The North Star has always been the same, which for us, is about making insanely great products that really change the world in some way - enrich people's lives.
Tim CookRead
Most business models have focused on self interest instead of user experience. Those are the kinds of problems we solve to solve.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for businesses to prioritize user experience over self-interest.
Tim Cook highlights a shift in business models that have traditionally prioritized self-interest over the user experience. He suggests that by solving problems related to user experience, businesses can create value for their customers and ultimately succeed in the market.
In practice
In a keynote speech at a tech conference, a leader might use this quote to inspire a focus on customer-centric innovation.
The North Star has always been the same, which for us, is about making insanely great products that really change the world in some way - enrich people's lives.
There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door. But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door's for everybody - for good guys and bad guys.
I don't subscribe to the view some people have in the industry that you should purposefully design products that do not last that long. I don't think it is good for anyone.
When technological advancement can go up so exponentially, I do think there's a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.
Work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that.
That has always been the objective of Apple: to do things that really enrich people's lives. That you look back on and you wonder, 'How did I live without this?'
In a commodity business, it's very hard to be smarter than your dumbest competitor.
You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.
Imitation can be commercial suicide.
Roughly speaking, when you are dealing with business firms operating in a competitive system, you can assume that they're going to act rationally. Why? Because someone in a firm who buys things at $10 and sells them for $8.00 isn't going to last very long in that firm.
The best start-ups might be considered slightly less extreme kinds of cults. The biggest difference is that cults tend to be fanatically wrong about something important. People at a successful start-up are fanatically right about something those outside it have missed.
At a big company, often size turns into constipation; it fogs the lens about what's really happening. Sometimes with size and success comes the notion that since we've done things to be successful, we have the formula and can institutionalize it. That can be death.
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