Stalked Steve Jobs - Christine Comaford

I Stalked Steve Jobs (And How To Get A Meeting With ANY VIP)

I was a young CEO and I needed answers. Steve Jobs had them. There was only one thing to do.
So I sent a FedEx letter.

Then I sent another.

Then I started calling.

Then I sent another FedEx, and called some more. Finally, after 7 FedExs and 12 phone calls, Steve’s assistant said he wanted to talk with me.

“You keep sending FedExs and calling. So let’s end it. What do you want?” Steve said, with his characteristic charm.

“Five minutes of your time. I really admire your accomplishments and as a young CEO I have a few questions no one else can answer.”

“Bring a timer.”

“I will. Oh—and thanks.”

He had already hung up.

My surface agenda was to get 5 minutes of advice, watch how Steve’s mind worked, bask in his brilliance, then have a breakthrough.

My subterranean agenda was to find hope again. It was the early 1990’s and I’d left my engineering post at Microsoft. I was depressed and wanted to know why we weren’t really changing the world as fast and as well as we could. Windows hadn’t deeply changed people, hadn’t deeply helped. Wasn’t technology supposed to do that? All I saw were the limitations of software, hardware, peripherals. I’d left feeling frustrated after years of 12-14 hour days pounding code that refused to become bug free.

Remember those chunky white metal kitchen timers from your childhood? The ones with the dial and the ticka ticka ticka sound and the “bing!” ringer? Two weeks later, timer in hand, I shaked Steve’s hand and set the dial for 5 minutes. We’re at a dark conference table at NeXT. He is slouching at the head of the table, to my right. Ticka ticka ticka.

I won’t bore you with the questions I asked, they were mere prompts to get Steve talking. What I do want you to know is that during this conversation, which was almost 18 years ago, Steve shared his vision of the future.

And it was glorious. He described a world where our computers were so seamlessly integrated into our lives that everything we needed was easily accessible. He described the iPod, iPad, iPhone nearly 2 decades before they hit the market. I watched how his brain moved—without limitation—from what might enhance a customer’s life, to what that would mean to them and how they would benefit, to how this would change the world.

He didn’t question that whatever he envisioned could, and would, be created. He didn’t agonize over whether current limitations would hold him back.

I could feel my brain expanding, it felt so big around Steve, so open and limitless. I was tracking him, following his twists, turns, expansions. I felt so smart around him, and it was glorious and freeing and…
Ticka ticka ticka ding! My five minutes was up. I rose to leave, bowing a little as I backed away.

“I’m not done with you yet. Sit down.”

And zoom! We were back in brain expansion mode immediately, flying into the future, the wind blowing our hair, everything possible, everything important. And we needed to create it. It was our destiny.

Forty five minutes later Steve released me. Sitting in my overheated car in the sunny Redwood City parking lot, my head bursting with the remarkable, complex, complete vision of Steve Jobs in my head, I made a commitment.

I would no longer see barricades. Stumbling blocks would now be seen as stepping stones to something better, or something to crawl over or walk around. Previous limitations would now be a mere triviality, at worst a slight inconvenience. There were insanely great things to create and we were here to create them and that’s all there was to it. All thoughts to the contrary were irrelevant.

advantages and disadvantages

NUTS: Apple Faces IPhone Glitches, Google Comforts Android Partners

Apple tried to fix its iPhone 4S problems but may have made them worse, while Google reassured handset makers it will keep fighting for Android.

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Apple Addresses iPhone Problems

Apple released an iOS 5 update to address numerous complaints about iPhone 4S battery drainage and bugs in iCloud documents.

The upgrade is available for all iPad and iPhone models from 3GS onward. However, users said the update isn’t working, and may be making the problems worse.

A researcher also discovered a pivotal flaw in Apple’s iOS software that allows mobile apps to download new commands from a remote computer. There are no signs hackers have taken advantage of the flaw, but the company is working to fix the problem.

Another iPhone 4S glitch mutes outgoing calls, affecting all three major U.S. carriers and adding to the growing number of glitches Apple’s newest device is experiencing. IPhone 4S users complained of a yellow tinge on some screens and Siri outages as well.

Apple is working on a fix for its auto-correct feature in the iMessage app, which users have complained about since its 2007 release. The fix unveils a “suggestions bar” with several options for correcting text.

In spite of these problems, Consumer Reports Tuesday said it officially recommends the iPhone 4S, granting Apple’s device a highly coveted approval.

Apple said it has “no plans” to release Siri on older devices, preferring to keep the voice-activated assistant exclusive to the iPhone 4S. Apple fans who want the company’s latest gadget will have to buy the newest device in order to get it, keeping demand for the 4S high.

In addition, Apple is giving iPhone 4S shipment priority to its own retail stores. Device sales continue to surge, but Apple’s U.S. carrier partners are seeing less frequent shipments as the company wrestles with the logistics of meeting demand.

With the device’s popularity soaring, Apple is now selling unlocked versions of the iPhone 4S, which allow customers to jump between carriers without being tied to a contract.