Apple

You really had to be there. This article reports probably the least interesting thing Steve Wozniak said when he spoke at the Australian Chambers Business Congress on Friday, 3rd of June 2011. I didn’t know what to expect, but when this short, barrel shaped man strode onto the stage at the Gold Coast Convention Centre it quickly became apparent that he was going to be mesmerizing. Stream of consciousness, rapid fire combination of personal autobiography and computer industry history.

Memories of an inquisitive childhood making things out of the bits and pieces collected in mayonnaise jars in the homes of Silicon Valley workers. A father adept at teaching, a sympathetic electronics teacher, new technical discoveries, teaching himself how to make things work. Too shy to speak up at school, or to contemplate girlfriends. He took us back to a time of mainframe computers and black and white tvs. A friend introduced him to Steve Jobs. They sat in the gutter, soul mates from the start, and talked and talked and talked. Bob Dylan was their man – not the Beatles. I love the picture in the article. Steve J was younger and didn’t get on with people, so in his first job at a computer game place got put on night shift so he wouldn’t have to. Steve W joined him and they experimented. Steve J got their first job- to build a computer game to an impossible deadline. Steve W did it – abjuring sleep to do so.

Soon they were off and running. After Steve J visited Zerox Park and discovered the now famous but then unbelievable, mouse and icons, Steve W worked out how to make a colour computer. Funny to hear of their early ideas about a target audience for a portable computer – pictures of housewives looking up recipes (something I now do on my iPad – we’ve come full circle). Describing the early days of Apple. The days packaging up computers in the garage, buying parts on credit and getting cash on delivery, staying just one step ahead of the financiers. Steve J looked after that side of things and marketing. Steve W described himself as an engineer. His first job was with Hewlett Packard – he was so pleased to work with the engineers there he wanted to work for them forever. A company man through and through. They offered the computer he built to Hewlett Packard four times and they turned it down four times. Also offered it to Commodore. Turned down. Only three computer companies at the time.

Suddenly as he had started this torrent of words Steve looked at his watch and said he had to finish so there would be time for questions. The audience groaned as one – keep going! So he did, but his momentum was lost – a little more on Steve J leaving Apple, problems with the Apple 3. Overall his message was internal motivation is the key – worth more than money, status, anything. Another key to innovation is a focus on people, understanding what people think, what drives them and then delivering what they want. Adapt yourself to people – don’t expect people to adapt to you. Apple’s success was due to its open platform that could be adapted to follow the market. They were flexible enough to respond quickly to what people wanted.

Asked how he wanted to be remembered, given he had effectively changed the world, he said he would like to be recognised, maybe admired, for his ingenuity in those early days, making it up as he went along, discovering on his own how to build a personal computer.
Oh, and he was asked about Singularity, towards the end, and did tentatively suggest that computers might take over the world, maybe already had! But what will come next is voice recognition for everything that we now do via keyboards. And overall what shone through, despite the reputation as a geek, and his enthusiasm for machines, was this man’s overwhelming humanity. A great character and a great talk.