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Steve jobs’ surprise iphone reveal is still a presentation classic.

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 9: Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new iPhone that was introduced at ... [+] Macworld on January 9, 2007 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

Apple’s first iPhone went on sale 15 years ago this week. Reporters who were in the auditorium when Steve Jobs took the stage five months earlier still recall the presentation that triggered the smartphone revolution.

Specifically, most people remember one moment that stood out in the 90-minute product launch. Jobs opened the presentation by announcing that Apple would introduce three new products. Jobs, a “master showman” according to CNET, then surprised the audience with the big reveal—the three products were all bundled in one device that would “revolutionize the phone.”

Fifteen years later, Jobs’ surprise reveal still holds up as one of the best presentations ever. The iPhone presentation became an instant classic for three reasons.

Use the Rule of Three

Steve Jobs understood the rule of three, a critical concept in communication theory. The rule simply states that people can recall a list of three points or three messages fairly easily. As the list expands, however, people have a harder remembering the entire list. Three seems to be the magic number.

So Jobs announced three new products. The first, he said, was a widescreen iPod with touch controls. “The second is a revolutionary mobile phone,” Jobs continued. “And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.”

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To add further emphasis, Jobs repeated the list of three products three times: “So three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, an internet communicator…”

What happened next was pure presentation genius.

Break a Pattern

Jobs often broke up presentations into three parts or focused on three benefits/features of a product. So it wasn’t unusual for Jobs to tease the audience by introducing three new devices. But Jobs, an exceptional communicator, also knew that breaking a pattern is a sure attention-getter.

The human brain cannot ignore “novelty,” something new and surprising. And breaking a pattern that audiences are expecting is an example of creating a novel presentation.

After Jobs repeated the list of new devices several times, he broke the pattern and said, “An iPod, a phone—are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone,” Jobs finally revealed.

The audience erupted in cheers, partly due to their excitement over seeing a completely new product and because they had fallen for the act. They were ready to see three devices but even more thrilled to see the pattern broken.

Practice the Delivery

Jobs didn’t leave anything to chance. He practiced—a lot.

Former Apple executives who attended Jobs’ rehearsals for the iPhone launch told me that Jobs did not just review slides. He practiced the presentation like an actor prepares for a theatrical performance. Jobs spent days rehearsing every aspect of the presentation—from how he delivered his lines to how he used hand gestures to emphasize the main points.

Memorable business presentations require creativity, but the work is worth it. Jobs made presentations look effortless because he put a lot of effort into making them great.

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Steve Jobs iPhone 2007 Presentation (Full Transcript)

• July 4, 2014 3:22 pm November 20, 2023 8:08 am
• by Pangambam S

On January 9, 2007, then Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone for the first time and the world of mobile devices changed forever. Here is the full keynote presentation by Steve Jobs….

  TRANSCRIPT: 

Steve Jobs- Apple CEO

This is the day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years.

Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything and Apple has been – well, first of all, one’s very fortunate if you get to work on just one of these in your career. Apple has been very fortunate. It’s been able to introduce a few of these into the world.

1984 – we introduced the Macintosh. It didn’t just change Apple. It changed the whole computer industry.

In 2001, we introduced the first iPod. And it didn’t just change the way we all listen to music, it changed the entire music industry.

Well, today we’re introducing three revolutionary products of this class. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls . The second is a revolutionary mobile phone . And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device .

So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a breakthrough Internet communications device. An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone… are you getting it? These are not three separate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone, and here it is.

No, actually here it is, but we’re going to leave it there for now.

So, before we get into it, let me talk about a category of things. The most advanced phones are called smart phones, so they say. And they typically combine a phone plus some e-mail capability, plus they say it’s the Internet. It’s sort of the baby Internet into one device, and they all have these little plastic keyboards on them. And the problem is that they’re not so smart and they’re not so easy to use, and so if you kind of make a Business School 101 graph of the smart axis and the easy-to-use axis, phones, regular cell phones are right there, they’re not so smart, and they’re not so easy to use.

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9 sales presentation lessons from steve jobs’ iphone keynote.

Jonathan Costet

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything …” 

Those were the now-iconic words spoken by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs in his 2007 MacWorld keynote. 

This talk — well worth the 80-minute watch — was Jobs’ introduction (cough cough SALES PITCH) for the OG iPhone (aka, iPhone … aka iPhone 1).

It’s arguably the best sales presentation of all time, the GOAT if you will.

Hyperbole? Maybe, but Steve Jobs (and Apple) – no matter your feeling towards him or the company — have kinda sorta earned the right to hyperbole.

If you are an SDR/BDR or account executive (or anyone who does sales for a living), Jobs’ talk is something you must watch — and rewatch. It’s textbook for presentations, specifically ones that are sales in nature.

As you watch this Steve Jobs keynote (dare I say, Masterclass), be on the lookout for these 9 sales presentation lessons.

Sales Presentation Lesson #1: Demolish the status quo

“The most advanced phones are called smartphones (so they say).”

The problem, according to Steve Jobs? Smartphones are not so smart, and they’re not so easy to use.

He discusses this point around the 4-minute mark of his talk.

He says the current “smart” phones fall into one of the three categories: 

• not so smart
• hard to use, or 
• not so smart AND hard to use

It’s hard to imagine a pre-iPhone world, but the Treo, Moto Q, E62, and other cell phones were quite advanced for their time. They were pretty awesome.

But Jobs challenges that point. He shatters the status quo with a strong statement + powerful visual.

How this translates to sales: Instinct tells us to focus on the product’s benefits — (hopefully) positive and (relatively) easy to talk about.

But … focusing your message on the pain of the status quo is more persuasive than focusing on benefits.

If the status quo is no longer an option (iPhone > “smartphones”), your buyer is more likely to invest in the “new” option.

Accomplish this mindset change through the behavioral economics principle of loss aversion — humans will go to more extraordinary lengths to avoid loss than they will to gain benefits.

Loss aversion tugs on human nature. We will undergo 2x more effort to avoid a loss than to incur a gain . 

Example #1: It’s easier to convince someone to move away from a fire (loss aversion) than to move from a chair to a comfy sofa.

Example #2: People are more motivated to NOT lose $25,000 (loss aversion) than they are to earn $25,000.

Use this psychological bias to your advantage. Your close rates will bump up if you do it right.

Start by showing why the current situation is bad (see “Business School 101” graph above) and demolish the status quo.

Sales Presentation Lesson #2: THEN show the gain

You’ve talked about how the status quo is no more. You’ve got your buyer leaning in (captivated?), on the edge of their seat.

It’s time to show the gain your product or service offers.

Steve Jobs started every demo with some version of the following: “Now what if I wanted to do X? Here’s what that looks like…”

The “I” Jobs was referring to was him in the shoes of the customer. The “what that looks like” is the gain realized from the product/service offered.

Good sales presentations show what the product can do. Great sales presentations show what the customer can do (with the product).

To accomplish this, you must answer these three questions:

• What OUTCOME did the customer achieve?
• What ACTION did the customer take to accomplish this?
• What PRODUCT BENEFIT or INSIGHT made that action possible?

Here’s a sales template to get you started:

But you are not done after showing the gain. Not quite!

Sales Presentation Lesson #3: Keep switching between status quo and gain

Sales Tip #1 (status quo), then Sales Tip #2 (gain). 

Keep going back and forth between the status quo and the gain customers realize with your solution.

“Not the crippled stuff you find on most phones — these are the real, desktop-class applications.” About 9.5 minutes into his talk, Jobs comes back to the status quo, the “crippled stuff” … the industry-standard stuff yet is broken.

And then he hits the audience with the gain iPhone offers.

Status quo.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Steve Jobs repeats this technique throughout the next hour+ of his talk. He keeps coming back to what he hates about the status quo over and over again to better tee up what he’s showing next.

