Jobs on "marathon" meetings, successors, and iPods saving Apple

[AppleInsider]

A new interview with Apple chief Steve Jobs reveals some of the company's more extraordinary practices, including weekly reviews of the entire business. It also confirms Jobs' approach to a successor and the crucial role of the iPod in Apple's turnaround.

In his discussion with Fortune, Jobs notes that top staff at the company meet every Monday to review the company's entire direction for the past week -- a practice not often seen at other companies, but one which the company co-founder says is essential to coordinating the larger company strategy and fostering independence among the others.

"When you hire really good people you have to give them a piece of the business and let them run with it," he says. "I want [them] making as good or better decisions than I would. So the way to do that is to have them know everything, not just in their part of the business, but in every part of the business."

The technique explains Jobs' confidence in finding a replacement should he ever leave. Echoing his remarks made on Tuesday at the annual shareholders' meeting, Jobs observes that there are multiple prime candidates for the top spot, particularly chief operating officer Tim Cook. Senior officials at Apple are reportedly skilled enough that there would be little risk. "Some people say, 'Oh, God, if [he] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble," Jobs adds jokingly. "But there are really capable people at Apple."

He also uses this approach as justification for his at times legendary reputation for harsh criticism. Pushing employees to their limits improves them beyond what they thought possible of themselves, he says.

The executive takes further pride in the company's ability to say "no" to common business tactics. Consulants have never been brought in to verify the company's own behavior, just those of competitors. Apple has likewise repeatedly turned down some ideas, even seemingly viable ones, for the sake of maintaining its concentration on just a few key product lines.

Of those lines, the iPod may well have proved the most critical. While the Mac has always been the company's backbone, Jobs admits that the iPod proved virtually essential to rescuing the company from its reputation as a niche-only computer manufacturer. The runaway success of the music player helped validate the company's approach, both to itself and to others. Inside the company, the iPod was a "great shot in the arm" to a company used to never picking up more than 5 percent marketshare.

More importantly, he states, it broke the complacence of the market towards options beyond Windows. As people became aware of Apple once again, it gave the company an opportunity to expand and set itself up as a viable competitor to Microsoft and Windows-based PC builders.

"People have finally started to realize that they don't have to put up with Windows - that there is an alternative," he explains. "I think nobody really thought about it that way before."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[PatsFan83]

"And we only have about 600 movies so far ingested on iTunes, but we'll have thousands later this year."

Let's hope so.

[wizard69]

Well if you ask me (you know you did) it looks like Apple is getting some very good press. Frankly they have at least a few practices that the rest of corporate American could learn a bit from. Especially the corporate wide meetings on a weekly basis.

In some ways I do like the fact that Apple keeps its product lines focused. It is good for Apple and I actually think reduces waste. However I'm also frustrated that Apple seems to ignore consumer demand which I believe is hurting them considerably.

By this I mean such things as FM radio in the iPods, a serious effort at Newton 2, a serious run at a consumer grade expandable desktop Mac and other long running wants and needs. In some cases the exclusion of features seems like an attempt to simply irritate their customers.

One example is the reference to FM radio above which can be had for an extremely low price as some networking chips have the feature built in. So we are not talking about a huge increase in cost to offer the consumer a bit of extra capacity. Even something like AIR could have leveraged an FM Radio. Same thing goes for a low cost expandable Mac. I'm not knocking the Mac Pro as it is really just the nuts for certain segments of society, but likewise there is a similar segment that needs a lower cost expandable platform. I look at the MINI as an example of abandon ware from Apple, a good idea in many ways that has simply failed to keep up with technology.

So in a nut shell while it is good to see these positive stories coming out, I do wish that the press would fire something other than soft balls at Apple over their product development practices. Even a simply inquiry about why the MINI doesn't get any respect from Apple would at the very least stimulate a bit of thought at Apple.

Dave

[noirdesir]

Originally Posted by wizard69

By this I mean such things as FM radio in the iPods, [...] In some cases the exclusion of features seems like an attempt to simply irritate their customers.

