Steve Jobs

TWENTY-SEVEN E iMAC lo (Again) o come from theJobs-Ive collaboration er aimed at the home consumer mar 1998. Jobs had certain specifications. duct, with keyboard and monitor and ofthe box. It shouldhave a distinctive ment. And it should sell for $1,200 or ling for less than $2,000 at the time.) ots of the original 1984 Macintosh, an 348

The iMa all-in-one consumer appliance,\" recal and engineering had to worktogether The initial plan was to build a championed by Oracle's Larry Ellison minalwithout ahard drive that would Internet and other networks. But Ap Anderson led the push to make the p disk drive so it couldbecome a full-fl home. Jobs eventually agreed. Jon Rubinstein, who was in ch microprocessor and guts of the Power fessional computer, for use in the pr have a hard drive and a tray for com move, Jobs and Rubinstein decided diskdrive. Jobs quoted the hockey star where the puck's going, notwhere it's time, but eventually most computers e Ive andhis top deputy, DannyCos designs. Jobs brusquely rejected the d produced, but Ive knew howto guide of them was quite right, but he poin was curved, playful looking, and did rootedto the table. \"It hasa sense tha or it'sjust about to hop off andgo som By the next showing Ive had refin Jobs, with his binary view of the wo took the foam prototype and began c ters with him, showing it in confid board members. In its ads Apple was able to think different, yet until now was much different from existing com thing new. The plastic casing that Ive andCos later named bondi blue after the colo tralia, andit wastranslucent sothat yo

ac 349 lled Schiller. \"That meant design r.\" \"network computer,\" a concept n, which was an inexpensive ter dmainlybe usedto connectto the pple's chief financial officer Fred product more robust by adding a ledged desktop computer for the harge of hardware, adapted the rMac G3, Apple's high-end pro roposed new machine. It would mpact disks, but in a rather bold not to include the usual floppy r Wayne Gretzky's maxim, \"Skate s been.\" He was abit ahead of his eliminated floppy disks. ster, began to sketchout futuristic dozen foam models they initially him gently. Ive agreed that none nted out one that had promise. It not seem like an unmovable slab at it'sjust arrived on your desktop mewhere,\" he toldJobs. ned the playful model. This time orld, raved that he loved it. He carrying it around the headquar dence to trusted lieutenants and s celebrating the glories of being nothing had been proposed that mputers. Finally, Jobs had some oster proposed wassea-green blue, or of the water at a beach in Aus oucould see throughto the inside

350 Walter of the machine. \"We were trying being changeable based on your Ive. \"That's why we liked the tran felt so unstatic. Andit came acro Both metaphorically and in re inner engineering ofthecompute insisted that the rows of chips o though they would never be seen. would make visible thecare thath of the computer and fitting them convey simplicity while also reve entails. Even the simplicity of the pl plexity. Ive and his team worked to perfect the process of making jellybean factory to studyhow to ing. The cost of each case was m that ofa regular computer case. O demanded presentations and stud case would increase sales enough for no such analysis. Topping offthe design was th more playful and semiotic than i computer; not many people were Ive later explained: Back then, people weren't comfor ofsomething, thenyou wonttouc to touch it. So I thought, if there's ship possible. It's approachable. It touch. It gives a sense of its defer turinga recessed handle costs a lo have lost the argument. What w saw it and said, \"That's cool!\" I d intuitively got it. He just knewtha and playfulness.

r Isaacson ng to convey a sense of the computer r needs, to be like a chameleon,\" said nslucency. You could have color but it oss as cheeky.\" eality, the translucency connected the er to theouter design. Jobs had always on the circuit boards look neat, even . Now they would be seen. Thecasing had gone into making all components m together. The playful design would ealing the depths that true simplicity lastic shell itself involved great com d with Apple's Korean manufacturers g the cases, and they even went to a o make translucent colors look entic more than $60 per unit, three times Other companies would probably have dies to showwhether the translucent h to justify the extra cost. Jobs asked he handle nestled into the iMac. It was it was functional. This was a desktop really going to carryit around. But as rtable with technology. If you're scared ch it. I could see mymum being scared s this handle on it, it makesa relation t's intuitive. It gives you permission to rence to you. Unfortunately, manufac ot of money. At the oldApple, I would was really great about Steve is that he didn't explain all the thinking, but he at it waspart of the iMac's friendliness

The iMa Jobs had to fend off the objections supported by Rubinstein, who tende erations when faced with Ive's aesth whims. \"When we took it to the eng with thirty-eight reasons they couldn' doing this.' And they said, 'Well, wh CEO, and I think it can be done.' A did it.\" Jobs asked Lee Clowand Ken Seg ChiatXDay ad team to fly up to see brought them into the guarded desi veiled Ive's translucent teardrop-sha something from Thejetsons, the anim For a moment they were taken aback we couldn't be frank,\" Segall recalled. do theyknow what theyare doing?' It to suggest names. Segall came back \"iMac.\"Jobs didn'tlikeanyof them at other list a weeklater, but he saidthat Jobs replied, \"I don't hateit thisweek silk-screening it on some of the pro him. And thus it became the iMac. As the deadline for completing th ary temper reappeared in force, espe manufacturing issues. At one product the process was going slowly. \"He did fury, and the fury was absolutely pure the table assailing everyone, starting w tryingto save the company here,\" he s ing it up!\" Like the original Macintosh tea completion just in timeforthe bigan had one last explosion. When it cam presentation, Rubinstein cobbled to Jobs had not seen the final product b onstage he saw a button on the front

