phoghat

What he is talking about is the wisdom or otherwise of "betting the house" on this fact or fiction as a viable business, which is what "fucking billionaires" (@HeartBurnKid) of his ilk have to do all the time, taking the fortunes of several shareholders co-workers and their dependents along with them as they do so.

That differs greatly from the mindless, semi-literate and malevolent name-calling shit that goes down on these pages in the name of trend speculation and "reading".

JK Rowling, Stephen King? Reading? Pshaw....

airmanchairman

Just for perspective, 5% of Americans buy Macs, so no one buys Macs, either. (I own 6 Macs, so don't think I'm an Apple basher, I just think SJ is an idiot.)

davidahn

DigitalisAkujin

butterpecan

cybergrunt

quasimotto

-a monthly all you can read billing model
-WiFi

Yeah, that's about it. It should obviously be relatively light, easy to use, etc. But until we get an all you can read billing model, I don't see the point in getting one of those instead of carrying around a real book. I usually don't have 35 books with me at a time, and don't know very many people who do. But with all I can read billing and WiFi transfers... well hell, I'd probably have one already.

Sqube

ljroberts

prince_of_paradox

multipleshotsfired

Arelar

ennTOXX

He deals in Absolutes!

JoOngle

livinglogic

Hahaha. You are so witty, it baffles my mind! Too funny, you are!

On a more serious note: if the best you can do when I effectively refute your points of argument is taking cheap shots at me (and kind of failing that even), then, well, all the best, but I won't be wasting any more of my time with you.

By the way, what in the fuck is a Mac Air? And if you really think the iPhone is a "flop".... well, I don't know what to say, pal. Good luck. With everything.

Dearhaw

"Or, perhaps my mother was a bookworm" or perhaps she breast fed you until you were 13! Go charge you iphone up!

multipleshotsfired

CaliforniaKid

I read about videogames... I read "Play Money" which was an amazing book. I also read the history of ID software which was equally fascinating.

I love apple, but Jobs is simply wrong on this front. The more people get hooked on the internet the more they are going to want to read. Knowledge is a drug.

mmr

BigRosie

"That's really not that long ago"

I was merely trying to make a point; that what happened "back in the day" is really irrelevant in the face of what's happening today. It doesn't matter whether "back in the day" is 15 years ago or 7. Blockbuster was turning in huge profits not more than 5 years ago. Look where they're at now. Do you think their success "back in the day" somehow secures their old model of movie rentals?

In case you really need me to spell it out, here it is: your logic is flawed if you claim that Amazon having turned in profits selling books 7 years ago somehow translates into Amazon not having any issues selling books today. And frankly, if you can't understand that simple point, there's really no point continuing to argue with you.

Dearhaw

newton: SJ not involved
MacTV; SJ not involved
pippin: SJ not involved
Rokr: SJ/Apple, little involved, Motorola fucked that one up

So of your pathetic list, only the Lisa could be even remotely construed as a Steve Jobs "failure", in terms of sales.

However, if you knew your history at all, you would know that Lisa is pretty much what introduced the GUI to the world (yes, I know it was originally developed by Xerox), that's what Billy Gates was envious about and from which he drew "inspiration" to build Windows 1.0, and that's what gave birth to the Macintosh.

So, even the Lisa example doesn't do jack shit in proving that SJ doesn't have vision. Nice try. Well, not really.

"Your admission that you read less than your mother indicates Steve might be on to something, or simply that your not advancing at the same level as your mom did."

Or, perhaps my mother was a bookworm. I mean, compared to your other two highly probable, well-thought-out hypotheses, I know this is week, but hey.

Dearhaw

Palestina

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

And first paragraph, last paragraph, it's besides the point; the point is, you said it. You accuse me of not being able to read? You don't even know what you yourself wrote!

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

matt buchanan

And yes, this is just a public tuning of the RDF.

I don't get all the vitriol coming from the non-Apple fans. I mean, I love the products and the company, but I don't HATE the competition, or their fans... liking something because you enjoying using it is understandable.

