Posted on 05/07/2013 9:47:25 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Add another one to the man's list of prudent business decisions.
As relates to his previously documented loathing of Fox News, it's now known that the late Steve Jobs backed up his harsh words by wisely withholding Apple's advertising dollars, according to an upcoming book about the 2012 presidential campaign.
The book's author, Jonathan Alter, a Bloomberg political columnist and contributor to MSNBC, tells of Jobs "personally ordering that Apple ads be removed from Fox News," according to a blog post in the New York Times over the weekend. Alter's book, "The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies," is scheduled to hit stores June 4.
That the Apple co-founder held Fox News in low regard has been publicly known since the publication of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography in October 2011. Here's the key passage recounting a conversation Jobs had with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corp., which owns Fox News:
"You're blowing it with Fox News," Jobs told him over dinner. "The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you've cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society. You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you're not careful." Jobs said he thought Murdoch did not really like how far Fox had gone. "Rupert's a builder, not a tearer-downer," he said. "I've had some meetings with (Murdoch's son) James, and I think he agrees with me. I can just tell."
While there's little reason to believe Jobs was right about the Murdochs' reticence, his decision to protect the invaluable Apple brand from being tarnished by association with Fox News was one that others would do well to emulate today. A quick look at FoxNews.com shows the likes of Sprint, Nuance, Mercedes-Benz, Nstar and New Relic failing to take the same care with their corporate names.
And another Fox advertiser, curiously enough, is the Public Broadcasting System ... but at least PBS may have something of a valid reason to do business with an organization that is dedicated to seeing public television destroyed: PBS is advertising its upcoming miniseries called "Constitution USA" hosted by Peter Sagal. Now if only those who run and watch Fox News would actually watch.
(Update: An anonymous commenter on Reddit offers: "I'm a media buyer and I know that MANY blue chip companies have Fox News on their do-not-use list including a couple of Apple's biggest competitors.")
Pure marketing guy.Was he even an engineer? Wasn’t he just a marketing guy?2 posted on May 7, 2013 12:48:46 PM EDT by Borges
Steve Jobs saw the Xerox GUI, and bought - for AAPL stock which came to be worth more than Xerox itself, tho not until long after Xerox had sold it - access to Xerox’s GUI lab and the right to mimic it. Jobs then used what he learned to develop the Mac.Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, and Steve Jobs didn’t invent the personal computer, or even the GUI - but Ford invented the mass market automobile, and Jobs invented the mass market GUI computer. Thomas Edison didn’t invent the electric light, either - he only developed a light bulb with a practical lifetime, which could be made at a cost that could be mass marketed in conjunction with the electric power it required.
If Jobs wasn’t an engineer, neither was Ford, and neither was Edison - and being an engineer is highly overrated.
But Ford and Edison were inventors. Jobs wasn’t really was he? The original Apple was designed by Steve Wozniak.
It’s an os.. Dell and Hp are computer manufacturers.. Windows and Lion are os. You can strip windows off any pc and install an operating system. Linux is an openware os. Programmers and Google servers, for example, use Linux. I do not know much about Red Hat and other OS.
I don’t suppose that the opinions of the people who lived because of Jobs’ huge donation to his Tennessee hospital matter as much . . .. . . and, seeing that Jobs is, famously, dead, would that person who got pushed back in line still be alive today in any event?
I don’t get the distinction between “an inventor” who designs a mousetrap and never produces it, on the one hand - and “a pure marketing guy” who figures out what he can get made at a price for which he can profitably sell, and actually brings a successful product to market. I mean, the distinction is obvious, but why I should admire the former and have contempt for the latter is not obvious. It actually seems backwards. Paper inventions are a dime a dozen, compared to inventions which are profitably brought to market.
One of the greatest inventions ever, home recording of TV broadcasts, and remote control devices. Zip thru commercials in seconds. They keep trying to embed commercials in digital content but you can still ignore them. Advertising is an obsolete tool in the digital age, and much of it is overstated and lies. If you want something then you'll go looking for it, find it and buy it. I also ignore commercials.
Both were known to steal the ideas of others, paying them little or outright stealing their ideas. Edison tried to destroy the careers of his competitors, especially the ones with superior inventions. Jobs was an inventor, although he wasn't as talented as Wozniak. And yes, Wozniak designed the original Apple 1 which was the basis for the Apple 2. Jobs did play a large role in the design of the 2, although Wozniak had the final say over much of it. Jobs is more like Edison and Ford than you think - all arrogant.
“and being an engineer is highly overrated. “
I don’t think so. A room full of marketing guys or MBAs won’t be building anything anytime soon. Apple was built by an engineer and so was Microsoft.
Figuring out how to make something is one thing, figuring out what to make is a higher level function.
“Figuring out how to make something is one thing, figuring out what to make is a higher level function.”
Assuming an engineer doesn’t know what to make is illogical.
Assuming an engineer doesn’t know what to make is illogical.“Figuring out how to make something is one thing, figuring out what to make is a higher level function.”
Therefore it took an engineer to know to make the iPad. Which would imply that Steve Jobs was an engineer.
Fox News is doing just fine without their advertising dollars. Certainly beating the competition.
Apple sucks. Jobs sucked. Microsoft sucks. Gates sucks. google sucks, Schmidt sucks. Facebook sucks. Zuckerberg sucks. Bllomberg news sucks. And Bllomberg sucks more than the rest combined. Rich and famous does not equal sane.
Wozniak was an engineer. Jobs, like Gates, was a salesman. What’s the difference you ask? Jobs without Wozniak sells used cars. wozniak without Jobs is still a design engineer who designs and engineers.
Schmidt doesn't suck nearly as bad as the rest of those things.
In that paradigm, the Mac never gets built because the engineers at Apple, Wosniak included, do not direct their abilities in that particular direction. Whereas in fact, the Mac was built - because Steve Jobs pushed the engineers to make it a reality. Remember, the Mac wasn’t just the first thing that came out when you poured the PARC GUI concept into Wozniak’s head - the first iteration was the Lisa, which was a failure. It was Jobs who kept the engineers working on the software and hardware which finally became the Mac.In your paradigm, we would all have bought a Lisa because Steve Jobs was such a wonderful used-car salesman. But we didn’t. We bought the Mac, tho - because the drive of Steve Jobs finally got it right (For its time, of course - today nobody would touch a new computer which had as limited a capability as the original Mac did).
...with apologies to Geico automobile insurance.
I know a woman who loves her new iPad she got 9 months ago. She previously had Windows laptops that she only half knew how to use. You would be shocked at how few internet users know how to open up a link in a new tab or save a webpage into a folder so you don't have to print it out to "save" it for future reference. Apple GUI is more female mind friendly. It could be that women like touch screens more. Maybe consumer surveys show this?
When is Chevy or Ford ever on FoxNews? Fox has a general boycott against it. Ad agencies make corporate ad buys and ad agency people have been crazy liberals for years. Lots of FoxNews ads are for pills, scooters and other medical stuff for older people. I don’t see the higher end advertisements. I see SafeLite windshield repair
Bill Gates was an engineer.
You cannot begin to know what they have left out in this guy’s resume. When they see he applied to college as a “foreign student” even though he was an American citizen people will feel really stupid! That is one instance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.