Or more rather an attempt at increasing their margins:
'You want an FM radio in your iPod? Just buy these special headphones with a built-in remote, and your iPod will have an FM radio built-in.'

(May I ask you native speakers about the correctness of 'an FM radio' vs. 'a FM radio?)

[BjK]

It's pronounced 'eff emm' radio, so 'an' would be appropriate.

[Walter Slocombe]

Originally Posted by noirdesir

Or more rather an attempt at increasing their margins:
'You want an FM radio in your iPod? Just buy these special headphones with a built-in remote, and your iPod will have an FM radio built-in.'

(May I ask you native speakers about the correctness of 'an FM radio' vs. 'a FM radio?)

spoken as "an EFF EMM Radio" so an rather than "a EFF EMM radio"

an being used in front of vowel sounds and I'm an english speaker,



so don't none of yoos go conterrdcikting me!

[jbh0001]

Originally Posted by noirdesir

(May I ask you native speakers about the correctness of 'an FM radio' vs. 'a FM radio?)

Well, at the risk of being a prescriptive grammarian, "an FM radio" is the most accepted usage (at least in the U.S.), though I doubt most people would take notice of "a FM radio." A is correct if you are going to expand the initials (e.g. a frequency modulation radio). An is correct because words that begin with a vowel use "an" over "a" when needed; and verbally, one is saying "an eff emm radio" not "a eff emm radio."

(Ay, bee, see, dee, ee, eff, jee, aytch, eye, jay, kay, ell, emm, en, owe, pee, cue, are, ess, tee, you, vee, double-you, ecks, why, zee.)

[BjK]

Originally Posted by jbh0001

double you, ecks, why, zee.)

It's a good thing you fixed the comma after 'double you' before Mr. H got ahold of you!

Talk about a prescriptive grammarian... sheesh

[rhowarth]

Originally Posted by jbh0001

(Ay, bee, see, dee, ee, eff, jee, aytch, eye, jay, kay, ell, emm, en, owe, pee, cue, are, ess, tee, you, vee, double-you, ecks, why, zee.)

zed not zee

[bigdaddyp]

Originally Posted by rhowarth

zed not zee

I bet you misspell center as well.

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"When you hire really good people you have to give them a piece of the business and let them run with it," he says. "I want [them] making as good or better decisions than I would. So the way to do that is to have them know everything, not just in their part of the business, but in every part of the business."

The technique explains Jobs' confidence in finding a replacement should he ever leave. Echoing his remarks made on Tuesday at the annual shareholders' meeting, Jobs observes that there are multiple prime candidates for the top spot, particularly chief operating officer Tim Cook. Senior officials at Apple are reportedly skilled enough that there would be little risk. "Some people say, 'Oh, God, if [he] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble," Jobs adds jokingly. "But there are really capable people at Apple."

Maybe at certain keynote events or other highly visible media events, SJ should start sharing more of the 'spotlight' with more of these "capable people" to see who has charisma, otherwise known as the "Obama Factor" (defined as - full of empty platitudes but when listening to, you'll feel good). This is what Apple is going to need to replace once Steve is gone.

The last time SJ shared the Keynote was with Phil Shiller, among others, although a nice guy and capable at what he does I'm sure, Phil didn't cut it as a keynote speaker IMHO. He was too nervous sounding but, maybe that will wear off with time, but the "replacement face of Apple" will need the ability to make the audience feel comfortable when listening, be able to speak with exuberance, speak authoritatively with regards to the aspect that whatever product or service it is, the masses are going to want, throw in a little humor every now and then and when the keynote is over, the audience leaves, rather content, knowing good things are coming their way and can't wait until the next keynote.

I could be wrong but just my observation.

[wbrasington]

Originally Posted by wizard69

Well if you ask me (you know you did) it looks like Apple is getting some very good press. Frankly they have at least a few practices that the rest of corporate American could learn a bit from. Especially the corporate wide meetings on a weekly basis.

