Playboy's 1985 Interview With Steve Jobs is Well Worth a Read

[loby]

Great read!!!!...WOW...was in my first year at the University when this article came out....I remember when.... sigh...

Apple...you might want to read this.....everything Jobs says that is a sign of an "old" and stale company is now what Apple is...many layers of management....running off of marketing...not to mention hiring huge amounts of marketing researchers and making decisions based on their research...

And making the $ the most important instead of making the "best" product possible, but instead of making the "best" products possible, you cut corners to save a buck....

sigh....

 

[EdT]

Most people seem to be suffering from selective amnesia concerning Apple. From the Lisa and MacIntosh onward Apple was one of the most expensive personal computers you could buy. It wasn't necessarily on the cutting edge then, either. The first iPods were criticized for not being customizable, not having radio capabilities, and locking you into proprietary Apple only music format, instead of using the accepted standard MP3. The first iPhone was on one network, AT&T, and wasn't capable of 3G speeds at a time that 4G was rolling out.

These are all "Steve Jobs" era products. They had antenna (reception) problems with the iPhone 3 or 4 and initial production problems with most of them.

I'm not saying Steve Jobs wasn't a visionary but not everything he touched turned to gold, which is the way many are remembering him now.

 

[Mactendo]

We must simply accept that Jobs was a one off. It's extremely rare to have someone with ideals get anywhere in business. And Cook is not his own man, he has to answer to the board and he will care what investors think. He didn't create Apple, he can't have Jobs' independence.

There's Satya Nadella and many other CEOs in other companies who do great jobs while not being the creators of those companies and they also report to the board.

 

[Applebot1]

I do miss Steve.
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Most people seem to be suffering from selective amnesia concerning Apple. From the Lisa and MacIntosh onward Apple was one of the most expensive personal computers you could buy. It wasn't necessarily on the cutting edge then, either. The first iPods were criticized for not being customizable, not having radio capabilities, and locking you into proprietary Apple only music format, instead of using the accepted standard MP3. The first iPhone was on one network, AT&T, and wasn't capable of 3G speeds at a time that 4G was rolling out.

These are all "Steve Jobs" era products. They had antenna (reception) problems with the iPhone 3 or 4 and initial production problems with most of them.

I'm not saying Steve Jobs wasn't a visionary but not everything he touched turned to gold, which is the way many are remembering him now.

You sure 4G was rolling out at that time? Sure wasn’t in the UK.

 

[Mactendo]

The first iPods were criticized for not being customizable, not having radio capabilities, and locking you into proprietary Apple only music format, instead of using the accepted standard MP3

The first iPod used MP3.

 

[EdT]

I do miss Steve.
[doublepost=1506700016][/doublepost]

You sure 4G was rolling out at that time? Sure wasn’t in the UK.

4G was around 2010, I think. But the AT&T iPhones were restricted to using the Edge network, which were 1 & 2G. The first iPhone that could use faster systems didn't happen until Apple opened availability up to more providers. The first official 4G iPhone was the 5, according to the website techradar.

 

[Fzang]

When I went to school, it was right after the Sixties and before this general wave of practical purposefulness had set in. Now students aren't even thinking in idealistic terms, or at least nowhere near as much. They certainly are not letting any of the philosophical issues of the day take up too much of their time as they study their business majors. The idealistic wind of the Sixties was still at our backs, though, and most of the people I know who are my age have that engrained in them forever.

You know, I’m almost certain Aristotle might’ve said something similar.

 

[TehFalcon]

Know what I miss? Steve Jobs actually doing the Demos on the products. Tim Cook just passes it off to other people. I wanna see the CEO use it, because if it messes up on stage, at least while Steve was alive, you know damn well it was improved and fixed.

 

[Peace]

Playboy was well known for having some of if not the best interviews in the magazine world.

Men did buy it for the pictures but also for the great interviews.

You wouldn't have Playboy with just pictures and you wouldn't have Playboy with just articles.

 

[Bob Zimmerman]

4G was around 2010, I think. But the AT&T iPhones were restricted to using the Edge network, which were 1 & 2G. The first iPhone that could use faster systems didn't happen until Apple opened availability up to more providers. The first official 4G iPhone was the 5, according to the website techradar.

GPRS was 2G. EDGE is a post-2G technology typically called "2.5G". That's what the first iPhone used. The second iPhone had a 3G cell modem, as its name indicated. iPhone 4 was the first one available off of the original providers. iPhone 5 was the first model with LTE, and the 6s is the first iPhone with LTE Advanced, so it is actually the first 4G iPhone. Except for some small-scale trials, real 4G (LTE Advanced) networks didn't even start rolling out until early 2014.

 

[Phonephreak]

The pics are great too.

 

[Fran6cojL]

After reading this interview you realize how apple lost sense of their core values.

They became IBM

 

[Rocketman]

Jobs: That’s simply untrue. As soon as we can lower prices, we do. I’d love it if Macintosh cost $1000.

You can buy many styles of Macs for under USD $1000 right now. Used Macs, Mac-Mini, MacBook Air, and other new Macs "near" $1000. Even the premium iPhoneX which is a Mac in every sense and fits the description Steve said, is $1000. It fits in your pocket and goes everywhere in the world!!

I say mission accomplished.

NeXt?

