"The over-all point is that new technology will not necessarily replace old technology, but it will date it. By definition. Eventually, it will replace it. But it's like people who had black-and-white TVs when color came out. They eventually decided whether or not the new technology was worth the investment"
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Jobs isn’t arguing that technology “wins” by annihilating what came before; he’s describing how it wins by embarrassing it. The key verb here is “date.” New tech doesn’t have to outperform the old in every metric on day one. It just has to shift the cultural baseline so yesterday’s device starts to feel like a tell: a black-and-white TV isn’t suddenly broken when color arrives, it’s suddenly a statement about what you’ll tolerate.
That framing is classic Jobs: inevitability paired with consumer psychology. He grants a temporary dignity to the holdout - “they eventually decided” - but the decision is rigged by social momentum. Once a technology establishes a new default, staying behind becomes an active choice you have to justify, not a neutral status quo. The subtext is that adoption is less about rational cost-benefit spreadsheets than about identity, aspiration, and the fear of being left with the visibly outdated thing.
The context is Silicon Valley’s recurring sales pitch dressed up as realism. Jobs admits replacement is “eventual” while emphasizing the interim period where the market can be coaxed: early adopters pay to be ahead, skeptics wait to see if the upgrade is “worth the investment,” and the product’s job is to make the wait feel increasingly uncomfortable. It’s also a neat self-justification for Apple’s own rhythm of disruption: don’t blame the company for making your device feel old; blame history.
That framing is classic Jobs: inevitability paired with consumer psychology. He grants a temporary dignity to the holdout - “they eventually decided” - but the decision is rigged by social momentum. Once a technology establishes a new default, staying behind becomes an active choice you have to justify, not a neutral status quo. The subtext is that adoption is less about rational cost-benefit spreadsheets than about identity, aspiration, and the fear of being left with the visibly outdated thing.
The context is Silicon Valley’s recurring sales pitch dressed up as realism. Jobs admits replacement is “eventual” while emphasizing the interim period where the market can be coaxed: early adopters pay to be ahead, skeptics wait to see if the upgrade is “worth the investment,” and the product’s job is to make the wait feel increasingly uncomfortable. It’s also a neat self-justification for Apple’s own rhythm of disruption: don’t blame the company for making your device feel old; blame history.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
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