The Steve Jobs Archive was launched in 2022 by Laurene Powell Jobs, Tim Cook and Jony Ive. Here is a collection of quotes, photos, videos and emails from the founder of Apple. The site also offers scholarships and grants for young creators who want to follow in Jobs’ footsteps. Recently, a page appeared on the site with a previously unpublished video of Jobs’ speech in Aspen in 1983.
Image source: stevejobsarchive.com
The video is accompanied by comments and memories from Jony Ive, who led design at Apple for more than 20 years and is the author of many of the company’s devices. Throughout almost his entire life, Jony Ive was a close friend of Jobs. Below we quote from Ive’s comments.
«Steve rarely attended design conferences. It was 1983, before the launch of the Mac, relatively early in Apple’s existence. It amazes me how deep his understanding was of the dramatic changes that were about to occur when the computer became widely available. Of course, not only was he prophetic, but he was instrumental in defining products that would change our culture and our lives forever.”
«On the eve of the release of the first truly personal computer, Steve is concerned about more than just the underlying technology and functionality of the product design. This is extremely unusual because in the early stages of major innovation, it is usually the core technology that benefits. By describing what he sees as an inevitability, he asks the designers in the audience to think first about the design of these products.”
«Steve notes that design efforts in the US at the time were focused on automobiles, with little attention or effort devoted to consumer electronics. Steve predicts that PC sales will outpace car sales by 1986 and that in the next ten years people will spend more time with PCs than in cars. These were absurd statements in the early 1980s.”
«Steve remains one of the best teachers I have ever met in my life. He had the ability to explain incredibly abstract and complex technologies in accessible, tangible, and relevant language. When I look back on our work, what I remember most is not the products, but the process. Part of Steve’s genius was that he learned to support the creative process by encouraging and developing ideas, even among large groups of people. He treated the creative process with rare and amazing respect.”
«The revolution Steve described more than 40 years ago certainly happened, in part because of his deep commitment to a kind of civic responsibility. He cared beyond any functional imperative. It was a victory of beauty, purity and, as he said, caring. He truly believed that by doing something useful, empowering and beautiful, we express our love for humanity.”