Seven years after Jobs left: Apple's compromise and "betrayal"

In the post-Jobs era, Apple's market value exceeded one trillion US dollars; it was accused of lack of innovation; the former CEO said that Apple was "uniquely integrated into the luxury market"

On October 5, 2018, it has been seven years since Steve Jobs left our world.

On October 5, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a microblog to mourn Jobs: "We miss him every moment." Earlier in August, Apple, founded by Jobs, became the first company to break through the trillion-dollar market value and became the world's most valuable company. When Jobs passed away, Apple's market value was only 300 billion US dollars. Judging from the company's achievements, under the leadership of its successor, Cook, Apple has achieved unparalleled business success.

At the same time, Apple in the post-Jobs era has brought fewer and fewer disruptive experiences to users. Apple's annual new product launch conference is no longer a grand event in the technology circle, and there are often more complaints than praises after the launch conference. In recent years, it has become increasingly rare to see Apple fans queuing up all night before the release of new products in major Apple official flagship stores in China. The industry generally believes that Apple, which created an era through innovation, has fallen into a quagmire in innovation.

"Stay hungry, Stay Foolish" was the last sentence of Steve Jobs's speech at the Stanford University graduation ceremony in 2005. It is widely known in China as "Stay hungry for knowledge, stay foolish". If Steve Jobs were alive today, would he agree with the current Apple with its "luxury tendencies"?

"Genius Oddity" Steve Jobs and His Times

Jobs was born in 1955 in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, and grew up there.

In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and his friends founded Apple in their garage. When he was 25, Apple went public. During his time leading Apple, every new product he introduced amazed the world and triggered a global buying frenzy. Jobs' Apple profoundly changed modern communications, entertainment, and lifestyles.

He was a genius, but he was also an outlier, a freshman dropout who took LSD, wore sleazy jeans and walked barefoot, lived in a communal environment, practiced Zen Buddhism, but was arrogantly self-aware and extremely rude.

A mixture of genius and eccentricity, Jobs brought surprises to the world while causing pain to those around him. With his vision and keen sense that surpassed all his peers, he led the development of the most perfect electronic technology products of that era. At the same time, his paranoia, stubbornness, and arrogance made many people unbearable.

In 1985, when Jobs was 30 years old, Apple faced competition from IBM and its performance declined. Due to disagreements with most of the management, he was kicked out by the board of directors of Apple, which he founded.

In the following 10 years, Jobs first founded NeXT and then founded Pixar. The latter launched the first full 3D stereoscopic animated film "Toy Story" in 1995, which was a global hit. In 1996, Apple was in crisis, and the 41-year-old Jobs was appointed to return to Apple.

Upon his return, Jobs declared in an advertisement voiced by himself: "To the crazy people. They are unique, they are unruly, they stir up trouble, they don't fit in... Only those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world can truly change the world."

In all biographies of Jobs, it is said that he gathered a large number of believers who loved him by relying on a "reality distortion perspective".

In the book "Apple's Past", author Andy said, "Jobs combined eloquent expression, extraordinary willpower, and an urgent desire to distort facts to achieve his goals, thus forming a reality distortion field that confuses vision and hearing."

Apple engineer Tribble said: "It is very dangerous to be caught in Jobs' distortion field, but it is this force field that allows him to truly change reality."

In 1997, Apple launched the iMac. Its groundbreaking design made the product a big hit and Apple quickly overcame the crisis.

In 2000, Jobs proposed innovative ideas and led his team to develop the groundbreaking iTunes and iPod, which were a success. The necessary conditions for the birth of the iPhone began to be met step by step.

On June 29, 2007, Apple launched the iPhone, which uses the iOS system, and ushered in the era of mobile Internet. From iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S to iPad, every time Apple launches a new product, it triggers a global frenzy and sales boom. Apple fans around the world queue up all night waiting for the new product to be released.

On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation as CEO. He continued to work for Apple until the day before his death. At about 3 pm on October 5, 2011, Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California, due to respiratory arrest caused by the recurrence of complications.

Seven years later, Jobs and his story are still in the news, and his partners, enemies, successors and disciples are all continuing his story.

