What Would You Talk to Steve Jobs About?

Recently I had a dream I met Steve Jobs, and he asked me what I thought of my Macs. It set me to wondering, what would I say to him if I did have five minutes with him? What would you say?

First off though, I’d thank him. Not because I’m some great, big, brown-nosing-suck-up, but I just believe in the importance of telling people when they’ve done a good job, because most of the time we only tell them when they haven’t - which I’d come to soon enough. I’d thank him for the Apple ][ which really kicked the personal computer revolution along, the Mac which brought the GUI to the mainstream, the iMac which continues to redefine desktop computers, for branching out to ensure Apple’s survival, and for coming back.

But mostly I’d thank him for holding on to the vision that good design is important in computer hardware and software. Although, as I’ll mention soon, it should not be held onto so tightly that other important considerations suffer. And I’d also thank him for the sensationally fast delivery service from the online store.

I’d smile and say, please put more USB ports on the back of Macs, coz I’ve got at least seven USB devices now that I connect at various stages. (iPod, non-Apple ergonomic keyboard, trackball, Palm, hard drive, TV tuner, USB flash drive, and Wacom tablet, if you’re wondering.)

Speaking of keyboards, I would put in a request for an ergonomic keyboard. It seems one area that Apple sacrifices right design (ergonomics in this case) for sexy design. I do not enjoy using the current slimline laptop-style keyboards, nor the previous generation. “Hey I got RSI, but that’s okay coz my keyboard is sexy as heck.”

While slipping in the requests, I’d ask for the iPhone to be on more affordable plans when it comes to Australia.

And of course, I couldn’t talk to Steve without asking for more value from .Mac. First off I’d suggest including online applications. Apple has to get into that space if it wants to stay relevant in office apps in the years ahead.

I’d also ask him how much he uses the software Apple sells, because some of it just doesn’t live up to promises. Some of it is just chock full of limitations or does things plain daft.

And lastly I’d ask for a better deal for Aussies. We pay upwards of 30 to 40 percent above the US price for Apple hardware, and 20 to 30 percent above for software. That’s despite the fact the AU$ has been trading at around only 10% off parity with the US$ for sometime now.

Now, that’s just a few things to get the ball rolling. You might want to talk about the ‘70s, life in the wilderness, Pixar, his top five management secrets or whatever, but, despite my best intentions, I guess I’d probably just babble on like an average user. (Just as I have here for the last three years!:))

So let us know, what would you talk to Steve Jobs about if you had five, or maybe ten minutes with him?