Innovation stories
12 notes, 2002 to 2026 · All guides
Stories show how innovation works better than definitions do. These are short ones, from old industries to Apple to AI.
Start with lessons from the ice trade, a 19th-century industry that business leaders can learn from today, and what “disruptive” actually means, after Clayton Christensen. Two notes then give Steve Jobs on technology in search of a customer: start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology, not the other way round.
Next, Apple, Windows 95 and the Segway. Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos met “Ginger”, the prototype of the Segway, and challenged its launch plan. Apple targets people, not markets. Bill Taylor argues that companies create more value from what they believe than from what they sell. Brian Eno made 84 versions of the Windows 95 startup sound, and my first touch on a computer was a Macintosh at home.
The guide ends with markets in motion: the speed of Chinese innovation seen on a trip to China, the 1999 revolution unfolding again with AI, and a French piece on why innovation is the best defence for bookshops against Amazon.
Start here
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Lessons from the ice trade
Today, business leaders worry that a startup is going take their lunch away and that they won’t be able to react. And they are right. …
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What “disruptive” actually means
Written by Jason Crawford the day after Clayton Christensen's death, in January 2020, this short piece restores the precise meaning of “disruptive”. A …
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Technology in search of a customer
Listen to Steve Jobs on Customer centricity versus Technology Centricity. A valuable business lesson that companies and employees forget very quickly. We all have solutions …
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The right path to take – advice from Steve Jobs
In May 1997, Apple held its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California. At that time, Steve Jobs was not CEO of the company. …
Apple, Windows 95 and the Segway
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A backstage story on innovation: Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet « Ginger »
Excerpt from Code Name Ginger, Steve Kemper's book on the development of the Segway. At a meeting set up by the investor John Doerr, Dean Kamen showed the …
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Apple doesn’t target markets, it targets people
GigaOM (2010): companies adopt the iPad without Apple marketing to them, because Apple does not target markets as others do, it targets people, lets them …
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It’s not what you sell, it’s what you believe (Bill Taylor)
Bill Taylor, in Harvard Business Review (April 2012), starting from Adam Lashinsky's book Inside Apple and from a story about Tim Cook: companies create …
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Brian Eno and the Windows 95 startup sound
The video “History Of Windows Startup Sounds” (Windows on Windows, 5 minutes) traces the startup sounds of Windows since 1991, including the 1995 piece by …
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First touch on the computer…
My passion for technology probably started when the first computer arrived at home. It was in the 80′s, the computer was ‘The Macintosh’. I recall using …
Markets in motion
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Struck by the speed of Chinese innovation
I was in China last week and was struck by how fast this country is moving and how advanced they seem. Mobile payment by QR code has overtaken cash and …
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The 1999 revolution is unfolding again
1999, Silicon Valley. I was in the middle of the action. The energy was unreal. Everyone was building something. The dotcom boom. Instant free …
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Marché du livre : l’innovation, meilleur rempart contre Amazon
Tribune de Nicolas Dévé, cofondateur de Bubble, dans Les Echos (avril 2019). Plutôt que d'appeler au boycott d'Amazon, les libraires doivent innover sans …