From a passer-by in Steve’s neighbourhood, March 2010:
…and there he was in
his kitchen window, black turtleneck and all, washing dishes. He just looked up at
us, maybe 15 feet away. Nothing in between us but a window, no tall fence (a
short, decorative, waist-high one). And we just walked on and proceeded to
admire the apple orchard he has in his front yard, and even walked up his
driveway a little to see his tulip garden.
[1]
Steve is sitting in his favourite rocking chair in his kitchen. A
half-finished bowl of granola doused in apple juice left on the bench.
Everything in his home is snow-blind white except for a small Indian drum that
Steve picked up a long, long time ago. It rests beside the Apple Time Capsule.
Steve opens an advance copy of Tron Legacy that Disney sent him on his
iPad. This is one of the perks of owning the biggest share of Walt’s company.
He keeps playing back one particular scene. He streams it across space to the
Apple TV unit. The gadget blinks once and sends the video to his seventy-inch
Sony Bravia LCD. Steve reminds himself that all of these flat screen TVs in
American homes are looking like that flat screens that broadcasted Big Brother
in George Orwell’s novel.
He watches the film’s hero, Flynn. He wants to change the world, but he
needs help. He creates a copy of himself called Clu. Flynn thinks because he
made Clu that he can control him. The copy betrays him and banishes Flynn from
the electronic Eden. Steve wonders how long it’s been since he last spoke to
John Sculley. He ends play with a single gesture across the iPad’s surface.
He begins browsing through informationweek.com. His finger glides down
the article. The headline reads, “Apple iPhone Use Shrinks, Android Grows"
(Gonsalves, 2010). The iPad navigates swiftly from one window to the
other. He then touches a New York Times app and reads about his new
nemesis, Android Andy:
It’s a numbers game.
When you have multiple O.E.M.’s building multiple products in multiple product
categories, it’s just a matter of time” before sales of Android phones exceed
the sales of proprietary systems like Apple’s ... As to when that would happen,
Mister Rubin said, “I don’t know when it might be, but I’m confident it will
happen ....
... Open usually wins.[2]
... Open usually wins.[2]
Steve touches his YouTube
app. He plays a clip from an L.A nightclub where blind-from-birth performer,
Stevie Wonder, takes a break from his set to thank Steve for his iOS:
His company took the
challenge in making his technology accessible to everyone. In the spirit of
caring and moving the world forward, Steve Jobs… there's nothing on the iPhone
or iPad that you can do that I can't do.[3]
Whereas, Android Andy had
dropped the ball on accessibility.
Steve clicks on a four-year-old
clip of himself at Macworld showing off his iPhone for the first time. The
definition is sharper than any other iPad, or Apple product for that matter.
The unit Steve is cradling a prototype iPad with “retina display”. The tech
rumour mills argue over whether it’s possible or not - but there it is, in his
hands. He’ll hold back on the release of this technology for as long as
is prudent. Apple has always been able, but not willing, to give their
customers more bang for their buck; but, , of course it’s more profitable to
sandbag the market.
The audio is loud and
crystal-clear: “We have designed something beautiful for your hand”, the little
Steve says. He sees an LED back-lit image of himself opening a pristine menu on
the phone. He watches the Steve-image select and open a song...
“I walk a lonely road.
The only road that I
have ever known.”
He gazes at himself painted in sixteen million electric colours. He watches himself become less of a man and more of a myth. Well, isn’t a myth simply a mirror? Steve has become a reflection of American hopes and delusions.
He opens his phonebook
on his iPhone 4, rapidly finds a number not many people have, and dials it.
"Hey, four-eyes," Steve says to Bill.
"You can't call me that anymore. You have glasses too now", Bill laughs.
Steve looks down at his spectacles on the coffee table. They were designed to mimic his idol John Lennon.
"Yeah, but mine are cooler"
"You are fond of saying that".
Steve starts singing:
"I began to lose control,
I didn’t mean to hurt you,
I’m just a jealous guy,
I’m just a jealous guy."
"Oh jeez, Steve stop it. That’s terrible!" They both laugh.
Steve's iPhone 4 starts losing reception. Bill says,
"You're holding it wrong”
“Shut up, shut up, smartass,” Steve swaps his grip on the phone and then his tone changes from mirth to gravitas.
"Bill, I just wanted to tell you I appreciated what you said at the D5 conference a few years back."
"What’s that?"
"You know how you said about me, 'People come and go in this industry. It’s nice when somebody sticks around'".
