The Second Coming of Steve Jobs - Alan Deutschman [122]
The problem was that Apple needed to reassure investors in the short run. And Steve Jobs faced the burden of constantly having to prove himself. The semi-annual ritual of the MacWorld convention was a wonderful gimmick for attracting press coverage, but it set up the burdensome expectation that Steve would have another great revelation every six months. If the new twist was cosmetic rather than revolutionary—a Titanium-clad PowerBook at the January 2001 event, for instance, or the tie-dyed “Flower Power” and polka-dot “Blue Dalmatian” iMacs at March’s Tokyo confab—many fans felt let down, hoping instead for something truly astonishing.
As computer makers faced the economic slump in 2001, stock analysts began predicting that the weaker manufacturers would fail and even the stronger ones might attempt mergers to secure their position in the tougher world ahead. Apple, with its unique software and hardware systems, seemed like a particularly difficult company to fold into another, and Steve Jobs wasn’t the kind of executive who could easily share or relinquish power. In any case, that possibility might never play out. It seems highly likely that Apple can and will survive and even thrive as an independent company. Steve was rightfully proud of restoring the company’s financial grounding—he boasted to analysts that it had an “Arnold Schwarzenegger balance sheet with $4 billion in cash.” With that kind of solid underpinning, an economic downturn or a few bad managerial miscalculations wouldn’t prove fatal.
But the strongest reason for faith in Apple’s future comes from studying Steve Jobs’s personal history. The man is as tenacious, resilient, and driven as anyone in American business. He has suffered from far greater setbacks and challenges than the downturn of late 2000 and 2001. His character has been tested repeatedly. He gets knocked down but he always has a tremendous determination to rebound. He is one of the very few survivors of a quarter century in one of the most unforgiving industries in the world. Will there be a “third coming” of Steve Jobs? I wouldn’t bet against him.
Acknowledgments
The people who work in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, whether they are celebrated moguls or unsung employees, share two very strong and contradictory emotions: First, they feel an overwhelming urge to get out the truth, as they see it, about their strange realms. Second, they suffer from a constant state of anxiety about offending powerful players whom they might have to deal with in the future, given that both businesses are organized as if they were floating crap games.
Understandably, many sources were helpful to me but didn’t want to be mentioned in any way. They have my private appreciation. I would like to thank the following people for sharing their recollections, whether in multiple interviews of marathon duration or in briefer conversations: Kate Adams, Al Alcorn, Herbert Allen Sr., Stewart Alsop, Gil Amelio, Susan Barnes, Barbara Barza, Emily Brower, David Chadwick, Jeff Cooke, Cate T. Corcoran, Robert X. Cringely, Andrea Cunningham, Christopher Escher, Bill Fernandez, Jean-Louis Gassée, Angela Grady, Ralph Guggenheim, Katie Hafner, Elizabeth Holmes, Justin Jed, Steve Jurvetson, Guy Kawasaki, Sky Keaton, Louise Kehoe, Pam Kerwin, Daniel Kottke, John Landwehr, Dan Lavin, Karen Logsdon, Lisa MacKenzie, Roger McNamee, Jamis MacNiven, John Markoff, Scott McNealy, Bob Metcalfe, Michael Murdock, Mike Murray, Jim Oliver, Simone Otus, Nicole deMeo Overson, Sylvia Paull, Tony Perkins, Lisa Picarelle, Julie Pitta, Dan Port, Terry Press, Kamini Ramini, Jef Raskin, Garrett Rice, Heidi Roizen,