But unless you use a product and it screws with your day / work / general productivity, where's the point in hating on it so hard? Isn't that alot of energy, and not really based on any tangible, practical evidence.

And if it's really all that bad, go read the "No Apple" Giz feed. It's not that hard.

tokiwartooth

MagnoliaBoy

It's just another symptom of a decline in overall literacy. Just as less people overall read these days, much more of that reading is just utter nonsense.

And the Elric books are FUCKING TERRIBLE. They're absolute crud writing. If you want to read only fantasy at least read someone like China Mieville, whose books are astonishingly good.

Pope John Peeps II

You mean like how he said nobody wanted portable video shortly before they launched the video iPod?

Fantastic reporting here....

Jake

[www.sec.gov]

Noobs-R-Us

multipleshotsfired

multipleshotsfired

Klappstuhl

Christ, can you not read that badly? I said "last" paragraph, not "first" paragraph. I openly admitted that there's a chance he is wrong about this. I merely stated that there's a MUCH better chance that he IS right (and you wrong), because he has vision, and is a very successful businessman because of it.

"back in the day . . . they would have realized that Jobs was right and not gotten into the book business."

Now you're just talking gibberish. I mean, seriously, re-read what you just wrote, it's pathetic. Keywords: back in the day.

You know, back in the day, companies made tons of money selling typewriters, too. Look what it did for IBM. Now, if IBM came out with a brand spanking new typewriter for the mass market and someone like Jobs claimed that "People just don't use typewriters any more" are you gonna use this same flawed logic?

Also, has it not occurred to you that one of the reasons Amazon is diversifying and selling everything from DVDs to Children's toys, might be precisely because their book business is suffering?

Dearhaw

However, the economics of the digital book business might be very different from that of the physical book business. I do believe, unlike Jobs, that e-books can be very profitable even with declining readers.

Noobs-R-Us

GOKOR

yardameus

MarlboroTestMonkey7

MagnoliaBoy

"Holy crap, get a grip. There's a reason he's a fucking billionaire and you're not. He has a grip and he has a vision..."

You're basically saying that, because he's a "fucking billionaire", and he "has a vision", that means he's right when he says nobody reads any more. Blatant appeal to authority.

Which obviously explains just how Amazon.com became the only people on the internet making serious money back in the day, when all they sold was books, right? I guess they have no vision, or otherwise they would have realized that Jobs was right and not gotten into the book business.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

Kaibacorp

Ragging on Android- telling google phones are hard to make and you are ruining a partnership. Pleeeassse. I can't wait to boot Android on an Intel MID. Steve is clearly foreshadowing his evil plot to enslave mankind and the first step is with black box devices that don't require you to read or write.

Live LONG and Linux.-I love my macbook-especially the dual booting Ubuntu part.

B@tM@n

Again, if you takes jobs seriously, you deserve to be an idiot with the guru.

sanjsrik

slingblade

oo0EveryoneElseWasDoingIt0oo

banmojo

macbigot

Kyang

Pope John Peeps II

huygir

I read all the time - everything from Sci-Fi to technical reference manuals. It's still easier for me to scan my (personal) library shelves for a trusted reference book than it is for me to surf around and hope that what I'm getting tid-bits of isn't total crap.

Case in point: all the stuff we post on this darned site - how much of it is truly useful?

huygir

Pope John Peeps II

kingsnake

Proof:
[weblogs.jupiterresearch.com]
"First, he said, on a video player, "there's just no equivalent of headphones." That is, when you put on headphones and press Play on a music player, the results are spectacular-you get a very close equivalent to the concert-hall experience. But watching video on a tiny three-inch hand-held screen is almost nothing like the experience of watching a movie in a theater or even on TV. It can't approach the same realism or emotional impact."

How many iPods play video now?