In Nancy Duarte’s 2011 TEDxEast talk, The Secret Structure of Great Talks , she mentions this technique 6 minutes or so into her presentation (bold is mine): 

“At the beginning of any presentation, you need to establish what is. You know, here’s the status quo, here’s what’s going on. And then you need to compare that to what could be. You need to make that gap as big as possible because there is this commonplace of the status quo, and you need to contrast that with the loftiness of your idea. So it’s like, you know, here’s the past, here’s the present, but look at our future. Here’s a problem, but look at that problem removed. Here’s a roadblock; let’s annihilate the roadblock. You need to really amplify that gap. This would be like the inciting incident in a movie. That’s when suddenly the audience has to contend with what you just put out there: ‘Wow, do I want to agree with this and align with it or not?’ And in the rest of your presentation should support that.

“So the middle goes back and forth; it traverses between what is and what could be, what is and what could be. Because what you are trying to do is make the status quo and the normal unappealing, and you’re wanting to draw them towards what could be in the future with your idea adopted.”

The last sentence is the key. That’s your goal: “…make the status quo and the normal unappealing … what could be in the future with your idea…”

Sales Presentation Lesson #4: Lead with the “Oh S$#T” moment

There is no massive build-up, no long lead into the punchline. 

3 minutes into an 80-minute talk (3.75% of the way through!) Steve Jobs drops the iPhone name for the first time.

Too often, in sales pitches, there is a long lead-in, a huge build-up. We talk about our storied company history, our amazing customers, and so on.

Instead, flip your sales product demo upside down.

In this blog post , we share an example of a sales rep pitching a politician on building a new city on top of an empty plot of land in South Dakota. The example shows a typical sales demo.

The problem? It takes 20 minutes to get to the juicy stuff — what the city (in this case) will look like. 

Flipping the demo to lead with the result (a fabulous new city in South Dakota, a revolutionary smartphone called the iPhone) takes the guesswork out.

If done effectively, you’ve now piqued interest. It’s your job to maintain that interest throughout the remainder of your pitch.

Start with the outcome and allow the conversation to unfold from there naturally .

In the 3 million web-based sales product demos we analyzed using AI, we found winning product demonstrations mirror the same priorities raised during discovery calls, in priority order.

Start your sales product demo with the problem you spent the most time on during discovery, and go forward from there.

This is called “solution mapping” — helping guide you and your buyers by getting to the stuff that matters most first .

Sales Presentation Lesson #5: Obey the 9-minute rule

9.1 minutes.

For winning deals, 9.1 minutes is the average time to go through an introductory sales meeting presentation deck. 

This number is backed not only by Gong data, but also by science.

Humans are complex creatures, but we are also easily distracted. SQUIRREL!

A recent study showed the average human brain now has an attention span shorter than a goldfish . What? Every time I read that study … Mind. Blown.

In some instances, this 8-second attention span serves as an advantage , but it can be tricky when selling!

While our attention starts to wander after 8 seconds or so, as we mention here , neuroscientists have proven that our brains have a built-in stopwatch that stops around 9-10 minutes.

Notice how every 9-minutes or so, Steve Jobs introduces something in his talk to “perk up” the brain … to change the pace.

To command your customer’s attention, you must introduce a “brain-perking” change of pace, such as a new speaker, a video/live demo, or a dramatic story.

The first significant shift in the Jobs keynote is when he shows a video of the new iPhone in action. Notice he’s gone from talking with images only to sharing a live video.

Brain switch. Powerful stuff.

Jobs continues this “every 9 minutes” switch: Story to demo to story to demo. Jobs talking followed by (then) Google CEO Eric Schmidt talking.

This constant switching throughout the entire 80-minute presentation keeps the audience engaged.

Sales Presentation Lesson #6: Simplify your slides

We’ve all seen ‘em.

We’ve all been on the other side of a slide presentation that is full of words — words the seller reads VERBATIM from the slide.

It’s painful. It’s cringeworthy. It’s a colossal waste of (everyone’s) time.

Yet “busy slides” are still an issue for many-a-sales presentations.

Notice most of Steve Jobs’ slides (from more than a decade ago, mind you): 

• No lists with 17+ bullet points
• No paragraphs of words
• No fancy animations or wild things flying on and off the screen

Steve Jobs’ slides are — for the most part — a short headline + a single image. Each slide = one big idea.

P.S. We have a brand new Sales Presentation Template — for you, for free. Grab this fill-in-the-blanks template to create knockout sales presentations.

Sales Presentation Lesson #7: Load up on pronouns

a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this ). — Oxford Languages

Pronouns make things personal.

I. We. You. 

Jobs leans heavily on the use of pronouns. You can hear them peppered throughout all of his presentations. 

“Well, how do you solve this? Hmm. It turns out we have solved it. We solved it in computers 20 years ago. We solved it with a bit-mapped screen that could display anything we want. Put any user interface up. And a pointing device. We solved it with the mouse. We solved this problem. So how are we going to take this to a mobile device? What we’re going to do is get rid of all these buttons and just make a giant screen. A giant screen.”

7 “we’s” in a single paragraph!

He does the same with the pronouns “you” and “I.”

Gong has done some research on words and phrases top sellers use .

The best sales reps speak directly to buyers using the pronouns you, your, and your team 29% more often than their average and underperforming peers. 

A: “Users maximize their time with this workflow.”

B: “You’ll be more efficient with this workflow.”

Can you guess which seller closes more deals?

Users vs. You. A single word can have a significant impact.

Pronouns make the person (or team) on the other end feel more part of the conversation. Pronouns flip the script from generic, vague, and indirect to personal.

Pronouns allow buyers to visualize the product or the experience. It puts them in control.

Sales Presentation Lesson #8: Give signposts at the start

Step 1: Tell them what you are going to tell them. 

Step 2: Tell them. 

Step 3: Tell them what you told them.

Said another way …

Step 1: Preview your key points (“give pointers at the start”). Tease out the main idea.

Step 2: Share your key points and main idea — the meat of each section.

Step 3: Summarize (Sales presentation lesson #9).

Jobs spends a lot of time on Step 2, as any good speaker should.

However, he never misses the opportunity to preview each part of his presentation. He always starts by listing what he’s going to cover before just diving in.

30 or so minutes in, Jobs introduces the SMS section: “Now what I want to do is show you SMS texting” (Step 1).

Yeah, I know. The current smartphone has come a long way with SMS texting!

And then he does it (Step 2)— shows how texting works on the new iPhone.

Previewing upcoming content accomplishes two things: 

• It alerts the buyer “your question will be answered soon.” This allows them to focus on what is being shown instead of guessing what comes next.
• It creates a clear structure — a roadmap if you will. This section is focused; we aren’t just aimlessly meandering.

Note: It’s okay to be direct, “In this next section, I’m going to tell you about XYX.” It may sound a bit robotic, but better to err on the side of directness versus ambiguity and vagueness.

Sales Presentation Lesson #9: Get back to them at the end

When moving through a long presentation, it’s crucial to break things up every 9 minutes (see: Sales presentation lesson # 5) AND summarize what you covered.

Notice how when Steve Jobs wraps up a section, he often leads with, “So again …” This type of language signals, “I’m about to change chapters. Any questions before I move on?” 

He reviews and recaps what he’s just covered.

Jobs does this brilliantly while finishing the “iPod feature” section of his talk:

Note: While this slide appears to be counter to Sales presentation lesson #6 (Simplify Your Slides), it’s okay that he includes more words on this particular slide. After all, it’s a summary — a  takeaway slide — one that may be printed (or have someone take a picture of).

This summary slide check-in is essential.

Why? Gong data show that superstar sales reps are bombarded with questions during their demos compared to their peers .

In fact, top reps get 28% more questions from their buyers during product demos and technology-related discussions than “average” sales reps.

Pausing in between sections, summarizing what you’ve just covered, and allowing time for questions is essential to your success as a salesperson.

Our gift to you: Sales Presentation Template

Steve Jobs — love him or not — was one of the most talented business presenters of all time.

He balanced confidence and hyperbole with killer content and a style that kept his audience’s attention … for more than 8 seconds.

Take the 9 sales presentation tips from his 2007 iPhone keynote and incorporate them into your next sales presentation. 

Download our fill-in-the-blank Sales Presentation Template for some added flex, and start prepping your next product demo today.

