Steve Jobs at D8: Foxconn, iPhone prototype, TVs, and more
By Ross Miller 
posted June 2nd 2010 11:25AM
posted June 2nd 2010 11:25AM
- On TV: 'no one wants to buy a box'
- On Foxconn: 'We're all over this'
- On lost iPhone 4G prototype: it's an 'amazing' story
- iPhone OS 'started on a tablet'
- 'There might be' advantages to two iPhone carriers in US
We put some extra scintillating quotes after the break to shield the eyes of your children. Just a note, however: all of these are paraphrased quotes typed live as Steve was speaking, and not to be construed as the verbatim Word of Steve Jobs, though the gist is certainly there.
- "In its day, HyperCard was more popular than Flash."
- "Our goal is really easy -- we just made a tech decision. We aren't going to make an effort to put this on our platform. We told Adobe to show us something better, and they never did. It wasn't until we shipped the iPad that Adobe started to raise a stink about it. We were trying to have a fight, we just decided to not use one of their products. They made a big deal of it -- that's why I wrote that letter. I said enough is enough, we're tired of these guys trashing us."
- (Asked about Valleywag's published email from Jobs) "He never identified himself as a journalist. I was up late and working and this guy starts sending me obnoxious emails... and I wanted to straighten this guy out. I'm just enough of a sucker... and he publishes it!"
- (Asked if he sees a platform war with Google, Facebook) "No. And I never have. We never saw ourselves in a platform war with MSFT, and maybe that's why we lost."
- (Asked why Apple didn't build a tablet first) "I'll tell you. Actually. It started on a tablet first. I had this idea about having a glass display, a multitouch display you could type on. I asked our people about it. And six months later they came back with this amazing display. And I gave it to one of our really brilliant UI guys. He then got inertial scrolling working and some other things, and I thought, 'my god, we can build a phone with this' and we put the tablet aside, and we went to work on the phone."
- (Asked whether the tablet will replace the laptop) "When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks. But as people moved more towards urban centers, people started to get into cars. I think PCs are going to be like trucks. Less people will need them. And this is going to make some people uneasy."
- (Asked about app store controversy) "Well let first say we have two platforms we support. One is open and uncontrolled -- that's HTML5. We support HTML5. We have the best support for it of anyone in the world. We then support a curated platform which is the app store. It is the most vital app community on any platform. How do we curate this? It's a bunch of people, and they come into work every day. We have a few rules: has to do what it's advertised to do, it has to not crash, it can't use private APIs. And those are the three biggest reasons we reject apps. But we approve 95 percent of all the apps that are submitted every week... We're doing the best we can, we're fixing mistakes. But what happens is -- people lie. And then they run to the press and tell people about this oppression, and they get their 15 minutes of fame. We don't run to the press and say 'this guy is a son of a bitch liar!' -- we don't do that."
- Walt: "Okay, one theme we want to ask about here is privacy. Sorry Mark. There seems to have been a spate of mistakes or false starts: Facebook, Buzz..." Steve: "Or Google's WiFi collection."
- "We want to let people watch whatever they want, when they want. That's what needs to change... It's happening now. I think that is changing a lot. I even think you'll be able to watch a first run movie before it hits theaters... if you want to spend a bunch of money."
@WillSmith
could someone be kind enough to donate Steve some new clothes, jeans, socks and shoes please...
@annoynimous
My thoughts exactly. I'm poorer, and I have better shoes than that! Unless he has special/custom shoes: intended to look terrible, while expensive.
@pavlindrom
Better do that sooner....
@pavlindrom
Steve doesn't look that impressive at all whether it be his clothes or illness (can't really blame him on that). Thankfully it's the products he makes which is what most people judge him on.
@impulse462
it's ironic that Steve J said that Bill Gates has no taste.. but at least Steve has no vanity AFAICT
@whySoSerious
Good god, you people drive me crazy.
Is your scroll finger broken? Are you mentally incapacitated? If you see content that doesn't interest you, SKIP IT.
And if you think that a site is poorly edited and horribly biased in favor of a company whose very mention makes you break out into a fevered, vein-bulging sweat as you rage at the screen and shake your tiny fists, then by all means, stop the self-destructive masochism and simply go somewhere else.
