Steve Jobs Is a Vindictive Weenie, Says EA Founder

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Steve Jobs Is a Vindictive Weenie, Says EA Founder



The founder of Electronic Arts Trip Hawkins says that Apple's App Store is peaking right now but it will start to decline soon.

Trip Hawkins has been kicking around Silicon Valley for a long time. He started at Apple and worked his way up the ladder to become Director of Strategy and Marketing. Hawkins says that back then, he would challenge the ideas of Steve Jobs on a regular basis and that wouldn't really make him popular in the board room. When he left Apple to found EA in 1982, Steve Jobs never forgave him. Since then, Hawkins forged the largest third party publisher of games into the behemoth it is today before risking it all by trying to challenge the console market with 3DO. Now, Hawkins runs a mobile game company called Digital Chocolate and he recognizes the dominance of Jobs' App Store in that market, but Hawkins believes that Apple's golden age - Pax Appla? - is going to fade soon.

"If you look at any institution in history - look at the Roman Empire - anything in history, and what it looks like when it's peaking. Look at Apple, and how can you say it's not peaking? The CEO is still alive, let's start there," Hawkins said.

"The thing is, it may take another year or two before it starts to decline, but it has to - everything does. Everything revolves so much around Steve, and no matter how good his lieutenants are, they're not Steve."

Right now, the App Store is a great way to sell mobile games, but Hawkins believes that a closed platform is not the way of the future. "They have an attitude about saying, 'Well, we're the only manufacturer of this, and there's only one right way of things working.' I think prosperity in media does not happen with any form of censorship, so for Apple to decide that they're going to be the censors and decide how to do things and what you can and cannot do, it just doesn't really work that well, because they still end up with a thousand farting applications."

Hawkins believes that Jobs' is in danger of surrounding himself with sycophants who are afraid to tell him that his excrement might actually have an odor. "There are a lot of psycho-fans surrounding him, and a lot of people that want to work at Apple because they want to be part of it. The irony is that they're like the audience in 1984," Hawkins said, referring both to Orwell's novel but also the famous Apple ad that threw a hammer at the dominance of IBM [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8]. "They want to be close to the power and associated with the success, but many of them refuse to challenge Steve, because you'll just get your head cut off if you do that."

That's half why Hawkins left Apple to form EA, he refused to be one of Jobs' cronies. "I had a very twisted relationship with Steve because I challenged him all the time. On one hand he needed that and he knew he needed it, but on the other hand he hated it and he didn't want to see me get promoted because he didn't want me to have any political power. He drove me out of the company partly because of that reason. I stayed longer at Apple than I expected, but I'd always planned to start my own game company - but he was very, very mad when I left, and he's still mad. Not that he would ever admit it," he added.

"He's a very difficult guy to be friends with, and he thinks of anyone who leaves as an act of permanent betrayal. You're on the shit list for life."

Hawkins made sure to say that he has nothing but respect for Steve Jobs' ability to lead a company. "He's managed to make a great company. I honestly believe that Steve is the greatest CEO in history, because I know what he went through at Pixar. It's such a remarkable transformation, and at the same time he's rescuing Apple and everybody else thought it was dead. So I look at that and think, 'Wow, he makes me look like a completely horrible, wretched person in comparison.'"

I've made no secret of the fact that I dislike the Cult of Apple. I didn't buy an iPod back in the early 2000s because I thought it was overpriced white plastic, and that has informed my purchasing decisions ever since. Plus, iTunes is an infection that you can never be rid of. So I rejoice to hear Trip Hawkins bash Apple and Mr. Jobs, even though I have the same grudging respect for the CEO. But if he is surrounding himself with yes-men and chummy lieutenants than Jobs will soon be remembered by geeks with as much fondness as George Lucas and his stupid prequels.

Source: Edge [http://www.next-gen.biz/features/trip-hawkins-apple]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/67704565@N00/8993858])

Permalink
 
Apr 28, 2008
14,634
0
0
Kind of reminds me of George Lucas, to be honest.

First three Star Wars films were challenged by many making them, and they're better for it.
He had no challenge making the prequels, and look how those turned out.
 

Max Cool

New member
Mar 16, 2011
14
0
0
I can never respect a company whose entire marketing campaign for their macbook was "The other guy sucks." "The other guy gets viruses." "The other guy is a fat dweeb and I'm a pretty boy." All that time, did Gates strike back and say "you can't actually do s... on a mac?" not really. At the end, a little, but by then Jobs had fooled everyone into buying iphones that weigh 8 pounds and have a touch screen for no reason.
 

megs1120

Wing Commander
Jul 27, 2009
530
0
0
Coming up next on The Escapist, the moon has been revealed to be round.
 

