No one else claims they had the 'vision' for the iPod/iPad/iPhone while at the same time everyone credits Steve so he must have been more than a quality checker.
Is that really a qualitative difference though? Clearly, MP3 players had been around before the iPod. What set the iPod apart was much better design. This is, in a sense, a matter of quality checking, but to an extreme extent.
Does the extremity of the quality checking turn into something qualitatively different? That seems to be a rather subjective judgement, hence why you had the back-and-forth.
I don't think that is what set it apart. It was probably having a software program (iTunes), that could work with your hardware and manage your library. Not sure when they introduced the shop.
Does the extremity of the quality checking turn into something qualitatively different? That seems to be a rather subjective judgement, hence why you had the back-and-forth.