Apple's perfectionism is gradually worn away by time

In 2011, the year Steve Jobs passed away, a landmark event occurred in the technology industry: global smartphone shipments exceeded PC shipments for the first time. The era of PC dominance has passed, the curtain of mobile Internet has been fully opened, and the smartphone market has entered a rapid growth channel since then.

That year, Apple released the iPhone 4S, which was also the last Apple phone that Jobs saw during his lifetime. Undoubtedly, it had a strong and uncompromising perfectionist style of Jobs.

In 2011, smartphones had already begun to develop into larger screens, and Apple's rival Samsung relied on large-screen phones to conquer the global market. However, Jobs stubbornly insisted on small screens, saying that "3.5-inch screens are the best golden ratio." He believed that it was unthinkable to give in to the market.

In terms of product design, Jobs is a well-known paranoid person in the industry. He requires that the printed circuits hidden in the Apple chassis must be beautifully designed; he absolutely does not agree that the iPod is larger than the palm; he forces the iPhone to have only one button on the front; he checks the design draft pixel by pixel on the screen; he requires that the circles of lines on the surface of the iPhone 3G screws must be equidistant; he requires that the spacing between the seams on the surface of the iPhone 4 cannot be greater than 0.1 mm...

As for users, Jobs firmly believed that users did not know what they wanted. What Apple had to do was to guide users' needs through disruptive innovation and perfect experience.

Jobs's "perfectionism + paranoia + distorted view of reality" combined to make Apple launch products that its own employees thought were unattainable. Evangel List, the designer of the iPhone, once said: "He pushed me to work harder, and in the end I did better than expected... He could not tolerate imperfection in himself or others."

After Jobs' death, each generation of iPhone has compromised with reality a little bit, and various "flaws" have begun to surface.

In September 2012, the first iPhone of the post-Steve Jobs era, the iPhone 5, was released. Fans found that the biggest change of the new phone compared to the iPhone 4S was that it was "longer". While ensuring the same grip, the screen size was increased to 4 inches.

The new changes to the iPhone sparked ridicule. One netizen photoshopped an iPhone that looked like a laser sword, named it "iPhone 100" and posted it online, which was widely forwarded.

Not long after, the iPhone 5 was caught up in the "paint peeling" and "bending" scandals. Some users reported that the paint on the corners of their phones peeled off, and some reported that the extended iPhone 5 bent after being placed in the back pocket of their pants. Subsequently, a large number of pictures of bent iPhone 5s were posted online. Some Apple fans said that without Steve Jobs, Apple is no longer "paranoid" about quality.

In September 2013, Apple released the iPhone 5s, which was the last iPhone designed by Steve Jobs and the first Apple product equipped with Touch ID fingerprint recognition. After that, fingerprint recognition became a standard feature of smartphones. Some people believe that this is the last legacy that Steve Jobs left for Apple design.

Starting with iPhone 6, Apple finally changed the style of iPhone 4 and gave a brand new subversive design. The 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch large screens were recognized by the market, but the "defects" in the design continued to cause discussion. Many Apple fans thought that the camera protrusion and the two white strips on the back of the iPhone 6 were so ugly that they were "simply unbearable." After the sale began, some Apple fans also revealed that the protruding camera easily caught hair, and the two white strips were easily stained. At the same time, the controversy over the "bend gate" continued.

The tradition of perfectionism left by Jobs is disappearing bit by bit.

"Don't ask Steve how to do it." Cook changed Apple

In the post-Jobs era, people have to mention Jobs' successor, Tim Cook.

After taking over as CEO in 2011, Cook has been criticized for lacking the same technological vision and design talent as Jobs. New product launches have been criticized as "just bigger screens", creativity seems to have stagnated, and new product categories have decreased.

In terms of new product development, Cook is more willing to compromise with the market than Jobs, who was arbitrary and paranoid. Cook, the successor, faithfully implements the advice left by Jobs before his death: "Don't ask Steve what he would do."

Cook focuses on the company's long-term operations and produces results that capital likes to see.

Cook worked for IBM, Apple's rival, for 12 years, overseeing the manufacturing and distribution of its PC division in North America and Latin America. Before joining Apple, he had just moved to Compaq for six months.

