Letters to Steve_ Inside the E-Mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs - Mark Milian [7]
Steve’s “regular guy” persona itself could be seen as a business tactic. The uniformed and charismatic Steve Jobs, says Sasha Strauss, the managing director of marketing firm Innovation Protocol, “is a character. That is a profile that has been created by him or his advisors.” However, people who knew him say Steve’s genius, as a businessman, inventor and friend, was not manufactured. They say he was a kind person who was faithful to his friends, loved his employees and loved his family even more. It may be difficult to comprehend that a person, for any reason, would wear that same outfit in every public appearance unless he were somehow in character. In fact, there were a lot of things about Steve that are hard to believe.
For someone who was known to be exceptionally guarded about his personal life, and especially about his family, the number of “I remember when Steve” stories are staggering, and even more emerged after his death. For example, one student recounted giving a presentation about the iPhone shortly after its 2007 debut to a small business class taught by Intel co-founder Andy Grove. In attendance was none other than iPhone inventor Steve Jobs, a longtime friend of Andy. Unsurprisingly, the student says Steve gave him a hard time during the iPhone talk and then took over the stage.
Another memorable Steve story came from Allen Paltrow, an ardent, young Apple follower known for shaving the company logo into the back of his head. Allen messaged Steve when he was a tween. “I sent a very enthusiastic and grammatically incorrect message including a picture of my shaved head,” Allen recalled in a blog post. Steve forwarded the message to Apple’s head of public relations, who then arranged to have Allen at the opening of New York’s 5th Avenue glass-cube store. “I can never thank them enough. This was probably the high point of my childhood,” Allen said. Another child who attended the opening, according to Allen, remarked to Steve, “I’m Apple’s biggest fan,” to which Steve motioned to Allen and said, “What about that guy?”
Steve was not a social butterfly during the third act who was attending conferences or cocktail parties, but he did not shy away from public encounters. He lived in a modest-sized house in Palo Alto, California (modest for a billionaire) that was neither gated, nor flanked by security guards. However, near the end of his life, black, unmarked sports-utility vehicles were seen parked across the street, but even around that time, he continued to take long walks around the neighborhood and to the park.
In better health, he could be seen around the San Francisco Bay Area shopping, having dinner with his family and yes, taking leisurely walks. When approached by fans, Steve was courteous. “Hello,” he’d say. He would thank people who were enthusiastic about his products or his contributions to technology and media. Often, to people expressing excitement about Apple products, Steve would add: “You have not seen anything yet,” as he told Nitin Gupta a month before Apple announced the iPod; or, “This is nothing. Wait till you see what’s next,” as he told Steven Levy, the author and reporter, who was admiring the iPhone then, unbeknownst that the unveiling of the iPad was close by.
But strangely, Steve sometimes presented himself in the least lovable way to the professionals who could most easily tarnish his reputation. He once opened a conversation with New York Times reporter Joe Nocera by saying, “I think you’re a slime