The New York Times: Jobs and the economics of elitism

Introduction: The New York Times wrote today that most companies in the internet age relied on collective wisdom to innovate, but Apple CEO Steve Jobs took a radically different approach to elitism. The following is the full text of the article: the more elitism the better, this is a very popular in recent years, a new way of thinking cultivation. It emphasizes the internet era of an egalitarian, highlighting the "Group of Wisdom" and "open innovation."　　In this process, we need to consult the views of all parties, book knowledge and academic research results, and finally get the group wisdom. But Apple is different.　　Since Mr. Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he has been working to build it into a creative business, but he is indeed another, more outstanding, more personalized model of innovation. The approach is also reflected in Apple's new ipad tablet computer, released last week.　　Whether successful or not, the product clearly reflects jobs ' own taste and opinion, and seems to embody Apple's early marketing motto: "Thinking different." John Kao, Director-type innovation firm and government innovation consultant, John Kau that Apple represents a "film-directing Innovation". In this innovative model, he says, there is a close link between the personality of the project leader and its work. A film made by a strong director is a good example.　　This is true from the Hitchcock (Alfred Hitchcock), "The Spirit of Ecstasy" (Vertigo) to James Cameron's "Avatar" (Avatar). As Apple's ultimate design team leader, Jobs has a similar relationship with the product. From computers to smartphones, Apple's products are renowned for their stylish appearance, strong performance and pleasant user experience. These products have abandoned the complex design concept, deliberately eliminate some unnecessary things, rather than blindly put all the features into the engineer's mind.　　That is why Apple's products are not as much affected by so-called "functional" as other technology products. "The quality defined by Apple has become a constraint on product design," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology prophet and consultant Paul Safu. "This constraint is also reflected in jobs ' personal taste. His black turtleneck, blue jeans with no belt design and running shoes have become a hallmark of the dress. A few years ago, Jobs had said in his home in Palo that he liked the neat, empty interior design style. He then took an example of a graceful and concise handmade wooden chair in the living room.　　The wooden chair, written by George China, a furniture designer, was hailed as the father of the 20th century American manual movement. From the taste of Steve Jobs, the great product is the triumph of "taste".Taste is a by-product of learning, observing and immersing in the culture of the past and the present, as well as a by-product of "learning the most outstanding works of mankind and trying to apply it to practice". Jobs ' philosophy of product design was not derived from panel discussions or market research. In his colleague's words, Mr Jobs's model relies heavily on persistence, patience, faith and intuition.　　He was deeply involved in the design of the hardware and software, and the final solution required him to nod his head. Of course, Jobs was part of the Big Apple team, though he also had to play the role of leader. Indeed, he often describes himself as a team leader. When selecting key members of a team, he is always looking for exceptional talent. As Jobs once said, truly outstanding designers, engineers and managers are stronger than 10%, 20% or 30%, but 10 times times more powerful than good people. He added that the contribution of these people is the basic factor in creating excellent products.　　These products will change the way people know about music players or mobile phones. David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School, said: "True technological innovation is prescient, able to understand David Yov needs in advance, and to redefine a product category." That's what Steve Jobs did. "Listening to technical time is a key factor in gaining this foresight." Carver, a renowned computer scientist at Caltech, Carver Mead, said: "Listen to the technology and explore the truth." "Jobs is no doubt a brilliant promoter and showcase, but he is also a well-versed technical listener." In his own opinion, this is in fact a constant focus on technology trends to determine when the market time for important innovation is ripe.　　To produce a sensational product, technical process, acceptable price and user needs are indispensable.　　In fact, Apple's designers and engineers began developing the ipad years ago and regularly submitted prototypes to Mr. Jobs, but none of these products had been approved by jobs until recently. The ipad could eventually fail. Some critics say it has entered an uncertain area between the ipod and the laptop, and its $499 to 829 dollar price is also very expensive. But recall that when the ipod 2001 was released, critics derided the ipod as the acronym for "Idiots Price US Devices" (The idiot who priced our equipment). But now, we all know who really laughs last. (Ding Macro)