David Coursey Says No Home Appliances For 24 Months.

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
This is relevant to future Hardware because David Coursey of ZDNet replies to my inquiry. I listened to the Your Mac Life show and David Coursey said that he talked to Steve Jobs and did not elaborate so I asked him via e-mail. My e-mail to David is posted below and below that is Davids response. It is interesting that he said that Jobs said that there will be no new home appliances for 24 months.



From: [email protected]

Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 20:50:49 -0500

To: [email protected]

Subject: Your conversation to Steve Jobs.



I think it is amazing that you have actually talked to Steve Jobs about

Apple's future. I think an article about that experience would be really

cool to read. I really want to hear about what you asked him and what

you were told. I love your writing, I hope you recommend more types of

people to use a Mac. I think that you are very strong willed not to be

persuaded by the likes of Steve Jobs, at least you come off sounding as

if your not infected with his charisma.



I know that you hear a lot of mac users talk about you as a PC man and a

Mac ignorer. I feel bad that people leave that impression with you.



Keep up the good work.




From: David Coursey <[email protected]>



This happened a week ago Monday and I am still trying to decide what to make

of it. I know what he told me--I wasn't able to record it and didn't

concentrate on grabbing quotes--but I haven't really decided if any of it

was terribly worth repeating. He talked about the "digital hub" but the

overall take was that Apple won't be doing home entertainment devices in the

next 24 months but will do something--probably in software. There is also

considerable excitement about the opportunities Unix presents to get more

into the sci/tech and Unix workstation markets.



Steve was not at full reality distortion when I saw him and we spoke for

about an hour. What I didn't hear was very much of "the vision thing" which

seems to exist for Apple but is only demonstrated in retrospect. Steve needs

as much excitement as he can generate and can't afford any mistakes, at

least not anything worse than the cube.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    I see you're spamming the forums again.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    This is not spam.



    I think the farther Apple stays away from the entertainment appliance market, the better. Most consumer entertainment appliances are passive, but Apple focuses on active, creative entertainment. You use a Mac to create a DVD, or a music CD, that's the focus of Apple's strategy. If they begin trying to be all things to all people they will fail. It's cool that Apple has a DVD player in OS X, but how far should they go? Should they add a TV tuner to the Mac? Should they add a gaming console to the Mac?



    I think DVD is plenty, and important because if one is going to create DVDs, then they need to be able to play them. But if you start making the Mac into a TV, then what exactly is the point of it? Until one can broadcast TV signals from their Mac, I say leave TV off of it.
  • Reply 3 of 18
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    de ja vu
  • Reply 4 of 18
    I want an Apple branded appliance...a dishwasher, or maybe a washing machine. Then I could do my laundry and control it from my Powermac in OS X. Would Apple make the washer carbon or cocoa?



    [ 02-03-2002: Message edited by: Junkyard Dawg ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 18
    What do people think of this? It is straight from Steve Jobs' mouth...er at least from Courseys memory of what SJ said.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    What David said can mean almost anything. No "home entertainment devices" for the next 24 months? So there WILL be one after that??? Or they have their products roadmapped out for 24 months and one is not on the road map, so they might decide to do one later????



    Is the iPod, "home entertainment"??

    What software could encompass "home entertainment"?



    This still leaves the possibilites of a PDA open
  • Reply 7 of 18
    [quote]Originally posted by Willoughby:

    <strong>What David said can mean almost anything. No "home entertainment devices" for the next 24 months? So there WILL be one after that??? Or they have their products roadmapped out for 24 months and one is not on the road map, so they might decide to do one later????



    Is the iPod, "home entertainment"??

    What software could encompass "home entertainment"?



    This still leaves the possibilites of a PDA open </strong><hr></blockquote>



    True.



    <img src="graemlins/embarrassed.gif" border="0" alt="[Embarrassed]" />
  • Reply 8 of 18
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 9 of 18
    he said home entertainment. the ipod is not necessarily a home entertainment device, so we could see some other kinds of portable devices, though i have no idea what they could be, but i'm willing to listen to what they say and have
  • Reply 10 of 18
    [quote]Originally posted by Max8319:

    <strong>he said home entertainment. the ipod is not necessarily a home entertainment device, so we could see some other kinds of portable devices, though i have no idea what they could be, but i'm willing to listen to what they say and have</strong><hr></blockquote>



    A digital camera or camecorder is not a home appliance.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    exactly
  • Reply 12 of 18
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>This is not spam.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Putting the same topic in different places is the very definition of spam.
  • Reply 13 of 18
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>I want an Apple branded appliance...a dishwasher, or maybe a washing machine. Then I could do my laundry and control it from my Powermac in OS X. Would Apple make the washer carbon or cocoa?



    [ 02-03-2002: Message edited by: Junkyard Dawg ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Have you ever *tried* washing carbon or cocoa out of something? Sacrebleu.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    willoughbywilloughby Posts: 1,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>I want an Apple branded appliance...a dishwasher, or maybe a washing machine. Then I could do my laundry and control it from my Powermac in OS X. Would Apple make the washer carbon or cocoa?



    [ 02-03-2002: Message edited by: Junkyard Dawg ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    As long as the controls were on a 15 inch LCD connected to a swivel arm. That would be schweeeet.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    jobesjobes Posts: 106member
    [quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

    <strong>What do people think of this? It is straight from Steve Jobs' mouth...er at least from Courseys memory of what SJ said.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I think it's largely irrelevant to this board: a journalist giving a relatively non-specific answer to a self-confessed teenaged Apple nerd?



    It's not news, it's not future hardware ... mebbe general discussion ... or ego-jerking
  • Reply 16 of 18
    [quote]Originally posted by jobes:

    <strong>



    I think it's largely irrelevant to this board: a journalist giving a relatively non-specific answer to a self-confessed teenaged Apple nerd?



    It's not news, it's not future hardware ... mebbe general discussion ... or ego-jerking </strong><hr></blockquote>



    It relates to future hardware. David Coursey is an actual source compared to Kormac76 and people like that.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    jobesjobes Posts: 106member
    Sorry Macintosh



    I know you are young, enthusiastic and excitable. I am old, jaded and cynical.



    That's why I'm not very impressed with you posting this same info again, starting a new thread (again). It's only barely relevent to future hardware. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    There are relatively few inroads Apple can make in the digital device market at the moment (until various standards are more widely adopted for home entertainment) and I think this comment, if anything, is merely a reflection of that.



    On a personal note, I put more faith in Coursey's mention of the scientific & workstation community and OS X ... it may not be as sexy as consumer equipment but if Apple does it right it'll pay the bills with higher margins than any TiVo/camera/fridge/dildo could.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    [quote] David Coursey:

    He talked about the "digital hub" but the

    overall take was that Apple won't be doing home entertainment devices in the

    next 24 months but will do something--probably in software. <hr></blockquote>





    Software for home appliances? How about an OSX client as a front end to Moxi set top box?
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