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Steve Jobs' Outlook on Apple After Returning in 1997

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Apr 12, 2001
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This WWDC conference video from 1997 show Steve Jobs taking a question and answer session from developers after returning to Apple. Apple acquired Steve Jobs' company NeXT in late 1996 and the NeXTStep operating system became the basis for Mac OS X. We highlighted this video once before amidst the iCloud rumors, but it is a very interesting video to watch, especially in light of Jobs' resignation as CEO of Apple.

At the time, Apple had just acquired NeXT, after years of losses and no clear plan for the future of the Mac operating system. Jobs came first as an advisor to then Apple CEO Gil Amelio, and eventually took the title of CEO. The video shows a particularly candid question and answer session with Steve Jobs who talks about the state of the company and his vision for the future. Some of the material is dated, but his outlook for the future seemed remarkably clear.

Steve Jobs says in the opening:
"I'm actually pretty excited about the way things are going. I think that there are some really good people, whom you met this week, running the key areas of Apple now. And I think they're making enormous progress towards executing what is a a pretty clear strategy. And that strategy revolves around one fundamental concept, which is to make some really great products. And I believe very firmly that there is still a very sizable market for some really great products. And there are some giant holes that we can fill with your help."
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Article Link: Steve Jobs' Outlook on Apple After Returning in 1997
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/25/steve-jobs-outlook-on-apple-after-returning-in-1997/
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This makes me sad.
 
He just comes across like a genius, always. What an incredible man.

"I don't care if Apple is viewed is different. I think it's very important that Apple is viewed as much better."
 
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Visionary

iCloud in 1997, pretty much summed up what Apple would push for this decade. I am always inspired as a leader by this man.
 
Brilliant, a great way to spend my afternoon!

Very clever, but interesting how some things have changed. Steve was fine with the "clone makers" and thought it would be great to have a hand held device with a physical keyboard!
 
captain kaos said:
Brilliant, a great way to spend my afternoon!

Very clever, but interesting how some things have changed. Steve was fine with the "clone makers" and thought it would be great to have a hand held device with a physical keyboard!
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agree, watching it now. such an amazing person
 
EiriasEmrys said:
iCloud in 1997, pretty much summed up what Apple would push for this decade. I am always inspired as a leader by this man.
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Apple were by no means the first with this vision... Sun Microsystems was another that always insisted 'the network is the computer' long before most people really grasped what that meant. Unfortunately Sun's marketing was never as good as Apple's, and now they're just some gum on Oracle's shoe.
 
His ideas sounded very futuristic for 1997, some of them even now haven't come to fruition. Talking about having all his 'stuff' on a server and never losing anything, accessing it from wherever he wants - that sort of thing is only really happening now with iCloud.

I thought he'd be more vehemently against the clone concept, but actually what his true beliefs were make a lot of sense - the idea was fine, but it has to work for Apple, and Apple has to be the biggest winner.

Can't believe I hadn't seen this Q&A - think I've seen everything that came after. Greatly enjoyed it. You can really sense the frustration in the audience; one of the developers seemed thoroughly pissed off!
 
miniConvert said:
You can really sense the frustration in the audience; one of the developers seemed thoroughly pissed off!
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That's the mark of a true leader. If it's the right thing to do, it doesn't matter if it makes people mad. You will never forge a new path or create anything dramatically meaningful by being a people-pleaser.

I was one of the people who was upset when this was happening in 1997. I was wrong.
 
Very Sad

TheAppleGeek said:
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This makes me sad.
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Without Steve Jobs Apple would have gone away. It's his innovation and hard work that brought the company from near extinction to one of America's greatest achievements. I pray for him and his family.
 
Wow, PROPER nerds. They were some proper nerds back then. Justin Timberlake couldn't be cast to play any of those guys.
 
Mr-Stabby said:
Noah Wyle played Steve Jobs in that movie years ago. He played him very well i seem to remember.
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Jobs yes, but Jobs was a rockstar. I'm talking about all the neck-beards with the button-down collars in the audience asking questions at their shoes.

Devs now seem far more socially aware.
 
EiriasEmrys said:
iCloud in 1997, pretty much summed up what Apple would push for this decade. I am always inspired as a leader by this man.
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Yeah, Scott McNealy had such great visions for this industry. His bold claim of "The Network is the Computer!" ushered in an era of online communication, powered by the hardware and software of his company...

oh wait, you're talking of Steve Jobs. No seriously guys, there's nothing surprising about "cloud" computing in the late 90s, it was already a hot topic on many industry lips as the online boom was beginning and always-on broadband Internet was making its way into homes for the first time.

Steve hoped on the very best bandwagon to be on, something even Microsoft failed to see.
 
captain kaos said:
Brilliant, a great way to spend my afternoon!

Very clever, but interesting how some things have changed. Steve was fine with the "clone makers" and thought it would be great to have a hand held device with a physical keyboard!
Click to expand...

I doubt Steve was fine with the clone makers. However, he could not say that right there, especially since he wasn't even CEO at the time, but merely an adviser.

One of his first steps in revamping Apple was killing the clone program.

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scottishwildcat said:
Apple were by no means the first with this vision... Sun Microsystems was another that always insisted 'the network is the computer' long before most people really grasped what that meant. Unfortunately Sun's marketing was never as good as Apple's, and now they're just some gum on Oracle's shoe.
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I agree with Sun being a leader with this vision. Sun's flaw wasn't marketing, which they were actually very good at (how many other companies do you know managed to make a programming language a heavily talked about topic?). Their problem was they had no idea how to go from where we were in 1997 to now.

To be honest, even Jobs and Apple were lacking in this area (witness the collapse of .mac and MobileMe). Apple has been trying this for over a decade now, without success. iCloud is only the latest iteration at their attempt to bring ubiquitous networking.

And its very possible/likely that it will be successful this time. The major difference is the inclusion of a computer into an always connected, always with you device, i.e. your phone and an always connected, extremely mobil computer, i.e. iPad (esp. with 3G). Fact is Sun (and .mac and mobileme) were possibly too early. We needed to wait for iPhone and iPad like devices to become extremely popular before regular consumers will see the benefits of a networked system.
 
I watched this video a few months ago, and found it fascinating. I'm glad more people can experience it now.
 
captain kaos said:
Very clever, but interesting how some things have changed. Steve was fine with the "clone makers" and thought it would be great to have a hand held device with a physical keyboard!
Click to expand...

He dumped the whole clone business pretty quickly after taking over at Apple. By the end of 1997 it was obvious that Jobs had no interest in clones.

I remember drooling over the Daystar quad-CPU towers though - the fasted pre-G3 Mac ever made. :D

I think Jobs has always wanted to create a computer like the iPad - it's just that technology has only recently caught up with his original vision. To be fair, he's not the only person to have thought of an iPad-like device, Apple under his leadership have perfected the concept.
 
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