[Am-info] What Steve Jobs WON'T do at Apple

[Fred A. Miller]

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Un-vision: What Steve Jobs WON'T do at Apple
By David Coursey, AnchorDesk
February 6, 2002 9:00 PM PT
URL:

I can only infer that Steve Jobs has a vision for the future of
Apple Computer. I say this because after spending more than an
hour with the Apple CEO recently, I walked away knowing more about
what Apple won't do than what it will do.

Here's an example of what Apple won't do: Steve says Apple will
not get into the home entertainment business--not during the next
24 months, anyway. You won't find Apple doing a personal video
recorder, à la TiVo or Replay, or an advanced set-top box, à la
Moxie.

According to Jobs, those devices have yet to catch on, a fact
perhaps best borne out by Microsoft's recent staff cuts and
reorganization of its UltimateTV unit. TiVo has had its problems,
too.

SO MUCH for my idea that what Apple really needs to do is team up
with a company like Sony and create a line of networked
home-entertainment devices that combine the best of each company's
strengths. If this is going to happen, it isn't going to be
anytime soon.

Now here's what Apple will do. Steve drew on the whiteboard a
diagram of Apple's view of the computer--a Macintosh
specifically--as a user's "digital hub." While Steve wouldn't tell
me what's coming next, it's clear he plans to stick to what he
knows best: improving Macintosh and developing cool software to
win new converts.

The latest of these are iPhoto, Apple's digital imaging software,
and the Unix-based OS X operating system, which recently began
shipping on all new Macs.

With the release of iPhoto, Jobs says Apple has made Macintosh the
premiere platform for personal digital photography, trumping the
features built into Windows XP. Likewise, the combination of
iTunes, a Mac, and an iPod is the best way to capture, manage, and
listen to digital music.

For digital movies, the best options are iMovie for editing, and
iDVD for burning your own disks. Taken together, these
products--free with the Macs they run on--give Apple customers
creative abilities Windows simply doesn't offer.

THAT--PLUS SPIFFY IMACS'S popular prices--is how Apple is trying
to broaden its reach into home computing. But Steve never got
close to telling me how the company will do this. With most
executives, I'd take this as a sign that no plan exists. With
Steve, it's more likely he's just not willing to reveal it.

After all, the digital hub strategy has come together quite
nicely, but the elements were never discussed in advance. Thus,
Steve Jobs's vision for Apple seems to be revealed only in
retrospect.

Steve and I talked about something that doesn't yet seem to have
shown up on many people's radar: Apple's role as a Unix company.
Few realize it, but Apple is rapidly becoming the largest volume
manufacturer of Unix-based computers.

Of course, this isn't something most Apple customers think about
much. Why? They didn't go looking for Unix, they just bought a Mac
with OS X. Unix just happens to be at OS X's core.

MOST MAC USERS will, thankfully, never see the complexities of
Unix that lie beneath the sleek Aqua user interface. But among
people who know Unix, OS X is beginning to attract attention, Jobs
told me.

The new OS has already begun to open doors into companies that
have relied on Unix-based scientific workstations and to corporate
developers creating projects for Unix mainframe systems.

These corporate developers, Apple says, have become big customers
for the G4 PowerBook, the inch-thick Titanium-clad notebook that,
with OS X installed, happens to be a Unix portable, too.

Since I am not qualified to judge OS X as a Unix variant, I asked
several smart friends to tell me what they thought. These included
academics and the co-founder of what was once a major Unix
company. All agreed that OS X is a "real" Unix operating system,
but they also pointed out some small compatibility issues that
still need to be addressed.

"This is Unix from about 1999," one expert told me. "They have a
little catching up to do, but it's definitely a Unix I could use."
SO WHILE JOBS is happy to talk about Apple's future as a Unix
vendor, he's not harping on it. But behind the scenes, Apple is
quietly gearing up, adding technology evangelists, developer
support staff, and the other people and programs necessary to
launch a drive to sell OS X versus other Unix systems.

Apple is already promoting OS X as an upgrade to the creative
professionals who are already Apple customers, but have been using
Unix systems for more complex projects.

Likewise, Apple plans to sell OS X to the academic markets where
Macintosh remains strong and where Unix has its roots. Typically,
these Unix users have multiple machines on their desks--often a
Unix box or terminal and a Windows machine or a Mac for
productivity applications. With OS X these two (or three) machines
can be reduced to one.

Apple also wants to talk to corporate Unix developers who, like
the academics and scientists, often require multiple desktops, and
represent a potential OS X market as well.

JOBS SAID Apple will choose its Unix targets carefully. It does
not plan a full-frontal assault on Sun or Hewlett-Packard or,
well, anyone.

Still, if Apple can succeed as a Unix company, even in a modest
way, the company has the opportunity for significant growth. With
growth--and particularly more developers using OS X as a platform
of choice--Apple could find the momentum it has been lacking.

Jobs has done many good things at Apple since his triumphal
return. But his greatest feat may have been to bring the Mac to
Unix (or vice versa). Then again, like everything else he's done
lately, we'll realize it not by looking out through the
windshield, but by looking into the rear-view mirror.

What do you think of Apple's direction--how it won't go whole-hog
into home entertainment but instead look to the Unix world to fuel
its growth? TalkBack to me, and take my QuickPoll below!

- -- 
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org

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