I disagree with Gruber's interpretation here. Apple wants to do everything well; excellent software is a by-product. But as a focus? Not really.
This is not to say Apple doesn't make good software, but there is very little in the actual output of the company that supports Gruber's notion.
Back in early iPhone days, one of the biggest complaints was a lack of multi-tasking in iOS -- you could only ever have one app running at a time. There were no push notifications, etc. The Apple explanation, per Jobs, was that they consciously chose to exclude that capability. A few versions later, voila -- iOS supports multi-tasking. This sort of cycle -- explain why a feature didn't exist due to some chosen policy/belieft, then include it in later revisions -- became a pattern for Apple.
Flip to the hardware side, and the story is different. When has Apple hardware, since Jobs return in the nineties, ever been a compromise? It hasn't, because Jobs focused on the hardware. While the software is important, it is really a means to an end. The hardware meets this condition too, but it is much higher in the pecking order of consideration than software.
well people complained about the lack of 3G, and now LTE. Some also complained about the lack of radio or full bluetooth support. I think your right, Apple wants to do everything well, not just "everything". If they can't do it well (copy pasting, multitasking...) they don't do it until they can.
I think we have yet to see the full spectrum of Apple's focus on software. Until the iPhone, they were hardware oriented (the Mac, the iPod). But since then, they are moving towards software. They make some of the best Mac and iOS apps after all.
This is not to say Apple doesn't make good software, but there is very little in the actual output of the company that supports Gruber's notion.
Back in early iPhone days, one of the biggest complaints was a lack of multi-tasking in iOS -- you could only ever have one app running at a time. There were no push notifications, etc. The Apple explanation, per Jobs, was that they consciously chose to exclude that capability. A few versions later, voila -- iOS supports multi-tasking. This sort of cycle -- explain why a feature didn't exist due to some chosen policy/belieft, then include it in later revisions -- became a pattern for Apple.
Flip to the hardware side, and the story is different. When has Apple hardware, since Jobs return in the nineties, ever been a compromise? It hasn't, because Jobs focused on the hardware. While the software is important, it is really a means to an end. The hardware meets this condition too, but it is much higher in the pecking order of consideration than software.