In some ways I do like the fact that Apple keeps its product lines focused. It is good for Apple and I actually think reduces waste. However I'm also frustrated that Apple seems to ignore consumer demand which I believe is hurting them considerably.

By this I mean such things as FM radio in the iPods, a serious effort at Newton 2, a serious run at a consumer grade expandable desktop Mac and other long running wants and needs. In some cases the exclusion of features seems like an attempt to simply irritate their customers.

One example is the reference to FM radio above which can be had for an extremely low price as some networking chips have the feature built in. So we are not talking about a huge increase in cost to offer the consumer a bit of extra capacity. Even something like AIR could have leveraged an FM Radio. Same thing goes for a low cost expandable Mac. I'm not knocking the Mac Pro as it is really just the nuts for certain segments of society, but likewise there is a similar segment that needs a lower cost expandable platform. I look at the MINI as an example of abandon ware from Apple, a good idea in many ways that has simply failed to keep up with technology.

So in a nut shell while it is good to see these positive stories coming out, I do wish that the press would fire something other than soft balls at Apple over their product development practices. Even a simply inquiry about why the MINI doesn't get any respect from Apple would at the very least stimulate a bit of thought at Apple.

Dave

I think people forget too much.

Remember what the world looked like BEFORE the mini came out.
All the Apple computers were very expensize in comparison.
Nothing Apple sold could compete with what the windows users were going to use to replace the machines they were throwing out at upgrade time.

The Mini was a simple loss-leader product designed to, for the first time, reuse the mouse-monitor-and-keyboard of your existing computer.
A cheap way for Apple to put many new people into a MAC for the first time.
A lot of people bought it and used old mice and monitors in the closet.

To look at it today, and not remember what it was designed to do from a marketing position, misses the point.

It is one of the little things Apple did that was a BIG thing in gaining market share.
Not because of the numbers of people that bought it, but the high percentage of Windows users that bought it and got their first taste of a safe world.

Apple comes out with new upgrades to the existing line of computers.
But the Mini and the MBA are examples of products that may not have a wide product line future but have a high conversion factor with the customers buying it.

Bravo Apple........

[megazok]

Originally Posted by wizard69

Well if you ask me (you know you did) it looks like Apple is getting some very good press. Frankly they have at least a few practices that the rest of corporate American could learn a bit from. Especially the corporate wide meetings on a weekly basis.

In some ways I do like the fact that Apple keeps its product lines focused. It is good for Apple and I actually think reduces waste. However I'm also frustrated that Apple seems to ignore consumer demand which I believe is hurting them considerably.

By this I mean such things as FM radio in the iPods, a serious effort at Newton 2, a serious run at a consumer grade expandable desktop Mac and other long running wants and needs. In some cases the exclusion of features seems like an attempt to simply irritate their customers.

One example is the reference to FM radio above which can be had for an extremely low price as some networking chips have the feature built in. So we are not talking about a huge increase in cost to offer the consumer a bit of extra capacity. Even something like AIR could have leveraged an FM Radio. Same thing goes for a low cost expandable Mac. I'm not knocking the Mac Pro as it is really just the nuts for certain segments of society, but likewise there is a similar segment that needs a lower cost expandable platform. I look at the MINI as an example of abandon ware from Apple, a good idea in many ways that has simply failed to keep up with technology.

So in a nut shell while it is good to see these positive stories coming out, I do wish that the press would fire something other than soft balls at Apple over their product development practices. Even a simply inquiry about why the MINI doesn't get any respect from Apple would at the very least stimulate a bit of thought at Apple.

Dave

I can't fathom why anyone would want an FM radio at all, let alone on a device that contains one's entire music collection. If you want a radio, go to Radioshack.

[Delfoniq]

Wrong thread, meant to post there

http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=85058

[VisualZone]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyp

I bet you misspell center as well.

In Canada, we pronounce the last letter of the alphabet as zed. Btw, did you mean centre?

