Apple: The organizational Rorschach

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3536-apple-the-organizational-rorschach

by revorad • 13 years ago

54 32 13 years ago

squidi• 13 years ago

Prof Bob Sutton at Stanford made a similar point about Steve Jobs last year: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/07/wired-story-w...

bsaul• 13 years ago

That's one of the most interesting idea i've read about apple and steve jobs in a long time. I wonder if any management consultant start brainstorms with "why do you think Apple made it to the top ?".

Plus, with the strong duality between Apple public image (the cool, artistic oriented company) and steve jobs internal (supposed) behavior, that gives plenty of room for people to project their own frustrations :)))

outside1234• 13 years ago

How apple did it: They copied what Microsoft had done, exactly like Samsung copied them, and Apple previously copied (poorly) what Google had done with Maps.

I say this not in spite but in awe of what Apple is really good at. They are good at copying things but then doing such an amazing job of presenting their copy that you, the elite of the industry, think that they invented it.

They've been doing this since they copied the Xerox interface and I've always been in awe of it.

dbecker• 13 years ago

I don't see the great similarities between iOS 7 and any microsoft interfaces. Can you say more about which product they "copied" and what design features specifically make you think that?

revorad• 13 years ago

You must be joking - http://chris.millr.org/ios-7-looks-familiar-cant-quite-put-m...

tomkin• 13 years ago

Really? http://chris.millr.org/ios-7-looks-familiar-cant-quite-put-m...

bane2• 13 years ago

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ios-vs-android/

mwfunk• 13 years ago

Who are all of these people that you are referring to who think that Apple creates everything out of a vacuum? I hear people whine about this on Internet forums all the time, but I've never actually met or even seen postings by any of these poor confused souls that you are so concerned about. If you can find a single person in SV who is not aware of the Xerox connection, you get a cookie. For that matter, every single other thing you mentioned.

Everyone is influenced by everyone. This is not news to anyone. Now, being influenced by something is not the same as "copying", but acknowledging that would require some semblance of nuance or analysis. By the same logic, Linux is a "copy" of Unix, and Windows is a "copy" of Mac OS which is a "copy" of the Xerox GUI. Doesn't that piss you off? Doesn't that make want to go threadcrap in the Ubuntu forums about how they're all sheep for not understanding that this stuff is just a "copy" of SVR4? I have a feeling that you do not. The web browser you're using to post this is a "copy" of Mosaic, but something tells me that that doesn't bother you either, because you can't use it to justify a preexisting hatred.

tammer2• 13 years ago

Please show me an example of something which is entirely, undebatably original and has no relation to any previous design or technology. I'm very curious.

saosebastiao• 13 years ago

A whoopie cushion.

rimantas3• 13 years ago

  > since they copied the Xerox interface

Licensed. And it was pretty primitive at that time, Apple has done a ton of work on GUI before the first release, basically developing a concept into full-blown and working GUI.

FireBeyond• 13 years ago

No, not licensed. Not according to most non-Mac sites, nor Malcolm Gladwell: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_...

Not one mention of any license. Another remark:

"They did not license the technology. Xerox had invested in Apple and owned 20%. As one condition of the investment, Steve Jobs got a tour of Xerox Parc.

As another part of the investment, Xerox asked Apple to buy business and liability insurance from Xerox's insurance subsidiary. Apple did.

Xerox management later learned that they could sue Apple for huge amounts of money - most of which would then be paid by Xerox's own insurance company."

marknutter4• 13 years ago

And EVERYBODY copied the original iPhone, otherwise we'd still all be walking around with Blackberries, Symbian Nokia phones, and stylus driven Windows Mobile phones. Why even bother pointing any of this out?

rickhanlonii2• 13 years ago

No, they really didn't. Can't we all stop pretenting that the iPhone wasn't expected? The idea was ripe, Apple just did it first. The second person to make a wheel wasn't copying off the person who did it first.

At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, all they did--which is still impressive, just not un-expected--is add a phone to the actually groundbreaking iPod Touch. The first time I saw an iPod Touch was when I was working at RadioShack selling mostly un-customizable flip phones, and my first thought was 'if they just added a cell antena to this, it would be the phone everyone is waiting for.'

We all wanted a phone with a big screen, lots of customization, and simple interaction (touch). The second person to make that phone didn't copy off of the person who did it first.

robotmay3• 13 years ago

I don't really understand what this article is saying or if there's any point to it. It reads like a lot of overly grandiose back-patting with very little substance.

How is the iOS7 redesign different to that of Android and Windows Phone redesigns? Is it just so awe-inspiring and amazing because Apple did it?

I thought people were starting to get past having a verbal orgasm every time Apple did anything and were instead ready to treat them like any other company. I guess we're not quite there yet.

rimantas3• 13 years ago

  > How is the iOS7 redesign different to that of Android
  > and Windows Phone redesigns?

Which specific redesigns are you talking about? As for iOS 7 redesign, it is interesting, because it goes deep. Apple changes the way it thinks (and iOS devs should think) about the UI and the application contents. Content now receives the most prominent position and UI chrome goes into background. Apple also promotes the "depth" (anyone calling iOS redesign "flat" has no idea that they is talking about and is not worth listening). With the concept of depth interaction and navigation patterns will also change. Make no mistake, this redesign is not superficial and it will bring a lot of interesting things in the future.

robotmay3• 13 years ago

Well the Windows Phone redesign (Windows Phone 7 & 8) was equally significant, if not more so, as a design direction change for Microsoft. And there are certainly similarities between WP7/8 and iOS7.

Android perhaps less significant as that has been a set of gradual changes, but the actual design language in the latest version of Android is starkly different to the first release.

roderick3427• 13 years ago

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you consider their redesign "flat"?

palringo• 13 years ago

If you want to see a really bold redesign, look at the transition from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/8/4408756/microsoft-metro-des...

The Apple homescreen still looks like this from more than 20 years ago, but now with garish and fluorescent colored icons.

http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/encyclopedia_images/_PRG...

marveling at the vision, drive, and sheer determination to pull it off.

I think this statement and the whole article better applied to WP7 rather than iOS7.

I think there is some major RDF at play here.

http://disinfo.com/2011/06/apple-products-trigger-the-same-p...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20064577-71.html

marknutter4• 13 years ago

Agreed. Metro is not a step I had expected MS to take. The first few iterations in that video were more along the lines of what I had expected from MS. You could probably argue that they took "flat design" too far, but you can't accuse them of not taking any bold risks.

MatthewPhillips• 13 years ago

Whether you happened to like the final product

And then the rest of the post assumes you like the final product.

bane2• 13 years ago

Instead of saying it again, I'll just link to my original comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5869340

Apple: The organizational Rorschach

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