

What would Steve Jobs think about Project Glass (Google Glasses) - thanashyam
http://joylita.com/post/20907921332/i-am-not-robot-steve-jobs-take-on-googles-project

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iamwil
Haha. If his biography is any indication, he'd shoot down the idea and then
come out with glasses in 6 months and say how he thought of it.

To be serious, I think Steve Jobs would consider it. If you had the glasses
and they worked as advertised, you wouldn't need an iPhone, and that threatens
their core business. They'd have to either get in on it, and the iPhone5/6
would be eyewear, or find something to leap frog it.

~~~
wisty
Exactly. He wouldn't announce anything, and would deride competitors efforts
until Apple had ironed out all the bugs.

Then he'd come up with some minimal produce with a great user interface which
slotted in perfectly to Apple's ecosystem, then try to grow it into its own
platform.

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babarock
I believe the first half of 2012 will go down in the History of blogging as
the era where simply mentionning Steve Jobs would be enough for your blog to
get attention. Remember this shallow article that topped HN by comparing Linus
Torvalds to Steve Jobs?

Heck, even an old (badly written) blog post of mine, dating from early 2010
and called "Steve Jobs the control freak" is attracting so much traffic now.

I'm complaining about this article. It's not interesting. It's not Steve Job's
opinion on the Project Glass. It's simply relating an anecdote about Jobs
giving a cocky answer to a cocky employee. But it mentions Jobs, it mentions
Project Glass and ... BAM! Front page of HN for the day.

~~~
drivebyacct2
Given the amount that I still hear people gripe back and forth about Google
stealing from Apple and vice-versa, I think it's at least mildly interesting
to know that Jobs explicitly passed on this idea.

I'm not saying it does or doesn't, but if it became big, it would reflect
differently on Jobs and his "foresight" knowing that he frowned on it. If it
flops, he is "right".

Not important and probably tends towards petty fanboy credits, but fun to
think about (and there is the thought that Jobs would shoot it down even if he
liked it or considered it more later).

~~~
ma2rten
Steve Jobs initially also passed on the idea of the App Store and I think I
recall he also ridiculed the idea of making a tablet.

~~~
vetinari
He passed on many ideas, just to come back two weeks later to the same people
with just the same idea and pitching it as the greatest thing known to man.

Just because he considered it shit once dies not mean that he wouldn't change
his opinion later.

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ngokevin
I don't think he was against the idea itself, but against the oh-so-cliche
"idea guys". A wearable heads-up display is not a new idea such that whoever
thought of it would become rich. Heck, I wrote a mock-proposal about
developing a heads-up display monocle earlier this year for a school project.

~~~
arkitaip
A heads-up display monocle? Now that's brilliant.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Call it "The Dandy" and make the tag line, "Don't make a spectacle of
yourself."

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andrewfelix
The same criticism could have been levelled at headphones before they became
mainstream. "You're likely to get hit by a car" etc.

I think wearing heads up displays sounds ridiculous. But shoving little
speakers inside your head probably sounded pretty insane too.

~~~
herval
You're still likely to get into an accident while driving/biking with
headphones on, mainstream or not...

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kristianc
We really need to stop running product ideas through the Steve Jobs lens.

He was a product visionary - but I'm sure that he would also agree that he was
only one man, and that there have been plenty of great products released which
a) didn't conform to his Dieter Rams-inspired vision of design, and b) he
didn't particularly care for.

If we continue down this road, we'll end up narrowing the scope for what
constitutes great design.

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novalis
Pseudo omniscient now departed being Steve Jobs as an imaginary evaluator for
all things tends to get old fast. The "people will fall" argument is simply
pathetic, even if it came from said person. I don't know what is the problem
with bloggers lately but I am starting to find it amusing that the semigodic
look up to, in memory of is going to bring many more "pearls" like this one.
It's becoming one of those "what would Jesus do" meme things.

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rbarooah
He'd ask whether it would help you to get a girlfriend, or whether it would
just creep her out.

Based on this:

[http://37signals.com/svn/posts/52-steve-jobs-just-put-it-
in-...](http://37signals.com/svn/posts/52-steve-jobs-just-put-it-in-her-ear)

------
redwood
Killer-app for HUD? -> Identify name by facial recognition!

~~~
jedc
Serious privacy implications, but as someone who doesn't do well connecting
names and faces... absolutely a MUST-HAVE app!

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JofArnold
Apple have patents in this space. So, presumably, he'd have thought it was
interesting at least.

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etherspin
he'd be against it like he pretended to have no intention to create a phone,
tablet or indeed X other device, if apple hadn't made one yet he would always
contend there was no use for it.

~~~
redwood
I think there's truth to what you say... he had a knack for supporting what
could be made well at the cutting edge of available tech. Head's up display is
crap today not so much because of imaging tech into the eye being lacking
(that could be built quickly) but rather because we can't compute enough
useful stuff about what the eye sees and present it to the user for a
compelling experience yet.

All this is changing... self-driving cars etc. but it's going to take time.

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jakobe
Why not link to the original post?

~~~
okamiueru
Which is ... ?

~~~
babarock
[http://iamnotrobot.com/post/20511534816/steve-jobs-take-
on-g...](http://iamnotrobot.com/post/20511534816/steve-jobs-take-on-googles-
project-glass)

------
yogrish
very true. First instance I too felt the same. User will fall down or hit some
vehicle/tree.

~~~
dpark
Just like how every time a runner glances at their GPS or watch they fall down
or get hit by a car?

