Who's the "Steve Jobs" of the gun industry?

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Skans

Active member
Steve Jobs real accomplishment was taking a company that made novelty computers to a completely different level by introducing revolutionary, new products that people had to have as soon as they saw them.

Who is the Steve Jobs of the firearms industry? Instead of more Glock-a-likes and 1911's, who has the capability of leading a firearms manufacturer to making the next "gotta-have" gun?
 
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cbrgator

New member
I don't think there is one. In the field of technology, major breakthroughs occur all the time. Technological capabilities are advancing at lightning speed.

In the firearms industry, major breakthroughs are normally separated by decades, not months. Nobody has revolutionized firearms the way apple revolutionized personal technology devices. I'm not sure how anyone could.
 
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LukeA

New member
Gaston Glock. Just like most new smartphones have physical features that resemble the iPhone, most pistol companies make at least one black-plastic framed gun.
 
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johnbt

New member
I don't need the stuff Apple makes. It's spiffy neat stuff, but most people haven't bought any of it either.

"Steve Jobs real accomplishment was taking a company that made novelty computers..."

...and they still make novelty computers and have less than 10% of the market. Good computers, but not widely popular.

Reminds me of the Taurus Judge or whatever that thing was called.

John

P.S. - "The company’s market share grew from 7.3 percent in 2010 to 9.3 percent in 2011."
 
I

InTheCountry

New member
Code: 
...and they still make novelty computers and have less than 10% of the market.

Probably becuase their so dang expensive haha.
 
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Technosavant

New member
There isn't one.

Jobs' following isn't because he's a good inventor. He has a great eye for design and is a genius at marketing, but the cult of personality around him just has no parallel in the firearms world.
 
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Rifleman1776

New member
There isn't one.
Real development of modern firearms ended just after the CW.
Since then there have only been modifications and minor improvements on the now, almost ancient, concept of bullet in the front of a brass case that goes bang when you hit it on the back end.
We need something new.
 
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shootniron

New member
.and they still make novelty computers and have less than 10% of the market. Good computers, but not widely popular.


P.S. - "The company’s market share grew from 7.3 percent in 2010 to 9.3 percent in 2011."
Click to expand...

Yes, but Apple is still worth more than the software giant Microsoft and is the world's second most valuable company........must be a decent business plan.

Back on track with OP, I think it would be JMB.
 
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C

carguychris

New member
I don't think there is one. In the field of technology, major breakthroughs occur all the time... Nobody has revolutionized firearms the way apple revolutionized personal technology devices. I'm not sure how anyone could.
Click to expand...
I don't agree entirely- the difference is that firearms are a mature technology whereas computers and personal technology are still developing. There were numerous game-changing technical innovations in firearms design- they just came in the late 19th century!

IMHO computers and personal technology are probably where the firearms industry was in 1910 and the auto industry was in 1955; the basic fundamentals have been invented, so the new models aren't leaps and bounds better than the previous models from a sheer technical standpoint. However, a lot of refinements are reshaping what people expect the technology to do, and several substantial leaps forward are probably still on the way.
There isn't one. Jobs' following isn't because he's a good inventor. He has a great eye for design and is a genius at marketing, but the cult of personality around him just has no parallel in the firearms world.
Click to expand...
+1.

Sam Colt was an inventor and a good promoter but he could not run a business very well.

John Moses Browning was a technical genius but he was content to stay in the shadows and let others manufacture his designs.

Hiram Maxim briefly approached Jobs' combination of marketing brilliance, business sense, and cult of personality, but refinements by others (including Browning) quickly surpassed his original invention, and he did not have anything up his sleeve to follow it.

Bill Ruger was ~40 years too late. Also, IMHO Ruger's genius is more comparable to Soichiro Honda- the ability to look at a complex and expensive product invented by others, strip it down to what buyers really want, leave off the extraneous fluff, and sell it cheaper than anyone else can.
 
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HiBC

New member
Certainly John Moses Browning,no one else has equalled him.
A little more modern,but,not JMB,Eugene Stoner.
 
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Falcon642

New member
When I think of Apple, I think of buzz and releasing the next gotta have item.

Right now I can only think of one firearm company that comes close to that: Ruger.

LCP, LCR, SR556, LC9, SR1911, you can't deny that there was a TON of buzz around the release of each of those firearms. To me, the release of a new Ruger firearm is the closest thing we've got to the buzz that accompanies the release of a new Iphone or Ipad.
 
S

Skans

Active member
The Glock was revolutionary, but that was about 30 years ago. In fact, it's really more of a 1-hit wonder. Its virtually the same format today that it was when I purchased my G17 21 years ago. What else has Glock made besides the Glock?

Some of the micro-9mm pistols might make the cut - quite a bit of technology went into shrinking those 9mm's down to the size and weight that some are today, like the R9.

I'd say that the large capacity pistols of the 1980's - 1990's was a leap ahead technologically. 15 - 20 rounds of 9mm in a handgun that can be holstered was unheard of previously.

STI's double stack, modular 2011 was quite inventive. I think Sig has a modular gun out there to that is interesting.
 
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22-rimfire

New member
I considered a number of people.... Sam Colt, Dan Wesson, Eugene Stoner (Armalite), John Browning, Oliver Winchester, Eliphalet Remington, Gaston Glock.... Most took a single idea and built their company around it. The idea was frequently the application of a number of techical inovations or patents that were incorporated into their product line. So, to be a Steve Jobs in the gun business, it takes a good idea which grows with new techical advances.

So, I would have to put my money on Sam Colt, Oliver Winchester, and Eliphalet Remington Jr because they were innovative, but continued to be inovative for a long period of time by buying patents and improving their product line just like Steve Jobs. J M Browning basically sold his inovative ideas to other companies and allowed them to continue to show inovation and prosper.
 
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Lawyer Daggit

New member
I think the closest living one would be the CEO of Savage. I am sorry I cannot recall his name.

The gentleman really does have a contagious passion for firearms and shooting.

.
 
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