For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment
Before
DVD there was the Video CD (VCD), though it failed to make much impact on the
domestic market. The fact that it was a difficult task to create digital video
for the disc did not help. It required a large and slow computer to crunch the
numbers over several hours to fill the disc with 74 minutes of video.
What was
needed was a “real time” solution, one that would allow the master videotape to
play into a computer and emerge immediately as digital video. Philips
introduced the first commercial system capable of this in 1995. It was based on
the almost forgotten Apple Quadra, a powerhouse of computing in its time and an
unlikely choice in the world of Pentium PCs. Yet a single Apple Quadra
delivered dozens of VCD masters and hundreds of hours of digital video for the
broadband VOD trials of the mid-1990s, at a quality unachievable in the
confines of an audio-visually unfriendly Windows PC.
Apple
computers have appeared in the service of the entertainment industry on many
occasions. Since Ridley Scott’s “1984” TV commercial for the Apple Macintosh,
which celebrated the triumph of the individual over the faceless masses, the
Apple brand has appealed to all in the media industries who are creative. For
every Apple box that found a home in heavy-duty computing, thousands more spent
their busy lives in desktop publishing, audio production or graphic design.
At a time
when screens displayed line after line of fluorescent green ASCII text (the
American Standard Code for Information Interchange), the Apple Mac offered,
according to the company’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, “the first computer with
beautiful typography”. His fellow directors failed to see how this attribute
could benefit the company’s balance sheet and he was ousted in late 1985.
With $10
million from his Apple payoff about to burn a hole in his pocket, Jobs acquired
the fledgling computer company Pixar and thus support the talents of computer
animator John Lasseter. Back then, the company had yet to make its name with
films such as the “Toy Story” series, “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E”.
At the
Siggraph conference in Dallas in 1986, Lasseter’s short “Luxo Jr.” amazed
fellow computer animators, who rose to applaud the “ray-tracing” and “shadow
mapping” achievements of its creators. Jobs, however, saw beyond these
technical aspects to a future in which all animated films would be made this
way. His insight was confirmed later the same year when the short became the
first computer-generated film to be nominated for an Academy Award.
It was to
be 20 years before the financial fruits of Jobs’ investment became evident when
a $7.4 billion deal with Disney in 2006 left him as the single largest
shareholder in Disney with 7% of the equity and a seat on the board.
By this
time, the regime that had ousted him from Apple had demonstrably failed to move
the company forward and Jobs returned in 1997. It signalled the start of a
golden era in the company’s fortunes characterised by a return to the
innovative design and advanced technology that has been at the heart of the
Apple success story ever since.
Although
Apple was not always first in the field of personal computers, the company
aimed consistently to be the best and its products invariably were
head-turners. The change of name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. presaged the
launch of iPhone in 2007 and it marked a shift in emphasis. From that moment,
the company played in the much bigger world of consumer electronics devices and
Jobs anticipated correctly the need to manage both public and investor
perceptions. Better and more aggressive advertising, excellence in all aspects
of product design and an intuitive touch-screen interface for the iPhone were
just a part of the package.
Commentators
at the time saw Apple’s move into “mobile phones” as a diversification – a new product range that didn’t quite fit the profile. Almost five years
on, Jobs has delivered the answer to the unspoken question: smartphones are not
a separate development and neither are iPads. Both are part of the “everything, everywhere” continuum of devices, bringing
entertainment and information to the consumer wherever they are, rather than
requiring them to go to a specific room or venue in order to enjoy the content
they seek.
With the
imminent arrival of iCloud and the development of iTunes as a multi-media
content store, Apple is positioned perfectly at the centre of the connected
world. Only Apple TV has so far failed to live up to expectations and Jobs’
ambivalent launch of the box did nothing to set the market on fire. Could he
have got this one wrong?
An
announcement came at the end of September to say that Apple TV will be
available from October in seven additional European countries to make 10 in
all. The black box, at around the £100 price point, will be supported by
premium film content to rent or buy from the iTunes Movie Store. After a
lacklustre launch, another Apple revolution might be about to get under way.
Steve
Jobs’ personal USP lay in being right more times than he was wrong and in the
ability to convince employees and suppliers alike that they could – indeed must – do better than the opposition. His name has been synonymous with
the Apple brand for so many years that it is hard to imagine a future without
him. Yet the success of the company results from the contribution made by many
talented individuals under his leadership and their show must go on.
These
inheritors of the Jobs message have contributed to the company’s ability to
deliver on the brand promise year after year. He was always a hard taskmaster
but even those who crossed him will not forget the message he preached.
Jobs’
rumoured ire at problems with the iPhone that worked well as long as your hand
was nowhere near the device led not only to the resignation of the Senior VP
Engineering responsible for iPhone 4 but also to the introduction of an
advanced dual-antenna in the recently announced iPhone 4S. It was this
willingness to learn from mistakes, though without always acknowledging them,
that made Jobs a hero for Apple employees, customers and shareholders.
While
mere PC users scoff at the loyalty that the man and his company engendered,
Apple has consistently exceeded consumer expectations. The reward for investors
has been the continued rise in the value of the company’s shares, which
culminated in a moment last July when Apple’s cash reserves were greater than
those of the US government. It must have been a bittersweet moment for the man
who was fired from the company he founded.
A
statement from his home said that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.
He spent a lifetime working to ensure that high-tech products are a little
friendlier, a little more accessible and a lot better made. His legacy will be
evident for years to come and will continue to impact the lives of individuals
around the world.
Steve
Jobs, the ultimate individualist, can truly rest in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment