Segway CTO becoming VP of Apple product design -- yes, really
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jul 7th 2008 2:09AM
posted Jul 7th 2008 2:09AM
"I think it sucks," said Jobs, "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, and it doesn't feel anthropomorphic."
How times do change.
Read -- Doug Field joining Apple
Read -- Steve Jobs' thoughts on Segway design
They still have Jonathan Ive. They still are completely set.
Yar, Ive is seriously a talented engineer
- Knock! Knock!
- Who´s there?
- Interrupting El Jobso
- Interrupting w...?
- YOU SUCK!!!
Damn, Jobs is so right!
I can never find products that feel anthropomorphic enough these days . . .
I think it's quite clear: Steve Jobs is a disgusting furrie.
How can a quasi-wheelchair be 'elegant'?
ask quasimodo
Macs on wheels? This will get the company rolling.
oh I see what you did there...
I now see what they mean about Apple Servers not falling over....
Time to sell my Apple stock...
wait, just kidding, I can't afford Apple stock
Apple stock is a poor man's Google stock.
Wow. Tables turning! Hope Apple can keep designing works of art!
Alexander
http://fastforwardrevue.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/411-a-google-odyssey/
I don't want my computer to be a work of art, I want it to be functional and fully compatible with as much as possible.
I always though Jonathan Ive was Apples SVP of product design. I now find he actually is senior VP of industrial design. How do these two positions differ? Does the Product Design president decide what a product will do and how it will do it, while the Industrial Design person decides what it will look like?
@ 20kluts: My experience is generally as you've stated- Industrial Design guys own things like the plastics and exterior design- depending on the company and the product they can manufacture things from the outside in (like Apple seems to on many of their products) or try and wrap plastics or some type of case around a printed circuit board (Korean and Chinese manufacturers of adapters & key drives for example)
perhaps, they are finally working on that "iCar" and needs somebody to design it?
Segway rocks , i think its amazing technology and i love the idea
Maybe it does, but it doesn't sell. Jobs wants to sell, make money, preferably lots of it.
From a business perspective he was right when he dismissed the Segway, but he uses the wrong adjectives (not innovating?).
The Segway's failure doesn't mean that there should be anything wrong with Field. Things like this happen when you want to be innovative. Jobs probably remembered Lisa. We'll have to wait and see what Field can do for Apple. If his first two products for Apple fail, you may say he stinks.
now all Jobs needs to do is hire someone with the last name "Reality" and another named "Distortion"
Dude you're in engadget. No one is gonna get that joke.
kekeke
That was a terrible..
I don't get it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field
"Reality" "Distortion" "Field"
Hey, I got it.
But then I do work at Apple
Might be easier to just hire one person named Baseball.
The segway may be hideous and perhaps a little uncool, but as digitallysick said, the segway contains some revolutionary technology. Perhaps the iPhone comes with no dock is a future plan to make it balance itself...okay...that's absurd, disregard.
Hypocrisy from Steve Jobs? that's unpossible!
What hypocrisy? He buys Field, not the Segway.
And even if he bought the Segway, he can always say he changed his mind. Happened to me once.
Why is it hypocrisy on Jobs' part? Is it not possible that Field just thought a job at Apple suited his talents better than working for Kamen?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nEVO2ywceyk
this is a classical 'opinions change over time' video to remind the anti-apple fanboys that their cult leader hasn't always kept direction.
But fun to see what the new blood can do, the macbooks and (i)mac have kept its shape for quite a while now. Time for some new ideas.
How do you know Jobs' opinion of the Segway has changed? He's not hiring the Segway or Kamen. For that matter, Field didn't design the Segway - he was Kamen's CTO. Kamen designed the Segway.
To be extra super clear, Field is taking a different job at Apple than the job he had with Kamen. CTO for Kamen, VP of product design for Apple. Two different things.
i bet The Woz is stoked about this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pld9t19WGSc
you said it.
Quite hilarious guys, its like Jobs coming to terms with that kid he didnt like from junior high. Play nice Steve Joobies!
"You see me roll on my segway
I know in my heart they think I'm
White and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Can't you see I'm white and nerdy
Look at me I'm white and nerdy "
I saw this coming from a mile away actually.
Well maybe they can throw an update on that tired long in the tooth design of the mac pro. It's been the same ugly box since the G5 was introduced.
In all honesty, it's been the main reason I have not purchased a new Mac Pro. Waiting on that new box Steve..., hardware is great, the box design sucks.
re: Hipocracy: One of Jobs money quotes was that the "ginger" was so revolutionary - so game changing that cities would be re-architected for it. reading the linked Harvard article one gets the impression he flip-flopped on that one.
re: industrial design vs product design - one chooses the plastics most likely to yellow or crack with use (macbooks, cube) the other decides that your keyboard should look like a cheeto dust terrarium.
Interesting, post a link.
Insightful.
It's a weird combo, but what I really wanted to say was, great illustration! I regularly chuckle at your graphics, but this one's great.
The iPod Touch will literally become the training wheels of the iPhone!
"I think it sucks," said Jobs, "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, and it doesn't feel anthropomorphic."
Funny...I've always thought this about most APPLE products...which are nonetheless wildly popular (in theory anyway...the iPod most definitely is in the market place as well, and since iMac and OSX they haven't really had a computer design that didn't do reasonably well, even though their market share is technically small...). Sounds like they've got the right man for the job...
Well...'elegant' ? I guess most Apple products do have the elegance of simplicity...which (more on my personal opinion) I do like. But 'plain+white' is hardly innovative...
In any case, I don't think his Steveness personally designs very many of Apples products anyway...so what does his personal taste really matter ? I think one of the hallmarks of a good 'brain' (business leader / tycoon / entrpenuer(sp?) / huckster) is being able to relegate personal taste (and occasionally morals) to the background, and focus on pleasing the potential customer.
ie Jobs doesn't have to like something in order to sell it...
And, in the realm of Apple products, sometimes I think the public doesn't have to like a product before they BUY it...Mac Book Air anyone ?
actually jobs dictated to designers how the iphone was to be laid out...he wanted a phone with no buttons and i guess they failed him and had to put on 4 buttons and a silent/ring switch...they were never heard from again...
Apple been pumping out nice design product with little in regards to ergonomic...maybe they felt it was time to start adding ergonomic to their design.
Excellent. Two companies with completely useless products coming together into one techno-fashionista bundle that no outargeously-priced-style-over-substance connoisseur will be able to resist!
isn't apple already so far ahead of the competition when it comes to design? oh, there's the Samsung Instinct now though.
Ok, I read the article about the meeting to introduce Ginger to Jobs and the other key players. Have to admit, my admiration of Jobs has grown exponentially. I think it would be challenging to work with him, but man does he possess a savant type wisdom about business & technology or what? Majorly impressed.
It seems like many of you are missing the point of Jobs' criticisms of the pre-production Segway. He did not think the Segway itself was a piece of junk, he thought the design of it was. The idea and capabilities of the Segway, he loved. If you read just a little of that Harvard Business School article, this is obvious.
"You have this incredibly innovative machine but it looks very traditional." - Jobs
His whole stance what that a brilliant idea was never going to have a chance in the market because it looked like ass. whatever you think of the Segway, you have to admit that it's technically impressive.
Jobs didn't hire the industrial designer of the Segway, so there is no contradiction about Field joining Apple.
As I remember "It", Steve Jobs was the primary proponent of the Segway. All the enthusiasm that surrounded "It" was born from Jobs.
People should get their facts straight.