What A Man, What A Legacy

The timing is ironic, just as Apple has taken the mantle as the world's biggest market cap company from Exxon Mobil. Jobs has been so influential globally for the last 20 years at least. The best thing I got from him is you do not give your customers what they want ... you create what they don't even know they needed. MBAs and people who manage via data and surveys will never achieve greatness, these are ass-covering jobs which they do when the projects or ideas they implement were to fail (oh no, but we did the survey and consumer testing ...). Greatness comes from knowing deep inside of you something you should do that you think will work.





“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”


“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”


“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”


“My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”


“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”


“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”


I don't know why, but when I heard the news today, this song suddenly appeared in my mind, I think its the word "quest" ... from now on this song from Man of La Mancha will always make me think of Steve Jobs ...

Steve Jobs Unique Management Style

There is no one correct way to run a company. Steve Jobs is a very special person. There are a lot of things we all could learn from him. Saw this in a summary of the things he did which was unusual in running the company that now has the largest market cap after Exxon. My comments in colour:

1) Partner with the enemy

Can you imagine Pepsi and Coca-Cola getting together? Or Verizon and AT&T? That's how strange it was when Apple and Microsoft announced their partnership at the 1997 Macworld Expo. After 12 years of financial loss, Jobs needed to get Apple money, and quickly. So he turned to Bill Gates, who made a $150 million investment in Apple.

"The era of competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I'm concerned," Jobs said. "This is about getting Apple healthy, this is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry and to prosper again.”

That is thinking out of the box. Would CEOs ever consider working with the competition? What else has guide us not to ever "potential solutions" outside of our comfort zone?

2) Put sex in products

A great salesman, Jobs knew the importance of aesthetics; he realized Apple's products looked dated. In 1998, Jobs called a meeting at Apple, sat everyone down and said, "You know what's wrong with this company? The products SUCK -- there's no sex in them."

Today, Apple is credited for creating the most beautiful technology, from colorful iMacs to sleek iPads.

I don't think its sex but sexy. Macs beautiful design lines, same with the Iphones, they are sexy.

3) Change the original vision and business plan

Apple began as a computer-only company, but Jobs knew it needed to broaden its approach if it wanted to become truly successful. Apple began expanding its products beyond just computers with the release of Final Cut Pro, followed by MP3 players, music, iPhones and iPads.

Jobs changed the company's name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple Inc. in 2007 to symbolize the new, broader vision.

A name change should be a reflection on changed direction and strategy. When would you consider to change your own name? If its just to create a different persona, it won't work (much like most companies in KLSE which changes their names like nobody's business), but if its a reflection of your whole character, motivations and well being, then its different.

4) Create solutions to impossible roadblocks

Other retailers were not giving Apple products adequate positioning. Jobs' solution? The Apple Store. Scattered throughout the world, these successful outlets are now the "darlings of the retail computer industry".

Well, not every company can do that if they do not yet have a range of desirable products. Sometimes, we can still change the way we distribute our products, our channels, are we bound by old trusted relationships which may not be so effective now.

5) Tell customers what they want instead of asking for feedback

Jobs does not use focus groups. Instead, he tells customers what they want before they know they want it. "[Apple has] a great track record for making you want -- and buy -- things you thought you didn't need," says Carl Howe, director of consumer research for Yankee Group. Last year when the iPad was announced, people gawked. Nearly 20 million sales later, it's not so funny.

This is so important. This was my pet peeve against my previous company which uses focus groups and customer surveys before every new product launch. Why? Its because that was taught as bible in MBAs throughout the world. Yes, its important to do surveys and focus groups, but how often do you find that as being very successful. When you try to empower the users, you usually end up with the lowest common denominator. To me, that is akin to relinquishing the responsibility of the way you run a company to the users - how to blame management if your product or services do not sell if you use focus groups? A very useful way to absolve from taking responsibility and accountability. The most successful products and services we ever come across is often laced with, "Gee, I did not know I needed that, this is so great".

6) Connect dots

Apple releases products that are innovative in and of themselves, but they are also integrated visions. iPods mesh beautifully with iTunes; iPads and iPhones collaborate with the app store. According to Jobs, "creativity is just connecting things." Apple frequently shows how the sum is greater than all of the parts.

7) Don't hire cookie cutter employees

Ivy league graduates aren't the only people who can run companies. "Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, and poets, and artists, and zoologists, and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world," Jobs said.

I think this is relevant for many companies. Do we usually hire senior people that fits a certain persona? When you are choosing important people, its more important that they have the x-factor to move things and make things happen, that they can think differently and energise the company, constantly thinking of how to move the company to the next level. Much of all that cannot be taught at MBA courses.

