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conference then. It was also by this point that he privately decided to put the tablet project on hold and start working on a phone, which took another four years to come to fruition. However, at that conference, Steve said he did not want to get into the phone business. “We chose instead to do the iPod instead of the PDA. We put our resources behind that,” he said. The iPod’s operating system was developed by a team made up of some former Newton engineers who formed a startup called Pixo Inc. Soon after, Apple acquired Pixo OS, which became the iPod’s integrated software. Pixo, the company, was acquired by Sun Microsystems, Apple’s longtime suitor, in 2003.

Apple perhaps could have done quite well with a PDA if it had struck at the right time. The Newton was ahead of its time, but it had some of the right ideas. There was a period when Palm was very successful with its PDAs. But Apple’s never surfaced, and in 2007, Steve said he was proud not to have introduced “an Apple PDA” into the market. Steve’s desire to create the best PDA was replaced by his dismissal of the entire category. It was perhaps a personal battle. In 2010, BusinessWeek asked John Sculley about the old rumor that Steve “had killed the Newton — your pet project — out of revenge. Do you think he did it for revenge?” John responded: “Probably. He won’t talk to me, so I don’t know.”

Chapter 2

Read Receipt

Some people get hassled when they don’t respond to e-mail. Steve Jobs got hounded when he did. Truth is: Steve was practically larger than life. He was inarguably the biggest celebrity in business. Speaking rationally, of course an executive at a top technology company uses e-mail. But on the other hand, could these frequently disseminated messages really be from Steve himself? Does Steve have the time or the will to read and reply to individual inquiries?

Several skeptics have gone so far as to send e-mails specifically to inquire about whether Steve actually read his e-mails and whether he was the one typing responses. One such request went out on March 4, 2003. Christopher Utley composed a message to sjobs@apple.com with the subject line: “Help me, Steve.” Christopher first established that he and Steve had a brief history together (“Steve, you have replied to me a couple times over the years.”), and then appealed to his sympathies (“I've been an Apple customer since the Apple II+, AND I voted for you in the Forbes CEO survey.”). Finally, Christopher called in the favor: “Would you please reply in the affirmative that you do in fact read your email and sometimes respond directly? Let’s just say I have a pending wager on this matter, and should you reply I’ll use the proceeds to snatch up one of those 17” PowerBooks. It’s a win-win!” The next morning, he received a message.

Yep, I read 'em.

All the best,

Steve

Christopher eagerly shared his findings on a Web forum where Apple enthusiasts congregate. Two years later, Ricardo Perez composed a similar message to Steve Jobs.

From: Ricardo Perez

To: sjobs@apple.com

Subject: please make my day

Is this Steve Jobs’ email address?

I heard that you actually read your own email and responded to it. I thought this was the greatest thing ever. If a man such as you (and a great one you are) sets the time aside from his busy schedule to read letters from his fans… well… that would be absurdly awesome. If you could see it in your heart to respond, and just let me know there is a living breathing person out there, you would truly make my YEAR!

One of your biggest fans

Ricky

When Ricardo described his experiment on an online message board, he said he composed the note “hoping that if I flattered him enough, he would respond.” Not one to reject praise, Steve did return Ricardo’s love letter.

Ricky,

Yep, I do.

All the best,

Steve

“There was never anything humble about Steve Jobs,” says a computer-store manager who sold the first Apple computers and later had a falling out with Steve over business disagreements. Steve liked to portray himself