In early 1998, Jobs invited Cook to join Apple as vice president to oversee Apple's computer manufacturing business. Cook later described this scene, saying, "There was a light in his eyes that I had never seen before."

Under Cook's leadership, Apple's revenue and net profit have experienced explosive growth, and the number of iPhones and iPads sold by Apple far exceeds that of Jobs' tenure. Statistics show that more than 87% of iPhones and 90% of iPads were sold during Cook's tenure.

Compared with Jobs' image as a mentor in product design, Cook is more like a controller of the industrial chain.

Before Jobs handed over the CEO position to him, Cook served as Apple's COO (Chief Operating Officer). He once described his role as "a bit like managing a dairy business. If the freshness date is exceeded, you will have problems." Cook reduced Apple's major suppliers from 100 to 24, and persuaded many suppliers to move next to Apple factories. He closed 10 of the company's 19 warehouses and shortened the inventory cycle from 1 month to 6 days.

Under Cook's leadership, Apple closed factories and warehouses and replaced them with suppliers. Apple became a light company focused on research and development. Through the changes, Apple successfully controlled costs and the company generated huge profits.

On August 3, 2018, Cook reached the pinnacle of his career. On that day, Apple became the first listed company to exceed $1 trillion in market value. No matter how much criticism there is about Apple's innovation under Cook's leadership, it is undeniable that Apple has achieved a 10-year stock price rise.

It was during the Cook era that Apple entered the much-criticized "micro-innovation" phase. From then on, Apple no longer led innovation in the smartphone field, but gradually became an industry giant where "profit is king".

Bill Gates' mockery of Apple becomes reality?

Everyone in the industry knows that Jobs and Gates "love and hate each other" and their relationship is "both enemies and friends."

In October 1985, Microsoft launched Windows. Apple then sued Gates for copyright infringement, and a lawsuit lasted more than ten years. When Gates announced that Microsoft would launch the graphical interface system Windows, Jobs was furious and scolded Gates for plagiarism at Apple headquarters. Gates mocked him, saying "We have a common neighbor, Xerox" and "When I went to his house to steal the TV, I found that you had already stolen it."

In the PC market, Microsoft won a comprehensive victory. Gates once told the media, "The iMac's leading edge is reflected in the color of its shell." This statement made Jobs very angry.

No one expected that after Jobs' death, in addition to a larger screen, faster processor, and higher resolution, an important innovation of the iPhone would be: more colors.

Starting with the iPhone 5c, Apple introduced colorful shells, and the iPhone 6s became a hot seller that year because of its rose gold color. Apple's move was ridiculed by the outside world as taking over the banner of "technology based on shell replacement" from the former mobile phone giant Nokia.

On the other hand, 10 years ago, the price of iPhone 3G was 299 US dollars, about 2,000 yuan, and the latest flagship iPhone Xs Max launched by Apple in 2018 was sold for 12,799 yuan. The price has increased more than 5 times in 10 years. Former Apple CEO Sculley has an interesting view on this.

"Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or follow me and change the world?" In 1983, Jobs used this sentence to impress Sculley, who was still the CEO of PepsiCo at the time. However, two years later, Jobs and Sculley had serious disagreements on the operation of iMac, and the board of directors finally chose to reorganize, and Sculley kicked Jobs out of the board.

After leaving Apple in 1993, Sculley founded several companies and participated in investments. In 2017, Sculley mentioned Jobs in an interview with the media, saying, "Whether it is products, applications or services, Jobs can always elevate them to a level far beyond people's expectations."

In September 2018, Sculley told CNN that Apple was no longer a technology innovator, but had "uniquely inserted itself into the luxury market."

“Maintaining the iPhone user base is a challenge”

In August 2018, just after Apple's market value exceeded one trillion US dollars, five research institutions reported a unified conclusion that in the second quarter of 2018, Huawei surpassed Apple for the first time in global smartphone shipments and rose to second place, becoming the world's second largest smartphone manufacturer, second only to Samsung. In terms of growth, Apple's growth was 1%, while Huawei's was about 41%. Apple's third fiscal quarter (second quarter) financial report showed that iPhone sales in the quarter were 41.3 million units, an increase of only 1% year-on-year. Revenue contributed by iPhone increased by 20% to US$29.906 billion. Based on this calculation, the average selling price of iPhone in the quarter reached US$724.

