Steve Jobs to Nike CEO: 'Get rid of the crappy stuff'

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
When Nike CEO Mark Parker called Apple CEO Steve Jobs for advice as a newly minted chief executive, Jobs told him to "get rid of the crappy stuff," claims a report.



Writing for Forbes, Carmine Gallo reports that, shortly after becoming CEO, Parker called Jobs, who he is friends with, to ask for some tips.



?Well, just one thing,? said Jobs. ?Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.?



Jobs was "absolutely right," Parker admitted, adding that Nike "had to edit" when making business decisions.



Within months of becoming CEO in early 2006, Parker announced a special partnership with Apple. The Nike+iPod product line was a collaboration between the two companies meant to "create a better running experience." Nike+iPod allows users to connect a sensor to a compatible iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPhone to keep track of statistics.







"It's fun to apply technology in an area where A, it's never been done before, and B, everybody involved in it wants it for themselves," Parker said in an interview after the announcement of Nike+. "That's always a good sign. Everybody involved in this says, 'This is so cool,' It's great to work on things like this. The connection between the two different products and the potential it creates is huge."



In 2007, Parker promised that all Nike running shoes would be compatible with Nike+iPod by the end of the year.



Jobs outlined Apple's intense focus during an interview with Fortune in 2008. "Apple is a $30 billion company, yet we've got less than 30 major products. I don't know if that's ever been done before. Certainly the great consumer electronics companies of the past had thousands of products. We tend to focus much more. People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully," Jobs said.



"I'm actually as proud of many of the things we haven't done as the things we have done. The clearest example was when we were pressured for years to do a PDA, and I realized one day that 90% of the people who use a PDA only take information out of it on the road. They don't put information into it.



"Pretty soon cellphones are going to do that, so the PDA market's going to get reduced to a fraction of its current size, and it won't really be sustainable. So we decided not to get into it. If we had gotten into it, we wouldn't have had the resources to do the iPod. We probably wouldn't have seen it coming."



Not long after returning to the company in late 1996, Jobs terminated several projects, including the Newton platform. Since then, Apple has experienced a meteoric rise, culminating in the release of the iPad, which has been viewed by some as the Newton reborn.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    magicjmagicj Posts: 406member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Steve Jobs


    get rid of the crappy stuff



    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.
  • Reply 2 of 68
    ivladivlad Posts: 742member
    Duuuuuhhh, a no brainer. How do these people get into such positions?
  • Reply 3 of 68
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    And yet people will still scratch their head and winder why Apple "can't" make a $300 computer if Dell and HP can.
  • Reply 4 of 68
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.



    Yes but he's gotten rid of thousands of crappy apps (smut and other useless app factory dreck)
  • Reply 5 of 68
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.



    And then you'll flip-flop and scream censorship if Apple started flushing what they deemed to be "unproductive" apps right???
  • Reply 6 of 68
    sennensennen Posts: 1,472member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.



    Yup, Steve hand-coded every single one of them.
  • Reply 7 of 68
    joshajosha Posts: 901member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    And yet people will still scratch their head and winder why Apple "can't" make a $300 computer if Dell and HP can.



    Before the iPad I got a $300 Netbook for travel. It's one of the better makes, but the WinXP and several aspects of the hardware are just plain CRAPPY ! It's no comparison to the MacBook.
  • Reply 8 of 68
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.



    Those aren't Apple Apps. Those crappy apps are from 3rd parties. Keep up with the original line of thinking.
  • Reply 9 of 68
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Those aren't Apple Apps. Those crappy apps are from 3rd parties. Keep up with the original line of thinking.



    Yeah, if I recall, Apple took a stand against more fart apps.

    I bet RIM would f'ing KILL for 800 fart apps.
  • Reply 10 of 68
    allerbeallerbe Posts: 13member
    "...a new report claims."



    It was amply reported at least as early as April 2010. Just Google "jobs nike crappy".
  • Reply 11 of 68
    8corewhore8corewhore Posts: 833member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    So says the guy with over 800 fart apps for sale for the iPhone.



    Blaming Apple for the quality of some of the apps that can run on an iPhone or Mac is like blaming them for crappy music some people buy for their iPod.
  • Reply 12 of 68
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Actually the number of fart apps has fallen below a few hundred and Apple has explicitly stated that they aren't taking any more. At this point there are more fart apps on Android, by far.



    Not that any of that is remotely germane to the topic. I guess "fart apps" will forever remain shorthand for the lazy.
  • Reply 13 of 68
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JoshA View Post


    Before the iPad I got a $300 Netbook for travel. It's one of the better makes, but the WinXP and several aspects of the hardware are just plain CRAPPY ! It's no comparison to the MacBook.



    No kidding. Great insight.
  • Reply 14 of 68
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member
    I find Steve's terse comments and answers very amusing.
  • Reply 15 of 68
    ihxoihxo Posts: 567member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    Yeah, if I recall, Apple took a stand against more fart apps.

    I bet RIM would f'ing KILL for 800 fart apps.



    Same goes for android.



    Instead of 800 fart app, they have 80000 wallpaper "app".
  • Reply 16 of 68
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    This is not new nor news.
  • Reply 17 of 68
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    This is not new nor news.



    True. I'm sure I've seen this somewhere (I think it was even Apple Insider) before.
  • Reply 18 of 68
    onhkaonhka Posts: 1,025member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    This is not new nor news.



    It is to most folks, as evidenced here.
  • Reply 19 of 68
    radjinradjin Posts: 165member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    Yeah, if I recall, Apple took a stand against more fart apps.

    I bet RIM would f'ing KILL for 800 fart apps.



    So would Android, because they all work and don't have viruses.
  • Reply 20 of 68
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully



    this is google's problem. they seem to say yes to everything. don't get me wrong, they have some great products, but i wouldn't call any of them elegant or polished.
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