Steve Jobs interviewed by Fortune

Shaon published 07 Mar 2008, 17:43 in apple - 232 views

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Although it's horribly laid out in a click-and-read style, there is a fascinating interview with Steve Jobs at Fortune. While some of what Jobs says will be recognizable as having been said before, there is quite a bit to ponder, including:

The iPhone genesis, in which the device was created largely as a result of the loathing Jobs and others felt regarding their phones. "We just hated them, they were so awful to use." It makes you wonder which Windows Mobile device he was stuck with.

Interestingly, iTunes—which Apple did not exactly create—is the example presented as validation of the Jobsian ideal of creating products customers don't know they want until they see it. Similarly, the iTunes Store was created "because we thought it would be great to be able to buy music electronically, not because we had plans to redefine the music industry."

According to Jobs, the only market research he has ever had done was "to analyze Gateway's retail strategy so I would not make some of the same mistakes they made" in retail. That would explain the Cube. As for the Apple Stores, it turns out the real estate mantra, "location, location, location," was the key to success in exposing Windows users to the Apple experience. "If we put our store in a mall or on a street that they're walking by, and we reduce that risk from a 20-minute drive to 20 footsteps, then they're more likely to go in because there's really no risk." This has pretty much been how it has worked, given Apple's surveys indicating that half of all first time Mac buyers in Apple Stores are new to the Mac.