It has been just over half a year since Apple released its 10th anniversary flagship iPhone X. The iPhone X has sparked heated discussions with its high price, peculiar notch screen, and useless wireless charging.

Smartisan CEO Luo Yonghao said that the notch screen will be thrown into the dustbin of history. Several domestic Android flagship products released recently have begun to abandon the notch screen design, such as vivo Nex through a pop-up camera and OPPO through a lifting camera, both of which have removed the "notch" and achieved a "true full screen".

At present, new technologies such as full screen, dual cameras, fast charging, under-screen fingerprint, smart chips, etc. have first appeared on Android phones. In September 2018, Apple launched its latest flagship iPhone Xs Max with "dual SIM dual standby" as its selling point. The rest of its selling points are not much different from the previous generation iPhone X, which once again triggered discussions about Apple's "lack of innovation".

"With the average selling price of iPhones rising and competition increasing, it is a challenge for Apple to grow and maintain its iPhone user base," said Wu Yiwen, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Highlights

Jobs' "Chinese followers"

Jobs never visited China, but his followers are present in large numbers in China.

The most famous one is Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Corporation. Lei Jun read a book called "Fire in Silicon Valley" in college, which tells the story of Jobs.

After founding Xiaomi, Lei Jun always wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans when launching new products, the latter being Steve Jobs' signature attire at press conferences.

Someone once compared screenshots of Lei Jun's early press conferences with those of Steve Jobs, and found that their postures and gestures were the same. The name "Lei Busi" has always been with Lei Jun.

Among the many Apple imitators, Lei Jun not only copied Jobs' press conference, but also successfully copied the group of Apple fans through marketing and software innovation, creating "Mi fans". Xiaomi also built its own ecological empire like Apple.

From 2010 to 2011, Lei Jun had a habit of always mentioning Steve Jobs. During that time, Lei Jun sent thousands of Weibo posts, many of which were about Apple and Steve Jobs. But he also said, "Steve Jobs will die one day, so we still have a chance. The meaning of our existence is to wait for him to die."

Another Jobs believer is Jia Yueting, the founder of the Chinese Internet company LeEco. At every press conference, Jia Yueting is also dubbed "Jobs" for his similar PPT, black T-shirt and blue jeans.

Among all the Chinese disciples, Jia Yueting once successfully imitated Jobs's "reality distortion perspective". He learned to "choke up" like Jobs at press conferences. His famous sayings are "running blindly" and "boiling the sea dry".

Jia Yueting wanted to build an ecological empire like Apple, but he only focused on concepts and business models, and paid little attention to the products themselves. In order to take advantage of Jobs' popularity and promote LeTV phones, he did not hesitate to discredit Apple. Now LeTV's assets have been fully pledged, Jia Yueting has fled overseas, and the LeTV empire has collapsed.

In addition to Lei Jun and Jia Yueting, China has two famous apprentices of Jobs, one is Huang Zhang of Meizu, and the other is Luo Yonghao of Smartisan.

Huang Zhang has a Steve Jobs-like paranoia. His famous saying is, "Don't challenge the limits of people's senses without Steve Jobs' wisdom."

Luo Yonghao has always described himself as a "successor". Qian Chen, former CTO of Smartisan Technology, once said, "Luo Yonghao's spiritual godfather is Steve Jobs. He imitates Jobs' words and deeds, including the design of mobile phones." After Luo Yonghao became a teacher at New Oriental, he saved up half a year's salary to buy an Apple computer worth 26,000 yuan.

There is another group of believers in China who have never produced mobile phones, but they regard Jobs as their idol. On September 21, 2018, Meituan Dianping was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At the gong-ringing ceremony, founder Wang Xing especially thanked Jobs, saying, "Thanks to him for bringing a new era of smartphones and mobile Internet, Meituan Dianping has been able to create today's miracle."

However, there is another voice. In 2011, Qihoo 360 Chairman Zhou Hongyi said the classic words, "The culture of winners and losers has made it impossible for China to produce a Steve Jobs."