ac 351 s of the manufacturing engineers, ed to raise practical cost consid hetic desires and various design gineers,\" Jobs said,\"they came up 't do it.AndI said, 'No,no, we're hy?' And I said, 'Because I'm the And so they kind of grudgingly gall and others from the TBWA\\ what he had in the works. He ign studio and dramatically un aped design, which looked like mated TV show set in the future. k. \"We were pretty shocked, but . \"Wewere really thinking, 'Jesus, t was soradical.\" Jobs asked them k with five options, one of them t first, so Segall came up with an t the agency stillpreferred \"iMac.\" k, but I still don't like it.\"He tried ototypes, and the name grew on he iMac drew near, Jobs's legend ecially when he was confronting ct review meeting, he learned that d one of his displays of awesome re,\" recalled Ive. He went around with Rubinstein. \"You knowwe're shouted, \"andyouguys are screw am, the iMac crew staggered to nnouncement. But not before Jobs me time to rehearse for the launch ogether two working prototypes. before, and when he looked at it t, under the display. He pushed it

352 Walter and the CD tray opened. \"What not as politely. \"None of us said he obviously knew what a CD t It was supposed to have a clean elegant slot drives thatwere alread this is exactly the drive I showed ponents,\" Rubinstein explained. \" Jobs insisted. Rubinstein didn't b almost started crying, because it w Jobs later recalled. They suspended the rehearsal might cancel theentire product la 'Am I crazy?'\" Schiller recalled. \" Steve andthefirst time I saw his launching it.'\" Finally, they agree for the next version of the iMac. launch if you promise we're going sible,\" Jobs said tearfully. There was also a problem wi it,Jony Ive is shown describing hi computer would the Jetsons have day.\" At that moment there was toon show, showing Jane Jetson by another two-second clip of t tree. At a rehearsal a production a remove the clips because Hanna-B use them. \"Keep it in,\"Jobs barked there were rules against that. \"I d The clip stayedin. LeeClow was preparing a serie he sentJobs the page proofs hego The blue in the ad, Jobs insisted, \"You guys don't know whatyou're get someone else to do the ads, be back. Compare them, he said. Job he was right and continued to sh

r Isaacson t the fuck is this?!?\" he asked, though anything,\" Schiller recalled, \"because tray was.\" So Jobs continued to rail. CD slot, he insisted, referring to the ady to befound in upscale cars. \"Steve, d you whenwe talked about the com \"No, there was never a tray, justa slot,\" back down. Jobs's fury didn't abate. \"I was too late to do anything about it,\" l, and for a while it seemed as ifJobs aunch. \"Ruby looked at me as ifto say, \"It was my first product launch with mind-set of'Ifit'snot rightwe're not ed to replace the tray with a slotdrive \"I'm only going to go ahead with the ng to go to slot mode as soon as pos ith the video he planned to show. In is design thinking andasking, \"What e had? It was like, the future yester a two-second snippet from the car looking at a video screen, followed the Jetsons giggling by a Christmas assistant told Jobs theywould have to Barbera had not given permission to d at him. The assistant explained that don't care,\" Jobs said. \"We're using it.\" es ofcolorful magazine ads, andwhen otanoutraged phone call in response. ,was different from that of the iMac. e doing!\" Jobs shouted. \"I'mgoing to ecause this is fucked up.\"Clowargued bs,who was not in the office, insisted hout. Eventually Clowgot him to sit

The iMa down with the original photographs. blue was the blue was the blue.\" Yea sion board on the website Gawker, th someone who had worked at the Who blocks from Jobs's home: \"I was shagg saw this silver Mercedes parked in a h inside screaming at his car phone. Thi was unveiled andI'm prettysure I coul Enough!!!'\" As always, Jobs was compulsive in veiling. Having stopped one rehearsal CD drive tray, he stretched out the o showwould be stellar. He repeatedly when he would walk across the stage new iMac.\" He wanted the lighting t cenceofthe new machinewould be vi he was stillunsatisfied, an echo of his o Sculley had witnessed at the rehearsa tosh launch. He ordered the lights to but that stilldidn'tplease him. Sohej and slouched into a center seat, drapi \"Let's keep doingit till we get it righ other attempt. \"No, no,\" Jobs compla The next time, the lights were brigh late. \"I'm getting tired of asking abou iMac shone just right.\"Oh! Right the A year earlier Jobs had ousted M tor and partner, from the board. But wrought with the new iMac, and so s to the original Macintosh, that he inv a private preview. Markkulawas impr the new mouse that Ive had designe Markkula said, and people would ha kulawas right. Otherwise the machin predecessor, insanely great.

ac 353 \"I finally proved to him that the ars later, on a Steve Jobs discus he following tale appeared from ole Foods store in Palo Alto a few gging carts one afternoon when I handicapped spot. Steve Jobs was is was right before the first iMac uld make out,'Not. Fucking. Blue. n preparing for the dramatic un l because he was angry about the other rehearsals to make sure the went over the climactic moment e and proclaim, \"Say hello to the to be perfect so that the translu- ivid. But after a few run-throughs obsession with stagelighting that als for the original 1984 Macin o be brighter and come on earlier, jogged down the auditorium aisle ing his legs overthe seat in front. ht, okay?\" he said. They made an ained. \"This isn't working at all.\" ht enough, but they came on too utthis,\" Jobs growled. Finally, the ere! That's great!\" Jobs yelled. Mike Markkula, his early men he was so proud of what he had sentimental about its connection vitedMarkkula to Cupertino for ressed. His only objection was to ed. It looked like a hockey puck, ate it. Jobs disagreed, but Mark ne had turned out to be, as had its