[Delfoniq]

Same in the UK. You guys have similar postal codes to the British, right? And of course similar weather!

In the US, they only know how to pronounce "money". Everything else is very low priority

[VisualZone]

Originally Posted by Delfoniq

Same in the UK. You guys have similar postal codes to the British, right? And of course similar weather!

In the US, they only know how to pronounce "money". Everything else is very low priority

Postal codes? Yup. Weather? Just look at the west coast. Heh Heh Heh!! As for money, well, I've always been a big Pink Floyd fan.

[MsNly]

Originally Posted by VisualZone

Postal codes? Yup. Weather? Just look at the west coast. Heh Heh Heh!! As for money, well, I've always been a big Pink Floyd fan.

Me too!

I live in the US and in formal writing I typically use English(British) spellings such as: favourite, colour, humour, ectectect

But I just did it to piss teachers off at first as a kid on spelling tests, then it became natural

[halfyearsun]

Originally Posted by noirdesir

Or more rather an attempt at increasing their margins:
'You want an FM radio in your iPod? Just buy these special headphones with a built-in remote, and your iPod will have an FM radio built-in.'

(May I ask you native speakers about the correctness of 'an FM radio' vs. 'a FM radio?)

Either way is correct. Technically, it would be "a FM radio" because it only becomes "an" when it precedes a vowel. but an fm radio is often used because it is a vowel sound, so it is generally accepted. Basically, anyone who gives you a hard time one way or the other is just being an ass.

And it would be foolish to put an FM radio in the ipod. It is a minority of people who want an FM radio in an ipod...if it was in high demand, the zune would have eaten up a much bigger portion of the marketshare than it did.

And the fact is, FM radio is slowly going the way of the buffalo. If the ipod was going to include radio, it would be xm/sirius. There's no sense in putting money into including a feature based around a medium that is approaching obsolesence

[megazok]

Originally Posted by halfyearsun

Either way is correct. Technically, it would be "a FM radio" because it only becomes "an" when it precedes a vowel. but an fm radio is often used because it is a vowel sound, so it is generally accepted. Basically, anyone who gives you a hard time one way or the other is just being an ass.

And it would be foolish to put an FM radio in the ipod. It is a minority of people who want an FM radio in an ipod...if it was in high demand, the zune would have eaten up a much bigger portion of the marketshare than it did.

And the fact is, FM radio is slowly going the way of the buffalo. If the ipod was going to include radio, it would be xm/sirius. There's no sense in putting money into including a feature based around a medium that is approaching obsolesence

Exactly, Fm is fossilized.

I'm so sick of these dorks who keep asking for an FM radio. Get over it already!

[GQB]

Originally Posted by wizard69

However I'm also frustrated that Apple seems to ignore consumer demand which I believe is hurting them considerably.

The question is always whether Apple is ignoring 'consumer demand', or ignoring 'my' demand.
Most people can't get beyond that in these forums.
I think Apple is doing a pretty good job of giving the bulk of buyers what they want. They don't always give each niche its demand however. Never can.

[GQB]

Originally Posted by megazok

I can't fathom why anyone would want an FM radio at all, let alone on a device that contains one's entire music collection. If you want a radio, go to Radioshack.

And why they don't give in to my demand that they build an electric razor into it is even more maddening.

[mdriftmeyer]

Originally Posted by Walter Slocombe

spoken as "an EFF EMM Radio" so an rather than "a EFF EMM radio"

an being used in front of vowel sounds and I'm an english speaker,



so don't none of yoos go conterrdcikting me!

Simple: use an a when the following letter is a Consonant. Use an an when the following letter is a Vowel.

[paxman]

Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer

Simple: use an a when the following letter is a Consonant. Use an an when the following letter is a Vowel.

Duude! Didn't yo read the previous posts? According to you it should be "a fm radio". The rule is neither that strict, nor simple. If it SOUNDS like a Vowel, use 'an'. It just rolls of the tongue that much better.

