There was a very interesting round of questions from the audience. As expected, and as seen during the rest of E-Summit, one of the first questions asked was on the effects of Global meltdown, on Apple, and on budding entrepreneurs. Dominique replied by saying that the recession was way overdue since long, and thinks it might continue for another year or so. This calls for major reshuffling.
For start-ups, this is actually a good time. In fact, in Dominique’s view, the next 2-3 years should be excellent for new ventures. The down side could be a bit less VC funding, but the start-ups stand to gain quite a lot once the market correction phase enters. If you have an idea, come up with a venture soon. If only some people would listen!
Another interesting question asked was “What next after the iPod?”
Answered with an extremely quick “I’m not gonna tell you!” 😀
On a bit more nudging, Dominique just remarked that it will be very interesting, and we’ll see for ourselves in due course of time.
Then there was this question straight from Pirates of the Silicon Valley, asking Dominique to compare Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Dominique replied that the two are simply very different as people, and have different skills. While Jobs is the more creative minded, Gates is gifted with a good ability to market and to do business. Without venturing further, he simply remarked that the two are actually quite good friends outside of the business world.
And there was the biggie: OPEN SOURCE!!!
Dominique said that he personally was not a great fan of the movement. For one, the open source movement has gone to virtually destroy entities like SUN and other enterprises from the Silicon Valley. Besides, there have been concerns over quality as well as sustainability of the idea. So while it may all be very romantic and revolutionary today, the future of open source is quite uncertain. He concluded by saying that open-source movement, free culture etc may all be “good things”, but he’s all for proprietary.
And then for the conclusion.