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How to present like Steve Jobs during online webinars

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Very few brands are as recognisable as the Apple Brand. Since its inception, especially with the introduction of the iPhone, the company has firmly implanted itself into the fabric of popular culture. But Apple is not just a popular brand; it is also one of the biggest and most marketable brands on the planet, with customers and enthusiasts in every part of the world. The brand is so well-positioned that it now practically sells itself; there are people worldwide who would buy the next iPhone or Apple Watch, regardless of its features.

The success of Apple is not a fluke or a product of chance. On careful observation, you can trace a significant part of its initial success to the charisma and presentation prowess of its founder, Steve Jobs. Everyone old enough will surely remember when Jobs introduced the first iPhone during the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo and how the audience went wild.

Today, despite the sad departure of Jobs, Apple continues the tradition of giving exceptional presentations—a tradition that has served them spectacularly well.

What makes Steve Jobs presentation skills spectacular

Good presentations do more than dish out information; the ultimate goal is to change how people view the subject or product you, and if possible, take the actions that you wish them to take, whether it be starting a healthy routine or purchasing your product. To do that, you need to captivate the audience with your body language and make an emotional connection; this is where Steve Jobs public speaking skills excels. This article will show you some tips to help you improve your online presentation by analyzing the presentation style of Steve Jobs.

Presentation secrets of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs used many techniques to get his audience on the edge of their seats. His method stemmed from his belief that people didn't just buy what was valuable but also what they liked; he understood presentation makes all the difference. So he wanted to show them the importance and beauty of his product. Every presenter can learn valuable tips by considering some of these techniques. Here are some ways he went about it.

Build momentum before your online webinar or keynote

Many speakers make one mistake when they try to address a topic in the webinar session; they often deliver their speech at a straight, unchanging pace. While you may not necessarily be delivering your talk in a flat, monotonous drawl, this is still the worst way of presentation as you can still lose your audience.

This is because humans, especially now, can get increasingly bored if they are not excited about the presentation or feel the talk is going nowhere. One way of combating this problem is by building momentum. There are two ways you can do this:

• Set the theme
• Create a road map.
• Instil Anticipation

Steve Jobs did this perfectly when he unveiled the iPhone and even the macbook air. He did not allow his audience to wonder what the presentation would be about nor did he ramble on carelessly from one unrelated point to another. Rather, he structured his talk in a way that allowed him to link one point to another. He had a roadmap and it went something like this.

• He started with an announcement– he would launch three devices at the end of the day. Now, the audience was curious to see the devices.
• He went on to outline the logical and emotional value of these devices.
• Finally the big reveal. The three devices are, in fact, one device with multi-purpose value; it was a satisfying twist.

By giving his audience something to look forward to and ensuring he didn't spend much time discussing each of the most logically and emotionally appealing features, and by revealing something surprising, Jobs hooked the audience. From the beginning of the presentation, everyone was curious about the end, and he did not disappoint. You can use this technique to take your presentation to new, riveting levels. 

Dish out information in small bites and sell the benefit

People struggle to remember bulky information, and you will never be as influential as you wish if your audience doesn't remember the information in the first place. Steve Jobs understood this concept well, so he boiled down his presentations to their core details. He used a principle called The Rule of Three- a vital concept in communication theory.

The rule of three principle suggests that when a group of topics, products, or characters are three in number, it gives the audience the most psychological satisfaction while also helping them retain the information. You can apply this principle by arranging your presentation in three parts; do this in the following three ways:

• Break up your presentation into tiny chunks, preferably arranging them to fit three sessions. The length of each segment should ideally be 10-15 minutes because that is the limit of most people's attention span.
• Input suitable relief material in between each session. It should be something lighter than what you are presenting. If possible, you can play a video or interview a satisfied customer. Steve Jobs used this technique when he made his first call using an iPhone during one of his presentation intervals.
• Highlight only the core values of the product, this way you don't include details that distract your audience from the main points.

Use story techniques

Every human on earth is easily affected by stories; they are how we learn lessons about the world. Good stories are not only entertaining but also memorable. You probably remember the plot of your favourite movie or the lyrics of your favourite song. Conversely, arranging your presentation using a story format can make your presentation engaging, relatable, and unforgettable. Here are some ways you can do this:

Introduce an antagonist (or a bad guy)

The Bad guy could be anything from a rival product that is not fulfilling the audience's needs, a gap in the industry that is highly inconvenient, or a terrible habit that is preventing the audience from reaching their goals. Emphasise how terrible it is and how the bad guy reduces the quality of their life.

Show your concerns and efforts

Next, briefly recount your desire to provide a solution or weapon they can use to combat this enemy that seeks to make their lives miserable. This part will show you as emphatic to their plight and bind you to them. But be careful not to dwell too much on this segment so you don't start sounding too sanctimonious.

Reveal the hero

Show how your products succeed in addressing the problems that you have outlined earlier. Ensure you imprint the necessity of making changes as the only solution to the audience’s problems (which usually requires purchasing the product). This empowers them through using your product - it is important to make the customer the hero of the story.

Make the presentation people-centered

An important thing to remember when making your presentation is that it isn't all about you. Your audience is not listening to you out of compassion; it is because there is a problem that needs solving, and they are interested in knowing how beneficial your presentation will be. Hence, the presentation should be audience-focused, not speaker-focused. There are some unique ways you can do this:

Capture audience imagination

You will have better success engaging and possibly influencing your audience when you capture their imagination. For example, Steve Jobs did not say "we have built a better phone"; instead, he said "we are putting 1000 music tracks into your hands". The second statement was better because it instantly made the audience think of a specific need the phone would solve.

Make numbers and figures relatable

We often take for granted that many people are blind to measurable parameters. We may know what a kilometre or a pound is, but until we compare it to something else, we cannot really sense the impact. Use this principle when you make your presentation; if there is any raw data, make sure to present it in a way that your audience can feel. For example, instead of saying the company uses a 128-bit encryption network, try saying: We use the same security used by the National Bank. This way, your audience can relate to your data and picture it in a way that holds meaning to them.

Create a sense of higher purpose

This part is essential especially in sales because people often hesitate to make purchases, possibly feeling guilty or scared at having to indulge themselves. You can overcome this feeling by giving the thought of buying the product a sense of nobility. When Steve Jobs presented the iphone, he offered his future customers the chance to be part of the phone reinvention. Suddenly they were not mere consumers but part of something extraordinary. You can apply that principle during your presentation. Only be careful not to lay it too heavily, or else you risk coming off as pretentious! 

Keep the audience focused on you

You don't want the audience getting distracted by anything, not even the presenting aids you're using to get your points across. Some presenters often prepare such elaborate slides that they end up hugging all the audience's attention. Slides, pictures and audio-visual materials are a crucial part of your presentation. Still, you want to ensure you draw attention to yourself and what you're saying occasionally. Steve Jobs had an incredible stage presence, but he often included a blank slide that subconsciously made the audience focus back on him. Some presenters use a prop such as a laser pointer to grab attention. You have to look for effective but discreet ways to do this during your presentation.

Prepare properly

Although it often doesn't seem like it, Steve Jobs always knew to sweat the small stuff. He agonised over every product detail, ensuring he knew every facet of his story. When preparing for a presentation, Steve Jobs rehearsed and scripted every part of his presentation so as not to deviate from his outlined structure.

Even if scripting every word of your presentation isn't your style, you want to know what you're about to say. One way to do this is by writing your main points in a single sentence or as bullets, so that as you carry out your presentation, those points will remind you of what you should be talking about. This technique gives you the freedom of spontaneity while guiding you against derailing off-topic.

Finally, be sure to bring some humanity into your presentation. In todays world where AI is used in an increasing amount of communications, it's important to remember, as human beings we are capable of emotion and humour, engaging in our own unique way. You don't need to bring the house down with hilarious stories (although a good story always helps!), but in reality remembering to pause and smile at certain moments will bring warmth and help your audience build belief and trust in you and what you are presenting, even if it's not as exciting as a new iPhone! ‍

Frequently Asked Question

How do you make a presentation like Steve Jobs?

Craft a narrative with a clear structure, use minimalistic slides, and prioritize visuals over text. Practice and master your delivery, focus on audience engagement, and infuse passion and enthusiasm into your presentation for a compelling and impactful style, akin to Steve Jobs.

