Quote of the Day by Steve Jobs: 'Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest'

"Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest.” A timeless quote by Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple.

Jobs made this remark when discussing market share and competitors like Nokia and BlackBerry.

Who was Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) was an American entrepreneur, inventor, and business magnate best known as the co-founder of Apple. Widely regarded as one of the greatest innovators in technology history, Jobs played a key role in revolutionising personal computing, smartphones, digital music, and animation.

Under his leadership, Apple introduced iconic products such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and MacBook, transforming the company into one of the world’s most valuable brands.

Apart from Apple, Jobs also acquired and transformed Pixar Animation Studios, which later became a major force in the global animation industry.

When was this quote said by Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs said this quote on October 18, 2010 (frequently cited as October 19 due to time zone coverage of the transcripts) during Apple’s Q4 2010 financial results conference call.

He made the statement during the question-and-answer portion of the call when answering a question about market competition and the company's long-term strategy.

What does this quote mean?

This quote highlights a philosophy of quality over quantity, emphasising that a company's ultimate success should be measured by the excellence of its products rather than its market share or sales volume.

By explicitly rejecting the goal of being the "biggest," Steve Jobs prioritised focus, craftsmanship, and user experience over mass production and corporate scale. In practice, this meant Apple would rather build a few revolutionary, premium devices that users genuinely love than flood the market with dozens of mediocre models just to capture a larger percentage of global sales.