[markspain]

Originally Posted by paxman

Duude! Didn't yo read the previous posts? According to you it should be "a fm radio". The rule is neither that strict, nor simple. If it SOUNDS like a Vowel, use 'an'. It just rolls of the tongue that much better.

Quite correct. Likewise, we say “an honest attempt,” “an honest person.”

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by megazok

Exactly, Fm is fossilized.

I'm so sick of these dorks who keep asking for an FM radio. Get over it already!

OK - thanks for the dork then.

Some questions though

a/ where do you discover/listen new music/stuff in the background. I guess last.fm but let me tell you that a nice Hot-AC (or any other) radio station can be a blessing
b/ what do you listen in the car - xm ?
c/ what would you do if you were lining in an area of the world -say Europe- where digital (sat) radios are either not existent or not accepted by the consumer ?

All this brave new world stuff is great. But sometimes it is actually nice to revert back one step.

I for once like to listen to the radio in the car as there is a nice mix between voice and music and they tell me how the traffic shapes up. And I do have a TMC reciever on my sat-nav as well.

[Peruchito]

Originally Posted by freelander51

OK - thanks for the dork then.

Some questions though

a/ where do you discover/listen new music/stuff in the background. I guess last.fm but let me tell you that a nice Hot-AC (or any other) radio station can be a blessing
b/ what do you listen in the car - xm ?
c/ what would you do if you were lining in an area of the world -say Europe- where digital (sat) radios are either not existent or not accepted by the consumer ?

All this brave new world stuff is great. But sometimes it is actually nice to revert back one step.

I for once like to listen to the radio in the car as there is a nice mix between voice and music and they tell me how the traffic shapes up. And I do have a TMC reciever on my sat-nav as well.

calling you a dork was a bit much, but your thinking is a bit backwards.

FM (and most radio) is dead, and i mean this in a cultural way. all you get is the same 20 songs repeated all day, pushed by the big record companies to make sales. would it be so hard to simply buy/download these top songs on to your ipod? (PS, i think digital satellite is also just a pimped out version of radio and will fall soon enough)

if you miss talk radio, try podcasts. usually they have better content and minimal or no commercials, done by people that love the music (or whatever subject they are broadcasting).

also, the frequency range of FM is not the same all over the world. i remember i had a japanese walkman (from when i lived there back in the 80s, thing was smaller than what we have nowadays for tape players), when i brought it back here, it only got the lower end of FM, plus a lot of TV channels. it would be better to use a third party FM receiver on your ipod. that way if you really want to listen to radio abroad, you can buy a third party FM receiver from which ever country you are in, if yours happens to not receive the proper frequency range.

As well, you can get better quality of music (i mean quality of sound) from music files, compared to FM.

as for listening to music in your car. i think FM is standard on all cars (at least in all the countries i lived in), so you won't miss out if your ipod doesn't have FM (at least while driving).

[megazok]

Originally Posted by freelander51

OK - thanks for the dork then.

Some questions though

a/ where do you discover/listen new music/stuff in the background. I guess last.fm but let me tell you that a nice Hot-AC (or any other) radio station can be a blessing
b/ what do you listen in the car - xm ?
c/ what would you do if you were lining in an area of the world -say Europe- where digital (sat) radios are either not existent or not accepted by the consumer ?

All this brave new world stuff is great. But sometimes it is actually nice to revert back one step.

I for once like to listen to the radio in the car as there is a nice mix between voice and music and they tell me how the traffic shapes up. And I do have a TMC reciever on my sat-nav as well.

I don't listen to any type of radio.
I hear new music through friends, by watching movies and reading the Internet.
Hey, sorry about the dork comment, but I would rather listen to what I want than have it doled out to me. To each their own I guess.
I'm just tired of people complaining about this radio iPod thing.

[freelander51]

Originally Posted by Peruchito

calling you a dork was a bit much, but your thinking is a bit backwards.

