There have been many tributes to Steve Jobs over the past week, with highlight reels of his notable presentations, product introductions and interviews over the years.
But the one that most stands out is right after Jobs’ return to Apple after being fired by the board a dozen years earlier. When Jobs’ took the stage at the Macworld Expo conference in Boston on August 6, 1997, Apple’s prospects were dim. It had racked up more than $1 billion in losses in the prior four quarters, demand for the Mac, its biggest moneymaker, was sinking, and the Cupertino, California-based company was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Haven’t seen the video? Here's an overview of what he said, along with excerpts from his half-hour long presentation.
Jobs, sans black turtleneck, started out by saying exactly what was wrong -- and right -- at the company he had co-founded two decades earlier.
“I came today to give you a status report on what’s going and to try to fill you in on some of the steps we’re taking to get Apple healthy again,” Jobs said to an enthusiastic crowd of the Mac faithful. “Apple’s not as relevant as it used to be everywhere, but in some incredibly important market segments it’s extraordinarily relevant”
“Apple is executing wonderfully on many of the wrong things. The ability of the organization to execute is really high, though. I mean I’ve met some extraordinary people at Apple. There’s a lot of great people at Apple. They’re doing some of the wrong things because the plan has been wrong,” he said. “What I found is rather than anarchy, I found people who can’t wait to fall into line behind a good strategy. There just hasn’t been one. “
The “fundamental problem” with Apple, he said, was that sales had fallen from $11 billion in 1995 to $7 billion in 1997. “Apple needs to find where it is still incredibly relevant and focus on those areas. It needs to figure out what its core assets are and invest more in them. Apple has neglected its core assets for a while. It has to forge some meaningful partnerships, not just partnerships and press releases. And it needs to define some new product paradigms.”
Thinking Different, About the Board, Microsoft
“Beginning Steps” including starting at the top by changing out the board of directors. New board members included Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, former Apple executive and Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell (who remains on the board today), former IBM CEO Jerry York (who died in 2010), and Jobs, who was then also CEO of Pixar.
“The old board has been associated with the past and the past has been a failure,” Campbell said in a video presented to the crowd. “A new board brings hope.”
Ellison’s comments seem the most prescient today. “I think Apple needs to worry less about competing with Microsoft and worry more about doing things that are different. It’s back to innovation. It’s back to creativity. It’s back to vision,” he said. “Apple is the only lifestyle brand in the computer industry. It’s the only company that people feel passionate about. My company Oracle – it’s is a huge company, IBM is a huge company, Microsoft is a huge company, but no one has incredible emotions associated with our companies. Only Apple is a really a lifestyle brand.”
“The important thing is to build products that are wonderful. Or as Steve would say, ‘Insanely great,” Ellison added. “It’s time to start building insanely great products.”
As for Jobs, he told the crowd that Apple’s greatest asset was the 20 to 25 million devoted users who believe the “Macintosh is still the best product in the world.” He talked about how the Apple brand along with Nike, Coca-Cola and Disney, was one of the Top 5 brands in the world.
And he also explained the reason behind Apple’s decision to set aside its long-standing rivalry with Microsoft and enter into a partnership where Microsoft would continue to develop Office products for the Mac and Apple would make Microsoft’s Internet Explorer the default browser on its computers.
“We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,” Jobs said. “We have to embrace a notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. And if others are going to help us, that’s great because we need all the help we can get. And if we screw it and we don’t do a good job, it’s not somebody’s else’s fault. It’s our fault. ”
His closing remarks were about the users who embraced the Mac, echoing the famous “Think Different” ad campaign created to tout its products that same year. “I think you still have to think differently to buy an Apple computer and I think the people that do buy them do think differently. And they are the creative spirits in this world. They are the people that are not just out to get a job done, they’re out to change the world. And they’re out to change the world using whatever great tools they can get. And we make tools for those kinds of people.”