8) Encourage others to think differently

Apples' "Think Different" ad campaign in the late 1990's was one of the most effective of all time. It stimulated innovation and reinvention, which is what Apple, today, is all about.

9) Don't elaborate

Simplicity is bliss. Apple's designer Johnathan Ives confirms this strategy: "We are absolutely consumed by trying to develop a solution that is very simple, because as physical beings we understand clarity."

10) Sell dreams, not products

Jobs gets people hooked on a feeling. It's not the products his customers buy, it's what the products represent. Remember, people first and foremost care about themselves, so make products they can relate to.

But my product is so basic, where to link it to dreams? Well, CPO could be linked to proper cultivation and production techniques that are sustainable and is green (if properly strategised and executed) - a cleaner future. Granted, not all companies can do that, but even the most noxious like Shell and BP have marketing strategies that put a "nice feel" to their services/people - yes, propaganda and lies also have their place. Google's high falutin "Do no evil" is actually a commendable dream in more ways than we care to appreciate (that mantra is completely opposite to what Microsoft stands for, lol). We cannot help if some are not so genuine, but when they are, they are home runs.

11) Trust your gut

Steve Jobs said in his Stanford commencement speech: "Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

APPLE Going For Number ONE

Ten years ago, if you asked 1,000 investors to pick out 5 stocks that would be possibly the biggest company in the world, I doubt very much Apple would be even on any of the shortlist. Now Apple looks likely to be near enough to overtake Exxon Mobil. Its fascinating, one company has billions in real assets in the ground and millions of tons of expensive heavy machinery. The other just have Steve Jobs. Now both are jostling for the bragging rights to be the world's biggest company in market cap.



One would have thought Microsoft had a shot 20 years ago, or even Google had a shot 3 years ago. Don't worry, you will know exactly when Apple overtakes Exxon .... all the media will be blaring out that momentous occasion.

Bespoke Investment Group: A year or so ago, Apple (AAPL) eclipsing Microsoft (MSFT) in size was starting to look possible. It became reality a few months ago. Now Apple has its sights on Exxon Mobil (XOM) as the biggest company in the world. Below is a chart of the market caps for Apple and Exxon Mobil going back to 2000. As recently as 2008, the comparison between the two was laughable. Now they're nearly on par with each other and rank as the #1 and #2 biggest companies in the world. A move into the $300s for Apple and some sideways action for Exxon would make Apple #1.

Imagine the question mark that would have popped up in your head had someone said 10 years ago that Apple would be the biggest company in the world but still have less than 10% of the PC market? There isn't a "pc" in "biggest," but there surely is an "i".

Taking iPad Apart

Apple sold between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads on launch day in the US, with analysts predicting over 7.1 million of the tablets will be sold worldwide this year.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted that the iPad was doing better than the iPhone, which sold about half a million units in its first weekend in 2007.

Luke Soules was one of the first on the planet to get his hands on an iPad. And he wasted no time taking it apart.

After staking out three locations in the eastern United States, Soules - co-founder of teardown firm iFixit - cracked the device open on Saturday to unearth NAND flash memory by Samsung Electronics, and microchips from Broadcom Corp and Texas Instruments.

Busting it open Photo: Reuters

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Soules and his outfit provide and advise on components in Apple gadgets - and also identifies them. The work of teardown firms such as iFixit may prove crucial in identifying which manufacturer gets its parts into a device expected to sell upwards of 5 million units in 2010 alone.

Soules had slept overnight in the parking lot outside an Apple mall store in Richmond, Virginia. He was the first to walk out of the store, moments after the outlet opened at 9 a.m., iPad in hand.

Store employees clapped and gave him high-fives. He grinned, but moved quickly. There was work to do.

Without a second's dawdling, Soules hopped in a waiting car and raced a few short miles to the house of a friend, where he had his tools of destruction ready to go. He barely paused to admire the iPad out of the box. He didn't even turn it on.

The secretive Apple is famous for designing sealed-up devices intended to discourage nosy gadget heads from poking around in them, and the iPad was no different.

The iPad had no screws. But working with a tool called a spudger, it took Soules only 10 minutes to separate the iPad's handsome, 9.7-inch facing from its silver-backed casing.

He surveyed the iPad's design, a maze of parts that would be utterly inscrutable to most people.

"That's very, very nice," he said almost reverentially.

iPad's soul

Teardown firms are hired by an array of clients, their data used for competitive intelligence, in patent disputes or to keep current on industry benchmarks.

By 9:30 a.m., Soules had turned the iPad inside out and was sharing its secrets with the world.

There is strong competition to be first to tear open Apple devices and reveal the design, chips and components within and iFixit has gained a measure of fame for their work.

Months of anticipation had built ahead of the iPad launch and - at least in technology circles - almost as much excitement about what's on the inside of the device.