FM (and most radio) is dead, and i mean this in a cultural way. all you get is the same 20 songs repeated all day, pushed by the big record companies to make sales. would it be so hard to simply buy/download these top songs on to your ipod?

as for listening to music in your car. i think FM is standard on all cars (at least in all the countries i lived in), so you won't miss out if your ipod doesn't have FM (at least while driving).

Ok so I am not a dork just backwards. Great. Just kidding. I can see why hit stations would fall into the braindead categories but over here we do have some Hot-AC stations on the public networks which after 7pm start playing some good stuff and not always the same. New Pop, Live Gigs etc. Still 'commercially' formatted but not just Hitradio. Is that for the iPod - nope ? But all music and no talk can make the kitchen a dull place too.

Originally Posted by megazok

I don't listen to any type of radio.
I hear new music through friends, by watching movies and reading the Internet.

The big media outfits still influence yu then through their channels. Movies ? Hmmm - Universal Pictures, Universal Music - there is a similarity in name. And Warner Bros/Music. Granted none of them is 100% subsidiary but still related. Oh yeah Sony Pictures and SonyBMG as well.
reading the internet and friends - Uh they get you just as good as on MySpace and YouTube.

Not all that glitters is gold

We all might live in a digital world - but some analogue signals should be kept in case we get attacked by Aliens
You can shut down a computer network and all digital communications. For analogue transmissions "all" you need is power and a transmitter/reciever. Think about it.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by noirdesir

Or more rather an attempt at increasing their margins:
'You want an FM radio in your iPod? Just buy these special headphones with a built-in remote, and your iPod will have an FM radio built-in.'

(May I ask you native speakers about the correctness of 'an FM radio' vs. 'a FM radio?)

There are rules. (The Chicago Manual of Style or the online English Grammar site:http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/Determiners3.cfm

The correct pronunciation of the 'f' in FM is 'f', not evv or eff. As such it is 'a FM radio'

Follows the rule of an indefinite article before the word 'one' which is pronounced as 'won'. Thus the correct form is 'a one' just like the sauce or 'a one time sale'

Our problem today is that we bastardize the language, and allow common usage take over common sense. Just because we all jaywalk doesn't make it correct.

More important, everybody should read the Fortune magazine original article in its entirety.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Our problem today is that we bastardize the language, and allow common usage take over common sense. Just because we all jaywalk doesn't make it correct.

That's nothing new. That's been happening for the last millennia. There was a time when there wasn't anything resembling standardized spelling, but even now when spelling is very standardized, there are dialect differences. There are dialect differences in how the letters are pronounced too. I think the style manuals differ a little bit, which one you use seems to depend on your target reader, by region, by academics or profession and so on.

The correct pronunciation of the 'f' in FM is 'f', not evv or eff. As such it is 'a FM radio'

That is not helpful, I have no idea how to pronounce that. I have no education with regards to how to pronounce consonants without using a vowel somewhere in the pronunciation. That makes sense because words without vowels don't seem to appear much in English, if at all other than very unusual circumstances.

[rhowarth]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

There are rules. (The Chicago Manual of Style or the online English Grammar site:http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/Determiners3.cfm

The correct pronunciation of the 'f' in FM is 'f', not evv or eff. As such it is 'a FM radio.

I'm really confused now, how exactly are you proposing to pronounce "FM radio" if you speak it out loud?? A "fumm" radio? A "fmuh" radio? A frequency modulation radio? Or an "effemm" radio?

The whole point of the rule is that it rolls off the tongue easier. In 99% of cases the rule is that it's "an" if followed by a vowel, but it ALL depends on how you pronounce the following word. Thus it's an hour, a unit, a euro, an yttrium atom, an FM radio, and either a hotel or an hotel depending on how posh you are.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by rhowarth

I'm really confused now, how exactly are you proposing to pronounce "FM radio" if you speak it out loud?? A "fumm" radio? A "fmuh" radio? A frequency modulation radio? Or an "effemm" radio?

