AT&T hasn’t even lost the iPhone yet, and it’s already waxing nostalgic for the good old days. Meanwhile, the guy taking a potshot at iTunes is probably the last person who should be talking about “user experience,” and it’s another installment of Steve Jobs Answers Reader Mail. The remainders for Wednesday, December 8, 2010 are just getting started.
AT&T on iPhone: ‘exclusive arrangements end’ (Electronista)
During the UBS Media and Communications Conference earlier this week, AT&T CFO Richard Lindner pointed out that “exclusive arrangements end.” This seems to me like the kind of language that celebrity publicists use just before announcing that their clients have “parted ways amicably.”
Google’s Andy Rubin says iTunes is “not the right experience” (TUAW)
Questioned at the Dive Into Mobile event about Google’s digital music plans, vice president of engineering and Android co-founder Andy Rubin said that the company wouldn’t build an iTunes-like download store: “We could build that 10 times over… (it’s) not the right experience.” Instead, Rubin said, he wanted to build something with an “intimate connection.” And really, for Andy Rubin, what’s more intimate than the command-line?
Apple Loses Its iPhone Game Guru (Kotaku)
After a year in the trenches with Apple’s iPhone Game Technologies department, Graeme Devine is moving on. The id Software veteran, who also developed classic titles like The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, said his job in Cupertino was to make sure that gaming on iOS was “fantastic”; his departure is due to the fact that he wants to get back to making games. We look forward to an elaborate puzzle game that has us trying to divine the intentions of an inscrutable, charismatic CEO—set in a remote, medieval castle!
The rock star of Corporate America (MarketWatch)
MarketWatch has named Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade, publishing a lengthy profile of the Apple head honcho in which they compare him to inventors like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell as well as…Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. When reached for comment, Jobs said only, “We lovessss MarketWatch—no! We hatesssss MarketWatch!”
Steve Jobs: MobileMe to ‘get a lot better’ next year (MacRumors)
Jobs may not talk to the media, but he loves to talk to customers. One MobileMe subscriber e-mailed Steve to complain about the unreliability of Apple’s online service, ending his missive with “Please tell me it will get better, and soon?” To which Jobs reputedly replied: “Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011.” I’m making book now on what the service will get renamed to this time: DespicableMe? KitchenSync? iTools?