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Why Steve Jobs hated ugly products
For many companies, a computer was a technical product: a number of megahertz, the amount of memory, a list of functions. In that world what mattered most was performance and the ability to sell at scale. Steve Jobs saw it differently. For him, a computer was an object of culture. It was something that should express taste, sensitivity, and the level of care invested in its creation.
This is why he paid obsessive attention to details that others considered completely irrelevant. He cared not only about the appearance of the case, but also about how the inside of the computer looked. Engineers sometimes argued that the user would never see it, so spending time on it made little sense. Jobs answered that it did not matter - if something was built properly, it should be good in its entirety, even in the places no one will ever see.
Figure in spotlight
Steve Jobs
This philosophy made Steve Jobs intensely critical of many competing products. The most famous example appeared when he was asked about Microsoft. The rivalry between Apple and Microsoft was already obvious, but Jobs did not speak about business strategy or the software market. He spoke about taste.
In his view, Microsoft’s products were not disastrous. They were not complete failures either. The problem was something else. They lacked character. They worked, but they revealed no deeper care for craftsmanship. There was no trace of passion for form, for detail, or for the user’s experience. They were correct, yet strangely anonymous.
Jobs once summarized this with a comparison that later became famous.
He said Microsoft was like McDonald's.
He did not mean that the products were disgusting or completely useless. The point was the logic behind how they were created. McDonald’s operates according to the principles of scale and repetition. Every element is optimized for mass production and predictable experience. Everything tastes almost the same, regardless of where you are in the world.
For Jobs, it was a metaphor for a world of technology where products are designed primarily for the market, rather than for craftsmanship.
The most interesting part of this story is that it is not really about technology. It is about the way people think about creating things. Every product, regardless of industry, reflects the priorities of the people who build it. If speed to market matters most, the product will feel rushed. If scale is the priority, it will start to resemble everything else.
But when care for form, experience, and detail becomes the priority, the product begins to carry something that Steve Jobs once described as spirit.
Perhaps that is why some objects remain with us for years while others immediately become interchangeable. Not because they are technologically more advanced, but because someone treated their creation as an act of craftsmanship - not merely a task of production.
That approach is becoming rare. And when something is rare, people tend to recognize it even if they cannot fully explain why.
If any product has ever given you that feeling, I would be curious to hear about it. You can simply reply to this email.