@annoynimous
Really? who gives a crap what he wears? I would love to wear that to work :P
@annoynimous Well that's his trademark so I have no problem with it.
I am sure he like how easy it is to get dressed every morning.
@annoynimous Well that's his trademark so I have no problem with it.
I am sure he likes how easy it is to get dressed every morning.
@annoynimous
I agree, he looks like a Hobo who's just been taken off the street. :)
@cpurious On that day when he release the future of Apple products, he'll still be wearing that lucky dress. http://j.mp/steve-jobs-next-move
They made an online bible out of all the Steve quotes and proclamations. :)
@One Love
His sheep must be fed
@skyblaze
those sheep will be on his yard?
@One Love
The Book of Jobs
@skyblaze And apparently with regurgitated information twice, three times if you count the original, separate works. I guess Engadget is a mother bird.
Just wait, EVO 4G will give everyone amnesia! :)
@One Love
Yeah... Not.
I'll be getting the EVO, but you are simply wrong. Or trolling.
@Sheppard I don't know, most of this seemed pretty well said. There's plenty of reasons to dislike Jobs but I don't find much in here to complain about, except maybe the App Store stuff.
@Uncontrol
I would complain about the part where he claims that Gizmodo tried to extort them. Gizmodo's actions may have been immoral and/or unethical, but as far as I can tell, they were legal. In order for Apple to claim stolen property, they had to claim that the device was really theirs; that's the law. That Apple had reservations about claiming the phone (and therefore admitting its validity) does not make it extortion. That's a disingenuous claim, and a "chilling effect" is its only purpose. It was a very sleazy comment, in my opinion.
@Realityism
I wouldn't call what he said "sleazy", mainly because I (like you) do not know the whole story. I would say that Steve's the most informed person regarding the entire Gizmodo incident of anyone on this site. He might know plenty of things that occurred that could be considered "extortion", but neither I, nor you, would know about them.
@Realityism I think maybe the extortion had to do with something other than gizmodo extorting Apple. I'm thinking there's something else that happened that we don't know about (maybe the original seller tried to sell the phone back to the engineer).
@Realityism The extortion had to do with gizmodo not wanting to return the phone unless they could get a signed letter from apple saying that it was in fact an apple prototype.
@Tsing Tao
"The extortion had to do with gizmodo not wanting to return the phone unless they could get a signed letter from apple saying that it was in fact an apple prototype."
Yes, and Gizmodo is legally entitled to that under California law. That law is in place so that I can't falsely claim, without risking a perjury conviction, that the laptop you found on the BART the other day is mine. If you want your property back, you have to be willing to sign your name to it. That's not extortion; it's California law.
@Realityism
is it?
So people carry around small legally required sign off books in case they drop something or pick something up?
Person A: "excuse me, I think you just dropped your wallet"
Person B: "oh, thankyou it's this new jacket"
Person A: "I just need you to sign for it to prove it's yours"
Person B: "what? But it's got my ID in it, look that's me"
Person A: "huh, you aren't a Californian local are you. It's the law here"
....
I'm sure that happens a couple thousand times a day across California.
I Can't wait to Dump my iPhone 3GS for the HTC EVO this friday.
Good Bye Horrible service from ATT and Good by crazy Dropped calls!!!
@Juggernaut408
You think that won't happen with Spring? HA...enjoy that delusion what it lasts.
Thats all that my experience was with Sprint. And I supposedly live in an are with Sprint 3G...
@Juggernaut408
I have the Evo reserved but I'm going to just wait the three days and see what the Jobed one has to say on Monday. I mean it's only a few more days and I'm already on AT&T. I really want the Evo but I'm looking at over 300 dollars just to ditch my old service (getting the Evo+cancelling AT&T).
I will say this though: after AT&T's bullshit service changes and new ETF; Apple is going to have to deliver BIG TIME for me to stick with them.
@Juggernaut408 Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but Sprint isn't really any better when it comes to dropped calls.
http://mobile.aol.com/articles/2009/01/15/which-carrier-has-the-least-amount-of-dropped-calls/
I know thats a year and a half old, but check it out.
Yep, because asking for proof that you are indeed the owner of a lost phone is indeed entrapment
@prfrma
give me a break. everyone knows it was Apple's phone.
