D avid Courseyis daily column for AnchorDesk is all about Steve Jobs, the eMac, and the death of the CRT. Mr. Coursey refers to Steve Jobsi claim at MACWORLD San Francisco that "The CRT display is now officially dead," as Apple was moving all of its product line to LCD displays. Mr. Coursey says that releasing the eMac to retail consumers represents a reversal in that position, but that this shows that Steve Jobs is a better executive today than in years past. From the column:
So Steve didnit stand behind his prediction. I suppose it wouldive been better if he hadnit gone out on the limb and then sawed it off all by himself, but I see his new-found pragmatism as a good thing.
Note that he recently predicted another death: At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference last month, Steve brought a coffin onstage symbolizing the death of Mac OS 9 and making way for OS X. I feel pretty sure he will stand by that promise.
He could have held the line against CRT products as well. But that would have left dollars on the table, dollars that Apple simply canit afford to lose. Todayis Steve Jobs is a better executive because heis taking advantage of marketplace opportunities, instead of standing on principle simply to prove that once again heis ahead of his time.
Check out the full column from Mr. Coursey to read the rest of his thoughts on this issue.