 

[blakespot]

—
My guess is Apple is in about as good a place as it could have been - it needed Jobs to go out into the world with Next and Pixar and struggle and then come back. JMHO...
—

User Sasparilla quoted aptly.
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After reading this interview you realize how apple lost sense of their core values.

They became IBM

Thats just not true. Note that $1,000 was 1985 dollars.

 

[nextuser]

There's Satya Nadella and many other CEOs in other companies who do great jobs while not being the creators of those companies and they also report to the board.

Not only that, but Nadella gives pretty good demos, like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDqrfCmIPxI

 

[mkschenk]

I never knew that interview existed. That was an amazing read, thanks macrumors!

 

[curtvaughan]

Following yesterday's news of the death of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Cult of Mac chose to highlight the magazine's 1985 Steve Jobs interview, which still remains one of the most insightful reads about the early life and influences of the late Apple co-founder.

Quite apart from its centerfolds, Playboy magazine built an enviable literary legacy and earned a reputation for serious journalism in its 60-plus years, carrying interviews with such notable figures as Martin Luther King Jr, Stanley Kubrick, Bette Davis, and Miles Davis.

The year that Jobs was forced out of Apple and started NeXT Computer, he sat down with the magazine to share his enthusiasm for computers, his hopes for the future, and the early days of the internet. The interview was conducted by David Sheff. Some choice quotes appear below, but you can read the full interview here.

Steve Jobs on losing $250,000,000 in one year on the stock market:
On his relationship with Steve Wozniak in 70s California:
On the problem of new technologies overtaking the old:
On why people will buy computers in the future:


Article Link: Playboy's 1985 Interview With Steve Jobs is Well Worth a Read

"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people — as remarkable as the telephone"

The three keywords in these two sentences: computer, communications, phone. If you skip 22 years to his speech introducing the iPhone, he again brings up the concept of a mobile computer, a networking device, and a phone - all wrapped up into one device. Love him or hate him, the guy was a true visionary.
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There's Satya Nadella and many other CEOs in other companies who do great jobs while not being the creators of those companies and they also report to the board.

Founders of corporations, at least those which become very successful, tend place creativity and novelty as priorities over business practice. So you get guys like Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Page/Sergey Brin (Google), Mark Zukerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Michael Dell (Dell), who all tend/tended to be passionate about their respective enterprises while at the helm. Once founders leave or pass on, the business end tends to take priority. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I'd guess that's a trend across not only tech companies, but brick-and-mortar types as well.

 

[Applebot1]

With Apple now, it’s become such a monster of a company it will never be the same and with Cook as CEO there is no chance.

In the coming years we will see the current exec team retire etc and a new era will be ushered in.

More I think about it, Apple are missing something... that spark and magic. Then again it might just be me and others might feel the opposite.
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"The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people — as remarkable as the telephone"

The three keywords in these two sentences: computer, communications, phone. If you skip 22 years to his speech introducing the iPhone, he again brings up the concept of a mobile computer, a networking device, and a phone - all wrapped up into one device. Love him or hate him, the guy was a true visionary.
[doublepost=1506788406][/doublepost]
Founders of corporations, at least those which become very successful, tend place creativity and novelty as priorities over business practice. So you get guys like Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Larry Page/Sergey Brin (Google), Mark Zukerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Michael Dell (Dell), who all tend/tended to be passionate about their respective enterprises while at the helm. Once founders leave or pass on, the business end tends to take priority. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I'd guess that's a trend across not only tech companies, but brick-and-mortar types as well.

Good point. I do agree with you. What I would add to that is the importance of synergy and chemistry within teams. Key people go and dynamics change.

 

[curtvaughan]

With Apple now, it’s become such a monster of a company it will never be the same and with Cook as CEO there is no chance.

In the coming years we will see the current exec team retire etc and a new era will be ushered in.

More I think about it, Apple are missing something... that spark and magic. Then again it might just be me and others might feel the opposite.
[doublepost=1506805223][/doublepost]

Good point. I do agree with you. What I would add to is the importance of synergy and chemistry within teams. Key people go and dynamics change.

Yes, and I think that the synergy within the teams - the "lieutenants" under the CEO - is largely driven by the creativity and vision of their "general", the CEO. With Jobs, this became incredibly obvious after he was fired from Apple (and things went into the toilet), as well as when he came back (life breathed back into Apple). Now that he is gone, the company - though very successful corporately and financially - seems to be lacking in direction and inspiration. The same can be said of Microsoft with the loss of Bill Gates, though perhaps to a lesser degree. Gates' vision was of the desktop "home/business" computer being the common thread of computing for both business and home. Once he retired, there was no alternative vision to replace the desktop, and MS has been floundering ever since. It looks like Cook, an efficient first mate under Captain Jobs, is a bit lacking as commander of the ship. Autopilot seems to be in control. Time will tell ...

 

[atmenterprises]

4G was around 2010, I think. But the AT&T iPhones were restricted to using the Edge network, which were 1 & 2G. The first iPhone that could use faster systems didn't happen until Apple opened availability up to more providers. The first official 4G iPhone was the 5, according to the website techradar.

The second generation iPhone (iPhone 3G, released July 2008) was capable of 3G and the phone was still exclusive to AT&T at the time.

 

[Applebot1]

In the UK I’m sure it was an O2 exclusive.