Steve Jobs: Insights from a Lost Interview Rediscovered

Steve Jobs transformed Apple from near failure into a thriving company through innovation and a passionate team.

### The Revealing Steve Jobs Interview: From Computers to Apple
* 🎤 16 years ago, Bob Cringely interviewed Steve Jobs, then head of NeXT, after his **tumultuous departure from Apple**, where he had left in disagreement with **John Sculley**.
* 📼 Part of this interview, long thought lost, has recently been rediscovered, revealing **key moments in Jobs' career** and his **undeniable charisma**.
* 💻 Jobs shared how he was **captivated by computers** from the age of 10, recalling his first interactions with rudimentary machines, which enabled him to **program in Basic and Fortran**.
* 🔧 At the age of 12, he approached Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard for parts, an experience that shaped his corporate vision, emphasizing the **importance of corporate culture and employee well-being**.
* 📞 The interview also revealed Jobs and Wozniak's beginnings in blue boxes, a project that helped them understand the **power of creating technologies that could control massive infrastructures**.
* 📈 Jobs spoke of the success of the Apple II, which **propelled Apple onto the stock market** and made him a **millionaire at a young age**, but stressed that **money was not his main motivation**.
* 🖥 He explained how his visit to Xerox PARC was **decisive**, as he was inspired by the **graphical interface**, which led to **major innovations at Apple**.
* 🏭 Finally, Jobs discussed the challenges faced with the Lisa and the struggle for control of Apple, underlining his **determination to reinvent the company** through the Macintosh, which he saw as a **mission to save Apple**.

### Steve Jobs' Vision: Innovation, Leadership and Teamwork
* 💻 In California, the 68000 microprocessor was adopted for the Macintosh, initially designed at **$1,000** but finally sold at **$2,500** after four years of development.
* 🤝 The success of the Macintosh was attributed to a motivated team guided by Jobs, who stressed the **importance of intuition and passion** in the design process.
* ⚙ Jobs warned that going from a good idea to a good product requires **considerable know-how**, as many **compromises have to be made during development**.
* He used the metaphor of polished pebbles to illustrate how a talented team can "**polish**" itself through exchanges and challenges, producing **exceptional results**.
* 📉 After his departure, Jobs noted that Apple's management had lacked leadership, leading to **stagnation in innovation** and a **loss of market share to Microsoft**.
* 💔 His departure from Apple was painful, as he saw his decade's work **destroyed by mismanagement**, pointing out that Apple's vision was being **pushed aside in favor of management survival**.
* 📊 Jobs also mentioned that Apple had **lost its technological edge**, while Microsoft had taken advantage of opportunities to **dominate the applications market**.
* 🌐 Finally, he expressed his conviction that the future of computing lies in the **web and software**, underlining the **importance of innovation to improve society**.

Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview (11 May 2012) [VO] [ST-FR] [Ultra HD 4K]

TVArchive

First experience with a computer at age 10, discovering its power and mystery.

Use of a rudimentary terminal at NASA, programming in Basic and Fortran.

Call to Bill Hewlett at age 12, get parts and a summer job at Hewlett-Packard.

Discover the Hewlett-Packard 9100, the first stand-alone desktop computer.

Meeting with Steve Wozniak and collaboration on projects.

Creation of Blue Boxes and first steps in entrepreneurship

Discover a new way to make free phone calls, thanks to an article on Captain Crunch.

Construction of a device for making free long-distance calls.

Lesson learned: ability to control multi-billion dollar infrastructures with a small device.

The Apple I is created out of necessity to have access to a timesharing system.

Apple's development and Mike Markkula's role

Work on the Apple II, ambitions to create a turnkey computer.

Search for an investor and meeting with Mike Markkula.

Investment by Markkula and refinement of the Apple II concept.

Successful launch of the Apple II at the Computer Fair.

Business management and Steve Jobs' philosophy

The importance of questioning usual practices and seeking to understand the inner workings of the company.

The importance of learning to program to develop thinking skills.

Reflect on wealth and its relative importance to the company and its products.

Visit to Xerox PARC and influence on Apple's development

Visit to Xerox PARC in 1979, discovery of the graphical user interface.

Analysis of Xerox's failure, linked to a lack of leadership and product understanding.

IBM threatens Apple and underestimates its widespread support.

Difficulties integrating the GUI concept within Apple.

Analysis of the mistakes made by fast-growing companies.

A pebble-polishing metaphor to illustrate teamwork and the polishing of ideas.

Focus on talented people and create a high-quality team.

Apple's departure and analysis of the situation

Departure from Apple in 1985, following conflicts with John Sculley.

Crisis in the industry and lack of leadership at Apple.

Differences in vision and execution between Steve Jobs and John Sculley.

Analysis of Apple's situation in 1995, considering the company on the verge of extinction.

Comparison between Apple and Microsoft, highlighting the lack of taste and soul in Microsoft products.

Microsoft's strengths: opportunism and perseverance.

Criticism of Microsoft's culture, compared to McDonald's.

NeXT and a vision of the future of computing

Introducing NeXT and its role in software innovation.

The importance of object-oriented programming and its potential.

Forecasts for the next 10 years, including the impact of the Internet and the Web.

The computer as a tool for improving human skills, compared to a bicycle for the mind.