Convictions

John Gruber on the headphone jack:

Few companies other than Apple make decisions that they know will provoke outrage just because they think it’s the right thing to do.

Apple have done this time and time again. Floppy drive. Flash. Macbook.

Apple if anything are a company about convictions. Continually they make decisions on our behalf about what technology ought to be. Apple’s product decisions are patient and deliberate. Often they will hang back and see how the industry plays something put before they make their move, but when they see an area for genuine improvement they will push the technological envelope. They innovate. They make waves. They push the industry forward in ways no one else can - because of their convictions

Removing the headphone jack was the right call. Wireless is the future. In a few years we’ll finally see the headphone jack for how archaic it is.

We, as a species, are hooked up to focus on the short run, and we’re hooked up to seek popularity and avoid criticism. Choosing to do what you know will be unpopular in the short run but you believe will prove correct in the long run takes courage. Courage of one’s convictions, not courage running into a burning building to save a life, but courage nonetheless.

Typed on Octopage