Apple: Worth Losing Sleep Over

It’s 3:46 a.m. Why am I still watching an Apple keynote from 1997? Why do I find Steve Jobs so compelling? Why do I idolize him so much?

But I can’t get enough. I can’t get enough of his vision– of his passion for Apple, his love for Apple’s core-user base, and his dedication to providing what he would describe as the “greatest products” in the world– products that aren’t just good enough, pretty good or good, but “insanely great”. InSANELy great.

And that’s what I believe in. Products that people can love. Products that inspire a fan-base, that become a lifestyle industry.

I love Apple. And, more than that, I love Steve Jobs. I don’t think I’ve ever idolized someone, before– ever had a “hero”, someone I unequivocally look up to and aspire to be like. But that’s Steve Jobs.

Watching this keynote from 1997, I realize that he made some hard and unpleasant decisions. I can’t imagine what it felt like to be Steve Jobs, in front of Macworld 1997, and be overwhelmed by the booing of the crowd, as he announced that Internet Explorer was to be the new default browser on the Mac. But he was right: IE was the best browser at the time. It was faster than Netscape, and had more support for more web pages than any other browser.

And how brazen: to include Bill Gates as part of his keynote! But he has such a clear vision. He’s willing to let go of petty rivalries: “we have to let go of this notion that, for Apple to win, Microsoft has to loose. We have to embrace a notion that, for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. … If we screw up and don’t do a good job, it’s not somebody else’s fault, it’s our fault.” He continues, “if we’d like Microsoft Office on the Mac, we’d better treat that company with some gratitude. … The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over, as far as I’m concerned. This is about getting Apple healthy again, and being able to make incredibly important contributions to the industry.”

And he’s proved himself right. No, Apple’s market share has not grown significantly since 1997. But Apple, as a company, is healthy– a model corporation. While the stock prices of EVERY other significant computer industry corporation have declined over the past five years, Apple has emerged as victorious. And so, yes, I saw that the standing ovation Steve Jobs received at the end of his first keynote was well deserved. I wish I could have been there to stand among those industry professionals who first recognized Steve Jobs’ incredible vision for the future of Apple.