Steve Jobs on Zune
I saw this over at Northwest Noise and it was a great quote to post over here:
Microsoft has announced its new iPod competitor, Zune. It says that this device is all about building communities. Are you worried?
In a word, no. I’ve seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left! You’re much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you’re connected with about two feet of headphone cable. (Link)
Brilliant! Of course, I think I remember Steve Jobs saying that video on a portable device would never go anywhere because the screen was too small and the experience would be way too diluted. He contrasted this to the audio experience of an iPod + headphones, which is concert-level fidelity. A decent thought, but I think he got that wrong.
Still, I think the Zune stuff is silly… not that I’m really up on the latest Zune news. To me, simple is always best. That is until 5–or-so years from now where some of the things Zune is doing now are universally considered simple and thus painless and fun.