Link:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/28/steve-jobs-american-genius.html
Background:
This article outlines the success and evolution that is Apple, Steve Jobs. It reveals Jobs' achievements, failures, and, most recently, his resignation as the CEO of Apple. Overall, this three page Newsweek excerpt timelines the life and career of Steve Jobs. In closing, author Alan Deutschman suggests the question of whether or not Cook can replace the irreplaceable.
Questions:
Is the author biased in his view of Steve Jobs, or do you think his article represents the views of the public?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/08/28/steve-jobs-american-genius.html
Background:
This article outlines the success and evolution that is Apple, Steve Jobs. It reveals Jobs' achievements, failures, and, most recently, his resignation as the CEO of Apple. Overall, this three page Newsweek excerpt timelines the life and career of Steve Jobs. In closing, author Alan Deutschman suggests the question of whether or not Cook can replace the irreplaceable.
Questions:
Is the author biased in his view of Steve Jobs, or do you think his article represents the views of the public?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi class! I just want to provide some feedback on what I have seen so far and how to move forward in your discussion over the week.
ReplyDeleteFacilitators, you have provided an artifact ripe for analysis. The questions you have listed are not questions concerning analysis of the artifact but the reader's response to the article's message and a personal question about the reader's behavior. Some questions that ask respondents to do a rhetorical analysis of the artifact might be:
What values (i.e. strong work ethic) does the author appeal to in his praise of Steve Jobs and why would he assume that the audience shares those values?
Is the author making controversial claims? If so, what kind of evidence does he use to support those claims?
There are also over a hundred comments ont his article that can be analyzed in conjunction with the article. Use the Blog Project assignment sheet to guide the questions you ask.
Respondents, also remember to use the prompts listed on the Blog Project assignment sheet to guide your responses. So pick a prompt and respond to the linked artifact using that prompt. If you get stuck, refer to the sample blog project linked in the top right hand corner of this page.
It's tough to say that anyone can truly replace Jobs. He has totally changed the technology world in the past decade. With his addition of the iPod and iPhone, he has made Apple the leader in mobile technology. Many other companies have tried to match Jobs, but have fallen short. Many smartphones and tablets attempt to mimic Jobs' multi-touch features on the iPhone and iPad, but like Josh said, its just not the same without that apple icon embedded on the back. I think that Jobs is leaving behind quite a legacy that it will be difficult for Cook to do a poor job. Cook as been at Apple since '98, and I believe that he has developed enough experience to become the new CEO of the leading company in the consumer electronic industry.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Deutschman has bias in favor of Jobs over the new CEO. When Deutschman outlines the history of Jobs he seems to idolize him and his rise to fame and glory and gives no backstory about the new CEO besides that he is already 50 years old. After clicking on the link with the authors name, I discovered that he wrote the book: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. After realizing this I was without a doubt sure that this article was biased. The title parallels the second coming of christ and therefore inspires god-like awe in the public.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking through the main post and subsequent comments, I think the featured post puts the future of Apple Inc. in the eyes of the world. The article praises Job's hard work from the minute he decided to drop out of high school and begin his journey towards success. The author most certainly approved of Job's control of Apple and where he has taken the company. The post has the potential to make people question Apple's success in the future. If Apple's products do not continue to improve and raise the bar for competitors Apple customers might consider trying different products. Cook and Apple will have to keep company standards high in order to keep the public's loyalty and trust. This post also helps the public gain knowledge of the evolution of Apple and Job's since the beginning of the company. The company has jumped over many boundaries and loopholes to now be the second most valuable company in the world. The article helps promote Apple and prove to the public that the company has historically improved. This post is most certainly significant and helps explain the empirical dominance of Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple Inc. However, the continual question of the public will be "Can Apple keep improving and dominate the industry without Steve Jobs behind the reigns?"
ReplyDeleteOne comment about this article states, "All the inspiration has been sucked away by Google who is also after developing Mobile Hardware pretty soon. So he is better out while he is winning." I completely disagree with this. Jobs is not quitting while he is ahead. He has had a good long run with apple and now he wants to pass on the leadership to someone else. Jobs is also fighting his own battle with cancer right now and probably feels that he cant effectively run Apple while fighting this life threatening illness.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the author is making a controversial claim through this article.