354 Walter The Launch, May 6,1998 With the launch of the original M new kind of theater: the product by a let-there-be-light moment i down, the angels sing, and a chor lelujah.\" For the grand unveiling save Apple andagain transform p chose the Flint Auditorium of D pertino, the same venue he hadu all the stops in order to dispel dou the developers' community, andj machine. But he was also doing sario. Putting on a great show pi putting out a great product. Displaying his sentimental sid to three people he had invited to become estranged from all ofthem \"I started the company with Ste and Steve is here today,\" he sai applause. \"We werejoined by Mi first president, Mike Scott,\" he c the audience today. And none of guys.\" His eyes misted for a mom in the audience were Andy Hert team. Jobs gave them a smile. H proud. After showing the grid of Ap through some slides about the n ready to unveil his newbaby. \"Th he said as a picture of a beige s was projected on the big screen b privilege of showing you what th on.\"He pulledthe clothfrom the

r Isaacson Macintosh in 1984,Jobs had created a t debut as an epochal event, climaxed in which the skies part, a light shines orus of the chosen faithful sings \"Hal g of the product that he hoped would personal computing, Jobs symbolically De Anza Community College in Cu used in 1984. He would be pulling out ubts, rally the troops, enlist support in jump-start the marketing of the new it because he enjoyed playing impre iqued his passions in the same way as de, he began with a graceful shout-out o be up front in the audience. He had m, but now he wanted them rejoined. teve Wozniak in my parents' garage, id, pointing him out and prompting ike Markkula and soon after that our continued. \"Both of those folks are in us wouldbe here without these three ment as the applause again built. Also rtzfeld and most of the original Mac He believed he was about to do them pple's new product strategy and going new computer's performance, he was his iswhat computers looklike today,\" set of boxy components and monitor behind him. \"And I'd like to take the hey are going to look like from today e tableat centerstage to reveal the new

The iMa iMac, which gleamed and sparkled as pressed the mouse, and as at thelaunc screen flashed with fast-paced imag the computer could do. At the end, t same playful script that had adorned with the word\"again\" below it in paren thunderous applause. Jobs stood back Macintosh.\"It looks likeit's from ano ence laughed. \"Agoodplanet. A plane Once again Jobs had produced a a harbinger of a new millennium. It Different.\" Instead of beige boxes and and a bulky setup manual, here was a smooth to the touch and as pleasing could grab its cute little handle and li and plug it right into a wall socket. computers nowwantedone, and theyw others could admire and perhaps cov blends sci-fi shimmer with the kitsch Steven Levy wrote in Newsweek, \"it computer introduced in years, but a Silicon Valley's original dream compa Forbes called it \"an industry-altering cameout of exile to gush,\"He has imp egythat madeApple so successful 15 y promote them with terrific marketing Carping was heard from only on garnered kudos, Bill Gates assured a visiting Microsoft that this would be Apple'sprovidingnow is leadership in to a Windows-based PC that he jok take long for us to catch up with that, and he told a reporter that Gates, the being completely devoid of taste, wa iMac so much more appealing than o

ac 355 s the lights came up on cue. He ch ofthe original Macintosh, the ges of all the wondrous things the word \"hello\" appeared in the d the 1984 Macintosh, this time ntheses: Hello (again). There was k and proudly gazed at his new otherplanet,\" he said,as the audi et with better designers.\" an iconic new product, this one fulfilled the promise of \"Think d monitors with a welterof cables a friendly and spunky appliance, to the eye as a robin's egg. You ift it out of the elegant white box People who had been afraid of wanted to put it in a roomwhere vet it. \"A piece of hardware that h whimsy of a cocktail umbrella,\" is not only the coolest-looking chest-thumping statement that any is no longer somnambulant.\" success,\" and John Sculley later plemented the same simple strat years ago: make hit products and g.\" ne familiar corner. As the iMac a gathering of financial analysts e a passing fad. \"The one thing n colors,\" Gates said as he pointed kingly had painted red. \"It won't , I don't think.\" Jobs was furious, e man he had publicly decried for as clueless about what made the other computers. \"The thing that

356 Walter our competitors are missing is th theythinkit's about surface appe alittle color on this piece of junk The iMacwent on sale in Au units in its first sixweeks, and w year, making it the fastest-selling tably, 32% of the sales wentto pe the first time, and another 12% dows machines. Ive soon came upwith four ne bondi blue, for the iMacs. Offer would of course create huge cha and distribution. At most comp there would have been studies a benefits. Butwhen Jobs looked at and summoned other executives o to do all sorts of colors!\" he told looked at his teamin amazement have taken months,\" Ive recalled There was one other import the iMac: getting rid of that de drive on a very high-end Sony st manufacturers and got them to d sion of the iMac we did nine mo him outof the change. He predic that could burn music onto CD theywould be available in tray fo slots. \"If yougo to slots, youwill Rubinstein argued. \"I don't care, that's what I w having lunch at a sushi bar in S they continue the conversation ov load drive for me as a personal f of course, but he turned out to CD drive that could rip and bur computers that had old-fashion

r Isaacson hat they think it's about fashion, and earance,\" he said. \"Theysay, We'll slap k computer, and we'llhave one, too.\" ugust 1998 for $1,299. It sold 278,000 would sell 800,000 by the end of the g computer in Applehistory. Most no eople whowere buying acomputer for to people who had been using Win ewjuicy-looking colors, in addition to ring the same computer in five colors allenges for manufacturing, inventory, panies, including even the old Apple, and meetings to look at the costs and tthenewcolors, hegottotally psyched over to thedesign studio. \"We're going d them excitedly. When they left, Ive t. \"In most places that decision would d.\"Steve did it in a half hour.\" tant refinement that Jobs wanted for etested CD tray. \"I'd seen a slot-load tereo,\" he said, \"so I went to the drive do a slot-load drive for us for the ver onths later.\" Rubinstein tried to argue cted thatnewdrives would come along Ds rather than merely play them, and orm before theywere made to workin l always be behindon the technology,\" want,\" Jobs snapped back. They were San Francisco, and Jobs insisted that ver awalk. \"I want you to do the slot- favor,\" Jobs asked. Rubinstein agreed, be right. Panasonic came out with a rn music, and it was available first for ned tray loaders. The effects of this

