"Become Steve Jobs"

Eight unknown facts about the co-founder of Apple from his new biography

On March 24, the book “Becoming Steve Jobs” by journalists Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli went on sale - another biography of the Apple co-founder, which many employees of the company, including senior vice president of software Eddie Kew has been called "the best and most accurate portrait" of the famous personality.

On this occasion, TJ publishes a selection of eight facts that became known thanks to the publication.

Jony Ive thought the first thing Jobs would do after returning to Apple was to fire him

After Apple bought NeXT in 1997 and allowed its co-founder to return to the post of CEO, Jobs was determined to carry out a serious cleanup of the corporation, which had greatly declined during the years of his absence.

Numerous products like the eMate digital assistant, as well as employees, had to go under the knife. Apple's lead designer Jony Ive believed that his position would immediately be given to the creator of the first Mac, Harmut Esslinger, who had previously left for NeXT with Jobs.

When he first came to the studio, I was sure that he was about to fire me.

Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer at Apple

However, Jobs immediately liked Ive, even though Steve considered the products that Apple was then releasing to be “very weak.” The designer and CEO discovered a common quality - the ability to explain complex things in simple words.

You know Joni. He's such a cherub. I liked it right away. After the first meeting, I could say with confidence that they were wasting his talent.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple

Bill Gates both admired and disliked Jobs

To write the biography, the authors of “Becoming Steve Jobs” talked with many famous figures in the IT market, including Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder's opinion of his colleague turned out to be controversial.

Gates told the book's creators that he always admired Jobs's ability to make real events out of presentations of new technology products, endlessly rehearsing and working on every detail of these shows.

I was never in the same league as him. (...) He always knew exactly what he would say on stage, but it looked as if he was making up words on the fly.

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

Gates also had intensely negative memories of Jobs because he genuinely considered the opportunity to develop Mac applications to be a privilege and treated developers as such.

We got to Cupertino and Steve says, “This thing is so *******[very] cool; in fact, guys, I don’t even know why I’m letting you work with her. I heard you're a bunch of idiots and this thing is pure gold. It will cost $999 and go on sale in nine months."

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

Jobs refuses Tim Cook's liver transplant

One of the main sensations obtained by the authors of the book was the news that the current CEO of Apple offered Jobs a fragment of his liver for transplantation, but he flatly refused.

In 2009, Cook discovered that he and Steve had the same rare blood type, and he could donate with minimal negative consequences for his health. However, Jobs was adamant.

He didn't say, "Are you sure you want to do this?" He didn't say, "I'll think about it." He didn't say, "The state I'm in..." He said, "No, I won't do that." He jumped in bed as he said this. Everything happened at a time when he was already in a terrible state. Steve yelled at me about four or five times in the thirteen years I knew him, and then there was one of them.

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Jobs did not plan to seize power at Apple after selling NeXT

There is a misconception that the sale of NeXT was part of an elaborate plan for Jobs to seize power at Apple: this opinion is shared by Bill Gates and former CEO Gil Amelio.

However, Avetis Tevanian and John Rubinsten, "the two people Jobs trusted most at the time," said Steve wasn't sure he wanted the CEO job back.

In 1997, Apple was in dire financial shape, and its co-founder understood that investing in it was risky. Nevertheless, Jobs had a desire for risk in his character, and he decided to try to save his brainchild.

Gil Amelio tried to buy Apple's Newton division

After Gil Amelio ceded his post as CEO to Steve Jobs and left the company, he unexpectedly decided to buy out one of its divisions - the one that dealt with the Apple Newton tablet computer that failed in the market. The new-old head of Apple considered this attempt a “cruel joke” and refused Amelio.

I can be mean, but even I couldn’t allow this to happen. I couldn't allow him to further humiliate himself and Apple.

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple

Apple Newton

In the late nineties, Tim Cook did the dirty work

In April 2014, Apple released a commercial in which its CEO Tim Cook talked about how his company had become “green.” However, in 1998, when the corporation had not yet even resorted to recycling materials, Cook was responsible for disposing of tens of thousands of unsold Mac computers.

Apple stole the idea of ​​a “digital hub” from Gates, which he himself was never able to implement.

In 2000, when Microsoft's market value was at its peak, Bill Gates spoke at CES, where he outlined his vision of a system of interconnected computers, phones, car stereos, televisions and PDAs, calling it "Consumer-Electronics-Plus." .

After an urgent meeting, the heads of Apple launched the development of their analogue and already in 2001, together with iTunes, presented a concept called “Digital Hub”. Ironically, Gates himself was never able to implement his own idea.

Steve Jobs explains to reporters what Digital Hub is

Jobs' interactions with the press were more calculated than many thought

According to the authors of “Becoming Steve Jobs,” the head of Apple never spoke to journalists for nothing and even called them only “with ulterior motives.” During conversations, he would quietly change the topic of conversation to one of his company's products and make the interlocutor feel as if they were interviewing the interviewer, and not Jobs himself.

Moreover, unlike what has been happening with Apple in recent years, in the early 2000s the CEO was almost the only person in the corporation who was allowed to communicate with the media.

Jobs understood the power of the press, so he allowed only the best speaker he knew to communicate with it: himself. Until his death, the founder of Apple built around himself a limited circle of loyal media that received all the information before competitors.

There should be many biographies of a good person,
Vadim Elistratov,
TJ

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