Transcription
[Music]
The way we got Steve to come on stage, we would have to do a dance. And I would, I, I think I did them all. Yeah. So, first of all, thank you for coming. Thank you for inviting me. Uh, you're not a habitué of these conferences, and so we really appreciate you being here. I would call him, 'cause he would take my calls. He would take the call and he would say, "I don't do conferences." That would be his first thing. He would, even the fourth time, he would say that. Yeah. But for you guys, you guys are the only ones I'd consider it for. But I don't know, I don't want to do it. I don't, you know. And it, it would be like a two-month dance back and forth, in which he always would say yes.
What about a PDA? We believe that for everyone using a, for all the universe of people using a PDA, uh, 90% of them really just want to get the information out. We believe cell phones are going to do that. And we saw that several years ago. We just see the, the curve of cell phones going like this. You're going to have to have a phone in your pocket, so that's going to have to be the device.
I think he did understand his role in the industry as, as the leader, as the, as the visionary, as the person people looked up to. And I think he liked to put forth every year, some, whatever he was thinking, and he enjoyed the place to do that where he didn't, where it wasn't fully controlled by Apple in a sort of a PR event. And what the other part is, he liked Walt. And he had a very special relationship. And now they can just literally pop this in their bag. I've got one right here in my pocket. It's not that I'm just happy to see you and, uh, that's it. And we made, uh, we made one here called the Walt widget, which, uh, just points to your columns. And, you know, just click on it and goes to the, goes to your column right here. And it's pretty cool. And it just all works together with everything else in Tiger.
Can I license that like, back from you? He did lie on stage constantly. If you, if you look back, at least I don't know about constantly, but on the big, big things, every year we'd say, "What did you, what are you lying about this year?" And one of the biggest lies was the phone one, where he told us one year, he said he was never, we asked him if he was going to do a phone, and there were rumors and this and that, and he goes, "The problem with the phone is that, you know, as you know, Apple, Apple's great success, sto, Apple's greatest successes have not been in the Fortune 500. And, and part of that is because we're not very good going through orifices to get to the, to the end users, right?" And so, thanks for that. So the carriers now have, have gained the, the upper hand in terms of the power of the relationship with the handset manufacturers, and they're starting to tell the handset manufacturers what to build. And if Nokia and Motorola don't listen to them, well, Samsung and LG will. So the handset manufacturers are, are really getting these big thick books from the carriers telling them, "Here's what your phone's going to be." And that's not the way you work, right? Well, it, we're not, we're not good at that. And so the next year, when, of course, they introduced the iPhone, we're like, "How's that climbing through the orifice going for you?" He managed, he, he said he wasn't going to do a phone, and said he wasn't going to do a phone. He was clearly, that was clearly a lie. You've been here at D, you talked about, I guess a couple years ago, not, not really doing a phone, and not doing a tablet, or the tablets you had, you were sort of different, of your, different, different. Gave reasons why tablet PC wasn't such a good idea. We found a way to change that. We were able to change the rules of the game, and that's what got us excited about getting into the phone business.
One of the things that people don't realize about him is how, uh, sort of naughty he was, and how much he liked to tweak people. And, you know, one of them was Bill Gates, who he always enjoyed tweaking. The tablet PC has been another one for. I know you don't like the tablet. No, it's not that I don't like it, it's just it hasn't sold very well, right? And Bill's answer to that would be, "Manana, it's just starting. Manana, it'll get there." Uh, why don't you sit here? Here, in those days, Kara and I just did all the decisions about speakers just together. And we had for a couple of years thought about doing this, but we just assumed they would never do this together because they didn't like each other in a lot of ways, and pretty harsh ways, if you talk to them privately. I took it on, um, and I started with, with Jobs because Gates appeared at a lot of different conferences, and Jobs only appeared at ours. And I figured he would say no. And he said, "Do you think Bill really would do this?" And, and I said, "Well, I started with you, but I think if you'll do it, he'll do it. It's my guess." The first question I kind of was interested in asking is, what you think each has contributed to the computer and technology industry, starting with you, Steve. For Bill? Well, you know, Bill built the first software company in the industry. And, uh, I think he built the first software company before anybody really in our industry knew what a software company was, except for these guys. And that was huge. That was really huge. And the business model that they ended up pursuing turned out to be the one that worked really well, you know, for the industry. So I think, but the, the biggest thing was Bill was really focused on software before almost anybody else had a clue that, that it was really the software. Bill, how about the contribution of Steve and Apple? Well, first, I want to clarify, I'm not fake Steve Jobs. [Laughter] You know, what Steve's done is quite phenomenal. Steve gave a speech once, which is one of my favorites, where he talked about, in a certain sense, we build the products that we want to use ourselves. Uh, and, you know, so he's really pursued that with incredible taste and elegance that has had a, a huge impact on the industry.
