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Comment by meroes | Hacker News Reader

Is there not a single product expert leading any company in big tech anymore? What’s going on.

Growing up I was used to there being more useful and fun tech gadgets than I could ever afford. Now it’s like unless they own your entire online presence they don’t want your money. Give me that dumb iPod v1.0 which gets sand in the wheel and lasts an hour on battery but for VR. The idea was all your music on the go and it met that goal.

For VR it should be hands free/hands minimal portable productivity. Give that shitty resolution and battery life. I would take navigating YouTube, PDFs, email at the lowest res feasible and 2 hour batteries and isn’t gigantic and prevents you from normal activities. Don’t build a multi billion dollar platform.

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In general, I think it's very hard for a "product expert" to obtain or hold leadership of a company once it gets large. The "bureaucracy experts" have a huge advantage in that realm.

And that's not inherently a bad thing. Despite his often shrill detractors, Tim Cook, who's definitely a "bureaucracy expert" more than he is a "product expert", has done a darn good job leading Apple since Steve Jobs' untimely death. The thing is, he knows to listen to the product experts, and to put the really good ones in positions of some power within the hierarchy.

The problem comes when your "bureaucracy experts" only value what they understand: Bureaucracy. Numbers. Finances, especially in the short-term sense.

Now, I honestly don't think this is precisely Zuckerberg's problem. From what I've seen, I don't think he's necessarily a "bureaucracy expert" himself—but nor is he a "product expert" in the same sense as someone like Jobs or Ive; he helped to create the original Facebook, but I don't believe he's ever come up with any other products that have seen any real success (though correct me if I'm wrong). He's more of a founder who rode a wave of money to where he is, and bought into the idea that that meant he was somehow smarter than everyone else.

He's done a good job money-wise, Apple hasn't released an innovative product in a decade.

Which “he”; Cook or Zuck? Oh well, doesn't matter: Neither has Facebook.

> I would take navigating YouTube, PDFs, email at the lowest res feasible and 2 hour batteries and isn’t gigantic and prevents you from normal activities.

Why? Who else would want that?

I know, right? The only reason to want a "fun gadget" like that is if you're the kind of person who enjoys gadgets for gadgets' sake. Which is fine - we all have our interests.

But I'm not a Gadget Guy. Why would I want shitty YouTube in VR when I have good YouTube on my phone?