ReplyDeleteThis article gives an impression to the readers that apple will not continue to improve without Steve Jobs, even though the author did not explicitly say it. The tone of this article and overstatements about Steve Jobs makes the readers to believe that nobody will outdo him. A quote from the article that gives these impressions to the readers is “He upended entire industries. Personal computing. The music business. Publishing. Hollywood. All have been radically transformed because of Steve Jobs.” I think that the author should give some credits to the others who participated in his work, even though he invented most of the ideas. Moreover, I believe there is people like Steve Jobs somewhere that can save the apple company from falling apart.
Jferencik93 and Yeram both made great comments in respect to the fact that Deutschman writes in his personal belief that Jobs is “god-like” being that “nobody [will be able to] outdo”. I see Yeram’s quote and corresponding response that Jobs “upended entire industries” as key to this article. As much as he is a symbolic image of technological evolution, he is more highly recognized for his presence. Yes, he helped to create some of the world’s most popular tech gadgets. Yes, he did so working alongside an amazing team. Yes, he is only human. What it all comes down to is that, in the “view of the public”, Jobs is a captivating force that draws the consumer in. There are very few high profile public figures that are able to do what he does. A Steve Jobs keynote speech is a form of rapture in which predisposition plays no role.
ReplyDeleteThe Author of the article "Exit King" is bias in his view of Steve Jobs and his career.He equates Steve to a wizard to suggest that he is magical and beyond the restraints of the natural world.This theme is enforced when describing Steve Jobs as a visionary,genius,and a king among mere morals that sets the stage for a larger than life persona of Steve Jobs.
ReplyDeleteShane_Brunner made a great comment in regards to the fact that Steve Jobs is currently struggling with cancer. I think it's interesting that Alan Deutschman failed to really elaborate on Steve Job's reasoning for retiring. The author of the article made is seem as though Jobs "picked" this time to retire because Apple is doing so well. He failed to really elaborate on the fact that stepping down from Apple is really what is best for the health of Jobs and that he isn't simply stepping down because the market is booming.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, Deutschman depicts Steve Jobs as almost nonhuman. To the reader, it seems as if Jobs has control over the technology industry and business competition across the nation. In order to get to where he is today, "he became a master of psychological manipulation." Although the author seems to praise Jobs for his accomplishments, this quotes give off a negative connotation to the reader. He almost had the most influence on other people's decisions when making a product. Other companies often look to Apple as a way to create their own products. On the other hand, pushing people in a new direction has inspired acclaimed works in the technology business. The author gives off the impression that Jobs has set high standards that almost no one can match, yet they are achievable. Throughout the article, Deutschman points out that Jobs may be retiring because Apple has reached its peak. On the other hand, Jobs's work has been an essential stepping-stone for new technology to come in the future, which Cook will have control over. At first the author sees Apple going downhill after Jobs's retirement, but he ends with the possibility of Cook building off of Jobs's achievements. Hopefully Apple will continue to prosper in the years to come.
ReplyDeleteOne of the commentators, Lancelot, of the original article, brought up a very good dispute against the author, Alan Deutschman. Deutschman compares Jobs to a real life Harry Potter, which I find a little childish. He later talks about how Steve Jobs's biological parents were the real reason for his success. He even refers to Jobs's adoptive parents as muggles. I will have to agree with Lancelot that Jobs's success stemmed more from his adoptive parents then his biological parents.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Yeram that Deutschman seems to imply that Apple will not be successful without Jobs. Though he was a prominent leader, he was not the whole company. There are plenty of other influential people working for Apple that will continue making the company a success.
After doing a little research, I found that Alan Deutschman does not have a lot of experience with technology. However, he has had a lot of experience in interviewing and profiling global business leaders, including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Therefore, I do think that Deutschman is qualified in making the claims about whether or not Cook can take the place of Jobs. Overall, this article focuses on the future of Apple, and the changes it will soon overcome. In the Past, Deutschman has written about change and innovation, which is one of the main topics of this article. Therefore, I do not think that the author is biased in this article. He states the facts, and is open to both sides of the argument of whether or not Cook can take the place of Jobs. In addition, I like the point that Yeram makes about the tone of the article. It is difficult to read the article and not believe that Cook won't be able to surpass Jobs. The article makes several claims about how Job's is such a genius in the technology world. He goes on to describe all that Jobs has done for Apple in the past, but does not touch on how much Cook has done for the company over the past decade.
