The Book of Jobs That People Won’t Read

Jobs and Wozniak Legos by Podbrix

You can’t say that Steve Jobs is one of those dull play-it-safe corporate executives, always trying to limit damage with the media by dispensing pre-packaged PR clichés (try reading an interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — snore). At MacWorld several weeks ago, Jobs got the blogosphere aflutter with this doozy about Amazon’s book reader product, Kindle.

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

With a generalization like that, one might have thought Jobs was running for president (I don’t know how many times I’ve been told that “Americans want safe borders” — to which I usually respond “Really, Senator McCain, thank you telling me what I want. Without you, I would never have known!” — but I digress).I’m not going to make more of Jobs’ quote than he intended. Jobs is a provocateur. I would have been disappointed if he responded with something akin to: “Apple wishes Amazon good luck. We hear it’s better than Cats. Apple wishes we had thought of it first.”

The fact is: Jobs is, on one level, correct, and on another, absolutely bonkers. People read more than ever. The Internet has made the act of reading (on the web, in business, in e-mail) more necessary than carrying cash. Someone should ask optometrists and LASIK surgeons how much more business they’re doing in the past ten years. I’m guessing most are rolling around town in BMWs and Mercedes. It’s dinosaur media (newspapers, magazines, and books) that people read less. Just ask James O’Shea, the Los Angeles Times editor, who was fired in January for resisting budget cuts. So if the media companies are struggling to monetize newspapers, magazines, and books, who’s fault is it? The iPhone? Steve Jobs? If there were more people like Steve Jobs working in dinosaur media, ready to rethink, and re-cast the book or the newspaper or the magazine, you might be reading this insight in a bookstore or a newsstand, instead of here at IsGreaterThan.net.

What does it say about New York publishing that Amazon, a technology company, is creating products to help us read more? Maybe Borders should be writing the book flaps instead of Random House? What are old media companies doing to make their products more compelling to the consumer besides complain about advertising revenue and how people don’t read anymore?

Intelligent adults read plenty. It’s not Steve Jobs’ fault that they’re not reading poorly marketed books.