Fireside Chat with Steve Jobs

I was here for last year's fireside chat with Apple's Steve Jobs and for those who have seen him "perform" know, he's always on and engaging regardless of what is thrown his way.

Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher are both on stage with him and they start with the iPod. Walt asks about wireless and Job responds with the need for larger screen displays, so you can see music and video. "Discovering and buying music is one of the great values of the iPod, but it's not the same rich experience you would have on a computer screen. Consumers have other options other than getting music on their phones," says Jobs. But hasn't Jobs really emphasized the cell phone before?

They turn to a discussion on the subscription model. Jobs talks about how much the music industry loves the subscription model, "so they can raise their costs every year - look at cable." True. It's hard to imagine that at prices around $5 per month, Yahoo and other players can sustain that model and be profitable.

Walt asks him whether he would be open to a deal with a record label that offered price stability. Jobs laughs and says that internally they have a bet on how many months it will be before Yahoo raises their prices. Jobs is banking on five months. As for the peer-to-peer network, the industry continues to fight it.

"What's new?" We all want to know. Get to the demo I'm thinking, he must have one for us. Jobs switches to podcasting and his eyes light up. Usually this means he's ready to demo and wants to show off their "new stuff." Yup, he stands up and walks over to the stand. "It's like Wayne's World for Radio and 'real' radio is jumping on board," he confirms. Think TiVo for Radio for your iPod. Hmmmm. Interesting.

So who's doing podcasts today? It's growing, but many of the majors have jumped on board, including Clear Channel, Infiniti, BBC, Newsweek, Forbes, Washington Post, Disney and NPR. New advertising models are likely to crop up as this space explodes and adoption increases.

Jobs starts to show us new visuals; the ability to choose. He turns to Walt and says, "I bet you'll be podcasting your column soon." Those in the room who have been monitoring this space, support podcasting but know how time consuming it is, smile. Adam Curry gets a plug and the example is a humorous clip which receives applause and laughter from the crowd.

"Just like we do with music, we'll highlight key podcasts that are good," he says. And with confidence, certainty and passion, he says "We're at 4% now. We're trying to make the best PCs and operating systems in the world and we do." And on Tiger, their latest release of OSX, he claims its doing extremely well in the market -- the most successful they have released to-date.

I find his Pixar connection the most interesting however. Kara asks him about his time allocation between the two entities. He's apparently there one day a week. "The movie business is not a zero sum game like it is in the computer business. If someone buys a Dell, they're unlikely to buy a Mac and vice versa. In the movie business, its different."

He talks about the importance of using storyboards -- sophisticated storyboards that is, to reduce the costs so you can in essence, edit the film before you make it. Jobs says with a proud face, "At Pixar, if the movie isn't working, we stop and fix the story." Ah yes, the importance of the story. The best technology in the world can't turn a dead story around. Here here.

"Why didn't you announce the ability to watch video clips in your recent release?" Walt asks. Jobs responds, "It's basically an extra feature to entice people to buy albums today." He doesn't rule out video in the future. Why not?