Steve Jobs: My 15-Second Interaction with a Legend

I met Steve Jobs back in 1999. He was speaking at Stanford Auditorium and I was fresh from graduating and eager to see him. At the time, he was a turn-around hero. But then not as big of a legend as he is now.

Steve gave an amazing talk to a filled-out auditorium. I remember feeling that this was an hour of my life that was well spent. He brought in examples from his personal life and his business life, as if there was no demarcation between where one ended and the other started. He said he had a deep affinity for Stanford, because he had met his wife here. I have a a few vivid take-away’s from that talk; those recollections seem as if they took place a few weeks ago.

First, I recall his speech was very engaging and very conversational. It never felt too sales-y. That said, it was apparent that he was very proud of the fact that they had introduced the new iMac’s in choice of bright colors: blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine, and grape. With a child-like excitement, he noted how they were selling like hot cakes, and made us all drool and want to go out and buy one right then and there.

After his talk, he took time to answer some questions. I raised my hand and asked him a heartfelt question. At the time, I was working for Xerox, and our IT department had standardized on Windows/Intel machines like many corporations had done. I asked him how he planned to infiltrate the corporate world. These new mouth-watering iMac computers are terrific but outside of the graphics department, others in corporate America did not have the option to use them for work. I don’t remember the exact wording of Steve’s answer. But something to the effect that the iMac’s were great computers and people would buy them and use them at work. I recall I didn’t find the answer that satisfactory at the time. I wanted him to talk about how he planned to target the corporate world. So, perhaps with his words of support, I could get my own colored iMac and be permitted to use it at work.

Fast forward to 2011, my work is now focused in mobile and wireless industry. My tool box has grown from no Apple devices back then to four Apple devices now, and surely more in the future. I still use Windows PC. But I have come so close, on several occasions, to abandoning my Wintel machine for a Mac PC.

In our work with enterprise clients, we also see how Consumerization of IT has affected many IT departments, and corporation’s computing devices. Employees bring their own mobile devices to work and expect the IT department to accept and even support these devices. These devices have blurred the lines between personal and business lives. And, IT departments are under pressure to deal with this invasion.

Which brings me back to my question of 12 years ago to Steve Jobs. I wanted Steve to tell me Apple had a strategy to target corporations, and enable folks like me to work on Apple devices. I didn’t get the answer I was looking for back then. But I can see the answer clearly now, in what Steve calls the Post-PC era.

Consumer technologies, especially in mobile space, are infiltrating corporations on massive scale. And, as Steve said back then, people would buy Apple devices and use them at work.

As Steve Jobs resigns from his daily duties at Apple as CEO, we wish him the very best in his health and future endeavors.

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