If you are a student of business and technology history, this interview is a great listen. Two people whose writing I have greatly enjoyed over the years, Ben Thompson of Stratechery and Horace Dediu of Asymco discuss Apple at 50, disruption theory, rethinking low-end disruption, jobs to be done, importance of distribution, Horace’s time at Nokia when the iPhone launched, valuations in AI, AI and disruption, what makes companies last 100s of years, maniacal focus on the customer, and more.

My favorite bits from this:

  • The difference between a futurist and a billionaire is knowing when a thing happens. It’s not about knowing what’s going to happen. A lot of people are good at that. Getting the timing right is where the money is made.

  • You have to go through multiple disillusionments before you realize enlightenment. You have to be hurt badly. Success doesn’t make for greatness. Failure does.

  • On AI: The old rules of business haven’t disappeared because we ended up with a new technology. Every new technology obeys business rules - profitability, customer, distribution, modular or integrated.

  • The history of software shows that consumers don’t pay for productivity. To the extent they pay for productivity, they spend on devices. This is Apple’s sweet spot, software differentiated hardware. Enterprises will pay for employees to be productive.

  • A great thought experiment is ask what rich people do today and ask how can that be done by billions of people. Almost everything in history has gone that way.

The interview is here: https://asymco.com/2026/04/01/apple-at-50-ben-thompson-interviews-horace-dediu/

What do you think? Share your thoughts on this post on LinkedIn.