It was a mistake for Sculley. It was maybe a mistake for Apple. It wasn't a mistake for Steve Jobs. I personally like history the way it turned out, and won't second-guess it.
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Former Apple CEO John Sculley: Forcing Steve Jobs Out Was a 'Mistake'
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Firing Jobs was a mistake for Apple in the short term, because of how badly they struggled while he was away from the company. However, that firing is what led to Jobs getting involved with Pixar and founding NeXT, and paved the way for his return to the company. Apple as we know it today wouldn't exist if Jobs had been retained at Apple, because that experience (and his experiences away from Apple) are what paved the way for everything that came under his second watch and beyond.
John Sculley just played a role in the long term fate/resurrection of Apple into a more powerful company. As it turned out, when Steve returned he did so with much broader experience, wisdom, and people skills. So...thanx John!!
Jobs' success in later years wasn't so much from going after the strongest competitor, though he did do that with Google, but from dodging the strong competitors entirely and finding new markets filled with only foolish naive incumbents. He avoided direct confrontation with Microsoft, HP, etc. and instead ransacked the likes of Creative in the MP3 market and Palm, RIM, and Nokia in the phone market. This is a skill that he learned only very slowly and painfully as a result of getting his ass kicked over and over at Apple and NeXT. Had he stayed at Apple in the 80s it is quite likely that he would have wasted Apple's resources on futile battles with MS and IBM.
I'm not saying going after the strongest competitor, but knowing who is going to eat your lunch if you don't watch out. In the '80s Apple thought that was going to be IBM so they positioned themselves as the alternative to IBM. Ironically, IBM saw Apple in that same light at the time, which is why they created the PC in the first place. It wasn't to beat Apple so much as to block Apple. But due to a historical quirk of fate, it was Microsoft that ate Apple's lunch (and IBM's too).
It's kind of useless to speculate on specially what Jobs would have done had he remained at Apple in a creative role, but I doubt the board would have supported quixotic battles with IBM or Microsoft. Remembering also that by the early '90s IBM was trying to figure out how to wriggle out of Microsoft's grip, which led to OS/2 and ultimately to a partnership with Apple. At the point these events were occurring Steve Jobs was entering a more disciplined and creative period, but not at Apple, and in a way that would have come to naught had Apple not bought NeXT.
Good point, but I'd like to think Steven would have been developing these no mater where he was.
Nah. I am glad Forstall is gone. Now iOS can move into the future and not be stuck in skumorphism hell. iOS7 is amazing and that in part is due to Forstall not ****ing it up. Forstall was good in the past but his ideas became outdated as did his *******ish attitude and refusal to work decently with anyone else.
Jobs left and we got Pixar and Next (which became OS X).
Forstall left and we got a much better iOS.
Good points. I agree, Sculley was crucial to the success of Apple at that time - more so than Jobs.
People forget that the Macintosh became a success under Sculley and was incredibly innovative and important.
Many think the Apple of the 90s was Sculley, but it wasn't. It was Spindler and Amelio, two terrible CEOs.
Under Sculley, Apple introduced things such as:
PowerPC
PowerBooks (and Duos)
QuickTime
Upgradable Macs
System 6 and System 7
Macintosh II and the best keyboard ever (Apple ADB II)
LaserWriter printers
Macintosh Plus
Quadra Workstations
Apple II GS (probably the sweetest 8-bit machine made)
Newton (way ahead of its time)
Mac internet support
... etc. etc.
The list is immense and impressive. The focus on R&D, the relentless push for Apple to be the *best*, to constantly innovate - this came from John goddam Sculley.
Forstall will return ... one day. To save
.But, last wait until than and see what happens.
Very perceptive and quite true.
Things happen for a reason and Job's time away from APple
was crucial to the company's subsequent success.
Sculley belongs to a small group of former Apple employees who tries to exist or survive in the media by reminding us of stories or comments about Steve Jobs...
It's hard to think of another explanation. How odd to be bringing this up now, such very old news. Why Sculley would want to remind anybody of his time at Apple is beyond me....
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Sculley belongs to a small group of former Apple employees who tries to exist or survive in the media by reminding us of stories or comments about Steve Jobs...
That's just plain silly. He was asked about it in an interview that was mainly about his mobile phone venture in India. Makes a person wonder how many people bother reading the articles on which they seem to feel a need to comment.
You don't read much do you? Sculley drops Jobs name every chance he can get. He easily could have said "I'm not here to talk about that, I thought you wanted to hear about the cheap crap I'm selling in India..." but he didn't. He always answers the Jobs question because he is a marketing guy and he knows how to get his interview published. He does this 2-3 times a year. That perfectly matches the media's memory and attention span. Again I say, he's a marketing guy.
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I read plenty, and both you and I know he's going to be asked. For what possible reason would he "not want to talk about it?" That just makes no sense.