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Fortune interview with Steve Jobs

As part of their feature on Apple we noted earlier in the week, Fortune magazine also has an interview with Steve Jobs that's definitely worth a look. Though frankly a bit annoying to page through, it's chock full of Uncle Steve goodness. There's quite a bit of interesting background on some of Apple's biggest business decisions over the last few years. It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in how the CEO of the most-admired company in the country thinks.

In addition, there's also a story by Fortune editor Peter Elkind on The trouble with Steve Jobs. It comes off a bit like sour grapes in places, but nonetheless is also worth the time.

[via Daring Fireball]

Apple sets "gold standard for corporate America"

There's a glowing article about Apple at Fortune today. Here was the stand-out line for me:

"Apple's philosophy goes like this: Too many companies spread themselves thin, making a profusion of products to defuse risk, so they get mired in the mediocre. Apple's approach is to put every resource it has behind just a few products and make them exceedingly well."

Consider Apple's product line. There are three laptops, the MacBook, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. Even a potential customer who's never used a computer before can understand the distinctions just by hearing their names.

"MacBook" is obviously the basic laptop. The "MacBook Pro" is obviously a "better," or professional, model and the Air is somehow different than the two. Easy.

Not to pick on Sony, but look at their lineup of Vaio laptops:
  1. Vaio UX Series
  2. Vaio TZ Series
  3. Vaio SZ Series
  4. Vaio CR Series
  5. Vaio FZ Series
  6. Vaio NR Series
  7. Vaio AR Series
What? Just reading the names, I can't surmise anything about the differences between these machines. Plus, there are seven models vs. Apple's three.

The same goes for desktops. Apple builds three; the iMac (a name nearly everybody knows), the Mac mini (obviously smaller and, one would assume, lower priced) and the Mac Pro, which follows the pro-level naming convention of the laptop line.

The iPod line is slightly more convoluted (if "convoluted" is even the right word) with four models
  1. iPod shuffle
  2. iPod nano
  3. iPod classic
  4. iPod touch
I bet the classic will eventually be replaced by the touch, once the cost of flash drives comes down.

The Fortune article is full of good stuff, so go and read it.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Fortune: Radiohead was dumb to ditch iTunes, make more money

As long as we're in 2007 review mode, let's review the saga of Radiohead's In Rainbows album (which is definitely one of my favorite albums of the year, by the way). First, they said no to iTunes to keep their album in one-piece, then they decided to "sell" it for free on their website (asking their fans to donate what they thought it was worth), and then they cleaned up.

Then Fortune calls their decision the 58th dumbest of the year. Yes, the geniuses at Fortune believe that Radiohead screwed up, because they say that 68% of people who picked up the album paid nothing, and the rest of the listeners paid an average of six bucks. But of course, Fortune has got it backwards-- Radiohead, as we noted earlier in the year, would only have earned $1 per album going through the record companies, and so they were still able to rake in twice as much at their average of $2.26 per album download.

Dumb? For the record companies, maybe-- they made exactly nothing off of Radiohead's new album. But when you consider what the band made, this distribution method makes even iTunes look dated.

[Via Gruber]

Fake Steve calls shenanigans on Fortune mag item

Pity the editors of Fortune's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business list, who thought to include an item at #51 on this year's countdown calling out Apple's dumb move. The rainbow fruit was taken to task for a cease-and-desist letter sent to nine-year-old Shea O'Gorman, who was told in no uncertain terms to stop sending suggestions for improvements to the iPod Nano via a letter from Apple's legal team.

Was this a dumb business moment? Undoubtedly. Did it take place in 2007? Uh, nope -- 2006. Fake Steve calls Fortune on the carpet (link headline NSFW) for the mixup, which is a little disingenuous considering who pays for the gas in his Gulfstream... but it's all in fun.

Leopard: All signs point to 10/26

Does anyone else think it's a little crazy that we're already 1/4 of the way through October and we still don't have an official release date for Leopard? It'll almost assuredly be at the very end of the month, but in terms of date and time, no one has an official clue.

For a Piper Jaffray analyst, however, all signs point to October 26th (and gwhiz adds 6 p.m. on that Friday afternoon just like the iPhone launch). Makes a lot of sense to me-- Friday is clearly a great day to launch a product, as it gives Apple the weekend to claim sales figures, as well as gives us consumers a chance to break open the box and get it installed right away. Analyst Gene Munster says, also, that it's the end of the first month of a fiscal quarter, which Apple likes for boosting sales-- Tiger released in the same situation.

Plus, you know, the 25th is a full moon, so there's even more fuel for the speculatory fire. I agree that the 26th sounds pretty convincing, but of course we won't know for sure until Steve wants us to.

Thanks, Zoli!

Apple 6th most desirable employer for new MBAs

According to Fortune magazine, Apple is the 6th most desirable employer for new MBAs. Each year "research firm Universum surveys MBA candidates on where they'd most like to work." The list was topped by Google, with most of the rest of the top ten in financial services or computer related. Interestingly, Microsoft came in 7th right after Apple. Presumably, these MBAs don't actually know that much about what it would be like to work for these firms, meaning this is just a popularity contest. But since it's reasonable to suppose that a lot of them want to be where the action is, this does probably show something about broader perceptions of Apple, Inc. at this time.

[via MacNN]

Apple is America's most profitable retailer

In May of 2001, the first Apple Store descended upon Tysons Corner Center of McLean, Virginia. Six years later, there are now 174 Apple Stores spread across the globe, with the Fifth Avenue location in New York City attracting 50,000 customers per week. Sales average $4,032 per square foot (while shops like Tiffany & Co. stand at a measly $2,666), and in 2004, Apple reached $1 billion in annual sales faster than any US retailer, while sales hit $1 billion per quarter last year.

In short: Apple has become one of the most successful retailers in America. It's not sheer chance or luck that has driven the success of Apple's retail venture, however: Apple has reinvented the design and operation of the retail store from the ground up, as is noted in this excellent and enlightening Fortune Magazine article. Check it out for a fascinating look behind the scenes of the development of the Apple Store, and how Steve Jobs and co. have landed a spot in Fortune's top 10 Most Admired Companies.

Keeping the iPhone Under Wraps

Fortune Magazine has a nice article on the challenges Apple faced in keeping the iPhone under wraps for the 30 months or so it was in development. When you think about the number of folks who must have been involved, not only at Apple, but also at Cingular, Google, Yahoo, and an "unnamed Asian manufacturer," it really was pretty amazing that it was kept this quiet for this long. As the article notes "pillow talk was a challenge... Keeping secrets from loved ones is especially hard." I had never thought about that, but it's hard to imagine being satisfied with a response like "that's classified" when your spouse works at Apple, not the NSA!

[Via Digg]

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