Next:

Second, he pointed out that Hollywood has been a much better job of providing outlets for its wares than the recording industry. If you want to see a movie, you can see it in the theater, on DVD, on pay-per-view, on HBO, in flight, and so on. On the other hand, Mr. Jobs pointed out that until recently, there was pretty much only one legal way to buy music: go to a store and bring home a CD or tape. The debut of legitimate download services like Apple's iTunes store was a huge factor in the popularity of portable music players-but there just isn't the same kind of pent-up demand for new movie-buying channels.

Wait, now what exactly was announced yesterday?

And the iPhone and the denials. And how "nobody wants a flash MP3 player - they just get tossed into a desk and never seen again". Then we got the Shuffle. And the Apple TV. The list goes on. It's like clockwork.

j4ckknife

"My kids read more than I did when I was a kid."

Et tu Brutus! You also proved that you don't read enough (although I guess you kind of admitted to that with your post there), because if you read my post, you'd know that that statement is called anecdotal evidence, which really is not evidence at all. Counter-argument: I read much less as a kid than my mother did as a child. There! That absolutely proves that reading is on a decline. QED.

"I'm sure he has much better understanding of the book business than those who are in it."

Because his (OK, let's not deify him there... I'll say Apple's, collectively) vision is clearly limited to the computer business. That's why everything else he's/they've tried, say Pixar (movies), iTunes Music Store (music), and the iPhone (cellphones), have all been utter failures.

Dearhaw

MagnoliaBoy

solartaco

"Just because he's a "fucking billionaire", doesn't make him right about everything"

Fantastic! You just proved that you don't read enough, or do not possess the attention span required to get through a single post on Gizmodo, let alone a whole fucking book. Go back and read the last paragraph and tell me exactly what part of my post claimed that Jobs is always right about everything.

Dearhaw

CyberSpy

Noobs-R-Us

I think it's a bit disingenuous for him to say that he's not going to make a device just because reading is in decline. Perhaps he IS working on a e-reader device???

Noobs-R-Us

multipleshotsfired

dna

Escamotage

And people don't use DVD readers or writers anymore, that is so Microsoft..

Gary_7vn

Zenshai

Noobs-R-Us

Liking to read a book is just like any other habit. You have to LEARN to love it. Young folks these days never picked up that habit.

In the end, you can argue over the reason why but it still doesn't remove the fact that young folks don't read.

Noobs-R-Us

i77

Which is largely true, and largely why Jobs doesn't believe the Kindle is a good deal. Although what he's saying in public and what he actually believes are two different things. He's nothing if not an opportunist.

@jamstigator: By the way that's a horrible goal. The quantity of books read is nothing compared to the quality of books read, and the care with which you read them. Treating reading as a quantity is EXACTLY what's wrong with the world today. And EXACTLY why people no longer read. It's become a commodity to be traded, a sort of currency of stupid bullshit knowledge rather than somethng which adds qualitiatively to the value of the human being's spirit.

Pope John Peeps II

I mean, c'mon Steve, ever heard of Harry Potter? Or maybe Da Vinci Code?

I've been reading lots of different stuff for 10 years now (I started kinda late...), and I've never seen such a phenomenon like those two titles.

Also: Mangas and comic books. You know, eReaders are not only about text. They can be upgraded to something else.

And japanese Manga just gave a huge boost on the comics market... it's just huge. I've never seen so many titles being released in that few time.

About Google's Android... well, I know nothing about it, so I won't comment on this.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

I think the fact that most people can't get the gist of what Jobs is saying sort of proves his point. That many of you who claim that you read, don't. If you do then you would understand when he's saying. Comprehension is something that you learn if you read a lot. Comprende?

Noobs-R-Us

ripfire

This is why America elected Bush twice. Americans are scared of the complex world we live in and they want to hide in simple jinguistic proclamations.

eramberg

Pay attention fanboys ... or get mom or your girlfriend to read the hard parts: 3 sentences. Two which include the phrase "people don't read anymore."