Within 45 minutes, iFixit had left the iPad - the gleaming symbol of Apple's technological wizardry - in tatters, its various parts naked against a crisp white backdrop.

Soules moved at a rapid clip, narrating as he took pictures and streamed to colleague Kyle Wiens and others in California, who were posting them online and helping identify parts.

IFixit's near-live teardowns have become staples for gadget fans during Apple product launches.

As a veteran of many previous efforts, Soules was prepared for any tricks Apple might throw his way, but the iPad didn't prove to be too enormous of a challenge to take apart, as some of previous devices have.

Soules had removed the main circuit board of the iPad by 10 a.m. The 4-inch long, 1-ounce board was covered by an electromagnetic interference shield, and underneath were all the microprocessors that make the device tick.

"The vast majority of the brains of the iPad are on this little board. It's amazing what they can fit into such a small space," Soules said.

Devil in the details

One of first identifiable parts was the NAND flash memory, which was made by Samsung Electronics, which has supplied components for other Apple devices. Soules also quickly noted chips from Broadcom and Texas Instruments.

There were also at least three chips carrying Apple branding. Apple is known to hide the identities of some chipmakers in its products by having them stamp an Apple logo on their parts. The main iPad chip is an Apple creation; its very own A4 processor controls the iPad's programs.

After removing the circuit board, Soules dug in further using a Torx screwdriver to manipulate the minuscule screws inside the iPad. His fingernails gingerly pried open casings.

"The teardown process is bit easier if I keep my fingernails on the long side," he said.

Soules discovered the iPad's battery is not soldered into place, which means that replacing it is possible for the do-it-yourself crowd. IFixit promotes device repair as a way to cut down on electronic waste.

Apple requires users to mail iPad units back to the company, which will change the battery for a hefty fee.

By 10:45 a.m. Soules was cautiously fiddling with the iPad's display, the most expensive component. A big question is who makes it, but that question was not answered definitively. He peeled back a sticker, hoping to see a manufacturer's name underneath, but found only an indecipherable serial number.

"Not this time," he said quietly.

Besides Richmond, iFixit had also ordered iPads at addresses near Indianapolis and Orlando, Florida. The company had people in both areas, home to FedEx shipping hubs.

IFixit thought it might be able to get a few hours jump on the competition by staking out the FedEx hubs the morning of the launch, to intercept one of the devices.

But that didn't pan out, so they resorted to standing in line - at the head of the line actually - in three cities.

The Federal Communications Commission also managed to steal at least some of iFixit's thunder. Bloggers discovered on Friday that the FCC had posted pictures of the insides of pre-production iPads on its website, despite the fact that Apple had requested that they keep them confidential.

IFixit spent much of the night identifying the parts, which were not necessarily the same as those in real iPads.

By noon on Saturday, the bulk of the iPad teardown was done. But there will be at least another week of analysis, using sophisticated equipment that can cut into components to determine how they were made, and who made them.

Reuters

Google's Nexus One vs iPhone3GS

Well, just as I am in line to eagerly get my hands on my iPhone32GS, along comes the new Google phone. Its like you are running Pixar, and then suddenly there is this old guy Jimmy Cameron reinventing the whole platform with Avatar. As much as I dislike posting articles from other sites, I had to cause I do not know enough about phone software or hardware to make intelligent commentary.

WSJ: Google this week is taking two dramatic steps to try to catapult devices using its Android mobile operating system into stronger competition with Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry in the battle for supremacy in the super-smart-phone category.

First, the search giant is bringing out a beautiful, sleek new Android phone, the Nexus One, built to its specifications. Second, it has decided to offer the new phone—and future models—to consumers directly, unlocked, via the Web, and then invite multiple carriers to compete to sell service plans and subsidized versions of the hardware.

Google

The Nexus One has a larger screen than Apple's phone, and is a bit thinner, narrower and lighter—if a tad longer. And it boasts a better camera and longer talk time between battery charges.

The company also plans to sell the costlier, unsubsidized version to consumers in the U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore immediately. Like Americans who buy this unlocked version, these customers will have to purchase carrier service separately, something they should be able to obtain right away by just buying and inserting a SIM card from a carrier with compatible technology. (This initial unlocked phone won't work with Verizon or Sprint in the U.S., nor on AT&T's 3G network, only the latter's slower network.)

I've been testing the Nexus One for a couple of weeks and I like it a lot. It's the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer. It is a svelte gray device with a 3.7-inch, high-resolution screen; a thin strip of buttons underneath for home, back, menu and search; and a trackball.

The Nexus One finally has the right combination of hardware and software to give Android a champion that might attract more people away from their iconic iPhones and BlackBerrys. It has a larger screen than Apple's phone, and is a bit thinner, narrower and lighter—if a tad longer. And it boasts a better camera and longer talk time between battery charges.