The iMa would ripple over the next few years: I in catering to users who wanted to rip that would then force Apple to be im way to leapfrog over its competitors w had to get into the music market.

c 357 It would cause Apple to be slow p and burn their own music, but maginative and bold in finding a when Jobs finally realized that he

CHAPTER T C Still Crazy aft Tim Cook andJobs, 20 Tim Cook When Steve Jobs returnedto Ap ent\" ads and the iMac in his firs already knew: that he couldbe c that during his first round at Ap he could run a company. He had first round. Jobs threw himself into the ta

TWENTY-EIGHT CEO ter All These Years 007 pple and produced the \"Think Differ st year, it confirmed what most people creative and a visionary. He had shown pple.What was less clear was whether d definitely notshown that during his ask with a detail-oriented realism that 358

CEO astonished those who were used to h universe need not apply to him.\"He b ferent from being an executive or vis prisedme,\" recalled Ed Woolard, the b His management mantra was \"Foc uct lines and cut extraneous features in ware that Apple was developing. He l to manufacture products in his own f the making of everythingfrom the cir puters. And he enforced on Apples When he took over, Apple had more ventorysitting in warehouses, moreth eggs and milk, computers have a shor at least a $500 million hit to profits. B to a month. Jobss successes came at a cost, sinc part of his repertoire. When he deci Express wasn't delivering spare parts Apple manager to break the contract that doing so could lead to a lawsuit they fuck with us, they'll never get a company, ever.\" The manager quit, th year to resolve. \"My stock options wo stayed,\" the manager said, \"but I kne he'd have fired me anyway.\"The new d ventory 75%, and did. \"Under SteveJo performing,\" its CEO said. At anoth ogywas havingtrouble delivering eno into a meeting and started shouting assholes.\" The company ended up get and its executives madejacketsthat bo ALfter three months of working un tions decided he could not bear the p a yearJobs ran operations himself, be viewed \"seemed like they were old-w recalled. He wanted someone who co

359 his fantasy that the rules of this became a manager, which is dif sionary, and that pleasantly sur boardchairwho lured him back. cus.\" He eliminated excess prod n the new operating system soft let go of his control-freak desire factories and instead outsourced rcuitboards to the finished com s suppliers a rigorous discipline. e than two months' worth of in han anyother tech company. Like rt shelf life, so this amounted to By early 1998 he had halved that cevelvety diplomacywas still not ided that a division of Airborne s quickly enough, he ordered an t. When the manager protested t, Jobs replied, \"Just tell them if another fucking dime from this here was a lawsuit, and it took a ould be worth $10 million had I ew I couldn't have stood it—and distributor was ordered to cut in obs, there's zero tolerance for not her point, when VLSI Technol ough chipson time,Jobs stormed that they were \"fucking dickless tting the chips to Apple on time, oastedon the back,\"TeamFDA.\" nderJobs,Apple's head of opera pressure, and he quit. For almost ecause all the prospects he inter wave manufacturing people,\" he ould build just-in-time factories

360 Walter and supply chains, as Michael D Tim Cook, a courtly thirty-seve chain manager at Compaq Com his operations manager but wou stage partner in running Apple. A Tim Cookcame out ofprocurem forwhatwe needed. I realized tha way. I had visited a lot of just-in one for the Mac and at NeXT. I and he wanted the same thing. before long I trusted him to know vision I did, and we could interac just forget abouta lot of things un Cook, the son of a shipyard w bama, a small town between Mo the Gulf Coast. He majored in i a business degree at Duke, and IBM in the Research Triangle o viewed him, he had recently tak been a verylogical engineer, and C career option,but he was snared initialinterview with Steve, I wan wind andjoin Apple,\" he latersa Apple would be a once-in-a-lifeti genius.\" And so he did.\"Enginee lytically, but there are times whe indispensable.\" At Apple his role became imp accomplished with a quiet diligen into his work. He wasup most da an hour at the gym, and was at h Sunday evening conference calls a company that was led by a CE blasts, Cook commanded situati

r Isaacson Dell had done.Then, in 1998, he met en-year-old procurement and supply mputers, who not only would become uld grow into an indispensable back AsJobs recalled: ment, which isjust the rightbackground at he andI saw things exactly the same n-time factories in Japan, and I'd built knew what I wanted, and I met Tim, . So we started to work together, and wexacdy what to do. He had the same ct at a high strategic level, and I could unless he came and pinged me. worker, wasraised in Robertsdale, Ala obile and Pensacola a half hour from industrial engineering at Auburn, got for the next twelve years worked for of North Carolina. When Jobs inter ken a job at Compaq. He had always Compaq then seemed a moresensible byJobs's aura. \"Five minutes into my ntedto throw caution and logicto the aid. \"Myintuition told me that joining ime opportunity to workfor a creative ers are taught to make a decision ana en relying on gut or intuition is most mplementing Jobs's intuition, which he nce. Never married, he threw himself ays at 4:30 sendingemails, then spent his desk shortly after 6. He scheduled s to prepare for each week ahead. In EO prone to tantrums and withering ions with a calm demeanor, a sooth-