Maybe he meant to say applets don't read anymore.

lianna_g

sjgfy

Plus I see lots of people everyday, reading on the train, some are listening to ipods, some aren't.

jiffy

ripfire

skylark64

And yes, "Hey, I read" is anecdotal evidence, but you know what isn't? This.

Is Jobs a genius? Yes, but his genius mostly extends to user-interface design and marketing. He either has no idea what people actually want or need, or actively ignores it so he can tell people what they want. Witness the non-removable batteries on the MacBook Air, the lack of PDA features on the iPhone, etc.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

I doubt it. Those two are married, remember?

:)

DW

One of my long-term goals is to end my life having read at least 10,000 books. I started using Shelfari to document how many I have already read, to give me an idea of how far I have to go, but that's a long process. I'm sure I'm past the halfway mark, but how much past I will not know until I've done more work with Shelfari.

Also, hey, I don't think J.K. Rowling became a billionaire due to people *not* reading her books (or watching the movies derived from them, of course).

jamstigator

"It seems like every other commenter is having problems understanding what Jobs is saying"

Haha, you're right. It's ironic, because of the lack of reading comprehension displayed by all these people kind of proves the point that people are reading less and less ;-)

Dearhaw

ackthbbft

hn333

And I can assuredly say Steve Jobs doesn't read at all.

BigSlide

"Steve Jobs is so out of touch with the typical end user its almost funny. "

Exactly. That's why everything Apple releases is an utter failure, never to be picked up by the typical end user.

Now, all you people up there saying "Nya-nya, I read a lot, so there!"

Holy crap, get a grip. There's a reason he's a fucking billionaire and you're not. He has a grip and he has a vision. Hoards of people here could claim they read shit tons. Hell, I do, too. But you know what that's called? Anecdotal evidence. And actually, mathematically speaking, it's flawed, inherently biased reasoning, because people who frequent Gizmodo and who read their articles and write comments day in and day out are much, much more likely than the average American to be avid readers.

So, unless Steve is readying an e-reader for himself and this is one of those "we're not going to do video on our iPods" comments (and I certainly think there's a chance of that), his reasoning is based on sound statistics, and his comment is based on his tried and tested vision. He may be wrong, god knows he's been wrong plenty of times in the past, but if I had to put my money down, his track record dictates that I put it down in his favor.

Dearhaw

It seems like every other commenter is having problems understanding what Jobs is saying. He is talking reading BOOKS people. Not reading words and blog entries. Jobs knows that people still read words, but it appears they apparently don't read much into context.

mrgingis

Steve jobs is promoting illiteracy, nice!

toyotaboy

But that ignores the other half, the older generations that do read and read a lot. I think that Jobs will come around when he feels that the technology is at a level where he can exploit it. Right now, I'm not sure he feels that way. The fact of the matter is that books is the next logical step in the evolutionary cycle of iTunes. Think about it. It has the same characteristics as a song, a movie, a podcast, etc…It's all intellectual property. Like Amazon, it's relatively easy for iTunes to just add another vertical. In this case, an e-book.

If he does decide to do it he would have to rename iTunes to iMedia just like they removed the word Computer from their corp name.

I'm sure Jobs is thinking that he has time to wait out the technology so that perhaps he can use the iTouch or iPhone as a reader, but he would be wrong about that. The display size is extremely important to the adoption of an e-reader. Even more so than movies. I think they will have to create a new larger size device as an e-reader. Perhaps he's hoping that there will some roll-out displays in the horizon but I don't think that's coming for another 10 years. In the meantime, he can't let someone else like Sony or Amazon take so much market share that when he does finally come around, he'll be left in the dust due to the other manufacturer's proprietary DRM. It would be the exact reverse of what they now have in the DAP market.

My bet is binary in nature. That either they will make one soon or you will never see one, ever.

Noobs-R-Us

suburbancowboy

hagrun

"The whole culture's shot through. It isn't as simple as picking up a book you put down a half-century ago. Remember Mr. Montag, the public stopped reading on it's own accord."