ReplyDeleteThe author seems to hint at the idea all through this publication that in order to be successful as a businessperson, you must be like Jobs. You have to be a liberal, risk taking, spontaneous, and a harsh individual. I think that many businessmen in history have made contributions without specific set qualities like those of Jobs. I agree completely with jferencik93 that the author of this article was biased toward Jobs because of his success. I believe that it is not necessary to possess only qualities of being impatient and harsh, and also reckless in the business world to succeed. An example would be Walt Disney, who ran his business much differently. His values were set more in having an uplifting atmosphere and encouragement. I think that the author put too much blind faith in the way that Jobs ran his company, simply because it was a success. In other words, if the company had been a flop, those same qualities that the author praises Jobs for possessing, would be the same ones that he would be using in an article about the biggest business failures in recent times.
ReplyDeleteSteve Jobs is portrayed as a necessity for the survival of our technological generation. Deutschman glorifies Jobses both good and bad personality attributes as what has transformed technology of today. As the author writes, it's evident he is writing for the general public. Deutschman conveys his biases by telling Jobs story and claiming even his bad traits, for example "hero-shithead roller coaster," are his way of success. I agree with Dan Orlando's comment, that if the company had been a flop those qualities would have been noted for the business failure. The writing makes me wonder really if any of his bad qualities may have contributed to any downfalls. And based on my own previous knowledge, if Jobs hadn't had his company falling out with Steve Wozniak would the technology be any better today? I know from the article that Deutschman wants us to believe that without Jobs the progress of technology will change. He also describes Cook as a "steady, solid type," perhaps this change will work as a benefit for technological advancement. Who’s to say that any of their attitudes have anything to do with advancement, but it seems to be a major focus of Deutschman's concern for who will make the better CEO. On a side note about advancement, the pattern of market capitalization as shown in the article speaks for public views in my opinion. If you notice, when Jobs is present capital increases in most cases, whereas without Jobs it decreases. This leads me to believe that perhaps it's in the public’s eye that we need a familiar face to the common Apple logo to trust the technology. Hopefully, we will see that Steve wants Cook to succeed him and Apple will continue in their upward fashion.
ReplyDeleteDan Orlando’s statement, "many businessmen in history have made contributions without specific set qualities like those of Jobs” is true. However, a businessman must have extraordinary persuasiveness, constant risk taking, rare deal-making ability, and fierce perfectionism to be the top of the other businessmen. It is true that some businessmen succeeded without Jobs qualities, but their company never reached the top as Apple did.
ReplyDeleteI see that a lot of you have made comments on how Deutschman directly relates the success of the Apple company to the business man qualities of Jobs. It seems as if this article has convinced many people that Apple is so successful today solely because of Jobs. Do you think Deutschman's intention of this article was to persuade people to believe that Apple cannot be successful without Jobs? If not, what do you think his intentions were (considering most of you pointed out that you see biased remarks throughout the article)?
ReplyDeleteYeram makes a good point that most of the successful businessmen in today's society have similar traits to those of Job. Steve Job's did take Apple to an entire new level and it is amazing to see that it is now one of the top companies in the world. Also, regarding CassyEllen's comment, it is very interesting that the Apple shares decreased after Jobs announced that he would be stepping down. Being the CEO, Jobs was the main reason for the companies success, but Apple has so many other employees working on new products that the success of the company is not solely because of Job. All of the credit for the success of the company seems to be given to Steve Jobs but there are many other people that are also responsible for Apple's success. Does the author want readers to have more appreciation for Steve Job's life and his achievements after reading this article?
ReplyDeleteI dont think that the purpose of this article was to persuade people that Apple can not be successful without Jobs. Deutschman was just telling the significance of Jobs life and he wanted to make sure people knew about Jobs before he was gone. I think Deutschman wrote this article out of respect for Jobs, not to say Apple isn't going to be successful anymore.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Meghan has a point that Deutschman wants the readers to have a deeper appreciation for Job's success. Of course how can one not appreciate a man who took a failing company, and turned it into one of the most iconic company of our generation. Deutschman seems to idolize and praise Job's success with Apple. Deutschman tells the reader about Job's history as a drop out college student and how he continued to drop in on classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with CassyEllen's comment regarding the advancement of technology. She said, "Who’s to say that any of their attitudes have anything to do with advancement?". Steve Jobs obviously was not responsible for the research and development because he was the CEO, not a researcher. So, why should Steve Jobs get all the credit for the advancement of the mobile technology of the Apple company when he doesn't advance the technology first hand?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Deutschman, "no one doubts Cook’s vital importance in Apple’s incredible success, [however] the issue is [is] that he’s the ultimate No. 2 while Jobs was the ultimate No. 1. Cook isn’t the type who changes the world. He’s the guy who makes it run on time." Although I agree that Jobs is a vital individual to the Apple Company, why doesn't Deutschman give more credit to Cook or Apple's other employees? Every part and employee of the company is essential to its success. To answer Jimmy's question ("why should Steve Jobs get all the credit for the advancement of the mobile technology of the Apple company when he doesn't advance the technology first hand?) Perhaps, Jobs receives all the credit because he created the company. As the creator, he assigns projects, gives ideas, and watches over all the aspects of the company, even though he, himself, doesn't do all the research. As a result, he probably approves,denies, and critiques the projects of the company, so he does give input and should get credit for that. In addition, Jobs is an extremely busy man, so doing everything himself would be impossible. As a result, more credit should be given to the other employees, such as acknowledging them to the public or giving them awards. Without their help, Apple wouldn't be the company it is today.
