shownotes_20140506

Opening
  Reality Distortion, if I were able to have a superpower this might be one I want.
    It’s a power that allows you to shape worlds. A "god like" power.
    Maybe one of the few that actually exists and is currently achievable by humans
  Most often we hear it associated with Apple and specifically Steve Jobs, but I believe the world has had many reality distorters
  I also think that reality distortion might be the wrong word
    Or at least the word is being applied incorrectly.
    Reality creation is probably more accurate, at least in terms of the outcome.
    Reality distortion implies that you are taking the existing reality and some how altering it, changing it.
    What Steve, and many other great minds, actually did was not accept the given reality so that they could create a world as they wanted it.
Quotes
  Referenced 17 times in the Issacson book
    "It's dangerous to get caught in Steve's distortion field, but it was what lead him to actually be able to change reality" - Bud Tribble
      I think it’s "dangerous" because, like with a lot of superpowers, most of us can’t handle the responsibility and pressure of it.
      It manifests itself in the bad stories we hear about work experiences at Apple. About burn out. It’s hard to burn that brightly all the time.
      You can’t accept compromises. Why Jobs always talked about only having "A" people.
      Reality distorters also burn many of those around them.
  "I reject your reality and substitute my own"
    "The Deadly Assassin" - Doctor Who Episode, 1974
    Often attributed to Adam Savage of the Mythbusters
  "Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." - From Apple's "here's to the Crazy Ones" commercial.
  "Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."
    "life" (reality) as you know it was "made up"
    It was thought up by other people. Why not you?
Apple's refusal to acknowledge reality
  "Reality distortion" allows them to create an alternate reality shaped to suit their needs, not the worlds.
    To change the timeline. To play a new game, with new rules defined by Apple.
    They have ALWAYS done this.
  "Nobody wants a personal computer"
    Computers were something for businesses and universities
    There took up entire rooms and we're expensive and ran highly specialized apps
    They were technical and unfriendly.
    Apple's alternate reality
      A consumer product that you could use out of the box
      Useful software like writing and accounting apps. Balance your checkbook.
      Affordable to the average person.

  "Apple Should Pull the Plug on the iPhone"
  John C. Dvorak in Marketwatch, 2007

    Apple will have a tough go in the smartphone business
      Not an emerging business
      Motorola and Nokia will dominate
      Apple can't compete because
        Margins are small
          Handset industry can't survive on high margins
        Need new models every three months to stay relevant
      Suggests Apple should OEM partner with Samsung. Guess they did just not officially.
    Apple's alternate reality
      Apple solves the "problem" by not playing by those rules
      Don't compromise on margins
        Samsung sells twice as many phones, but earns half as much.
      Build fewer, but better models

  "Before Apple's iPhone was too small, it was "monstrously" too big"
  AppleInsider, May 2014

    Exhibits from Samsung trial show opportunity for competing
      Device is too big at 3.5-inch screen size
        Devices had smaller screens at the time mostly due to limitations like battery life
      No keyboard, screen smudges
      Consumers want choice, not one size fits all.
    Apple's alternate reality
      Better battery technology
      Better more power efficient chips
      Improved power management in OS
      On screen keyboards and controls
      One size fits all. Easier to manage, improves margins.
  iPad, "just a big iPod Touch"
    The unanswered question is whether we really need a "third device" - something to fill the gap between smartphone and laptop
    Consumers have not shown an overwhelming interest thus far in tablets
    Compared to Tablet PCs and Netbooks
    Tablets are underpowered, can't do real work
    Can't replace a notebook
    Apple's alternate reality
      New category of device
      A device that replaces the PC for many people.
      Device adopted my consumers, governments, education and business
      The first truly "personal" Personal Computer
        People fill a need with their iPads, don't let the device find a need.
More than innovation.
  Steve called it, "magical". It’s spiritual, mystical. Hard to understand, but perceivable
  It’s a power that I feel more and more and be attributed to the greatest minds and thinkers in the world.
  Think about it. Almost everything truly great began with someone telling some else, "you can't"
    Columbus, Edison, Tesla, Ford, Steve and Steve.
    The key is not to believe them.
  It's dreaming bigger than anyone else and as Steve Jobs always put it, "willing it" into existence.
    And believing in something that strongly can become "infectious".
    It’s what allowed Steve Jobs to create a whole company with a culture that supports this ideal
    It’s really hard to be that kind of company and to be in that kind of environment
      it’s hard to think like that, especially because despite all the desire to shape things into your new reality you still have to do that work within the existing one.
      It’s why so many people had a hard time at Apple and with Steve.
    And so I think could I be that kind of person? And the answer is probably no.
      I aspire to be that kind of thinker
      I certainly admire it. Bust it takes something more. Often called "it"
      There are few who have it.
    Apple founded a company on it and that why i believe Apple will innovate as long as they are around and why others will look on in awe and amazement and follow their inspiration.