@Joao He's clearly overstating the case. If you actually read the gizmodo letter, theres a serious disconnect between that and SJ's tone.
@prfrma
The subtext of Gizmodo's letter to Jobs is pretty slimy. BLam is clearly trying to use someone else's property as bargaining chip against them. That's extortion. If I find your dog, call you up, and suggest that I will return it only on condition of compensation, I am extorting you.
I agree that it's a harsh interpretation, but it is well within the ballpark.
@eyerot
"If I find your dog, call you up, and suggest that I will return it only on condition of compensation, I am extorting you."
But if I find your dog, call you up, and suggest that I will return it only on condition that you provide me a signed, notarized claim of ownership, as per California law, I am not extorting anyone.
Obviously the authors of this law never envisioned a scenario in which the claim of ownership itself has value. But the fact remains that Gizmodo followed the law.
(P.S., Go Saints)
@Realityism
Wow. Is that really the law in California? Written, signed, AND notarized? Jesus. It's a wonder anybody ever gets their dog back.
At any rate, you are spot on that the confirmation itself was the thing of value. And if you can understand that element of the subtext, then you can see why Steve feels as though he was extorted.
As I said earlier, it's a harsh interpretation, but one I think Jobs is entitled to.
@eyerot
There's a big difference between feeling extorted and taking unfounded legal action against the persons by whom you feel extorted. In which case you're probably just trying to create a "chilling effect."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_effect_%28term%29
@Realityism
We originally weren't talking about the legal validity of the case, but rather whether or not Steve was completely out of line in characterizing the incident as 'extortion'.
@Realityism
Geaux Saints?
I'm surprised he doesn't refer to himself in the third person yet.
@Robhimself
Steve is getting upset! Don't insult Steve! You're killing independent Steve! - Steve
The most honest CEO in the business. The polar opposite of that BP guy who is overworked.
I don't know how many times we can cover this but Flash isn't ready for smartphones. Adobe has been severely lazy on implementing this right and Apple has every right to keep it off the phone. Installing Flash would be like knowingly clicking on a link thats going to install malware. Just a bad idea.
By the time Adobe gets this right, all the video content will bet HTML5 and there will be no need for whining. I'm sure you're tearing up that Hulu won't be able to play ads. Brightcove, provider of many news sites video content now switches to HTML5 when on the iPad, iPhone or iPad. Flash video wasn't genius at the beginning either, but as it catches on it will be the standard for desktop and mobile.
@assassinave
Don't confuse arrogance with honesty. He is just in it for greed like everyone else. If apple was destroying the gulf of Mexico with ipods you would get a similar story. Besides if apple was drilling or oil I'm sure it would use proprietary equipment that would be twice the cost to fix if it did leak....
And it wouldn't run flash :)
@Robhimself
YEAH!!! ALL CEO'S ARE CORRUPT! *headsmack*
@nsilva1380
No not all I guess that was an ignorant statement but he defnitely is.
@Robhimself
You're half right. If you aren't in business to make money, then what are you doing?
@assassinave ..honest? LMAO
@assassinave
Jobs makes some good points about Flash. It is on its way out, but unlike the floppy drives that he took off the first iMacs, Flash is not hardware (so it's not like when it does go out you have this useless device on your computer) and I think the iPhone (unlike many other phones) could handle Flash. Its OSX, not Windows Mobile.
@assassinave Yes because the internet as it stands for the next 20 years will support everything HTML-5... We're only now just ditching IE6 and getting the simplest of things to display cross browser is a major pain in the ass. This stigma about the flash player sidesteps the point that at least the cross browser issues don't affect it anywhere near to the extent from that of javascript, mark-up, and let alone some fight over which video format we should be using.
Don't get me wrong, I love the new features that css3 amongst other stuff is bringing, but you have to be realistic at the same time browsers have nowhere near the unison between them to make all this perfectly viable in the near future, you'd be naive to think otherwise.
@croooow
i do love his, hypercard was more popular than flash in its day mumbo jumbo. isnt it part of realtime player now?
and we all know how good realtime is :)
@assassinave what do you mean flash isn't ready for phones? it's been shown running smoothly with hardware acceleration on Froyo.