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Steve Jobs is pretty famous for his fanaticism about details (to his great success) but I think there may be signs he has a little problem.
Let’s try a quiz:
Q. You’re the CEO of Apple Computer and have just decided to branch out into operating your own stores. You decide to:
A. Concentrate on overall strategy and delegate the operation and design of the stores to competent employees
B. Design and patent the staircases for the stores
If you chose B then you must be Steven P. Jobs!
When the CEO of a major computer company starts designing the staircases for their retail stores maybe he/she has a problem. But maybe we should judge such behaviour on its results- it is a very nice staircase!
The Patent and Patent Application cover the ornamental design of the stair and also the brute functionality of the the glass supports and bolts that hold it together.
Obviously, Jobs (the college dropout) hasn’t done the engineering work on these stairs but he is listed as first inventor on both the stair ornamental design patent and the design of the glass structural elements patent application.
The stairs seem to have caught people’s imagination and lots of information is available on the web.
The staircases were designed by structural engineer James O’Callaghan, who is now a partner with Brian Eckersley at Eckersley O
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�Callaghan Structural Design. The company’s Web site has photos and details of the various Apple store staircases.
from http://www.ifoapplestore.com/stores/glass_staircase.html
Well done Steve!- I wish more CEOs were thinking-different and had such a focus on the important details of life.
It’s not just stairs Apple is obsessed about- no detail seems to small to ignore (except perhaps some problems with Powerbook batteries catching on fire and scratches to iPod nanos). A good example is in this patent application covering the pulsing sleep light (quote from the patent app:
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�A new and improved status LED indicator provides a pleasing visual appeal
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�) - stand up Brain Huppi. These details separate Apple’s products from the pack and have enabled it to sell slower, less featured products at a higher price (I for one am willing to pay). Perhaps speed will not be an issue so much in the future but we will still have to pay a premium for good design.
July 8, 2003 Glass support member 20040006939
July 15, 2002 Staircase D478,999
Ifoapplestore.com has some great information on the design philosophy of the Apple Stores (you should visit if interested).
The atmosphere, Johnson said, is inviting, approachable, forward-looking, warm, interactive and intelligent. The interiors are very common, he said. “Apple is never about being tricky. It’s about being common.” So they use natural materials like stone, wood, glass and stainless steel, using a neutral palette, and “incredible” lighting. Furthermore, they pay “uncompromising attention to detail,” he said, and added that, “Every little element in the store is designed to these very details.”
He then showed a series of photos of the SoHo (NYC) store, and pointed out examples of standard store features. He also explained that the glass staircase used inside Apple’s flagship stores is designed simply to encourage people to climb the stairs, and thereby increase traffic to the second floor, which is traditionally lower in retail stores than the ground floor.
He then asked the key question, “Does good design lead to increased sales profit?” For Apple, he responded, “The answer is clearly, yes.” He displayed a graph of Apple’s stock price since the retail stores opened, and it showed the annual price has increased. He forecast the stores will do about $1.2 billion in sales for all of 2004, and make a $30 million direct profit, along with a$200 million in so-called “manufacturing profit” for the company for the year.
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