"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it's black." (Henry Ford)

It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” (Steve Jobs)

The quotes above suggest two markedly different approaches to design. One implies that the aesthetic is a poor relation to function; the other that design should be the philosophical heart of a product.

The respective philosophies of Henry Ford and Steve Jobs are indeed worlds (and roughly 100 years) apart, but the fact that they have a “philosophy” at all makes the parallels interesting. Indeed, not since Ford has a company been so infused and shaped by the vision of its leader as Apple has under Jobs’ stewardship (apologies to Walt Disney, among others). This ‘vision,’ of course, must contain a certain amount of bloody mindedness to ensure that the company is not dogged by the bureaucracy and design-by-committee that can engulf a firm as it grows. Jobs may not have had the hard-nosed persona of Ford, but you can bet he was a tough cookie behind closed boardroom doors. You don’t get to be a market leader without a certain degree of ruthlessness.

History has already bestowed Henry Ford with an ‘ism’. Simply put, Fordism is a commitment to mass production – Ford is credited with inventing the modern assembly line – to ensure the lowest possible prices for the end product (now a common model, of course). Although a fervent anti-unionist, he also believed that his workers should be paid well enough to buy the cars that they made. His approach was so successful that the iconic Model T Ford – his first motor car – was selling in the hundreds of thousands before most of the roads were even built for it to drive on.

Ford is, incorrectly, often credited with inventing the motor car. He didn’t, but he may as well have done. The same is true of Jobs. Take the iPod: when the first version of the iconic music player was unveiled in 2001, mp3 players had already been around for years. No matter. The iPod was such a great leap forward that it effectively re-launched the market again on its own terms. He pulled off the same trick again with the iPhone a few years later.

As well as an ability to get pioneering products out of the door, both men were also blessed with a masterly grasp of the dark arts of marketing. Ford is credited with creating the motor industry from scratch and stoking a love affair between Americans and their cars that exists to this day. Similarly, Apple under Jobs never simply marketed a music player or a phone, but an entire concept that engaged with consumers on a much deeper level than the prosaic product pushed out by its competitors. Jobs had a particular gift for giving the public want they wanted before they even knew they wanted it, the iPhone’s touchscreen being a good example.

Both men were also unashamed self-propagandists, seamlessly interweaving their public personas with the company brand. For Ford, this meant publishing his own newspaper. For Jobs, it meant standing alone on stage (in the ubiquitous black polo-neck jumper) showing-off his latest device to his adoring public.

It’s hard writing this piece, in light of Jobs’ resignation today, not to refer to Apple’s outgoing CEO in the past tense, as much an historical figure as Henry Ford. Despite his high-profile health scares, we all hope he can still play an influential role in the new era at Apple, under his successor Tim Cook. But Jobs’ legacy is already enshrined in corporate lore and Apple’s future will be shaped and influenced by it. Just as the echo of Henry Ford can still be heard at his company today, Jobs’ philosophy will be at Apple's core for many years to come. 

Matt Ablott

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members