The iPhone still retains some strong advantages. It boasts well over 100,000 third-party apps—around 125,000 by some unofficial estimates—versus around 18,000 for the Android platform. And it has vastly more memory for storing apps, so you can keep many more of them on your phone at any one time. On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps.

In fact, the $199 iPhone 3GS has roughly four times as much user-accessible memory out of the box, though the memory on the Nexus One can be expanded via memory cards. Apple also has a more-fluid user interface, with multitouch gestures for handling photos and Web pages.

As for the BlackBerry, its user interface looks older and clumsier with each passing day, but it has a beautiful physical keyboard many users love, while the Nexus One has a virtual, onscreen keyboard.

Google

The Nexus One is packed with its own tricks. Its version of Android is essentially the same improved edition as the one that appeared on the Motorola Droid back in November. But it has a few new features, including an experimental dictation capability. You just press a microphone icon on the keyboard and start talking, and the words appear. In my tests, this worked only adequately at best, and very poorly at worst, but Google insists it will learn and improve.

The phone also has handsome new visual features, including "live wallpaper," with waving grass or pulsing colored lines; and a new zooming effect when you want to view icons that aren't on your main screens. In addition, you can now view miniatures of your five main screens to help you navigate to the one you want.

The Nexus One also has all the key software features introduced in the Droid, including free turn-by-turn voice-prompted navigation.

In my tests, overall, the Nexus One worked very well. The latency I had seen in earlier Android phones is gone, due to a slicker version of the operating system and faster chips. The phone feels good in the hand and the screen is magnificent, with much greater resolution than the iPhone's.

I like very much the way social-networking information, including status messages, is integrated into the contacts app. One tap on a person's picture in Contacts lets you quickly choose whether to call, email or message her, or map her address—all without opening the contact card itself.

I also liked the pictures and videos I was able to take with the five-megapixel camera and flash, which I preferred to my iPhone's camera. You can even view a photo slideshow or listen to music when the phone is in the optional desktop dock.

But there are some downsides to the Nexus One. Like all Android phones, it relies too much, in my view, on menus that create extra steps, including some menus that have a built-in "more" button to display a secondary menu of choices.

I also found the four buttons etched into the phone's bottom panel sticky and hard to press. In addition, although the Nexus One claims seven hours of talk time versus five hours for the iPhone, most of its battery-life claims for other functions are weaker than Apple's.

For instance, Google claims just 6.5 hours of Wi-Fi Web use per charge, versus nine for the iPhone, and 20 for music playback versus 30. Google claims this is because, unlike Apple, it allows the simultaneous use of third-party apps, which can drain the battery faster.

In addition, the Nexus One, and other Android devices, still pale beside the iPhone for playing music, video and games. The apps available for these functions aren't nearly as sophisticated as on the Apple devices.

Finally, the iPhone is still a better apps platform. Not only are there more apps, but, in my experience, iPhone apps are generally more polished and come in more varieties.

But, with its fresh phone and bold business model, Google is taking Android to a new level, and that should ramp up the competition in the super-smart-phone space.

Feature	Google Nexus One	Apple iPhone 3GS
U.S. carrier	T-Mobile at launch, Verizon later.	AT&T
Price	$529 unlocked; $179 with T-Mobile contract	$199 or $299 with AT&T contract, depending on memory
User-accessible memory	4 gigabytes, expandable to 32 gigabytes	16 or 32 gigabytes, fixed
Minimum monthly service fee*	$79.99	$69.95
Available 3rd-party apps	Around 18,000	Over 100,000
Memory for application storage	190 megabytes	Nearly the full capacity of phone
Syncs media files with PC or Mac	No, manual copying only	Yes, iTunes
Multitasking of apps	Yes	Only Apple apps
Screen size	3.7 inches	3.5 inches
Screen resolution	480 x 800	480 x 320
Removable battery	Yes	No
Camera	5 megapixel, flash	3 megapixel, no flash
Length	4.68 inches	4.5 inches
Width	2.35 inches	2.4 inches
Thickness	.45 inches	.48 inches
Weight	4.58 ounces	4.8 ounces
Claimed voice-calling battery life on 3G	7 hours	5 hours
Claimed Internet battery life on Wi-Fi	6.5 hours	9 hours
Claimed music-playback battery life	20 hours	30 hours
Claimed video-playback battery life	7 hours	10 hours

Sources: Google, Apple, T-Mobile, AT&T

*Nexus One plan on T-Mobile includes 500 voice minutes, unlimited data and unlimited text messaging. IPhone plan on AT&T includes 450 voice minutes and unlimited data, but no text messages, which cost at least $5 a month extra.