Of course, Steve doesn't know where Bill is standing at the moment. Bill looks around at the Nigerian hospital ward. He sees a little girl receiving a polio vaccine paid for by Bill's foundation. He retired from the industry some time ago. Bill is not really 'around' anymore. However, he hasn't the heart to spoil Steve's epiphany.
"Hey, that's cool, Steve". Steve's smile is a little sad around the edges.
"Gotta favour to
ask you. I’ll talk to you ‘bout it next week.”
"Okay. Bit busy right now; but look forward talkin’ again."
"Okay. Bit busy right now; but look forward talkin’ again."
“Gotta go four-eyes. Got
an empire to maintain.”
“Ha ha …”
Steve touches ‘end call’.
Steve touches ‘end call’.
Lisa as she walks into the room wearing a smile with just a touch of curiosity. Lisa Brennan-Jobs is now a thirty-two year-old journalist. Her occasional observations can be found in Vogue and The Oprah Magazine, among others. Lisa asks,
“Talking with your
friend, Dad?”
Steve looks up at his daughter.
“Yeah, honey... my
friend”.
The following week, Facebook
Mark arrives at Steve’s home to talk about social media. However, Mark realizes
Steve may have had an ulterior motive when the surprise guest is Bill. Steve points out that both Bill and Mark are Harvard
dropouts. “Although, Bill spent most of the time there playing poker with his
buddies Allen and Ballmer. Do all you Harvard losers like poker too? How ‘bout
a few rounds of Texas Hold’em?”
Bill produces a No.92 Club Special deck of cards. The red and white deck was a gift
from The Dunes in Vegas before it was demolished and replaced with The Bellagio
in the 1990s. He shuffles the cards as easily and naturally as a Zen monk
breathes.
Mark plays with a youngster’s aggression and
arrogance. There is much good-natured humour about the age of his hosts. Bill
and Steve are a handful of months apart.
Over-playing your hand is
one lesson that an avid poker player like Bill could teach Mark. It is the
biggest mistake that most new players make. Bill explains:
“Playing a hand of this nature is like dancing
in a mine field. It’s strong in a snapshot moment but not tough enough to cop
the pressure from multiple drawing hands. This is why most experts tell you to
fold a hand like six-seven pre-flop. When you do improve, it complicates
things. It could cost you so many more bets that it’s not worth
speculating from the beginning.”
Mark’s glazed look
causes a grin to play at the corner of Steve’s mouth. Bill was having fun
confounding the lad.
“The cornerstone of poker is caution. There are lots of gamblers out there who love poker but hate the math. They will chase with eight-nine when the board comes A-6-7 and they won't let go. Like a pit-bull that’s got something by the jugular. They are holding out for that miracle five card so they can make so much cash this one time that it makes up for all the times they were chasing their tail. When you are in front, your mission is to take money from them, but not at the expense of your entire night.”
Bill looks over at Steve and winks conspiratorially. He takes a sip of
water to hide a playful grin.
“When you are in front
with one or two cards to come you gotta feel the texture of the board. Is it
favourable? Is there a drawing-hand out there that was helped by the last card?
What could your opponent have been plotting in order to hang on in the face of
your pressure? If that third suited card drops you need to know for damn sure
that your hand is still the best. If you have overplayed your hand from the
get-go it will be too late,” said the world’s richest man.
Mark nods like a kid who
is too afraid to tell coach that he doesn’t understand the play.
Steve adds helpfully, “You spend so much time thinking of the ways you can win that you forget all the ways you can lose. My friend here, Bill… he always won – poker, business, whatever.”
Steve adds helpfully, “You spend so much time thinking of the ways you can win that you forget all the ways you can lose. My friend here, Bill… he always won – poker, business, whatever.”
“Sure, sure”, Marks keeps nodding because he doesn’t know what else to do.
Steve almost feels sorry for him.
“Are you getting it? Are you getting it, Mark? You can screw people for
only so long before it catches up to you and bites you in the ass. Only took
eighteen months for the entire industry to switch from cheering you, to hating
you”. He looks at Steve startled like he was just caught halfway through a lie.
Now he gets it.
[1] Gawker.com (2010,
March 31) A Treasure Trove of Steve Jobs Stories [blog]. Nerdspotting. Retrieved
from: http://gawker.com/5506526/a-treasure-trove-of-steve-jobs-stories
[2] Stone, B. (2010, April 27) Google’s
Andy Rubin On Everything Android. From Bits [blog]. New York Times. Retrieved from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/googles-andy-rubin-on-everything-android/
