An Apple executive dishes on what makes Apple so successful, the company may be preparing to unveil its biggest store yet, and some little seen videos of Steve Jobs in his days at Next have popped up online. The remainders for Monday, November 21, 2011 are kicking the week off in style.
Four Keys To Apple’s Success (Wall Street Journal)
While speaking to a crowd in Cambridge, England, Apple marketing exec Greg Joswiak laid out what he believes are the four tenets of Apple’s success: focus, simplicity, courage, and best. So, I guess my scattershot complex cowardly worst just isn’t going to cut it anymore, huh?
Grand Central Apple Store, the biggest in the world, scheduled to be announced this Tuesday (9to5 Mac)
Apple’s rumored Grand Central Terminal store may open just in time for the biggest shopping season of the year. Word on the streets of New York City (which, incidentally, are paved with diamonds) says that the store, which would be Apple’s largest, may be announced on Tuesday. I’m still holding out hope that they’re actually building a store on a train.
What I Learned Building the Apple Store (Harvard Business Review)
Speaking of Apple Stores, the man behind their creation—former Apple senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson—penned a lengthy piece in the Harvard Business Review about what retailers need to change to draw people into their stores. We’re guessing that the answer isn’t the J.C. Penney Genius Bar.
One on One: Walter Isaacson, Biographer of Steve Jobs (New York Times)
In case you haven’t gotten enough of Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, the New York Times has an interview with the man. Isaacson talks about what Jobs said he wanted to take on next, whether the Apple co-founder was a jerk, and Jobs’s public philanthropy (or lack thereof). Tune in next week, when we’ll have a link to an interview of Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson’s interviewer, Nick Bilton, followed by an exclusive interview with his interviewer.
Watch Steve Jobs brainstorm with the NeXT team in this fascinating video (The Next Web)
Videos of Paul Rand unveiling the Next logo and Steve Jobs explaining Next’s goals and showing off NeXTStep have surfaced. Also, I’m pretty sure the voiceover is done by the same guy who does voiceovers about lions stalking their prey on the Serengeti. Close your eyes and you’ll hear it: “Observe the Steve Jobs in its natural habitat…”
Product News:
Drobo Personal Cloud with Pogoplug – Drobo and Cloud Engines have announced a partnership to provide cloud services to Drobo owners. If you have a Drobo device, you can get a free 10GB Pogoplug Cloud storage account that can be used to upload photos and videos from mobile devices, stream media from the cloud to your mobile device, and to back up data from your Drobo. Drobo owners will also get to use a customized version of the Pogoplug Software that makes the Drobo device accessible through the Internet. You’ll have to pay a one-time licenese fee of $25 to stream movies or music from the Drobo device.
LogMeIn Ignition 2.2.380 – LogMeIn has updated its Ignition iOS app so it works with Dropbox and Google Docs. The new service—which the vendor calls My Cloud Bank—enables you to copy and move files between remote Macs and those cloud services, all from an iPad or iPhone. You can also save files from the cloud or a remote Mac to your iOS device. If you own the LogMeIn Ignition iOS app now, it’s a free update. Otherwise, you’ll have to pony up $30 in the iTunes App Store for the latest version.
Google Search 1.0.0.8117 – Google has updated its iOS search app; chief among the highlights is a revamped iPad interface that lets you see search results and sites side-by-side, Instant Previews and Google Instant, full-screen image browsing, a new visual UI for history, and easy access to other Google apps. On the iPhone, there are minor bug fixes and a full-screen mode for search results and pages. Free.