Jobs: Apple talent to drive 'digital lifestyle' push

by Dennis Sellers, MacCentral

It's Apple's depth of talent that will help the company succeed in its vision of making products that are the "hub" of a "digital lifestyle," Apple CEO Steve Jobs told investors during Wednesday's meeting.

The CEO said that Jon Rubenstein, Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, has about 1,000 people in the hardware department and Avie Tevanian, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, has another 1,000 in the software area.

"We have a great depth of talent," Jobs said. "We're an intellectual property company that does tremendous engineering."

For instances, other companies might sell the SuperDrives that come in the new, high-end G4, but Apple has a "leg up" because it's already put in lots of hard work to make sure its software works seamlessly with the hardware. He also pointed to iMovie, which has "no competition" after 15 months.

Also expect Apple to come out with more applications such as iMovie and iTunes, Jobs said.

"We've all been blinded into thinking that the browser controls the Internet," he added. "But that's not true. What's the most popular app on the Internet? E-mail. And you don't use a browser for e-mail ... More and more of what we'll be doing will be in terms of such client applications. We believe that the next wave of the Internet will be client applications that work intimately with the Internet, but not necessarily with a Web browser."

When asked, Jobs said he isn't worried that gaming devices such as Sony's PlayStation 2 might gain added functionality and threaten the personal computer space. The CEO said that every time a "collision" between a device (TV, set-top box, gaming system) and the personal computer was predicted, it never happened. Such devices don't have the high resolution displays, storage capabilities, and other conveniences of the personal computer, he added.

"Sure, they can make gaming machine with the processing power and capabilities of a personal computer," Jobs said. "But the question is how much would such a device cost in comparison with a personal computer ... If Apple can enter the new digital lifestyle age and bring substantial values to other digital devices, the Mac will have a very strong place.