MASTACHIEFPWN

Will fight you and lose
Mar 27, 2010
2,279
0
0
He is sort of right.
The idea of playing main stream games on a 2.3 inch screen isn't very appealing. beyond that, trying to find a good place to put the thing while you game so you can comftorabley use a controler. Face it, phones and pads aren't the fueture of gaming.

Everything must fall. and I think apple is begining its final decent.

I have never respected apple. I don't think I ever will.
 

HaraDaya

New member
Nov 9, 2009
256
0
0
I always enjoy some Apple bashing. It's always been so delightfully ironic how they have become what their first ad was rebelling against, it pisses Apple fans right off when you tell them that.
Closed platforms are not the way to go, it only hinders any user development of their stuff. Arrogant bastards.
 

rosac

New member
Sep 13, 2008
1,205
0
0
I can see his point, but apple has become such a juggernaut of a company its unreal. It'll take a helluva lot to kill it.
 

RA92

New member
Jan 1, 2011
3,079
0
0
That was an interesting read. And yes, I've the same grudging respect for Jobs.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

New member
Aug 11, 2009
3,044
0
0
Dak_N_Jaxter said:
Why does EA keep saying things.
It's starting to get a little tiresome.
Read the article before posting - it's something the founder of EA said, he's not actually with Electronic Arts anymore though (heading up a mobile gaming company called Digital Chocolate, it's all there in the article).
 

Sneaky-Pie

New member
Sep 22, 2008
1,000
0
0
He's absolutely correct when he says Apple has peaked.

Once Jobs dies/retires/whatever, Apple will decline. Jobs is a one-of-a-kind CEO and Apple will suffer because of that in the end.
 
Sep 14, 2009
9,073
0
0
HaraDaya said:
I always enjoy some Apple bashing. It's always been so delightfully ironic how they have become what their first ad was rebelling against, it pisses Apple fans right off when you tell them that.
Closed platforms are not the way to go, it only hinders any user development of their stuff. Arrogant bastards.
just curious what exactly was their first "ad"?


*would like to look it up and throw it in a friends face next time he tries to go mac happy around me..*

OT: If i ever see this man in real life i'll be sure to buy him a beer, i'm always up for a good apple bashing, especially if it involves steve jobs, btu still..he might be a bit too confident, i doubt they will "die down" anytime soon...
 

Fasckira

Dice Tart
Oct 22, 2009
1,678
0
0
Its a little ironic that a man whos own career has peaked is now commenting like this, isn't it? :p

Trip's a great guy and all but hes not exactly the driving force of the industry anymore.
 

manythings

New member
Nov 7, 2009
3,297
0
0
Max Cool said:
I can never respect a company whose entire marketing campaign for their macbook was "The other guy sucks." "The other guy gets viruses." "The other guy is a fat dweeb and I'm a pretty boy." All that time, did Gates strike back and say "you can't actually do s... on a mac?" not really. At the end, a little, but by then Jobs had fooled everyone into buying iphones that weigh 8 pounds and have a touch screen for no reason.
I think it was a tester to see what stupid crap they couldake people buy. Now they know that not only can they release a yearly Iphone they can release two yearly Iphones and still sell them.

OT: From everything I've read and seen Jobs (And Gates) are meant to be absolute motherfuckers who will do whatever they can to get what they want and then knife you if you don't do as you're told.
 

HBaskerville

New member
Jun 22, 2010
80
0
0
The only thing more irritating that the Cult of Apple people are the Cult of I HATE Apple people. It's like the people that brag about not having a TV or about being vegan. Good for you, but no one else cares. The same people (nerds) that mock sports fanatics insert themselves into the middle of corporate competition in the exact same way.

I'm all for caring a lot about something - that's what being a nerd is all about. The part that baffles me is that instead of being excited about what you like you focus negatively on what you don't like. You really care about what Apple does? Why? They have no where near a monopoly on anything in tech. Lots of people buy their stuff and love it. Does that bother you? Should it?

If you want to be worried about a tech company and the way it does business, be wary of Google. They actually have a monopoly on search and sell your information to anyone and everyone.

I know that it is deemed cool to not like the popular thing and that it is scary when your secret thing (internet, gaming, tech, etc) moves out of the basement and into the mainstream. So, be cool.
 

ShakyFt Slasher

New member
Feb 3, 2011
151
0
0
CorvusFerreum said:
He may have some points.... still, he kinda sounds like a douche......
I don't think he's being a douche, he's just being really honest. I agree with the guy though so maybe that makes my opinion a little biased :p