How can I be confident on a webinar?

Prepare thoroughly, practice your content, and familiarize yourself with the best webinar platform . Maintain a positive mindset, engage with your audience, and remember that expertise and enthusiasm will boost your confidence during the presentation.

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Over a million people from all over the world have shared their memories, thoughts, and feelings about Steve. One thing they all have in common — from personal friends to colleagues to owners of Apple products — is how they’ve been touched by his passion and creativity. You can view some of these messages below. And share your own at [email protected]

Presenting like Steve Jobs: Using 6 of His Proven Techniques – Here’s How It Works!

The art of presenting has gained transformative significance in today’s business world. A presentation is no longer just a sequence of slides; it’s a way to communicate ideas, establish connections, and inspire the audience.

When discussing inspiring presentations, the name Steve Jobs inevitably comes up. He elevated the art of presenting to a new level. Today, we’ll showcase the techniques Steve Jobs utilized and how you can apply them to your own presentations.

Who is Steve Jobs?

Born in 1955 in California, Steve Jobs is renowned as one of the co-founders of Apple. He is considered one of the m ost prominent figures in the computer industry.

Steve Jobs is equally renowned for his exceptional presentation skills . His presentations are enduringly memorable. They were not only informative but also captivating events that held the audience spellbound. His charismatic presence, persuasive rhetoric, and minimalist design fundamentally transformed the way we present.

Why Steve Jobs Is a Model for Successful Presentations

As the presenter of Apple’s products, Steve Jobs amassed a wealth of experience. Over time, he established a reputation as a master of presentation . Through specific techniques, he managed to do more than convey information; he left an impression, stirred emotions, and enthused the audience . His presentations were more than mere business demonstrations; they were powerful performances that captivated the audience.

Behind every “One more thing” by Steve Jobs lies an array of techniques with the potential to elevate presentations to a new level. His charismatic presence, storytelling prowess, and distinctive presentation style have set a benchmark for modern presenting. The way he engaged the audience and conveyed his messages has made him an exemplar from which presenters worldwide can learn.

The Impact of Steve Jobs’ Presentations on the Technology and Business World

The influence of Steve Jobs’ presentations extends far beyond the technology industry. The styles he used revolutionized entire presentation formats. His innovative approaches and techniques set standards that go well beyond the stage. His charisma, storytelling abilities, and captivating audience engagement transformed the understanding of what makes a compelling presentation, ushering in a new era of presenting.

Jobs’ presentation philosophy demonstrated that a well-crafted presentation is not just about conveying information; it’s an opportunity to captivate, inspire, and persuade the audience.

6 Techniques from Steve Jobs for Captivating and Convincing Presentations

Steve Jobs employed the following techniques to his advantage:

1. Simplicity and Clarity

Simplicity and clarity are crucial factors for all types of presentations. Nobody wants to hear complex content delivered in the most convoluted way. Steve Jobs had the ability to transcend complexity through simplicity.

He understood that cluttered slides and confusing information overwhelm the audience and blur the messages. Instead, Steve Jobs embraced minimalism and clarity by reducing his presentations to the essentials.

This minimalism was reflected in his slides, often composed of just a few words or an image that illustrated the central message . Focusing on the essentials also helps your audience understand your key points better and faster. Simplicity doesn’t equate to shallowness. Skillfully direct your listeners’ attention by operating in a minimalist manner and projecting only the most important messages to reinforce.

2. Storytelling

To keep your audience engaged, you should always use storytelling. Incorporating your content into a story using this technique helps maintain attention spans and convey your message more effectively. More in-depth tips can be found in the article “ Storytelling in Presentations .”

Steve Jobs also knew how to use storytelling. He was a true master of storytelling, taking his audience on an emotional journey . In his presentations, he built suspense by following a clear structure resembling a classic narrative: introduction, plot development, and a captivating conclusion . He also integrated personal stories, authentically conveying his passions and beliefs. This created a common ground with his audience and lent a human touch to his presentation.

He understood that compelling presentations should rely not only on facts and logic but also on emotions. Jobs appealed not only to the minds but also to the hearts of his audience.

If you also use storytelling, your audience is more likely to identify with the ideas you present . This means that you have a higher chance of generating sales or new customers. At the same time, storytelling creates an unforgettable presentation experience for your audience. And staying in their minds for a long time also leaves a good impression.

3. Visual Presentation Aids

Nobody enjoys reading text-heavy PowerPoint slides. Therefore, like Steve Jobs, you should always rely on supportive visual presentation aids. When used skillfully, these aids are not only visually appealing but also reinforce your messages and better reach your audience.

Such presentation aids can include images, videos, or graphics . Steve Jobs used these primarily to illustrate abstract concepts, demonstrate products in action, and evoke emotions. These visual presentation aids weren’t just for decoration; they were integral parts of the story he told.

4. The Art of Staging

Many presenters overlook this: a presentation is not just about compelling slides and a good delivery, but also about effective staging . One of the most captivating aspects of Steve Jobs’ presentation style was his masterful staging. Jobs understood that a presentation is not only about content but also about how it is presented.

His appearances were meticulously choreographed , from his stage entrance to the sequence of slides. Every step, movement, and pause was intentionally planned to captivate the audience and convey messages with maximum impact. He utilized silence and pauses to build tension, employed gestures and facial expressions to convey emotions, and mastered perfect timing to direct the audience’s attention.

You don’t necessarily need to be as meticulously planned as Steve Jobs, as that requires intense preparation and practice . Nonetheless, strive to be conscious of what you radiate, how you behave, and what reactions your actions evoke in your audience. A test audience is an excellent way to practice.

Tips for exuding confidence, appropriate body language, and conscious use of language can be found in the following articles:

• Body Language in Presentations
• Speech Techniques in Presentations

5. Innovation and “One More Thing”

You’ve probably heard of Steve Jobs’ “One More Thing.” It’s the hallmark of Steve Jobs’ presentation style. He managed to spice up his presentations with a touch of innovation and surprise . This distinctive technique, known as the “One More Thing,” was a masterpiece in building suspense and last-minute revelations.

Steve Jobs’ audience was familiar with this effect, and Jobs intentionally created expectations by leading his audience through the main presentation, only to deliver an unexpected bombshell at the end. In his case, the surprises were groundbreaking product announcements or innovative features that captivated the audience. With the “One More Thing” technique, Jobs adeptly engaged his audience and held their attention until the very end.

Like Steve Jobs, strategically place well-timed surprises to harness the potential to make a presentation unforgettable and leave a lasting impact.

6. The Right Conclusion

A convincing conclusion is crucial for any type of presentation. Avoid the usual “Thank you for your attention” phrase and aim for memorable presentation endings.

Steve Jobs’ conclusions were often powerful and unforgettable, leaving a lasting impression on the audience. He also employed the “One More Thing” technique to end with a surprising revelation that left the audience in awe. This technique not only generated excitement but also left the audience with a sense of wonder and enthusiasm.

Furthermore, Jobs’ conclusions always had a clear connection to his message or main theme . He summarized the key points of his presentation and emphasized the core messages once again. This technique helps your audience internalize and remember the most important key points as the presentation concludes.

For more helpful tips on a successful conclusion, refer to the article “ 20 Ideas for Your Presentation Ending .”

If you want to see a speech of Steve Jobs please have a look here . Use the english subtitles if needed.

Conclusion: Applying Steve Jobs’ Techniques Strategically and Convincingly

Follow the example of Steve Jobs and enhance your future presentations to be more engaging and persuasive. Apply the techniques we’ve presented and captivate your audience.

Do you have questions about this article? Feel free to reach out to us via email at [email protected] . We are here to assist you!

If you are looking for visually supportive and professionally designed slide templates, explore our shop. We offer a wide range of slides prepared for various (business) topics available for download. Visit our shop today! ► Shop

You might also find these articles interesting:

• Storytelling in Presentations
• Preparing Presentations: 11 Tips
• 20 Ideas for Your Presentation Ending
• Learning from Hitchcock: How to Deliver Captivating Presentations

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Why Corporate Mission Statements Are So Important

7 Tips & Learnings from the Apple Keynote

In 1976, Steve Jobs cofounded Apple Computer Inc. with Steve Wozniak. Under Jobs’ guidance, the company pioneered a series of revolutionary technologies, including the iPhone and iPad.