The whole point of the rule is that it rolls off the tongue easier. In 99% of cases the rule is that it's "an" if followed by a vowel, but it ALL depends on how you pronounce the following word. Thus it's an hour, a unit, a euro, an yttrium atom, an FM radio, and either a hotel or an hotel depending on how posh you are.

FM is pronounced as it is written or as one would say their ABCs. It is an acronym and each letter is distinct.

It is a F M radio. Not a or an effmm radio.

Their are rules in grammar and enunciation. "The traditional rule about whether to use a or an before a word beginning with h is that if the h is sounded, a is the correct form ( : a hospital;: a hotel). But if the accent is on the second syllable ( : historic;: habitual), there is greater likelihood that, at least in speaking, 'an habitual' will sound more natural." Got Leopard? Check the dictionary.

More important, lets get back to the article.

[Marc OSX]

It's amazing how fast an article about the business practices of Apple can descend into an argument about grammar. If I hadn't realised that I was sat in front of my computer I would have sworn I was in the pub.

[vmardian]

So... that was a pretty good article on Jobs, eh???

[echosonic]

Originally Posted by wizard69

By this I mean such things as FM radio in the iPods, a serious effort at Newton 2, a serious run at a consumer grade expandable desktop Mac and other long running wants and needs. In some cases the exclusion of features seems like an attempt to simply irritate their customers.

Dave

Dave. Dave, Dave, Dave. What exactly are you expecting a "Newton 2" to do that an iPhone can't already do or that an iPhone is likely to do within the next 12 months. Just curious. Don't be mad, Dave, I'm just feeling mildy sarcastic/patronizing this morning. Don't hold it against me. It's not you, Dave. It's me. Really.

[rhowarth]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

FM is pronounced as it is written or as one would say their ABCs. It is an acronym and each letter is distinct.

It is a F M radio. Not a or an effmm radio.

More important, lets get back to the article.

No no, let's discuss grammar - much more interesting :-)

Exactly. You read it as two distinct letters, pronounced as you would say your ABC. Now read the following two sentences out loud and tell me which is correct!

"Think of a word that starts with an U and ends in a S."
"Think of a word that starts with a U and ends in an S."

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by Rot'nApple

Maybe at certain keynote events or other highly visible media events, SJ should start sharing more of the 'spotlight' with more of these "capable people" to see who has charisma

An excellent idea... hopefully one Apple wants to try already. There's been Phil, and a year or so back they did have a young guy walking around like Steve Jobs for some of the announcements, but he wasn't steve jobs and it didn't quite fit - and I firmly believe that if you want to convey "I'm excited" then you have to use your own "excited" expression, not someone elses.

Part of the reason Steve can say "This is really great" is because he absolutely believes it. If he doesn't love it, it doesn't make it. Do his upper management share that? Do they each push for various products while Steve sits back and says "it doesn't do it for me" - or do they all listen to a product presentation with half of them saying "it doesn't do it for me". Where is the line drawn?

If they want to showcase their people on a certain product, I'd pick a person who is really critical of products generally but really loves this one (AND which has gone through the regular Apple/Steve quality control of course).

[GregAlexander]

Originally Posted by echosonic

Dave. What exactly are you expecting a "Newton 2" to do that an iPhone can't already do or that an iPhone is likely to do within the next 12 months. Just curious.

Well I'm not Dave, but I'd like a larger iPod Touch and pen input (if it works!!). And the notepad of my scribble better sync back to my email Notes!!!! (in fact, I don't mind if it doesn't convert the pen input till it syncs back at home)

When I'm seeing a client I like to draw links (like a mind map) between concepts they're talking about. Then when I hypnotise them I glance at my notes and explore those links. Pages on my MBP does it pretty well (better than Word) but it takes longer than doing it by hand.

I could get a windows tablet PC but it's overkill. I don't want a desktop OS on my tablet either. And I like listening to music, watching movies occasionally... plus getting email and browsing the web.

So a bigger iPod Touch with Pen Input sounds good to me. Aka Newton 2 (in my opinion).
That's just me though