CEO ing Alabama accent, and silent stares. Cook's default facial expression is a fro variety,\" Adam Lashinsky wrote in Fo for long, uncomfortable pauses, when tearingthe wrapper off the energy bar At a meeting early in his tenure, C one of Apple's Chinese suppliers. \"Th one should be in China driving this.\" at an operations executive sitting at th \"Why are you still here?\" The execu the San Francisco airport, and bough one of Cook's top deputies. Cook reduced the number of Appl to twenty-four, forced them to cut b convinced many to locate next to App company's nineteen warehouses. Byre tory could pile up, he reduced invento two months' worth of product down to berofthat year, Cook hadgotten it do September, it was down to an amazing cut the production process for makin months to two. All of this not onlysa new computer to have the verylatestc Mock Turtlenecks and Teamwork On a triptoJapan in theearly 1980s,Jo Morita, why everyone in his company looked very ashamed and told me tha clothes, and companies like Sony had to wear each day,\"Jobs recalled. Over t their own signature style, especially a it became a way of bonding workers I wanted that type of bonding forApp Sony, with itsappreciation for style

361 . \"Though he's capable of mirth, own, and his humor is of the dry Fortune. \"In meetings he's known n all you hear is the sound of his rs he constantly eats.\" Cook was told of a problem with his is really bad,\" he said. \"Some \" Thirty minutes later he looked he table and unemotionally asked, utive stood up, drove directly to ht a ticket to China. He became le s key suppliers from a hundred better deals to keep the business, ple's plants, and closed ten of the reducing the places where inven ory. Jobs had cut inventory from o onebyearly 1998. BySeptem own to six days. By the following g two days' worth. In addition, he ng an Apple computer from four aved money, it also allowed each components available. obs asked Sony's chairman, Akio y's factories wore uniforms. \"He at after the war, no one had any to give their workers something theyears the uniforms developed at companies such as Sony, and to the company. \"I decided that ple,\" Jobs recalled. e, had gotten thefamous designer

362 Walter Issey Miyake to create one of it ripstop nylon with sleeves that c called Issey and asked him to des came back with some samples an we would all wear these vests. O Everybody hated the idea.\" In the process, however, he be visit him regularly. He also came for himself, because of both its claimed) and its ability to convey make me some of his black turde like a hundred of them.\" Jobs no story, so he gestured to them sta wear,\" he said.\"I have enough to Despite his autocratic nature of consensus—Jobs worked hard at Apple. Many companies pride Jobs had many: an executive staf strategy session all Wednesday a sessions. Still allergic to PowerPo sisted that the people around th vantages and the perspectives of Because he believed that App tion of the whole widget—from content—he wanted all departme in parallel. The phrases he used current engineering.\" Instead of product would be passed sequen manufacturing to marketing an ments collaborated simultaneousl grated products, and that meant collaborative,\"Jobs said. This approach also applied to meet the top leaders—Cook, T rather than just the managers o to work.\"Then we all get togeth

r Isaacson ts uniforms. It was a jacket made of could unzip to make it a vest. \"So I sign a vestfor Apple,\" Jobs recalled. \"I nd told everyone it would be great if Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. ecame friends with Miyakeand would e to like the idea of having a uniform s daily convenience (the rationale he y a signature style. \"So I askedIsseyto enecks that I liked, and he made me oticed my surprise when he told this acked up in the closet. \"That's what I last for the rest of my life.\" e—he never worshipped at the altar d to foster a culture of collaboration e themselves on havingfew meetings. ff session every Monday, a marketing afternoon, and endless product review oints and formal presentations, he in he table hash out issues from various different departments. ple's great advantage was its integra m design to hardware to software to ents at the company to work together d were \"deep collaboration\" and \"con f a development process in which a ntially from engineering to design to nd distribution, these various depart sly. \"Our method was to develop inte t our process had to be integrated and o key hires. He would have candidates Tevanian, Schiller, Rubinstein, Ive— of the department where they wanted herwithout the person and talk about

CEO whetherthey'llfit in,\"Jobssaid. His g bozo explosion\" that leads to a comp rate talent: For most things in life, the range bet so. The best airplane flight, the best m your average one.What I saw with W times better than the average enginee head.The Mac team was an attemp A players. People said theywouldn't g each other. But I realized that A pla they just didn't like working with C company of A players. When I got ba to try to do. You need to have a collab hire someone, even if theyre going to talk to the design folks and the engine Oppenheimer. I read about the type bomb project. I wasn't nearly as good a to do. The process could be intimidatin When they were looking for people for Apple's new operating system, Job and invited him in. The applicant w not go well. Later that day Jobs bum the lobby. The guyasked if he could j Jobs looked over his shoulder and saw rector, of a wayto fit more icons in th When the guy movedthe cursorover the cursor mimicked a magnifying g bigger. \"I said, 'My God,' andhired hi feature became a lovable part ofMac to design such things as inertial scrol delightful feature that makes the sc afteryou've finished swiping). Jobs's experiences at NeXT had

O 363 goalwas to be vigilant against \"the mpany's being larded with second- tween best and average is 30% or meal, they maybe 30% better than Woz was somebody who was fifty er. He could have meetings in his pt to build a whole team like that, get along, they'd hateworking with ayers like to work with A players, players. At Pixar, it was a whole ackto Apple, that's what I decided aborative hiringprocess. When we o be in marketing, I willhave them eers. My role modelwasJ. Robert of people he sought for the atom as hewas, but that's whatI aspired ng, butJobs had an eye for talent. to design the graphical interface bs gotanemail from a young man was nervous, and the meeting did mped into him, dejected, sitting in just show him one of his ideas, so w a little demo, using Adobe Di he dock at the bottom of a screen. rthe iconscrammed into the dock, glass and made each icon balloon im on the spot,\"Jobsrecalled. The c OSX, and the designer went on lling for multi-touch screens (the creen keep gliding for a moment matured him, but they had not

