Next issue:
The first was “Empathy” in which he said
Apple should strive for an intimate con-
nection with customers’ feelings. He made
this point in one sentence: “We will truly
understand their needs better than any
other company.” The second point
was “Focus” and was explained as
follows: “To be successful, Apple
should center its efforts on ac-
complishing its main goals,
and eliminate all the “unim-
portant opportunities.” The
third point, however, was
“Impute” and was sum
-
marized in that Apple
should be constantly
aware that companies
and their products
will be judged by the
signals they convey.
Markkula expressed
this point as follows:
“People DO judge
a book by its cover.
We may have the
best product, the
highest quality,
the most useful
software etc.; if
we present them
in a slipshod
manner, they will
be perceived as
slipshod; if we
present them in
a creative, pro-
fessional man-
ner, we will im-
pute the desired
qualities.”
Apple Bite
After Apple had
been publicized
as an incorpora-
tion, Steve Jobs’
main goal was to
persuade
Regis
McKenna, a legend
-
ary Silicon Valley
marketer, that Apple
be one of his custom-
ers. Following several
attempts which culminat-
ed in Jobs calling McKen
-
na’s office on a daily basis,
McKenna agreed to meet
him personally without any in-
termediary from the executive
directors at his company. Jobs’
insistence helped convince McK
-
enna that Apple be one of his cus-
tomers. McKenna’s first decision was
to change Apple decorated wood logo,
which was designed by Ron Wayne and
depicted the designs of the Victorian era.
He assigned graphic designer Rob Janoff
the task of designing a new logo. With the
help of some directions from Jobs about
the nature of the company, Janoff invent-
ed two versions of a simple apple; one
in full and the other an apple bite. As the
full apple was feared to be confused for a
cherry, Jobs picked the apple bite togeth-
er with another version that had stripes of
six colors, starting with the green color of
plants through to the sky blue.
Simplicity is the essence of sophistication
Regis McKenna picked a proverb - “Sim
-
plicity is the essence of sophistication” -
attributed to “Leonardo da Vinci” to be the
title of his propaganda campaign. Later,
this proverb became the logo and concept
that governed Jobs’ philosophy in all his
designs for subsequent Apple products.
Concurrently with the West Coast Com-
puter Faire, which was held in San Fran
-
cisco in April every year, Jobs decided to
launch the second version of his machine
(Apple II) but had to pay extra $5,000 in
order for Apple Inc. hall to be in the main
lobby of the faire. This was part of Mark-
kula’s tips which Jobs absorbed well;
Markkula always advised Jobs that it was
important to behave like a great man so as
to leave a good impression among others.
Markkula’s plan was successful as Apple
received 300 purchase orders during the
faire. There, Jobs also met Mizushima Sa
-
toshi, a Japanese textile maker, who later
became the top vendor of Apple products
in Japan.
8-year-old prank
Wozniak was interested in doing pranks
and was the mastermind of pranks among
his friends. According to one of his most
famous pranks, Wozniak prepared a de
-
ceptive booklet which he distributed at
the show. The booklet talked about a fake
computer, which he called “Zaltair”, and in
-
cluded complete information that suggest-
ed the product was real. With Zaltair being
repeatedly talked about by the faire visi-
tors, Jobs was so deceived by this prank
that in his presentations on Apple II, he
was boasting that his machine was able
to stand in the face of its strongest rival
“Zaltair.” Eight years later, Wozniak gave
Jobs a copy of Zaltair booklet as a gift on
his birthday. It was a shocking surprise to
Steve to discover that he had fallen victim
to such a trick.
• Jobs cries to hold ID card
no. “1” in Apple
Zaltair is a fake
computer that
tricked Apple
owner for 8 years
25
April
2014
