Steve Jobs Overrated?

[mokthraka]

I don't think so, he was an amazing person. He created APPLE!

he was an *******. go read things his former co-workers have said about him

[Sarm]

He was a c***, there's enough evidence of that if you bother to read.

He didn't invent, he stole and marketed well.

He was anti philanthropy (banned in Apple), which says it all really.

[Jebadiah]

I haven't seen any other company accomplish what Apple has. Sure, other companies sell lots of smartphones, tablets, and computers, but do they have passionate users?

I don't doubt for a second that the iProducts are not well-designed, because they are extremely well-designed products. When a grandma can use an iPhone, that is a bloody well designed product. But, passionate users? WTF? Apple's products are priced at premium. Most people who buy them are richer than the average person. Also, when you have paid such high price for a great product, you are most likely not going to jump ship anytime soon. So you are stuck with it for a long time and once you are used to it, you become resistant to change. So the churn becomes low. None of these show passion. Or may be you have a different definition for passion.

As I have stated before, churn from any other mobile product to iProduct will always be higher than the other way round (a recent market research report proved this too for 2011), unless something has significantly improved in terms of UX and design.

[MarkusDarkus]

Yes I think he's far overrated. He made products successful and massively profitable because he kept them expensive but made them attractive and ease to use for Joe Average. People found value in the usability, the same usability that Windows offers on a PC. People underestimate the importance of superior usability or user-friendly design. Apple are more or less at the same level as their competitors but they and Microsoft will always have superior usability to any other company - Apple and Microsoft do usability absolutely the best. It is so ironical that "smart phone" and "tablet" were both terms coined by Microsoft and made ubiquitous by Apple. Was SJ great? Definitely yes, but some morons are comparing him in the same league as great scientists like Einstein, Michael Faraday, Newton. That's BS. So yes he's far more overrated. He was a successful businessman with a great sense of vision and good understanding of design and usability. Not more than that. Microsoft failed initially with good usability in mobile space, now they might have that with Windows Phone but they're lacking now in terms of completeness of features. What Apple has accomplished with phones and tablets, Microsoft has before them in the far more interesting and exciting space, called personal computers. What's a better product is always so subjective and will be a constant debate but I feel Windows is far superior to Mac OS X in terms of usability. Windows on a tablet once it's released will be superior to the iPad. But this is just my opinion. For me, Bill Gates is THE man to be inspired from. Look at what he did to computers. Microsoft hit the sweet spot between technically advanced design and usability in software. If there was no Bill Gates and no Microsoft, then I would have rated Steve Jobs much higher.

From my perspective, the really incredible thing that Apple and SJ did was they tried and tried hard against Microsoft time and again but didn't succeed in the PC space. So they tried in another market like portable players and wildly succeeded. And then they tried that with phones and again succeeded. They threatened the PC market for those who need to do minimal things with their devices by making tablets a potential PC replacement for those people with such minimal needs. So they defined their own market in which to succeed. That's true leadership and pretty amazing. And now everyone is so obsessed with how close the way they do things like Apple that they are risking the destruction of their own already wildly successful and dominant products in their copy-Apple mania.

:yes:

[FarCry3r]

It's just a fact they were facing bankruptcy within but a few months. So is he overrated?

IIRC wasn't it Microsoft (Bill Gates) that saves Apple from bankruptcy by funding up Apple again?

[bdsams Veteran]

As a business person, the ability to create, drive,and sell products, he was the top of the game...but does that mean he was a nice person? Nope.

[plainold]

IIRC wasn't it Microsoft (Bill Gates) that saves Apple from bankruptcy by funding up Apple again?

:yes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Apple_Inc.#Microsoft_deal

[Eddo89]

Steve Jobs overrated?

-When you talk about the Applebots that treat him like a god, laying "iPad candles" and crying outside Apple stores, then he most certainly is.

-When you talk to a sane person, he isn't overrated. Without going into details, you don't lead a company to the dizzying heights he led Apple without being awfully good at what he did.

[rbrucemtl]

Way overrated when people talk about how he revolutionized the computer industry... Apple made the computer world lazy and full of people that take this technology for granted and have very little knowledge or respect of how any of it actually works. (My opinion )

Lets give credit to Dennis Ritchie for the OS and Xerox for the GUI and Diamond Multimedia and Creative Labs for the portable audio devices.

[44MLX]

he was an *******. go read things his former co-workers have said about him

Those co-workers was just jealous :).

[evo_spook]

IIRC wasn't it Microsoft (Bill Gates) that saves Apple from bankruptcy by funding up Apple again?

The funding was small compared to what they had in the back and MS profitted from it, part of that money was the settlement due to quicktime code stealing.

[Vice]

IIRC wasn't it Microsoft (Bill Gates) that saves Apple from bankruptcy by funding up Apple again?

Microsoft did invest big time in Apple. But they did not do that out of thin air. Steve Jobs called Bill Gates personally to hash out that deal. Not the previous CEO of Apple but Steve. And had Steve Jobs not called Bill personally that would have never happened.