364 Walter mellowed him much. He still had and he still parked in the handica sometimes straddling two slots. It made signs saying, \"Park Differe handicapped wheelchair symbol w Peoplewere allowed, evenenco times he would respectthem for it to attack you,evenbite yourhead neverwin an argument with him a tuallywin,\"saidJames Vincent,th with Lee Clow. \"You propose som pid idea,'and later he comes back do.' And you want to say, 'That's you said that's a stupid idea.' Bu That's a great idea, let's do that.'\" People also had to put up with rect assertions. To both family an with great conviction, some scien relationship to reality. \"There can nothing about, and because of his can convince people that he know who described the trait asweirdly Jobs sometimes correctly pounced Lee Clow recalled showing Jobs a minor changes he requested, and about how the ad had been comp had cut two extra frames, someth sible to notice,\"said Clow. \"But he at the exact moment as a beat of t From iCEO to CEO Ed Woolard, his mentor on the than two years to drop the interim was Jobs refusing to commit hims

Isaacson d no license plate on his Mercedes, apped spaces next to the front door, t became a running gag. Employees ent,\" and someone painted over the with a Mercedes logo. ouraged, to challenge him, and some t. But you had to be prepared for him d off, as he processed your ideas. \"You at the time, but sometimes you even he creative young adman who worked mething and he declares, 'That's a stu kand says, 'Here's what we're going to what I told you two weeks ago and ut you can't do that. Instead you say, \" hJobs's occasional irrationalor incor nd colleagues, he was apt to declare, ntific or historical fact that had scant n be something he knows absolutely s crazy style and utter conviction, he ws what he's talking about,\" said Ive, endearing. Yetwith his eye for detail, d on tiny things others had missed. a cut of a commercial, making some d then being assaulted with a tirade pletely destroyed. \"He discovered we hing so fleeting it was nearly impos e wanted to be sure that an image hit the music, and he was totally right.\" Apple board, pressed Jobs for more m in front of his CEO title. Not only mself, but he was baffling everyone by

CEO taking only $1 a yearin pay and no sto showing up,\" he liked to joke,\"andth formance.\" Since his return in July 19 just under $14 to just over $102 at t at the beginning of 2000. Woolard h modeststockgrant backin 1997, butJ want the people I workwith at Apple rich.\" Had he accepted that modest g $400 million. Instead he made $2.50 The main reason he clung to his in uncertainty aboutApple's future. But that Apple had rebounded, and it was walkwith Laurene and discussed wha a formality but to him was still a big designation, Apple could be the base including the possibility of getting Ap puters. He decided to do so. Woolard was thrilled, and he sug ing to give him a massive stockgrant Jobs replied. \"What I'd rather have is kid. I don't like flying commercial. I li When I go east, I'd like to have pilots of person who could display grace an plane or terminal, even before the da LarryEllison, whose plane Jobs somet to Ellisonin 1999forJobs's useof it), accomplished, we should give him fiv later said, \"It was the perfect thank-yo Apple and gotten nothingin return.\" So Woolard happily granted Jobs's also offered him fourteen million sto pected response. He wanted more: tw was baffled and upset. The board had to give out only fourteen million. \"Yo we gaveyou a plane, which you did w \"I hadn't been insisting on option

365 ockoptions. \"I make 50 cents for he other 50 cents is basedon per 997, Apple stock had gone from the peak of the Internet bubble had begged him to take at least a Jobshad declined, saying, \"I don't to think I am comingbackto get grant, it would have been worth during that period. nterim designation was a sense of t as 2000 approached, it was clear s because of him. He took a long at to mostpeople by nowseemed g deal. If he dropped the interim for all the things he envisioned, Apple into products beyond com ggested that the board was will t. \"Let me be straight with you,\" s an airplane. We just had a third ike to take my family to Hawaii. s I know.\" He was never the type nd patience in a commercial air ays of the TSA. Board member times used (Apple paid $102,000 had no qualms. \"Givenwhat he's ve airplanes!\" Ellison argued. He ou gift for Steve, who had saved s wish, with a Gulfstream V, and ock options. Jobs gave an unex wenty million options. Woolard d authorityfrom the stockholders ou said you didn't want any, and want,\"Woolard said. ns before,\" Jobs replied, \"but you

366 Walter suggested it could be up to 5% o what I now want.\" It was an awk celebratory period.In the end, a c granted him ten million shares the current price but timed to ve grant due in 2001. Making matte of the Internet bubble. Jobs never of 2001 he asked that they be re strikeprice. The wrestling over o company. Even if he didn't profit from the airplane. Not surprisingly he be designed. It took him more th a startingpoint and hired his des crazy. For example, Ellison's had button and a close button. Jobs that toggled. He didn't like the p so he had them replaced with br got the plane he wanted, and he mine, and everythinghe changed At the January 2000 Macworld new Macintosh operating system ware that Apple had bought fro fitting, and not entirely coinciden himselfback at Apple at the sam corporated into Apple's. Avie Te Mach kernelof the NeXT operat OS kernel, known as Darwin. It networking, and preemptive mu Macintosh needed, and it woul henceforth. Somecritics, includin up not adopting the entire NeXT to that, because Apple decided n tem but instead to evolve the ex ten for the old Macintosh syste

r Isaacson of the company in options, and that's kward tiffin what should have been a complex solution wasworkedout that in January 2000 that were valued at est as if granted in 1997, plus another ers worse, the stockfellwith the burst r exercised the options,and at the end replaced by a new grant with a lower options would comeback to haunt the m the options, at least he got to enjoy e fretted over how the interior would han a year. He used Ellison's plane as signer. Pretty soon he was driving her d a door between cabins with an open insisted that his have a single button polished stainless steel of the buttons, rushed metal ones. But in the end he e loved it. \"I look at his airplane and dwas better,\"said Ellison. in San Francisco, Jobs rolled out the m, OSX,which used some of the soft om NeXT three years earlier. It was ntal, that he waswilling to incorporate me moment as the NeXT OS was in evanian had taken the UNIX-related ting system and turned it into the Mac t offered protected memory, advanced ultitasking. It was precisely what the ld be the foundation of the Mac OS ng BillGates,noted that Apple ended Toperating system. There's some truth not to leap into a completely new sys xisting one. Application software writ em was generally compatible with or