Free online: Bradbury reads Farhrenheit 451 as an eBook Text, audio or both.

DeadWriter

NightElfMohawk

Stacky Botrus

blogs are made for reading...reading words...words are what people read...like reading an interview....like Steve jobs' interview....this is awkward....

youknowit

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

OneMHz

Books are one of those things that work better in the medium for which they are intended - unlike, say, newspapers and magazines.

BrockBrockman

ripfire

Hardcore1

heroineworshipper

Reading the news or a tech blog isn't the same as reading a novel.

thechansen

Maybe people aren't reading in as great numbers or reading as much as they used to, but print is far from dead.

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

knappoleon

But in some sense Jobs is right. People rarely read anymore. Beyond the Harry Potter series, the Da Vinci Code, and that horrible looking "The Secret", I almost never see anybody reading when I take public transportation. Further, I know not one single person with more than 20 books. It's a bit sad really.

mrgingis

theespacepope

All ur words are belong to us.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

multipleshotsfired

lafond66

ninjamurf

LittleJon

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

savager

Cupajo

GenericWhiteGuy

lucky_you

Just like the Apple TV was hailed as revolutionary when it was released and when it didn't sell was passed off as "just a hobby." I'd like to know that when I spend money on a product, it is something the company has put their best effort into designing. Having them say essentially, "Apple TV was just a goof-- we didn't think anyone would actually buy it" is a little lame.

But, at least now it's revolutionary agian...

GenericWhiteGuy

And what are you doing on the computer anyway. Shouldn't you finish stacking the shelves in the electronic department.

imTheKing

hn333

3 novels a week. Ha.

Pope John Peeps II

god.DLL

rainfever

What it is

thechansen

beyondthetech

I see you guy had to do some serious mac ass kissin after the last few bland posts about them.

Ultraorange

No, we don't read. And I came out of the womb knowing how to program/network.

newgalactic

*click**click*

clevin

ekeown

peterlarson233

Curves

Nothing says "I'm a pompous ass" like wearing the same outfit all the time... and then making product hand/torso models wear it in your commercials as well.

Keebler

People don't read anymore is likely to be the worst quote of Mr Jobs ever. I confess I thought it was a joke at first. Not coincidently, Mr Jobs is attacking two very successful companies that are ahead of Apple and have way more open-minded philosophies than his. He must be (way over) too proud of his well-designed 2% or simply making an ugly dismiss of his honest opponents.

2008 is starting as a not good year for Apple and Mr Jobs.

nandopereira

and what a market 'wants' is never one thing- and almost no one can provide everything that everyone wants... if they could, capitalism wouldn't work.

/rant over

fussball

picardia

sirwebster

Phineas J. Whoopie

From a company with 8% market share tops, he has proven, that neither him, nor his company, actually has any clue what 92% of the market "wants"..

gmail & all google apps > iPhone... Apple has more to loose than google.

prodigal_son

92BuickLeSabre

believe that

ppl read, and they read more if they can read e-books

Crescent

AstroWolf

Reading may - or has already - become a niche sport, but a LOT of money can be made from niche sports. Yes, perhaps most people don't read, but there are still millions of people who do. In a related bit of news about those nuts who read: turns out, they have money.

Now Stevie may not want to develop that industry because it will likely stay a niche until someone puts textbooks on e-readers and every college student starts carrying one. (Okay, college is probably going to be a niche as well). But, once it gets a bit mainstream, there will be an Apple e-reader.

Also, you can bet an iPhone / Touch ereader will be out REALLY quickly once the SDK is released.

tmed

Brock

on my morning commute about the only thing to do is read, and i must see 5 people on every car reading something everytime im on the subway

pevans34

NameGoesHere

sorensilk

Xenocide

correction: people dont read your ADS because ads are stupid, not because dont read

pevans34

xint

nat lyon

Nothing more to see here, Please move along.

_woozzy_

johnnyxray