AppleInsider Staff
With nearly a year now passed since the death of Steve Jobs, Forbes has published a handful of previously "untold stories" about the Apple co-founder.
Excerpts from the story, published online on Tuesday, will appear in the Oct. 22 issue of the magazine. They include first-hand recollections of Jobs by friends and colleagues.
In one story told by software engineer Randy Adams, he recalls when Bill Gates showed up for a meeting at NeXT in the fall of 1986. After his receptionist let him know that Gates was waiting in the lobby, Jobs took his time to greet the Microsoft founder.
"I could see him sitting in his cube, not really busy," Adams said. "But he didn't get up or call Gates up. In fact, he left him waiting in the lobby for an hour. That speaks to their rivalry."
Adams also told a story from 1985 when both he and Jobs each owned a Porsche 911. One day at the NeXT offices in Palo Alto, Calif., Jobs rushed to Adams and told him they had to move their cars.
"Randy, we have to hide the Porsches," Jobs reportedly told Adams. "Ross Perot is coming and thinking of investing in the company, and we don't want him to think we have a lot of money."
The Porsches were hidden behind the office so they could not be seen by Perot. The Texas businessman eventually invested $20 million in NeXT.
Author Connie Guglielmo also shared the story of a time that Jobs had a "meltdown" before introducing a new "mini" retail store design. The store had a "shiny, seamless white floor" chosen by Jobs, but the CEO didn't realize just prior to its unveiling that the floor easily collected black scuff marks from shoes.
In the minutes before the unveiling, Jobs reportedly refused to step outside and greet reporters because he was so upset over the look of the mini store. However, Jobs was "ultimately convinced" to make an appearance.
"When I saw the floor, I immediately turned to Jobs, standing next to me, and asked if he had been involved in every aspect of the design," Guglielmo wrote. "He said yes. 'It was obvious that whoever designed the store had never cleaned a floor in their life,' I told him. He narrowed his eyes at me and stepped inside."
After the store opened to the public, all of the designers were apparently tasked with returning to the store and cleaning the white floor. Apple subsequently switched its store floors to stone tile, which is less likely to collect scuffs.
Other stories included in the full story cover Jobs' thoughts on touchscreen keyboards, his legendary attention to detail as well as lack of "social graces," and the time Jobs played Santa Claus for a friend's daughter.
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34 Comments
Never cleaned a floor? Or just never one that so readily showed scuffs? What about a boat? then again I was on a boat that I am told collected a number of marks from shoes but I don't recall seeing them while I was on board - then again the boat itself was not really the focus of my attention.
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
In one story told by software engineer Randy Adams, he recalls when Bill Gates showed up for a meeting at NeXT in the fall of 1986. After his receptionist let him know that Gates was waiting in the lobby, Jobs took his time to greet the Microsoft founder.
"I could see him sitting in his cube, not really busy," Adams said. "But he didn't get up or call Gates up. In fact, he left him waiting in the lobby for an hour."
Author Connie Guglielmo also shared the story of a time that Jobs had a "meltdown" before introducing a new "mini" retail store design. The store had a "shiny, seamless white floor" chosen by Jobs, but the CEO didn't realize just prior to its unveiling that the floor easily collected black scuff marks from shoes.In the minutes before the unveiling, Jobs reportedly refused to step outside and greet reporters because he was so upset over the look of the mini store. However, Jobs was "ultimately convinced" to make an appearance.
"When I saw the floor, I immediately turned to Jobs, standing next to me, and asked if he had been involved in every aspect of the design," Guglielmo wrote. "He said yes. 'It was obvious that whoever designed the store had never cleaned a floor in their life,' I told him. He narrowed his eyes at me and stepped inside."
After the store opened to the public, all of the designers were apparently tasked with returning to the store and cleaning the white floor. Apple subsequently switched its store floors to stone tile, which is less likely to collect scuffs.
Really, really, REALLY, gonna miss Jobs. The industry needs more of THAT man. Imagine what would be possible.
Really, really, REALLY, gonna miss Jobs. The industry needs more of THAT man. Imagine what would be possible.
While I think your sentiment is true, I think there are some aspects of Jobs that were negative and this story about the floor is but one typical example. While we don't know all the details and there are obviously types of (even) white floors that won't scuff, he insisted upon a white floor, probably because it fit into his concept of Zen design, regardless of the ramifications of such practical aspects as cleaning. While I respect Jobs' insistence that even the insides of products be beautiful, that only makes sense if it doesn't take away from making sure every other aspect of the product works as well and in some cases, that hasn't happened.
The real question, which can't be answered, is whether Jobs would have let the latest Mac OS go to market with its problems for some customers re: battery life and freezes and whether he would have let iOS6 go to market with the poorly received Maps application and the purple fringing on the camera as well as other complaints.
And his making Gates wait for an hour only displays an incredible amount of immaturity and/or ego.
Having said all that, Jobs was definitely a genius and maybe the best CEO to ever lead an American company.
After the store opened to the public, all of the designers were apparently tasked with returning to the store and cleaning the white floor.
I love the fact he made the designers clean the floor. All to often designers/engineers get caught up in their desire to make everything beautiful and shiny, with no thought towards practicality. It was a great way to teach these designers, and i guarantee it is a something that they remember(I guessing fondly at this point) anytime they are designing a a public/high traffic space, the importance of proper materials.
Only Steve Jobs would have the huevos to make Bill Gates wait an hour. How awesome is that?