CEO easy to port to the new one, and a notice a lot of new features but not a The fans at Macworld received course,and they especially cheeredwh how the iconsin it couldbe magnified But the biggest applause came for th his \"Oh, and one more thing\" coda. H Pixar and Apple, and said that he ha situation could work. \"So I am plea going to drop the interim title,\" he s jumped to its feet, screamingas if the Up, adjusted hiswirerims,and put on guys are making me feel funny now. and work with the most talented peo Pixar. But thesejobs are team sports. everybody at Apple.\"

367 Mac user who upgraded would whole new interface. the news with enthusiasm, of hen Jobs showed off the dock and d by passingthe cursoroverthem. he announcement he reserved for He spoke about his duties at both ad become comfortable that the ased to announce today that I'm said with a big smile. The crowd Beatles had reunited.Jobs bit his a graceful showof humility. \"You I get to come to work every day ople on the planet, at Apple and I accept yourthanks on behalfof

CHAPTER T APPLE Genius Bars an New York's FifthAvenue store The Customer Experience Jobs hated to cede control of any the customer experience. But he of the process he didn't control: product in a store. The days of the Byte Shop w from local computer specialty sho where most clerks had neither th plain the distinctive nature of Ap cared about was a $50 spiff,\" Job

TWENTY-NINE STORES nd Siena Sandstone ything, especially when it might affect faced a problem. There was one part : the experience of buying an Apple were over. Industry sales were shifting ops to megachains and big box stores, he knowledge nor the incentive to ex pple products. \"All that the salesman bs said. Other computers were pretty 368

Apple Sto generic, but Apple's had innovative He didn't want an iMac to sit on a s paq while an uninformed clerk recite could find ways to get our message to screwed.\" In great secrecy, Jobs began in la who might be able to develop a strin the candidates had a passion for desig natural-born retailer: RonJohnson, th ing at Target, who was responsible f products, such as a teakettle designe very easy to talk to,\" said Johnson in of a sudden there's a torn pair ofjean running aboutwhyhe needed greatst he told me, we're going to win on in innovation unless you have a wayto c When Johnson came back in J again, Jobs suggested that they take a ing 140-store Stanford Shopping Ma open yet, so they walked up and dow discussed how it was organized, wha played relative to the other stores, and successful. They were still walking and talkin and they went into Eddie Bauer. It h another off the parkinglot.Jobs decid only one entrance, which would mak ence. And the Eddie Bauerstore, they It was important that customers intu as soon as they entered. There were no tech stores in the m The conventional wisdom was that a and infrequent purchase such as a com to a less convenient location, where disagreed. Apple stores should be in areaswith a lot of foot traffic, no ma

ores 369 features and a higher price tag. shelf between a Dell and a Com ed the specs of each. \"Unless we o customers at the store, we were ate 1999 to interview executives ng of Apple retail stores. One of gn and the boyish enthusiasm of a he vice presidentfor merchandis for launching distinctive-looking ed by Michael Graves. \"Steve is recalling their first meeting. \"All ns and turdeneck, and he's off and tores. IfAppleis goingto succeed, nnovation. And you can't win on communicate to customers.\" January 2000 to be interviewed a walk. They went to the sprawl all at 8:30 a.m.The stores weren't wn the entire mall repeatedly and at role the big department stores d why certain specialty shopswere ngwhen the stores opened at 10, had an entrance off the mall and ded that Apple storesshould have ke it easier to control the experi y agreed, wastoo long and narrow. uitively grasp the layout of a store mall, andJohnson explained why: a consumer, when making a major mputer, would be willing to drive the rent would be cheaper. Jobs n malls and on Main Streets—in atter how expensive. \"We may not

370 Walter be able to get them to drive ten we can getthem towalk tenfeet,\" ticular, had tobeambushed: \"Ifth ofcuriosity, ifwe make it inviting show them what we have, we will Johnson said that the size of a brand. \"Is Apple as big of a bran was much bigger. Johnson replie bigger. \"Otherwise youwon'tbe r kulas maxim that a good compan values and importance in everyth keting. Johnson loved it. It defin \"The store will become the most brand,\" he predicted. He said th to the wood-paneled, art-filled m had created at Seventy-second an ever I buy a polo shirt, I think of expression of Ralph's ideals,\" Joh with the Gap. You couldn't think of the greatGap store with the cl walls and folded merchandise.\" When they finished, they dro room playing with the company' enough to fill the shelves of a con vantage. The type of store theyw efit from having few products. I offer a lot of places for people to know Apple products,\" Johnson s You want to move from a cultto some store where people can try would impute the ethos of Apple on the bright side of the line betw

r Isaacson miles to check out ourproducts, but \" hesaid. TheWindows users, in par hey're passing by, they will drop in out g enough, and once we get a chance to l win.\" a store signaled the importance of the nd as the Gap?\" he asked. Jobs said it ed that its stores should therefore be relevant.\" Jobs described Mike Mark- ny must \"impute\"—it must convey its hing it does, from packaging to mar nitely applied to a company's stores. t powerful physical expression of the hat when he was young he had gone mansion-like store that Ralph Lauren nd Madison in Manhattan. \"When f that mansion, which was a physical hnson said. \"Mickey Drexler did that k of a Gap product without thinking lean space and woodfloors and white ove to Apple and sat in a conference 's products. There weren't many, not nventional store, but that was an ad would build, theydecided, would ben It would be minimalist and airy and o try out things. \"Most people don't said. \"They think of Apple as a cult. something cool, and having an awe y things will help that.\" The stores e products: playful, easy, creative, and ween hip and intimidating.

