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Steve Jobs' Thoughts on Accepting Apple's CEO Position and More

Jobs' deposition is somewhat disingenuous in that clearly he had re-taking control of Apple on his mind regardless of his responsibilities to Pixar.

He and Larry Ellison tried unsuccessfully to take over Apple in a few notable public stunts in 1996. They even went as far as to solicit public advice with regards to "What's wrong with Apple?" through surveys and public statements when neither had any official role in Apple. It was basically an attempt to "stir the pot" with regards to Apple's management at the time.

http://news.cnet.com/Ellison-still-wants-Apple/2100-1023_3-278349.html

According to Gil Amelio's book, immediately after he brought Jobs back to Apple in late 1996, Jobs started lobbying board members against him for control of the company.

It's no secret that Jobs' wanted Apple back, and lobbied everyone from the public to Amelio to the board of directors to get it.

Also, I'm not sure why Forbes made such a big deal about Jobs' comments on feeling under appreciated by the board of directors. At the time, the board was almost completely different than it is today. If you remember, during the interim CEO period there was also an interim board of directors. Jobs announced the new board at Macworld '97. The only members left at Apple today from that interim board in 1997 is Jerry York and Bill Campbell.
 
TheSlush said:
The wording sounds a bit obscure, but unless there's a "not" missing somewhere, it sounds like he's requesting to be shown looking and feeling poorly to a jury. :confused: Is this perhaps a joke, and laughter doesn't get transcribed?
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Seems like a joke to me. I'm not sure why you would expect there would be laughter. If it is a joke, it's a dry one...and the recipient is a bureaucrat who's probably heard them all a million times.
 
jaw04005 said:
Jobs' deposition is somewhat disingenuous in that clearly he had re-taking control of Apple on his mind regardless of his responsibilities to Pixar.

He and Larry Ellison tried unsuccessfully to take over Apple in a few notable public stunts in 1996. They even went as far as to solicit public advice with regards to "What's wrong with Apple?" through surveys and public statements when neither had any official role in Apple. It was basically an attempt to "stir the pot" with regards to Apple's management at the time.

http://news.cnet.com/Ellison-still-wants-Apple/2100-1023_3-278349.html

According to Gil Amelio's book, immediately after he brought Jobs back to Apple in late 1996, Jobs started lobbying board members against him for control of the company.

It's no secret that Jobs' wanted Apple back, and lobbied everyone from the public to Amelio to the board of directors to get it.

Also, I'm not sure why Forbes made such a big deal about Jobs' comments on feeling under appreciated by the board of directors. At the time, the board was almost completely different than it is today. If you remember, during the interim CEO period there was also an interim board of directors. Jobs announced the new board at Macworld '97. The only members left at Apple today from that interim board in 1997 is Jerry York and Bill Campbell.
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the beauty of Steve Jobs though, is that everything he said in public and private at the time is unassailably true, and even if he did have thoughts similar to what you ellucidate here, there is no record of them and no one can prove it.

The article you link to is all about Ellison, not Jobs. While I remember this happening too and would probably agree with you that Jobs was likely in the background and likely knew of Ellisons plans, and might have even been part of them AFAIK he never came out publicly or made any statements on this matter at all.

He clearly might also have known about the stock options thing too, but anyone trying to prove it will fail as we have seen.
 
Virgil-TB2 said:
the beauty of Steve Jobs though, is that everything he said in public and private at the time is unassailably true, and even if he did have thoughts similar to what you ellucidate here, there is no record of them and no one can prove it.
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Absolutely. The entire thing with Ellison and then again with Amelio just showed how brilliant and calculating he was as a business man.

He essentially got them to turn the keys to kingdom over to him, and we all know how well that has worked out for Apple.

In his deposition he portrays it differently, "Well, it just kind of slid into the fact that I stayed. I kept the interim CEO title for quite some time, a number of years."

In my opinion, I think he knew all along he wasn't going anywhere.

Just a few quotes from Wired on "fixing Apple":

"You know, I've got a plan that could rescue Apple. I can't say any more than that it's the perfect product and the perfect strategy for Apple. But nobody there will listen to me."
-- Fortune, Sept. 18, 1995

"If I were running Apple, I would milk the Macintosh for all it's worth -- and get busy on the next great thing. The PC wars are over. Done. Microsoft won a long time ago."
-- Fortune, Feb. 19, 1996

"The products suck! There's no sex in them anymore!"
-- On Gil Amelio's lackluster reign, in BusinessWeek, July 1997

"Apple has some tremendous assets, but I believe without some attention, the company could, could, could -- I'm searching for the right word -- could, could die."
-- On his return as interim CEO, in Time, Aug. 18, 1997

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/03/70512

Virgil-TB2 said:
The article you link to is all about Ellison, not Jobs. While I remember this happening too and would probably agree with you that Jobs was likely in the background and likely knew of Ellisons plans, and might have even been part of them AFAIK he never came out publicly or made any statements on this matter at all.
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Jobs' entire return to Apple is a fascinating. I would say it should be made into a movie, but they've already did that with Pirates of Silicon Valley.