Part of the deal was they each got another block by themselves. And so Walt was interviewing Jobs and he was asking about the popularity of iTunes on Windows. I said, "What is it like? How does it feel to be a big Windows developer and have one of the most popular things on Windows?" And Jobs is just waiting for it. It was like, "I'm gonna hit this one right out of the park." And he goes, "Giving a glass of ice water to somebody in [Laughter] Hell." Okay, Microsoft is hell, right? Like it was like so bad. And so we get to the room, and Gates is already not the most, the green room. And Gates is literally not the most communicative person in the world. You already have time, like he's very, he just is not that communicative. And he comes in and he's silent. He's like, really, like not communicating. And he's mad, sullen. He's like looking down. And we're like, "Oh, this is like the greatest historic interview of all time, and they're not going to talk to each other." We say something that causes all of a sudden Gates looks up. Like some question, I remember what it was, and he goes, "Well, as the representative from hell, I can tell you." And, and everyone's like silent. And for some reason, Jobs, in his hand, hand had a bottle of water with condensation all over it. He'd taken it out of the ice. He did. And so it was perfect. He goes, "Here, let me help you." And he hands him the water. And for some reason, it broke the ice. It was really, he, it was okay. They both laughed.
But what's the greatest misunderstanding between your, in your relationship and about each other? What would you say would be this idea of catfight? This idea of, what? Which one of the many? We've kept our marriage secret for over a decade. [Laughter] [Applause] Now, our favorite one, I think, was the last one. To me, the last one because it was so, everyone kind of knew, like perhaps it would be his last one. And, and yet again, like Walt said, he had so much energy. He was literally the most, he was the most sickly looking speaker we've ever had, and he was the most energetic. It was really quite a thing. And, you know, I don't think he was like weepy or sentimental or anything else. He started talking about Apple TV, essentially doing TV like. And, but you knew he didn't have much time, but he still was thinking of new things.
I'm just curious. It's, I'm just sitting here listening to you. What do you do all day? What is your, what is? I was just, as I was sitting here, I was like, "I wonder what he does." Most people think, not enough. No, I think he probably does more than most people. But what is your day like? Exp, I would be curious. What do you, how you go into the office? What, what is your role at Apple at this moment? I have one of the best jobs in the world. I'm incredibly lucky. And, uh, I thank all of our customers and employees for letting me do what I do. I get to come into work every morning and hang, by the way, I do speed. And I get to hang around some of the most wonderful, brightest, committed people I've ever met in my life. And together, we get to play in the best sandbox I've ever seen and try to build great products for people. Most of the most creative stuff he did is when he was sick. Like, if you think about it, all the great products came out during his two illnesses, essentially. A fun guy to interview, probably the best interviews, don't you think? Yeah. I don't think anyone would regret. I think it actually was quite a, I mean, we, we covered him hard. I didn't, he would call and complain about my reviews. He would call and complain about some of our coverage. So it isn't like we were an Apple fan site. But I have to say, we were a fan of interviewing him on stage. We felt pretty, pretty, uh, blessed and honored that he came and did it. There'll be no one like him. Me, really.
A few years ago, you gave a commemoration speech at Stanford to the graduate class. Now, a few years later, in a, a couple years wiser, would you add anything else to that speech that you gave a couple years ago? That's a good question. Oh, I have no idea. I, I have no idea. Probably, I would just turn up the volume on it because, uh, the last few years have reminded me that life is fragile. So.