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Steve Jobs Continued Working on Apple's 'Next Product' Until Day Before He Died

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PCMag.com points to comments from Masayoshi Son, CEO of Japanese carrier Softbank, revealing that Steve Jobs continued to work on Apple's "next product" at least up until the day before he died earlier this month. According to Son, Tim Cook cut short a meeting with Son following the iPhone 4S media event on October 4th to take a phone call from Jobs.
Son said, "I visited Apple for the announcement of the iPhone 4S [at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California]. When I was having a meeting with Tim Cook, he said, 'Oh Masa, sorry I have to quit our meeting.' I said, 'Where are you going?' He said, 'My boss is calling me.' That was the day of the announcement of the iPhone 4S. He said that Steve is calling me because he wants to talk about their next product. And the next day, he died."
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Son, speaking in a public interview with U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos last weekend, went on to express admiration for Jobs, citing his dedication until the end as evidence for his incredible spirit and passion.

Son did not disclose what product it was that Jobs and Cook talked about, although he had previously mentioned that Jobs was intimately involved in plans for the next-generation iPhone that Apple is already working on. Jobs would obviously also have had input into other devices such as the iPad 3 that will make an appearance before the next iPhone, and he is said to have left Apple's pipeline with four years' worth of products that the company will use to plot its future.

Article Link: Steve Jobs Continued Working on Apple's 'Next Product' Until Day Before He Died
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/19/steve-jobs-continued-working-on-apples-next-product-until-day-before-he-died/
It doesn't surprise me that Steve would be thinking about the product.

Nevertheless, it still seems obvious to me that Steve may have been calling to talk to Tim one last time. Obviously, Cook would assume Steve was calling about the product as he probably did regularly.

This call, MIGHT have been a bit different with just mild reference to the product.
 
His Boss?

I thought Cook was the boss already at that time. Didn't Steve Jobs already step down from being CEO by then?
 
ForzaJuve said:
I thought Cook was the boss already at that time. Didn't Steve Jobs already step down from being CEO by then?
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You're right. Although I think Steve Jobs, in whatever official position, would still have been considered "the boss."
 
Greatest CEO ever... in a century.

Unlike Some stupid CEO in Redmond who likes to laugh and joke all the time.

Reporter: What do you think about the iPhone?
Redmond CEO who shouldn't be CEO btw: We got Motorola Q and decent window phones. No worries.

People question whether TIM cook can be a good CEO of Apple. Look...
Explain to me how in the world Redmond CEO is still at his chair.
 
ForzaJuve said:
I thought Cook was the boss already at that time. Didn't Steve Jobs already step down from being CEO by then?
Click to expand...

He was still Executive Chairman. My guess is that the call was personal in nature (to say the end was imminent).
 
There is something to be said regarding that level of dedication and passion about what you do.

Steve Jobs loved life, and as this article shows, he lived every second of it. Frank Sinatra's "My Way" comes to mind.
 
Call it language barrier or whatever but I don't see that conversation going anywhere near the way he describes it. Seems more likely Tim was just bowing out of a meeting he probably didn't want to be in in the first place.
 
Tha 5 is gonna b a classic, tha last product w SJ attached! WOW, tha lines r formin already!!!
 
the CEO is the one in charge of the day-to-day operations of the company. THe Chairman of the Board does not run the company. The board is the bridge between the stockholders and the company. Typically the CEO is also the C. of the B. But keeping Steve as the Chairman was a symbolic gesture.

I am sure someone could give a far more specific explanation, as I know I am really simplifying it.

In this case, Steve stepped down as CEO - no longer running the company. But Becouse of who he was, Tim considered him the boss... not because of a specific position. He could have become the receptionist and he would have still been considered the boss.

at least that is my take on it.

It is obvious that Masayoshi Son is moved by the character, determination, drive and intensity that Steve had. We should all be that passionate about things that we are driven to excellence.
 
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I'm pretty sure that Tim just said that about the "new product" as a way of avoiding talking about what was probably Steve's "goodbye" phone call to Tim.

What would you have told some random business man if one of your mentors and friends called you from his deathbed to say goodbye? Certainly not "Oh, that was Steve Jobs. He said goodbye to me because he's probably going to die soon and wanted to say some stuff to me while he still could."

No, I seriously doubt they talked about some ridiculous product. In the end, even Steve wouldn't have been thinking about that crap. He would have been thinking about his family and his life and who knows what else.

I won't spare 1 second of reflection on my job or the "stuff" i made in my life if I am fortunate enough to know that I'm on the way out the last door.
 
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