In a one-on-one conversation with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs gave us his usual swagger, rhetorically speaking. He shared with us the fact that the iPhone is actually the best phone they’ve ever created, as well as the best iPod, though it might be worth noting that it hadn’t much competition in either category, what with Apple’s prior phone experience consisting of a Motorola that somebody injected with a weakened strain of iTunes, thus vaccinating it to make sure it never caught iTunes in full force. As for the prior iPods, nice as they were, they weren’t… you know, phones.
When asked about third party development on the iPhone, Steve’s reply was the same line we’ve been hearing since Macworld in January. While he wasn’t kind enough to paint us a picture of Cingular’s annihilation at the hands of a kid trying to create a Tetris on his new iPhone, the situation doesn’t seem to have improved for developers who want to put their code inside this device.
Once the conversation turned to the AppleTV, things started getting interesting. First, came the announcement that YouTube videos will become available via a software update arriving in the coming weeks. As Steve described Apple’s intentions for its “hobby” project, he let loose a few examples of what Mr. Mossberg described as “that Steve Jobs humility.” On the high percentage of iTunes users being Windows users as well, he offered this description, which I found rather poetic: “It’s like giving a glass of ice water to somebody in hell!”
The conversation also brought to light such tidbits as where you won’t find Mac advertisements, the iPhone’s battery life (hint: it’s what you expect), and the Real Steve Job’s opinion of the Fake Steve Jobs (he thought it was funny).
Check out Macworld’s in-depth coverage of the event to learn more, and make sure you have your browser pinned to Macworld’s live coverage later today of the Jobs/Gates joint talk. I hear that they’re going to throw down.
"...though it might be worth noting that it hadn't much competition in either category..."
Right those iPods suck. He's saying the iPhone is a better iPod than the iPod. That is saying something. He's not saying it's better because the iPod doesn't have a phone, he's saying it's a better music/video player.