Apple Sto The Prototype When Jobs finally presented the id Gateway Computers was going down ban stores, andJobs's argument that h would be in more expensive locations \"Think different\" and \"Here's to the c tising slogans, but the board was hesi corporate strategy. \"I'm scratching my recalled Art Levinson, the CEO of G board in 2000. \"We are a small compa I'm not sure I can support something dubious. \"Gateway has tried this and to consumers without stores and succ appreciative of too much pushback fro happened, he had replaced most of t sonal reasons as well as being tired o Woolard decided to step down. But b a trial run of four Apple stores. Jobs did have one supporter on the the Bronx-born retailing prince Mi CEO of Gap had transformed a sleep casualculture. He was one of the few successful and savvy asJobs on matter yearnings. In addition, he had insist stores sold only Gap products, and exclusively in Gap stores. \"I left the d I couldn'tstand not controlling my ow factured to how it's sold,\"Drexler said why I think he recruited me.\" Drexlergave Jobs a piece of advice: store near the Apple campus, furnish there until you feel comfortable with vacant warehouse in Cupertino. Eve convened an all-morning brainstorm

ores 371 dea, the board was not thrilled. n in flames after opening subur his would do better because they s was not, on its face, reassuring. crazy ones\" madefor good adver itant to make them guidelines for yhead and thinking this is crazy,\" Genentech who joined the Apple any, a marginal player. I saidthat g like this.\" Ed Woolard was also failed, while Dell is selling direct ceeding,\" he argued. Jobs was not rom the board. The last time that the members. This time, for per of playing tug-of-war with Jobs, before he did, the board approved e board. In 1999he had recruited illard \"Mickey\" Drexler, who as py chain into an iconofAmerican w people in the world who were as rs of design, image, and consumer ted on end-to-end control: Gap Gap products were sold almost department storebusiness because wn product,from how it's manu d.\"Steve is just that way, which is : Secredy build a prototypeof the h it completely, and then hang out it. So Johnson and Jobs rented a eryTuesday for six months, they ming session there, refining their

372 Walter retailing philosophy as they walk lent ofIve's design studio, ahaven could come up with innovations b they evolved. \"I loved towander it out,\" Jobs recalled. Sometimes he made Drexle friends come look. \"On too man mewatch new scenes from Toy St and lookat the mockups for the s by every detail ofthe aesthetic an point where I said, 'Steve I'm not make me go to the store again.'\" Ellison's company, Oracle, wa held checkout system, which avo On each visit Jobs prodded Elliso process by eliminating some unn the credit card or printing a rece products, you will see Steve's ob this Bauhaus aesthetic and wond way to the checkoutprocess in th absolute minimum number of st recipe for how he wanted the che When Drexler came to see th \"I thought the space was too chop were too many distracting archit phasized thata customer should b with one sweep of the eye, under plicity and lackof distractions we to a product. \"After that, he naile was complete control ofthe entire it was designed and made to how In October 2000, near whath Johnson woke up in the middle day meetings with a painful tho fundamentally wrong. They wer

r Isaacson ked the space. It was the store equiva n where Jobs, with his visual approach, by touching and seeing theoptions as over there on my own, just checking er, Larry Ellison, and other trusted ny weekends, when he wasn't making tory, he made mego to the warehouse store,\" Ellison said. \"He was obsessed nd the service experience. It gotto the ot coming to see you ifyou're going to as developing software for the hand oided having a cash register counter. on to figure outways to streamline the necessary step, such as handing over eipt. \"Ifyou lookat the stores and the bsession with beauty as simplicity— derful minimalism, which goes all the he stores,\" said Ellison. \"It means the teps. Steve gave us the exact, explicit eckout to work.\" he prototype, he had some criticisms: pped up and not clean enough. There tectural features and colors.\" He em beable towalk into a retail space and, rstand the flow. Jobs agreed that sim ere keys to a greatstore, as theywere ed it,\" said Drexler. \"The vision he had e experience of hisproduct, from how w it was sold.\" he thought was the end of the process, e of a night before one of the Tues hought: They had gotten something re organizing the store around each

Apple St of Apple's main product lines, with iBook, and PowerBook. But Jobs ha cept: the computer as a hub for all yo your computer might handle video and perhaps someday your music pla magazines. Johnson's predawn brain organize displays notjust around the ers, but also around things people m I thought there should be a movie b and PowerBooks running iMovie a fromyourvideo camera and edit.\" Johnson arrived at Jobs's office about his sudden insight that they He had heard tales of his boss's intem feltits lash—until now. Jobs erupted. this is?\" he yelled. \"I've worked my as and now you want to change every \"I'm tired. I don't knowif I can desig Johnson was speechless, and Job the ride to the prototype store, wh Tuesday meeting, he told Johnson or to the other members of the team ceeded in silence. When they arriv the information. \"I knew Ron was r surprise, Jobs opened the meeting b all wrong. He thinks it should be or instead around what people do.\" The ued. \"And you know, he's right.\" He even though it would likely delay the or four months. \"We've only got one Jobs liked to tell the story—and about how everything that he had d ment when he hit the rewind butto something that he discovered was n it on Toy Story, when the character