Comment by alexsb92 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by alexsb92 | Hacker News Reader

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I think it's more than the just the Apple II and the iPhone. The way I see it, the man's main hobby was disruption. He disrupted the PC industry with the Apple II and later the Mac line. He disrupted the music industry with the iPod and iTunes, and the phone industry with the iPhone. He changed the animation industry with Pixar one of the most successful, both financially, and critically acclaimed movie company. He revived an industry which most considered a dead horse with the iPad and where most companies are still playing catch-up.

I agree if this was to happen back in the 90s, he wouldn't be as praised as he is today, but what does that have to do with anything? If I was to judge anyone before their greatest moments, they wouldn't pass the bar. And yeah, he was kind of an ass in his early days, but by most accounts he became a lot more mellow when returning to Apple.

I don't think you know what disruption is.

The PC industry is working just fine, and a Mac and PC are more similar than they are different.

The music industry has hardly changed due to the iPod, you sell one way you sell another - that's not disruption.

And the phone industry most certainly did not change, it's just an incremental improvement on the fancy phones that have been getting steadily better. The iPhone may be great, but fundamentally it's just a better version of what was already there.

His business was taking an idea and perfecting it so people liked and used it. But it was not disruption.

Partly what you say is true.

But I'd say iTunes (music store) was disruptive. It changed how the music industry operated.

The iphone changed how we 'use' phones more than it changed the 'phone industry'. In fact, on writing that, I think that captures what Apple does best, it 'disrupts' how people perceive and use a product, that may in-turn distrupt an industry, but that is a consequence, not the goal (for Apple).

I see the iPhone as popularizing the smartphone concept, but not fundamentally disrupting the concept of phones and their usage. Palm I think was the real disruptor there, but Apple perfected it.

I think you nailed it quite well, it is not about WHAT he did, but HOW he did it. Disruption was his way of doing things. And it matches quite well his "Think Different" heros, all of them were disrupters.

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