So like I said in my original post, Steve is not over-rated he gets things done, I guess you could call him the master of facilitation.

[jesseinsf]

That's true.

http://articles.cnn....ains?_s=PM:TECH

All you iCult boys need to see the link.

[123456789A]

He was good at holding his company to a certain and consistent standard. The products that came out during his time were easy to use and nicely designed despite their flaws. That's not to say he invented any of the stuff. He might have had a lot of ideas "wouldn't it be nice if...", but it was his engineers and developers who made it happen.

I credit him for creating the Apple brand and reviving the company by bringing in a good team in underneath him, but to credit him alone for the success would be unfair.

[Royalty]

He's way too overrated. He won't even donate a single penny to charity.

Check this out guys: http://www.betabeat.com/2011/11/01/now-that-steve-jobs-is-dead-apple-will-finally-start-donating-to-charity/

[evo_spook]

All you iCult boys need to see the link.

The only one displaying religious type behaviour in here is you.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Take a woman for example. You have her looks, her personality and how good she is in bed. While she might not be the most attractive thing you've ever set your eyes on and has a personality that makes you cringe every time you she utters the word "Drama". She does have a magical tongue and magical hands. So while she isn't great in some area's she makes up for them in others.

[evo_spook]

Take a woman for example. You have her looks, her personality and how good she is in bed. While she might not be the most attractive thing you've ever set your eyes on has a personality that makes you cringe every time you she utters the word "Drama". She does have a magical tongue and magical hands. So while she isn't great in some area's she makes up for them in others.

Random

[jesseinsf]

The only one displaying religious type behaviour in here is you.

Wrong..... look again.

[techbeck]

Yes, Jobs is overrated in the sense that he is credited with most, if not all, the innovation at Apple. He put things in motion and its the guys behind the scenese that made it happen.

And I am not going to assume that if Jobs didnt come back to Apple, that Apple wouldnt be the way it is today. Like I said, he made sure things happened. He didnt develope the tech and do all the work the people behind the scences did.

[Ently]

I don't think he is overrated. Whilst I am not a major fan of Apple products I still can see the nice amount of polish they add to their products and I can admire them. Steve Jobs was the representative of Apple and I think he did a great job. He didn't reinvent the market (just by himself) or anything but he definitely helped pave the way to a bright Apple future which even if you are their most hated fan you still should admire the level of competition it brings to the market :)

[Growled Member]

I voted no and at this moment I don't own anything Apple. But the things he accomplished at Apple is nothing short of amazing.

[offroadaaron]

For the 1 person he is and how everything started he definitely changed the world. Other companies try and copy Apple constantly, can you remember Windows mobile before the iPhone came out, with their crappy touch screens and the worst interface ever seen! Tablets have now taken off (and most look horrible at best). The music industry has flourished because of iTunes sales.

I know I own a lot of Apple stuff but I also own PC's and work in the Windows Field. If you were to go into a shop looking at Windows laptops on the market compared to an Apple laptop they look horrible and the trackpad just feels awkward! I know it costs more for some people to get Mac's rather than PC's and I understand that point of view but the products from Apple from my point of view been pure quality.

I'm not saying Microsoft is bad I personally rather use a Apple Mac in my spare time and not have to deal with Windows related issues when not at work.

[DeadEndAccount]

I would argue that Steve Jobs was great at the sales pitch but there were thousands of people working behind the scenes on these products and ensuring that Apple maintained tight financial reigns on where money is spent. As much as people like to praise Apple for 'turning around Apple' in 1997, it had more to do with the financial discipline installed by executives working behind the scene - outsourcing assembling to China, working together with suppliers to get better deals, moving over to open standards such as IDE, SATA, AGP, PCI etc. which enabled Apple to leverage the economies of scale in the PC world. I would argue that the biggest success came when they moved to Intel which really accelerated sales of MacBook/MacBook Pro/iMac/Mac Pro/MacBook Air etc.

[resol612]

For the 1 person he is and how everything started he definitely changed the world. Other companies try and copy Apple constantly, can you remember Windows mobile before the iPhone came out, with their crappy touch screens and the worst interface ever seen! Tablets have now taken off (and most look horrible at best). The music industry has flourished because of iTunes sales.

I know I own a lot of Apple stuff but I also own PC's and work in the Windows Field. If you were to go into a shop looking at Windows laptops on the market compared to an Apple laptop they look horrible and the trackpad just feels awkward! I know it costs more for some people to get Mac's rather than PC's and I understand that point of view but the products from Apple from my point of view been pure quality.

I'm not saying Microsoft is bad I personally rather use a Apple Mac in my spare time and not have to deal with Windows related issues when not at work.

Great job (intended) in myopically using Windows v Mac to judge if Apple's CEO is overrated. What on Earth is a Windows Field anyway?

And don't get me started on how stupid your comparisons, repeated by many an Apple fanboy, are. Alternatively you can Google them out and find out why they are wrong.