Steve Jobs on Apple's Differentiation: Why Apple Must Exist
This clip is an excerpt from a longer recording: Steve Jobs on Interpersonal Computing: The Next Revolution.
What Jobs talks about
Jobs argues that Apple's reason for being is to create better, highly differentiated products. In his view, those products give third-party developers a platform for new and exciting applications.
He worries that if Apple gives away its future system software, it may erase the very differentiation that makes the company necessary. He frames the central question as what Apple’s innovation will be through the 1990s.
The excerpt also shows Jobs reflecting on Apple's future with a mix of skepticism and hope. He acknowledges bright people at Apple, but presses for a clear answer about what sets the company apart.
Jobs speaks throughout, with a brief added outro voice in the transcript excerpt.
In his words
“The whole premise for Apple's, uh, existence is to come up with better products”
“Highly differentiated, better products”
“What is Apple's differentiation if this is successful?”
“What is Apple's innovation which is going to propel it through the '90s like Macintosh did through the '80s?”
Key points
- Apple exists to make better products, not just more products.
- Differentiated products create opportunities for third-party developers.
- Giving away future system software could weaken Apple's distinct value.
- Apple must define what its innovation is for the 1990s.
- The company needs a clear answer to what makes it necessary in the market.
Full transcript
The whole premise for Apple's, uh, existence is to come up with better products—highly differentiated, better products—that then the third-party software developers can develop new and exciting and different applications on that they can't develop on other types of personal computers. And if Apple gives that away by giving away their future system software, then I'm not sure that the market needs Apple. So my whole question in this is: What is Apple's differentiation if this is successful? And if it's not successful, what is Apple's innovation which is going to propel it through the '90s like Macintosh did through the '80s? I'm not—I'm not sure. I'm sure that they're a bunch of bright
people there, and I'm sure they have some—some good ideas. They stopped sending me their management reports a while ago. So if you want another amazing clip of a young Steve Jobs, check out the video right there next to me. I think you'll love it. Continue to believe, and I'll see you there. Many people see it for the first time, and they don't think it's a computer. It's about 12 pounds. You can throw it out the window if the relationship isn't going so well. And I think if you look at sort of the process of the technological revolution that we're all in...
From YouTube captions, lightly punctuated for readability. Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.