Fortune has published an interesting interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs covering a wide range of topics. Jobs provide some insight into decisions Apple has made over the years and their design philosophies.
Jobs discusses why he thinks Apple has been successful and their unique approach to design. He takes pride that Apple can integrate both hardware and software design and feels this is a huge advantage over other companies. Jobs also feels that Apple needs to be picky about which products to pursue, and again points to their decision not to release a PDA as an example. Other notable quotes:
On Apple's Consumer Success:
"It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. ... "So you can't go out and ask people, you know, what the next big [thing.] There's a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, 'If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse." ' "
Marathon Monday Meetings at Apple:
"So what we do every Monday is we review the whole business. We look at what we sold the week before. We look at every single product under development, products we're having trouble with, products where the demand is larger than we can make. All the stuff in development, we review. And we do it every single week. I put out an agenda -- 80% is the same as it was the last week, and we just walk down it every single week.
"We don't have a lot of process at Apple, but that's one of the few things we do just to all stay on the same page."
Apple placed at the top of Fortune's American's Most Admired Companies for 2008.