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Quick Facts

Steve jobs’ parents and adoption, early life and education, founding and leaving apple computer inc., creating next, steve jobs and pixar, returning to and reinventing apple, wife and children, pancreatic cancer diagnosis and health challenges, death and last words, movies and book about steve jobs, who was steve jobs.

Steve Jobs was an American inventor, designer, and entrepreneur who was the cofounder, chief executive, and chairman of Apple Inc. Born in 1955 to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption, Jobs was smart but directionless, dropping out of college and experimenting with different pursuits before cofounding Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Jobs left the company in 1985, launching Pixar Animation Studios, then returned to Apple more than a decade later. The tech giant’s revolutionary products, which include the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Jobs died in 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

FULL NAME: Steven Paul Jobs BORN: February 24, 1955 DIED: October 5, 2011 BIRTHPLACE: San Francisco, California SPOUSE: Laurene Powell (1991-2011) CHILDREN: Lisa, Reed, Erin, and Eve ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco to Joanne Schieble (later Joanne Simpson) and Abdulfattah “John” Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students. The couple gave up their unnamed son for adoption. As an infant, Jobs was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant, and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist.

Jobs’ biological father, Jandali, was a Syrian political science professor. His biological mother, Schieble, worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Jobs was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

Jobs lived with his adoptive family in Mountain View, California, within the area that would later become known as Silicon Valley. He was curious from childhood, sometimes to his detriment. According to the BBC’s Science Focus magazine, Jobs was taken to the emergency room twice as a toddler—once after sticking a pin into an electrical socket and burning his hand, and another time because he had ingested poison. His mother Clara had taught him to read by the time he started kindergarten.

As a boy, Jobs and his father worked on electronics in the family garage. Paul showed his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby that instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs.

Although Jobs was always an intelligent and innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. Jobs was a prankster in elementary school due to boredom, and his fourth-grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal that his parents declined.

While attending Homestead High School, Jobs joined the Explorer’s Club at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he saw a computer for the first time. He even picked up a summer job with HP after calling company cofounder Bill Hewlett to ask for parts for a frequency counter he was building. It was at HP that a teenaged Jobs met he met his future partner and cofounder of Apple Computer Steve Wozniak , who was attending the University of California, Berkeley.

After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he withdrew from college after six months and spent the next year and a half dropping in on creative classes at the school. Jobs later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.

In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game designer with Atari. Several months later, he left the company to find spiritual enlightenment in India, traveling further and experimenting with psychedelic drugs.

In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computer Inc. in the Jobs’ family garage. Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak his beloved scientific calculator to fund their entrepreneurial venture. Through Apple, the men are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers.

Wozniak conceived of a series of user-friendly personal computers, and—with Jobs in charge of marketing—Apple initially marketed the computers for $666.66 each. The Apple I earned the corporation around $774,000. Three years after the release of Apple’s second model, the Apple II, the company’s sales increased exponentially to $139 million.

In 1980, Apple Computer became a publicly-traded company, with a market value of $1.2 billion by the end of its first day of trading. However, the next several products from Apple suffered significant design flaws, resulting in recalls and consumer disappointment. IBM suddenly surpassed Apple in sales, and Apple had to compete with an IBM/PC-dominated business world.

Jobs looked to marketing expert John Sculley of Pepsi-Cola to take over the role of CEO for Apple in 1983. The next year, Apple released the Macintosh, marketing the computer as a piece of a counterculture lifestyle: romantic, youthful, creative. But despite positive sales and performance superior to IBM’s PCs, the Macintosh was still not IBM-compatible.

Sculley believed Jobs was hurting Apple, and the company’s executives began to phase him out. Not actually having had an official title with the company he cofounded, Jobs was pushed into a more marginalized position and left Apple in 1985.

After leaving Apple in 1985, Jobs personally invested $12 million to begin a new hardware and software enterprise called NeXT Inc. The company introduced its first computer in 1988, with Jobs hoping it would appeal to universities and researchers. But with a base price of $6,500, the machine was far out of the range of most potential buyers.

The company’s operating system NeXTSTEP fared better, with programmers using it to develop video games like Quake and Doom . Tim Berners-Lee, who created the first web browser, used an NeXT computer. However, the company struggled to appeal to mainstream America, and Apple eventually bought the company in 1996 for $429 million.

In 1986, Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas , which later became Pixar Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar’s potential, Jobs initially invested $50 million of his own money in the company.

The studio went on to produce wildly popular movies such as Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), and Up (2009) . Pixar merged with Disney in 2006, which made Jobs the largest shareholder of Disney. As of June 2022, Pixar films had collectively grossed $14.7 billion at the global box office.

In 1997, Jobs returned to his post as Apple’s CEO. Just as Jobs instigated Apple’s success in the 1970s, he is credited with revitalizing the company in the 1990s.

With a new management team, altered stock options, and a self-imposed annual salary of $1 a year, Jobs put Apple back on track. Jobs’ ingenious products like the iMac, effective branding campaigns, and stylish designs caught the attention of consumers once again.

In the ensuing years, Apple introduced such revolutionary products as the Macbook Air, iPod, and iPhone, all of which dictated the evolution of technology. Almost immediately after Apple released a new product, competitors scrambled to produce comparable technologies. To mark its expanded product offerings, the company officially rebranded as Apple Inc. in 2007.

Apple’s quarterly reports improved significantly that year: Stocks were worth $199.99 a share—a record-breaking number at that time—and the company boasted a staggering $1.58 billion profit, an $18 billion surplus in the bank, and zero debt.

In 2008, fueled by iTunes and iPod sales, Apple became the second-biggest music retailer in America behind Walmart. Apple has also been ranked No. 1 on Fortune ’s list of America’s Most Admired Companies, as well as No. 1 among Fortune 500 companies for returns to shareholders.

Apple has released dozens of versions of the iPhone since its 2007 debut. In February 2023, an unwrapped first generation phone sold at auction for more than $63,000.

According to Forbes , Jobs’ net worth peaked at $8.3 billion shortly before he died in 2011. Celebrity Net Worth estimates it was as high as $10.2 billion.

Apple hit a market capitalization of $3 trillion in January 2022, meaning Jobs’ initial stake in the company from 1980 would have been worth about $330 billion—enough to comfortably make him the richest person in the world over Tesla founder Elon Musk had he been alive. But according to the New York Post , Jobs sold off all but one of his Apple shares when he left the company in 1985.

Most of Jobs’ net worth came from a roughly 8 percent share in Disney he acquired when he sold Pixar in 2006. Based on Disney’s 2022 value, that share—which he passed onto his wife—is worth $22 billion.

Jobs and Laurene Powell married on March 18, 1991. The pair met in the early 1990s at Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They lived together in Palo Alto with their three children: Reed (born September 22, 1991), Erin (born August 19, 1995), and Eve (born July 9, 1998).

Jobs also fathered a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan on May 17, 1978, when he was 23. He denied paternity of his daughter in court documents, claiming he was sterile. In her memoir Small Fry , Lisa wrote DNA tests revealed that she and Jobs were a match in 1980, and he was required to begin making paternity payments to her financially struggling mother. Jobs didn’t initiate a relationship with his daughter until she was 7 years old. When she was a teenager, Lisa came to live with her father. In 2011, Jobs said , “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was 23 and the way I handled that.”

In 2003, Jobs discovered that he had a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pesco-vegetarian diet while weighing Eastern treatment options.

For nine months, Jobs postponed surgery, making Apple’s board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders would pull their stock if word got out that the CEO was ill. But in the end, Jobs’ confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure.

In 2004, Jobs had successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, Jobs disclosed little about his health in subsequent years.

Early in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs’ weight loss, some predicting his health issues had returned, which included a liver transplant. Jobs responded to these concerns by stating he was dealing with a hormone imbalance. Days later, he went on a six-month leave of absence.

In an email message to employees, Jobs said his “health-related issues are more complex” than he thought, then named Tim Cook , Apple’s then–chief operating officer, as “responsible for Apple’s day-today operations.”

