In a New York Times interview with John Markoff, Steve Jobs reveals some details about the MacBook Air, and his thoughts on Google's Android and Amazon's Kindle.
First, Jobs revealed that Apple had gone through about 100 design prototypes to find the "right" form for the MacBook Air. He and Jonathan Ive "were not certain that they would be able to fit the computer into the package that they came up with."
On Amazon's Kindle book reader, Jobs sees the concept as flawed and claims that people simply don't read any more, suggesting a dedicated Apple book-reader is unlikely in the near future:
"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people dont read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people dont read anymore."
Finally, on upcoming competition from Google's Android mobile phone platform, Jobs seems doubtful, stating that creating a phone is a lot harder than it looks. Ironically, this mirrors comments made by Palm's CEO about the potential threat of an Apple iPhone before it was announced.
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Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
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