"Apple Confidential", "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs", "Fire in the Valley" and "iCon" are all very good books.

Also, the "Cult of the Mac" and "Revolution in the Valley" are both good books also. Although Cult of the Mac is more like a coffee table book.

Virgil-TB2 said:
He clearly might also have known about the stock options thing too, but anyone trying to prove it will fail as we have seen.
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This I'm not as sure about. I honestly don't think he particularly cared about "how" the stock options got done, just that they did.
 
I was going to post what I thought about this, but I don't recall. That is, I guess it's what I was going to do, but I just don't remember.
 
Pika said:
Steve Jobs is my God.

If he stayed on board, we probably wouldn't have Microsoft Windows by now. I think Steve Jobs as a goal on his head and that goal is to repair his biggest mistake of all time "Microsoft".
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I just don't understand why some people have to trash someone or a company just because they like someone else.
 
I hate to think what would have happened had he found someone else, or simply didn't agree to become interim/permanent CEO.

Apple would surely not have been where it is today - most likely no iPhone or iMac!
 
mutuz said:
Anyone know if there are plans on releasing a book (bio) about Steve? I've seen the movie, Pirates of Silicone Valley, but movies are sparse on details. I would love to read how he and Woz started what is now Apple!:)
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If it hasn't been mentioned yet, see Triumph of the Nerds by Robert X. Cringley from 1996. It was a 3 part documentary series on PBS. It doesn't specifically deal with Steve Jobs, but documents the rise of the entire personal computer industry, and it is quite fascinating. What's good is that Crignley interviews all the key players: Jobs, Woz, Gates, Allen, Ballmer, Warnock, Metcalf, Ellison, etc. etc. etc. A lot of the true elements from this documentary inspired movies like 'Pirates'. The only bad thing I can find about it now is that its kind of dated in certain aspects. For example, near the end synopsis it says 'Apple is in trouble', which, in 1996 it probably was. Anyways, check it out if you can find it. It's posted on YouTube in a few dozen parts. Highly recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jV3JdtaOGc&feature=PlayList&p=4D5CD637F73C24C7&index=0&playnext=1
 
TheSlush said:
Tell me about this in the transcript:

The wording sounds a bit obscure, but unless there's a "not" missing somewhere, it sounds like he's requesting to be shown looking and feeling poorly to a jury. :confused: Is this perhaps a joke, and laughter doesn't get transcribed?

Or was this part of some dark master plan by El Jobso to manipulate the Apple stock price by scaring juries, muhahahaha <<evil laugh>>.
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It's not a joke. Notice that Jobs is talking about them *playing* the testimony. He probably cringed a lot from feeling ill, and wants to make sure that anyone who sees the tape won't think he's cringing because the questions are making him uncomfortable or because he's lying - so he wants to make sure that the question about his health is shown to put his appearance and behavior on tape into that context.
 
Thank you, Steve - for your vision and hard work in turning Apple and its stock around.

Now can you do something about all your sycophants? I know a little hero-worship is to be expected, but this is ridiculous. :eek:
 
tny said:
It's not a joke. Notice that Jobs is talking about them *playing* the testimony. He probably cringed a lot from feeling ill, and wants to make sure that anyone who sees the tape won't think he's cringing because the questions are making him uncomfortable or because he's lying - so he wants to make sure that the question about his health is shown to put his appearance and behavior on tape into that context.
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Interesting point, good call. I think you probably nailed it.
 
pingvuiini said:
If it hasn't been mentioned yet, see Triumph of the Nerds by Robert X. Cringley from 1996. It was a 3 part documentary series on PBS. It doesn't specifically deal with Steve Jobs, but documents the rise of the entire personal computer industry, and it is quite fascinating. What's good is that Crignley interviews all the key players: Jobs, Woz, Gates, Allen, Ballmer, Warnock, Metcalf, Ellison, etc. etc. etc. A lot of the true elements from this documentary inspired movies like 'Pirates'. The only bad thing I can find about it now is that its kind of dated in certain aspects. For example, near the end synopsis it says 'Apple is in trouble', which, in 1996 it probably was. Anyways, check it out if you can find it. It's posted on YouTube in a few dozen parts. Highly recommended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jV3JdtaOGc&feature=PlayList&p=4D5CD637F73C24C7&index=0&playnext=1
Click to expand...


Why oh why do they always leave out Nolan Bushnell?

Personal computers would never have taken off without the video game revolution and that is owed to Bushnell's talented staff* at Atari, which Mr. Jobs was a part of.

Oh how people forget their history...



*People like Al Alcorn and the late Jay Miner...two men that still do not get a fraction of geek-cred attention/adoration that Woz has received over the years...
 
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