ReplyDeletei feel that what Sam Wanstrath is saying here is true; Jobs' success cannot be ignored, and should not be unappreciated. Jimmy also has a point here; Jobs' job (hehe) was definitely not directly involved with creating the groundbreaking technology Apple sells, he was more of a face associated with the company. Can anyone shed some light on the actual work Steve Jobs did after returning to Apple as CEO?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Missy, I believe the reason that Deutschman doesn't focus on Cook and the other employes is because Jobs has been with the company from the beginning and is really the only notable face of Apple. While Cook has been in Apple product info videos no one would know him from any other Apple employee who works at the local Apple store. The real point though is that Apple is so much bigger than Jobs, CEO's from countless companies change and the companies remain as profitable as ever. Who knows, the new face of Apple could bring even more energy than Jobs
ReplyDeleteDeutschman seems to value Jobs' ability to not only run a successful business but also to inspire others and to follow his own inspirations. Deutschman focuses on Jobs perfectionism and his drive to outdo himself in order to stay ahead of competitors. In addition to valuing Jobs' drive, he also focus' on Jobs' status as an underdog which plays well with the audience reading this article. American's value underdog stories and by focusing on Jobs' success to failure moments he is making Jobs more appealing to readers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam in regards to Jobs' adoptive parents playing a more major role shaping who he is today than his biological parents. By referring to Jobs' adoptive parents as "muggles" Deutschman belittles their role in his development and in his success.
I agree with some of these other posts in the sense that Deutschman makes Jobs out to be some kind of god-like figure that will be near impossible to replace. As I sit in this library and look around I see the little Apple icon everywhere, proving that he has had a huge impact on the world with regards to technology and definitely deserves a great deal of praise. However, I think that Apple had to be a group effort and will continue to make great improvements in technology with the base and skills that Jobs has left behind.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Deutschman really praised Jobs' work ethic and emphasized the fact that he came from a very average family. His audience is mainly middle class Americans who want to hear a story about the "American Dream" come true: how, in his analogy, this boy from "muggle parents" became a "wizard." Deutschman wanted to prove that there is hope to impacting the world and making a name for yourself, regardless of the family you were born in. This aspect of the article makes Jobs' appear to be extremely relatable to the public. Deutschman knew who he was talking to and what he was talking about when writing this article. The comparison to Harry Potter, our favorite hero, most likely won over millions of people because saying goodbye to the end of Harry's story was heart-braking. But this is real life and the story is far from over. Cook is here to greatly influence the next series of the many accomplishments we hope to see from Apple, in my opinion. This is why I believe this article was making a controversial claim that Jobs leaving is the end of an era, while this is not exactly the case.
In his praise of Jobs, Deutschman appeals to an innovative, go-getter. Although Jobs has not been, and is not, the brightest pupil, the one with the most knowledge in any particular area, he knows how to manipulate people and situations in his favor. Deutschman also makes a point to emphasize the role that the new CEO, Tim Cook, has played in Jobs' success. Cook has been the behind-the-scenes guy, the one that makes Jobs' whims run smoothly.
ReplyDeletePer the responses to the article, it is interesting to see what the readers get out of the article. Some respondents agree with the author, reiterating the author's thoughts about Jobs' impeccable timing as far as retirement is concerned. Others offer critique of the products (one respondent claiming that the Apple machines are making too many decisions for the users), Jobs' health, and the reputation of the company. I would not go as far to say that the article changes readers' views of Jobs or Apple, not does it seem to affect anybody's knowledge. However, it does bring out prior knowledge and present many topics on the same subject, opening up the forum for great discussion.