> Steve does not talk about what will ship on every Macintosh next year.
Nah, he just talks about where he thinks the entire industry is heading and post-what era we are entering at the moment.
Come on.
Nah, he just talks about where he thinks the entire industry is heading and post-what era we are entering at the moment.
Come on.
Personally, I can live with CEOs of all stripes talking about or even writing books at a very high or abstract level about "The Road Ahead." It's puffery, but it doesn't masquerade as management. It's just a guy (like me) making predictions about the future.
My vituperation is reserved for those CEOs who pretend that they're making product announcements or strategic direction announcements when they're vaporous or non-actionable. Maybe WebOS will be on every PC next year. Maybe not, and if we try to get Leo to eat his Claim Chowder, he'll say that "new information has come to light that caused HP to make new decisions."
Puffing about the company's specific products (see also: Playbook) is really bad. But you are absolutely right that they're both puffery. Different kinds of puffery, IMO, but still puffery.
Compare and contrast with the other kind of puffery, seen in this article. Steve's puffery can actually be valuable to interested parties, as it reveals the thought behind the actions, whereas Leo's puffery is just vacuous promises that may or may not be upheld.