After nearly a year out of the spotlight, Jobs delivered a keynote address at an invite-only Apple event on September 9, 2009. He continued to serve as master of ceremonies, which included the unveiling of the iPad, throughout much of 2010.

In January 2011, Jobs announced he was going on medical leave. In August, he resigned as CEO of Apple, handing the reins to Cook.

Jobs died at age 56 in his home in Palo Alto, California, on October 5, 2011. His official cause of death was listed as respiratory arrest related to his years-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The New York Times reported that in his final weeks, Jobs had become so weak that he struggled to walk up the stairs in his home. Still, he was able to say goodbye to some of his longtime colleagues, including Disney CEO Bob Iger; speak with his biographer; and offer advice to Apple executives about the unveiling of the iPhone 4S.

In a eulogy for Jobs , sister Mona Simpson wrote that just before dying, Jobs looked for a long time at his sister, Patty, then his wife and children, then past them, and said his last words: “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”

Jobs’ closest family and friends remembered him at a small gathering, then on October 16, a funeral for Jobs was held on the campus of Stanford University. Notable attendees included Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates ; singer Joan Baez , who once dated Jobs; former Vice President Al Gore ; actor Tim Allen; and News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch .

Jobs is buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto. Upon the release of the 2015 film Steve Jobs , fans traveled to the cemetery to find the site. Because the cemetery is not allowed to disclose the grave’s location, many left messages for Jobs in a memorial book instead.

Before his death, Jobs granted author and journalist Walter Isaacson permission to write his official biography. Jobs sat for more than 40 interviews with the Isaacson, who also talked to more than 100 of Jobs’ family, friends, and colleagues. Initially scheduled for a November 2011 release date, Steve Jobs hit shelves on October 24, just 19 days after Jobs died.

Jobs’ life has been the subject of two major films. The first, released in 2013, was simply titled Jobs and starred Ashton Kutcher as Jobs and Josh Gad as Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak. Wozniak told The Verge in 2013 he was approached about working on the film but couldn’t because, “I read a script as far as I could stomach it and felt it was crap.” Although he praised the casting, he told Gizmodo he felt his and Jobs’ personalities were inaccurately portrayed.

Instead, Wozniak worked with Sony Pictures on the second film, Steve Jobs , that was adapted from Isaacson’s biography and released in 2015. It starred Michael Fassbender as Jobs and Seth Rogen as Wozniak. Fassbender was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and co-star Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Apple and NeXT marketing executive Joanna Hoffman.

In 2015, filmmaker Alex Gibney examined Jobs’ life and legacy in the documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine .

• Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world? [Jobs inviting an executive to join Apple]
• It’s better to be a pirate than join the Navy.
• In my perspective... science and computer science is a liberal art. It’s something everyone should know how to use, at least, and harness in their life.
• It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.
• There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love—‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been’—and we’ve always tried to do that at Apple.
• You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
• I think humans are basically tool builders, and the computer is the most remarkable tool we’ve ever built.
• You just make the best product you can, and you don’t put it out until you feel it’s right.
• With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again.
• Things don’t have to change the world to be important.
• I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates .
• If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.
• Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful—that’s what matters to me.
• I like to believe there’s an afterlife. I like to believe the accumulated wisdom doesn’t just disappear when you die, but somehow, it endures. But maybe it’s just like an on/off switch and click—and you’re gone. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like putting on/off switches on Apple devices.

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The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience Prologue—How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

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Steve Jobs would love Apple's Vision Pro headset, his biographer argues

• Walter Isaacson wrote the biography "Steve Jobs," chronicling the life of the late Apple cofounder.
• Isaacson, who had special access to Jobs, thinks Jobs would have loved Apple's Vision Pro headset.
• Isaacson said Apple's mixed-reality headset is a "big leap" for human-computer interfaces.

The late Apple CEO and cofounder Steve Jobs would love Apple's new Vision Pro headset if he were alive, Walter Isaacson, who wrote Jobs' biography, said Tuesday during an interview on CNBC . 

"He would love it. I think he always wanted to go into new fields ever since he decided to make the iPod in the early 2000s, which was an unusual thing for, you know, a computer company to do, and likewise with the iPhone," said Isaacson, who is also the CEO of the Aspen Institute and a history professor at Tulane University.

Apple unveiled its new mixed-reality headset on Monday at the company's World Wide Developer's Conference. It's the company's first major product announcement since the Apple Watch, which was revealed almost a decade ago in 2014.

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The Vision Pro, which will cost $3,499 and be available for purchase in early 2024, will allow users to view and interact with content in a mixed-reality environment by just using their eyes, hands, and voice.

Isaacson said that technology is advanced by new human-computer interfaces, or as he described it, how we "closely connect ourselves to our computers." And Apple's new headset, which the company says is built upon a "spatial computing" operating system called visionOS, is a new platform that does just that. 

"When he (Jobs) saw Siri, that was a great leap in human-computer interface, and this is one of the next big leaps in that," Isaacson said. 

Isaacson also said that the new Vision Pro headset showcases how Apple is tackling AI, despite the fact that the specific words "artificial intelligence" or AI were not mentioned a single time during Apple's big reveal event.

Isaacson said that Apple is thinking beyond just chatbots powered by generative AI, and focusing more on real-world applications for AI.

"AI is not just chatbots that do it with text. AI is things like these mixed-reality headsets that can process visual data from cameras and turn it into something intelligent you can interact with," Isaacson said. "Real-world AI, as opposed to just text chatbot AI, meaning robots that can navigate in the real world, which is what this headset will help us interact with… That's the real future of AI."

Watch: What can Apple's new VR headset do?

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Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs visits the Soviet Union

By Luke Dormehl • 7:35 am, July 4, 2023

• Top stories

During his two-day trip, Jobs lectures computer science students in the Soviet Union, attends a Fourth of July party at the American embassy and discusses opening a Mac factory in Russia. He also reportedly almost runs afoul of the KGB by praising assassinated Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky .

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Steve Jobs goes to Russia

Taking place shortly after reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev ‘s rise to power, Jobs’ trip to Moscow came at a tough time for the Apple co-founder. Jobs had lost a political war with Apple CEO John Sculley . And that left Jobs in virtual isolation after higher-ups running the company abandoned him.

Looking for something to do, Jobs went on an overseas trip to visit Paris, Italy and, eventually, Moscow.

In Paris, Jobs met future U.S. President George H. W. Bush . They discussed the idea that distributing Macs to the Russian people could help provoke a “revolution from below.”

At the time, the less-powerful Apple II had just launched in Russia, a country that remained very guarded about allowing technology to become available to the masses.

Steve Jobs, the CIA and the KGB

Intriguingly, Jobs said he had a “feeling” that the attorney who helped organize his trip to the Soviet Union “worked for the CIA or the KGB,” although he never elaborated on this in public.

The trip was, however, notable enough that it received a mention in Jobs’ FBI file . The dossier noted that while in the USSR, Jobs met with an unnamed professor from the Russian Academy of Sciences “to discuss possible marketing of [Apple Computer’s] product.”

In other strange happenings during the visit — which totally sounds like it should be adapted as a TV miniseries — Jobs apparently became convinced that a television repairman who came to his Moscow hotel room “unsolicited, for no apparent reason, was actually some kind of spy.” (Alan Deutschman told that story in his 2000 book, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs .)

Trouble with the KGB

The apparent trouble with Russia’s secret police and spy agency came up in Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography of Jobs. Isaacson wrote that Jobs “insisted on talking about” Trotsky, the Bolshevik leader exiled as an “enemy of the people.” Trotsky was later assassinated in Mexico under the orders of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin .

“You don’t want to talk about Trotsky,” a KGB agent allegedly told Jobs. “Our historians have studied the situation, and we don’t believe he’s a great man anymore.”

Jobs ignored this advice, according to Isaacson. “When they got to the state university in Moscow to speak to computer students, Jobs began his speech by praising Trotsky,” he wrote. (For what it’s worth, a partial transcript of one of the speeches Jobs made in Russia at this time makes no mention of Trotsky.)

The beginning of the Russian Newton revolution?

