Is Kanye West the next Steve Jobs? Read this and decide.
How the Kanye West Tablet became the Tupac Tablet
My recent twitter responses @Indamixx to Kanye West's comments @kanyewest on how he is committed to 'picking up where Steve Jobs left off' by making electronics and next gen gadgets of the same quality of Apple, has spawned questions of "what's your beef with Kanye"? The truth is I don't have a beef with Kanye, but for someone who was in discussions with Kanye West concerning tech, tablets, software, operating systems and even a new Twitter protocol plugin, I can tell you for a fact that Kanye and his team let's call them 'Camp Kanye' does not contain the level of knowlegde and aptitude it takes to make anything significant in the world of tech. How do I know? Well let me properly set the table of my conversation with 'Camp Kanye'.
First off, to properly set the table or explain the discussions I must first tell you the process of how one would engage with Mr. West and 'Camp Kanye'. I initially gained acces to Mr. West and 'Camp Kanye' through a very reputable and trusted music insider. Trusted as in I trusted this person and so did Kanye. Once an initial phone meeting was agreed to, a certain 'protocol' took place and here is "how it goes down" at Camp Kanye.
First things first. The reason why Kanye believes he can pull the tech trigger is because his Chief of Tech is a guy who wrote a very simple and super corny app for the iphone back in early 2010. I won't go into detail but Kanye's 'Tom Brady' of tech claim to fame was an app for the iphone.
I know I know...keep reading....
In order to pass the mustard one must first get on the phone with lets call him Todd.
When you get on the phone with Todd you first must agree that the conversation is to be recorded by Kanye and Kanye's manager/agent. Once you agree, then a multitude of other people at Camp Kanye get in on the conference call and you are free to make your pitch.
The only problem was for us was that since Todd knew Mr. West would be listening in or eventually listen to the call, Todd spent the first 15 minutes tooting his horn about how he was the tech worlds genius for his corny little iphone app. Everyone on my team and even some of Camp Kanye was starting to get wrest less, but eventually I got to make my pitch to Camp Kanye and introduce a dedicated music making pro audio tablet. The essence of my pitch or the viability of an audio tablet for musicians isn't really of importance for this writing. What was important was the crazy and ridiculous responses that came from Todd and the team over at Camp Kanye.
Todd being a tech genius just could not get his head around the concept of an ipad type device running music making and recording applications. Think ipad running garageband. Yes, this is a true story and yes I have been pitching this concept since 2006. An official release happened in 2008 with Samsung and Intel. Seems second nature now but for Todd he was in challenge mode. A portable Pro Tools Tablet that I released in November 2010, was just too over the top and far fetched. Although it officially debuted last year at NAMM 2011.
Getting flustered a person in the conference call blurted "we believe Apple or Google will call us any day and give Kanye his own branded Tablet". I remember thinking at the time Apple finally got the Beattles on Itunes, what do they need Kanye for? I also thought Google can't even launch a successful mobile phone, ahem Google Nexus phone, how are they going to roll out a Kanye Tablet?
I mean have you seen the Keynote from a Google exec on the Nexus right?
After Camp Kanye accidentally exposed their true intentions while never mentioning they were pursuing their own Tablet prior to the countless communications before this meeting, I knew Kanye West and his team was nefarious at best. Another shocker occurred when Camp Kanye just kept talking and divulged that their big plan for tech in 2010 was a super secret project they were working on with Korg (I think they were trying to knock off the success of T-Pain's Vocoder application). Officially Kanye's tech plate for 2010 was full with the Korg application. And this guys is going to run an entire tech company? I remember finally getting a chance to speak and said "the opportunity I am presenting is a 100 million dollar opportunity (I have the roadmap and multiples to prove it) in one year, Korg's entire market cap is 18 million with barely 8 million in annual revenue. Korg would have to work for 10 years to accomplish what we all could in one year with the Kanye Tablet.
Camp Kanye was persistent that they had a better plan and were eagerly waiting on the phone call from Apple or Google while eagerly waiting to get back in the lab with Korg on the Kanye / Korg application for Iphone.
The meeting quickly ended and I am still waiting for the official Apple or Google Kanye Tablet
(the truth is that will never happen because Apple would never undermine their core business for Mr. West, but hey... try to convince that simple principal to Camp Kanye). Would it happen with Google? I doubt it, Android is well on it's way now and Google has had many tech failures in the past year ie: Google Buzz, Google Phone, Google TV ADwords, Google TV. Plus they have their plate full fighting Apple and Facebook in everything tech... so ta ta for now Mr. West!
As for Korg and Kanye I never saw the app and if it did come out what a bust, because no one knows about it.... maybe it's still super secret, so secret that only Korg and Kanye know about it.
Now this is the abbreviated version of the story as I did have a chance to discuss a custom celebrity OS for Kanye based on Linux as well as my plans to involve Jay Z. and Dr. Dre. Maybe it was because I explained that Kanye's Tablet docks into an audio interface similar to the now available Alesis IOdock. The Kanye Tablet had a dedicated dock. If Kanye would have agreed to the deal he would have replaced the Jermaine Dupri dock that I custom built for him based on the SoSoDef brand. Jermaine even rocks an Indamixx Pro in this video. At the end of the day I built a pro audio interface laptop for Dr. Dre (google Beats2)and was not willing to give up to Mr. West the 'Holy Grail' of mobile audio recording Indamixx 3000. I explained my plan was to give the 4input 4 output top of the line version to Jay Z. and that was non-negotiable. Maybe this is why Kanye kaboshed the deal? I go into full detail in the chapter titled 'the deal that got away' in my upcoming book 'Missing The Move - Portable Pro Tools' detailing my 7 year journey of what it took to release a mobile recording studio for the masses.
Did anything good come out of the Kanye Tablet meeting? Well yes. My trusted friend who arranged the meeting with Camp Kanye was so embarrassed and frustrated with Mr. West and Camp Kanye that this person suggested we focus our pitch for the music making tablet on the Tupac Foundation to release the Official Tupac Tablet.
The Tupac Tablet? Yes! I just wish my trusted source would have suggested Tupac first as their is no comparison as to who I would like to see bless the first dedicated audio tablet for musicians.
Certainly not Kanye!
So does Kanye West have what it takes to be the next Steve Jobs?
After reading this you decide.
In the meantime...
Thank you Mrs. Shakur!
Ronald Stewart
