Jeffrey S. Young - iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business

Books by Jeffrey S. Young

Steve Jobs: The Journey Is the Reward

Forbes Greatest Technology Stories: Inspiring Tales of the Entrepreneurs and Inventors Who Revolutionized Modern Business

Cisco UnAuthorized

Inside MacPaint: Sailing through the Sea of Fatbits

Books by William L. Simon

Beyond the Numbers

As Coauthor

The Art of Intrusion

A Cat by the Tail

In Search of Business Value

The Art of Deception

The Afterlife Experiments

Winning in Fasttime

Driving Digital

Lasting Change

High Velocity Leadership

On the Firing Line

Profit from Experience

Steve Jobs

THE GREATEST SECOND ACT
IN THE HISTORY OF BUSINESS

Jeffrey S. Young

William L. Simon

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This book is printed on acid-free paper. e Copyright 2005 by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada Design and composition by Navta Associates, Inc.

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Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Young, Jeffrey S., date. iCon : Steve Jobs, the greatest second act in the history of business / Jeffrey S. Young, William L. Simon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-471-72083-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10 0-471-72083-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-0-471-78784-6 (paper : alk. paper) ISBN-10 0-471-78784-1 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Jobs, Steven, 1955-Adult biography. 2. Computer engineers-United States-Biography-Adult biography. 3. Apple Computer, Inc.-History-Adult biography. I. Simon, William L. II. Title. QA76.2.J63Y677 2005 338.7'6100416'092-dc22 2005006841 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Janey, Alyssa, Fiona, and Alistair

For Arynne, Sheldon, Victoria, and David

Contents

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Prologue

Charisma, a gift given to few people, is a complex skein of many threads. Nature bestowed that gift on Steve jobs, along with a spellbinding ability to captivate a crowd that is the hallmark of evangelists and demagogues. To witness one of his hours-long performances is to watch a master showman deliver an unscripted, free-ranging monologue about nothing but technology-and the world according to Steve Jobs.

Once, when jobs was younger and more callow, skeptics said this bravura performance art was all he had. There was an arrogance about the young prince of technology on his first ascendancy at Apple that made him seem cold and empty, even as he pushed the envelope of what was possible with a personal computer. He attracted followers, but it was a cult.

Fifteen years in the wilderness after being rejected by his own company changed all that: it made him human.

Nowhere was that more clear than in January 2000 at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. At that event, on that frosty morning, Steve Jobs reached an emotional watershed, one that few people had thought would ever happen for him. And as with everything else about this man's larger-than-life world, he did it in front of thousands of observers.

For those who were attentive enough to hear what he said, Steve Jobs let the world see how much he had changed. Nearly drowned out by applause and shouting, his confession took place in one unscripted and unhyped moment at the very end of the presentation.

Making a presentation at the annual Macintosh trade show and "love-in" in San Francisco is an essential part of the life of an Apple chief executive. Steve had started doing it years earlier; after he was kicked out of the company his successors carried the tradition forward. But no one did it like Steve, and by the time he was back at Apple he had honed these presentations to a fine performance art.

Now balding and bespectacled, Steve had built to the finale. A black mock turtleneck and a well-worn pair of jeans demonstrated his continuing disdain for corporate uniforms. With a diffident and selfdeprecating smile, Steve brought up one last slide on the giant fifty-foot Big Brother screen behind him. On it was his title, Interim CEO.

Pacing back and forth, alone onstage and in the warmth of the limelight, he acknowledged how hard everyone at Apple had been working since his return and spoke of his dual jobs running both Apple and Pixar. "After two and a half years," he said, "I hope that we've been able to prove to our shareholders at Pixar and our shareholders at Apple that maybe we could pull this dual CEO thing off. So I'm not going to change any of my duties at Pixar or at Apple.

"But I am pleased to announce today that I'm going to drop the `interim' title."

The crowd erupted with shouts of "Steve! Steve! Steve!" At first, a core handful of Apple-lovers started the chant. It built, rising out of the center of the auditorium. The pace of clapping hands quickened, then feet stomped, and, finally, the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

"Steve! Steve! Steve!" The noise level reached a crescendo and drowned out everything else. Onstage, the prince himself at first didn't quite catch what was happening. Then, after cupping his hand to his ear to hear better, he suddenly realized: thousands of Apple fanatics, owners, developers, and faithful were telling him something he wanted to hear. The entire audience was pouring out its love for him.