Jobs seemingly suffered no ill effects from his reported run-in with the KGB. Unfortunately, his trip overall seemed similarly uneventful. No Russian Apple division came to be. That probably makes sense, given that Jobs’ summer of 1985 was more about “busy work” to keep him away from Apple management than accomplishing anything productive.

The trip generated a final intriguing tidbit, though. Apple VP Al Eisenstat stayed in the same Moscow hotel as Jobs. One night, Eisenstat was awakened by the sound of a nervous computer programmer knocking on his door.

When he answered it, the coder pushed a floppy disk into his hand. Upon Eisenstat’s return to the United States, he discovered the disk contained accurate handwriting-recognition software.

According to several members of the Apple Newton team I’ve spoken to, this code became the basis for the handwriting recognition built into the Newton MessagePad .

More details on Steve Jobs’ Russia trip?

Anyone know any more details about Steve Jobs’ Russian odyssey? Leave your comments below.

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42 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Said This Is the Number 1 Sign of Remarkable Intelligence

This is what the apple co-founder looked for when he wanted to know if someone was really, really smart..

When Steve Jobs was building Apple,  luck mattered . Right place. Right time. Right person, idea, market, or audience. Ask any extremely successful person, and they'll say luck played a role in their success. Unfortunately, though, while you can put yourself in position to be luckier,  you can't control luck.

But you can, to a surprising degree, control how smart you are. You can improve your ability to learn more quickly . You can improve your judgment . You can improve your decision-making skills . And you can learn to identify smart people, which is a benefit because it's hard to surround yourself with smart people if you can't spot smart people.

So what did Jobs feel was the best indication of high intelligence?

According to  Jobs :

A lot of it is memory. But a lot of it is the ability to zoom out, like you're in a city and you could look at the whole thing from the 80th floor down at the city. And while other people are trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B, reading these stupid little maps, you can just see it in front of you. You can see the whole thing. And you can make connections that seem obvious to you, because you can see the whole thing.

That's the thing about intelligence. No matter how much information you can retain -- no matter what degree of crystallized intelligence you possess -- having a great memory won't necessarily help you make better decisions; we all know smart people who at times struggle to make a simple decision.

What Jobs describes is fluid intelligence , the ability to learn and retain new information --and to use that knowledge to solve a problem. To learn a new skill. To recall existing memories, and modify them with new knowledge.

To be not just book smart ( not that there's anything wrong with that ) but also smart smart.

For Jobs, that's step one on the road to high intelligence. He felt the smartest people excel at making connections.

But you can't make connections unless you collect a variety of experiences you can then connect.

As  Jobs said :

One of the funny things about being bright is everyone puts you on this path. To go to high school, go to college. [But] the key thing that comes through is they had a variety of experiences which they could draw upon in order to try to solve a problem, or attack a particular dilemma, in a unique way. One of the things you'll get a lot of pressure to do is go in one direction. What you have to do is get different experiences. To make connections which are innovative? To connect two experiences together?  You have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else. Or you'll make the same connections.

That's step two. You have to try new things. You have to learn new things, even if learning those things doesn't seem to have a clear purpose (yet). You have to do things that aren't comfortable because that's a sure sign you're stretching yourself into new areas.

Learning more about something you already know is easier, and oddly comforting. 

But then you'll have the same bag of experiences, and make the same street-level connections as everyone else.

The more you know about a broad range of things, the more you can leverage the power of associative learning, the process of relating something new to something you already know. (In simple terms, associated learning is like saying, "Oh, I get it: This is basically like that."

The more you learn, the more likely you will be able to associate old knowledge with new things -- and the more likely you'll be able to solve a problem or attack a dilemma in a new way.

A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta

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• Por qué Steve Jobs, Bill Gates o Elon Musk tienen organizados sus escritorios de forma tan similar

Analizamos el punto en común de los escritorios de estos tres genios

Guille Lomener

Mucho antes de que existiera el concepto de "set up" para llamar a la zona donde tenemos nuestro escritorio y trabajamos, Steve Jobs ya tenía ciertas particularidades sobre él. A su vez, Bill Gates y más tarde Elon Musk coincidieron en un punto sobre cómo tener organizado su espacio de trabajo.

Así era el despacho de Steve Jobs en su propia casa

Steve Jobs trabajó en muchos lugares diferentes , y es que a lo largo de su vida pasó de fundar Apple en el garaje de su casa, a ser el principal inversor de Pixar y crear la empresa NeXT antes de volver a Apple para reflotarla. Durante todos estos años, Steve Jobs tenía un hilo conductor en sus escritorios que se asemeja también al de muchos genios: Desorden. Sí, el impulsor del minimalismo en la tecnología tenía su escritorio y despacho abarrotado de cosas .

Esta es una de las últimas fotografías que se tienen de Steve Jobs en la propia oficina que tenía en su casa. Concretamente es del año 2004 y conserva ese espíritu de garaje con las paredes de ladrillo . En la foto, se observa a Steve Jobs en su entorno de trabajo, inclinado hacia lo que podría ser un mítico Apple Cinema Display.

El escritorio está lleno de pilas de papeles, libros y carpetas , lo que refleja bien la intensa actividad creativa y empresarial que llevaba. Al fondo, una gran estantería repleta de libros. Y es que Steve Jobs era un gran amante de la cultura y fueron muchos los libros que le marcaron para ser la persona que fue. Después, podemos ver otros muchos elementos como una cámara de vídeo, un gran maletín metálico... quién sabe si dentro había algún prototipo del iPhone . Esta foto fue tomada un par de años antes del lanzamiento del iPhone original. Sí, no era el despacho más ordenado del mundo, aunque seguramente tenía todo lo que necesitaba allí.

Así se ve el despacho y escritorio de Steve Jobs desde el otro lado . Llama mucho la atención la papelera de mimbre que tiene bajo el escritorio, donde seguramente desechaba muchas de sus ideas para alcanzar ese nivel de exigencia que tanto le caracterizaba. Desde este punto de vista, se observa un espacio más amplio y diáfano.

El despacho de Bill Gates, el otro genio de la informática

Bill Gates es otra de las personalidades más importantes en el mundo de la informática. Fundador de Microsoft, puede estar orgulloso de haber creado una de las compañías más importantes del mundo . Tanto en sus primeros despachos como en los que tiene ahora, hay un elemento en común: muchos libros.

Y aunque es algo más ordenado que Steve Jobs, está rodeado completamente de libros y un ordenador de la época. Eso sí, la diferencia del entorno es evidente . Mucho más serio con paneles de madera oscura y las paredes liberadas de elementos salvo por una foto enmarcada. Sin duda un despacho más acorde con lo que se suele tener en mente al pensar en el directivo de una empresa. Y es por eso que Steve Jobs era tan especial.

Elon Musk tiene tantos escritorios como empresas

Elon Musk es una de las personas más influyentes en los últimos tiempos. Recientemente por su empresa SpaceX, hace unos meses por comprar Twitter, conseguir impulsar el negocio de los coches eléctricos con Tesla, fundar OpenAI, PayPal... Todo esto ha dado lugar a muchísimos escritorios a lo largo de su vida . De hecho, una de las mayores curiosidades de Musk es que no tiene un despacho o escritorio fijo. Se va moviendo por todas sus empresas y simplemente se sienta en el primer escritorio vacío que encuentra.

Si tuviéramos que sacar una estadística de dónde se encuentra más tiempo, entonces es en las instalaciones de SpaceX en Boca Chica (Texas). Allí sí que dispone de un despacho para tener reuniones que han surgido sin planear. En él, destaca su forma en U, y como no podía ser de otra forma, maquetas de cohetes y libros.

Lo que podemos aprender de estos tres genios

Si hay un elemento en común que podemos sacar de estas tres personas es que han estado rodeadas de libros en todo momento . Incluso ellos, que se podría decir que "lo saben todo" al haber llegado tan lejos, siguen leyendo para continuar en su aprendizaje y culturización. Por lo que sí, incluir libros en tu lugar de trabajo puede ayudarte a desenvolverte mejor y aprender nuevas aptitudes que te lleven un paso más allá en tu trabajo.

