nightwatch

Just another politician who doesn’t use the technology that they’re going to be responsible for changing. Yes, Apple sells FCPX and Logic X on the App Store. FCPX isn’t keeping video editors from using Resolve if they want to. The App Store may give Apple a slight promotional edge over old school Mac DAWs like MOTU’s Digital Performer, but Apple’s come back in the late ‘90s may have saved MOTU and other companies from going down with the mothership. And Logic isn’t keeping me from using Digital Performer (which is my DAW of choice, not Logic although I use it some). 

Bottom line. Apple selling a few apps on the App Store does in NO WAY interfere with 3rd party sales. PERIOD! I can’t think of one iOS app made by Apple that I’ve ever paid for, or had to pay for. And every non OS critical or security critical app has 3rd party equivalents in the App Store that many people choose to use. Google Chrome for example. Or some of the paid for apps like Cubasis 2 (a competitor to GarageBand which I paid for and use). 

Besides most people realize that half of Apple’s apps are simpler versions of apps that 3rd parties have done better, or are full featured (Pages, Numbers and Keynote), and these are free anyway. Or these are apps that are filling a very niche market, (macOS Server, Apple Configurator). How many times have Apple made it clear that they’re not an app company? Jobs said it a million times. When they do build apps it’s usually to jump start a market or because no developer has met their basic standards for what an app should be like. Airport was the hardware equivalent of this strategy. When the market matured Apple dropped Airport (and I wish they hadn’t).

I don’t think Warren and people like her have a clue how little these apps add to the bottom line. They’re valuable in that they place a competitive app into a market they want to see grow. These apps sell the idea of macOS as a platform. And macOS helps sell the hardware. That’s were Apple makes their money. But Apple rarely has the best app or the standard in any category. FCPX and in a way Logic are the only two and their competition isn’t hurting. IT HELPS THE COMPETITION. This goes all the way back to the Claris days. I was at Apple back then, I would know. 

I doubt she she even consulted with anyone about this. 

Truly, a very important event for Apple and the user base. Here’s hoping that the Pro Workflow Team has been working with the right people. It seems they have. We’ll now see. 

Maybe I can get my old job back on 183 or at the new campus. Hmm..

This will change as more and more people stop thinking of iPads as media consumption devices and realize they really can be laptop replacements. I’m running some really powerful apps on my 1st gen iPad Pro and I’ll never go back to a laptop. Ii think Apple is trying to achieve this too. 

One thing that made Steve so great is that he grew up as a computer enthusiast. He knew exactly what he wanted as a user and he knew other people would like what he liked. He had a lot of confidence in what he saw as needs, and good taste to go with it. He knew enough to start the invention, then found great people to build it. In a big way, Apple was just a company that built things that Steve wanted to use, and then to sell. The Keynote app is a good example of that. And it makes sense that if you’re a kid in the ‘70s Silicon Valley, if you like some technology you just dreamt up, had built and used it, everyone else would like it too. 

Combine that with Steve’s charisma and coolness and you have the makings of the greatest tech CEO of all time. I’ve been fascinated by Jobs since the ‘80s. He was the perfect guy to bring computing to the masses. He completely transcended that ‘80s “nerd” label. Jobs would have never named his company Microsoft. Yet that’s what everyone else did in an attempt to achieve legitimacy. Steve knew his and other’s ideas alone with great people around him would ligitimize a tech company called Apple when no one else would have dared. 

Great read, btw. There are some great NeXT-era interviews when he was starting to lay back a bit, that are truely enjoyable to read.