The Apple II had an inexpensive, reliable disk drive 2 years before some of its competitors (45-46 min)
The Apple II had 3 times as much memory as others, which is why Visicalc was written for it. Steve says this is why he is being interviewed. (47 min)
Why Apple Keeps Doing Foolish Things
I used to joke that Steve Jobs cared deeply about Apple customers from the moment they first considered purchasing an Apple computer right up until the time their check cleared the bank. Of course, in later years, the check was replace by a credit card, and check clearance was replaced by the 15-day return period, but Steve’s and Apple’s focus remained the same.
Taking a bite out of Apple
Another big difference is their openness to user feedback. Apple takes an almost Stalinist approach to its handsets, limiting user customisation in favour of a “we know best” design philosophy. Xiaomi is more guided by its users, releasing a new version of its MIUI software (based on Google’s Android operating system) every week in response to their suggestions. In some cases Xiaomi asks users to vote via weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, on whether particular features should be included or how they should work—a form of democracy its American rival would never countenance.
Jobs’s Great-Man Theory of Technology
It’s a libertarian notion of human progress — progress as defined not by social connections, but by the rejection of them. The lone geniuses. The round pegs. The stubborn individualists. “A system can only produce a system,” Jobs remarks. “I don’t want to be part of that.”