stream.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:07 AM
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Wasn't the original Viper developed using the team approach?

p.s. Mac guy here. Our office is almost all G5 iMacs. I love it when visitors crawl all around the desks looking for the CPU's.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:11 AM
  #26  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Would this be a good time to bring up that conversation between Bill Gates and a GM exec (Roger Smith) about cars running on Windows OS?

Or would that be in-appropriate here?
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:13 AM
  #27  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by falchulk
The ipod success was the result of marketing and copying the best features from other products. There were equally good players with equally good interfaces available from other MFG's. They just did not have the name recognition that Ipod got from their advertising blitz. Apple does not even make much on the hardware itself and the artist unions are now wanting a bigger slice of the payday from the ipod store. That means that they will be making less and less from that revenue stream.
You've got it backwards. Apple LOSES money selling music on the iTunes Music Store. It's a loss leader to help them sell iPods, from which they take a big fat profit margin.

Equally good interfaces? I haven't seen an interface yet that comes close to the iPod. Which one(s) are you referring to?
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:14 AM
  #28  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

There was a real conversation?

I have read the jokes before about if cars were like PC's. stopping on the highway and such. having to reboot. Lots of jokes like that.

There was really a conversation like this?
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:15 AM
  #29  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Yeah I'm pretty sure Gates really said that stuff. It was years ago.
Old Oct 17, 2005 | 10:16 AM
  #30  
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Re: Apple's Steve Jobs comment on automotive design

Originally Posted by JakeRobb
Equally good interfaces? I haven't seen an interface yet that comes close to the iPod. Which one(s) are you referring to?
On the software side, itunes makes a complete mockery of the competitors. I had some free sony store songs. What a pain. Rhapsody isn't all that bad, but its no itunes.



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