Después, el lugar de trabajo no deja de ser un reflejo de cómo es cada persona . Y es que ahora mismo muchos nos dedicamos a "copiar" espacios de trabajo que vemos en Instagram u otros creadores de contenido, sin terminar de adaptarlo a nosotros mismos. Mira Steve Jobs, para nada contaba con un despacho minimalista . Elon Musk apenas tiene un despacho fijo. Y sí, Bill Gates es el que cuenta con un despacho más tradicional, lo que indica que sea como seas, podrás llegar lejos como ellos. Lo importante es sentirte cómodo para poder desarrollar toda tu creatividad en un entorno que te haga feliz. Al fin y al cabo, seguramente sea la habitación donde más tiempo vas a pasar de tu vida.

En Applesfera | Steve Jobs se vengó del creador del iPod en plena keynote. Su empleado se la devolvió yéndose a trabajar con Google

En Applesfera | A la pregunta de si el dinero da la felicidad, este experto de Harvard responde y es la razón por la que Tim Cook se baja su salario cada año

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Best MacBook in 2024: Which Apple laptop should you buy?

We've tested them all to find the best MacBook

Best MacBook Overall

Cheapest macbook.

• Affordable big-screen

Cheapest MacBook Pro

Best video editing macbook.

• How to Choose the Best MacBook

How We Test MacBooks

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The list in brief 1. Best Overall MacBook 2. Cheapest MacBook 3. Best Affordable Big-Screen MacBook 4. Best Cheap MacBook Pro 5. Best Video Editing MacBook 6. How to Choose the Best MacBook for You 7. How We Test MacBooks 8. Why Trust Laptop Mag

Choosing the best MacBook isn’t easy as it’s now a fairly extensive lineup. But we’re here to help. At Laptop Mag we have reviewed and tested every current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro to help you decide which one is right for you.

The MacBook Air M3 currently reigns atop our best laptop page, so it should come as no surprise that it is also our pick for the best MacBook overall. It’s fantastically portable, while also offering enough power and battery life to meet the needs of students, professionals, content creators and more. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it is the best MacBook for you, so let's dig a little deeper into the Apple laptop lineup.

The Apple Silicon powering the MacBooks is the key ingredient to Apple’s recipe for success with a blend of performance and efficiency that its Windows rivals are unable to match. From the M2 to the all-powerful M3 Max, these chips cover a wide variety of needs, meaning there is a MacBook for just about every type of user. That’s true when it comes to price as well with the MacBook Air M2 often available for as low as $849, while the Pro lineup starts at $1,599 with the MacBook Pro 14 M3 and $3,499 for the most powerful 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Max.

With the departure of the Air M1, all MacBooks sold by Apple now feature restored features like MagSafe charging on the Air models, while the Pro line also offers an HDMI port and an SD card reader. The MacBook Pro models were just refreshed in November 2023, so don’t expect any updates until this fall at the earliest.

Read on for our full thoughts on each Apple laptop and we will help you find the best MacBook for your needs.

Sean Riley has covered a wide variety of tech over his 13 years as a journalist, but found his home at Laptop Mag in 2020. As the managing editor he takes a part in every laptop review that is published on Laptop Mag, whether as reviewer or editor. Sean has used MacBooks since the unibody plastic days and most recently reviewed the MacBook Air M3 models, so he has a wide breadth of experience with Apple laptops.

The Quick List

The best MacBook for most people

Our pick for best overall laptop is the MacBook Air M3, so no surprise it is also the best MacBook for most people. Starting at $1,099 you get an excellent mix of performance and portability with over 15 hours of battery life.

Read more below

The cheapest MacBook

With the M1 Air discontinued the M2 is the budget Apple laptop, typically available for under $899 this is a great choice to save money while still getting solid performance, the current Air design, and over 14 hours of battery life.

Affordable big-screen MacBook

The MacBook Air 15 is the answer for prospective MacBook buyers who want a larger display without spending over $2,500. It offers the same benefits as the 13-inch model with a slight performance boost for tasks like video editing.

Whether you’re editing photos or videos, creating music, or just working on a massive spreadsheet, the MacBook Pro 14 is the way to go. The M3's power and endurance are off the charts. 

There's no task the MacBook Pro 16 with M3 Max can't handle. Whether it's the larger display, higher peak performance, or over 18 hours of battery life, the Pro 16 earns its premium price.

1. MacBook Air M3

Our expert review:

Specifications

Reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

The MacBook Air M3 is a perfect laptop for a wide variety of users thanks to its thin and light design married with outstanding performance and battery life. While the display notch may take a moment for new users to acclimate to, rest assured it will disappear for you faster than the iPhone notch as it is effectively integrated into the OS. 

The Apple M3 chip is more than up to most tasks that you are likely to throw at it. Whether you are a professional, a student, or just someone that wants an outstanding laptop for around the house the Air 13 M3 will juggle apps and browser tabs without a stutter. Just consider bumping up to 16GB of RAM if you don't like remembering to close some of those apps or tabs.

While content creators would be better served by at least the MacBook Air 15 M3 and best served by one of the MacBook Pro models, the Air M3 can certainly do light duty there if you aren't doing photo and video editing constantly.

What else are you getting with the Air 13 M3? A bright display, a quad-speaker array and a solid 1080p webcam. These make it a great match for users that are regularly on the go as you can work in any lighting, enjoy your audio if you are watching or listening to content on the Air, and don't need to bring an external webcam . MagSafe charging keeps your two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports available for other purposes.

The biggest consideration with the Air M3 is the price if you need to upgrade much from the $1,099 base model. If you find yourself cresting the $1,500 mark for your configuration then you may want to consider the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, which I cover later in this list and starts at $1,599.

See our full MacBook Air (M3, 2024) review

2. MacBook Air (M2, 2022)

While most will be happy with the MacBook Air M1, there's no denying the appeal of the new design and of course chip inside the MacBook Air M2. The notch in the display isn't my favorite design choice, but the rest of the changes are great with the addition of MagSafe charging freeing up those two Thunderbolt 4 ports for other purposes.

You also get a nice performance bump and it still delivered 14 hours and 6 minutes in our battery life test, placing it easily ahead of the Windows competition and ridiculously so when factoring in performance. The fact that it does all this while staying whisper quiet and cool without fans remains astounding.

The list of upgrades also includes a brighter display, a quad-speaker array and the new 1080p webcam. That first will be particularly welcome to those that are using the Air M2 on the go and may be faced with less than optimal lighting conditions.

The biggest consideration with the Air M2 is the price if you need to upgrade much from the $1,199 base model. As I mentioned the Air M1 stuck around at $999, so you are paying a premium for the M2 model. If you find yourself cresting the $1,499 mark for your configuration then you may want to consider the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, which I cover later in this list and can now be regularly found for $1,799.

See our full MacBook Air M2 review

3. MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024)

On one level, yes it is just a bigger MacBook Air M3, but that alone wouldn't be a bad thing and the reality is that it does get a couple of additional boosts due to its larger size.

The larger screen makes the Air 15 M3 a better option for those who need to work with data or any content that benefits from a little more screen real estate. The larger size also gives the Air 15 M3 slightly better sustained performance due to superior thermal management, so sustained tasks like photo or video editing will go much quicker on the 15-inch Air.

While battery life is roughly flat with the smaller model, at just over 15 hours no one is going to be complaining. Apple also isn't taxing you too hard for the larger display with the Air 15 M3 starting at $1,299 compared to $1,099 for the 13-inch model.

That's a solid value, particularly when you consider getting a MacBook with a 15-inch+ display has historically cost you $2,500 or more. While it's still not cheap, it's affordable by Apple standards while delivering all of the performance the average user needs for work, school, or general use. 

See our full  Apple MacBook Air 15 (M3, 2024) review .

4. MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3)

Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 arrived in late 2023 and finally gave MacBook Pro fans a more affordable option with the current MacBook design, for $1,599 this is every inch a MacBook Pro. 

That base M3 offers plenty of performance for most users and the laptop still boasts incredible longevity with 17 hours and 16 minutes of battery life in our testing. , the hardware is otherwise largely the same excellent laptop we got 2 years ago. Now if you are a content creator, a power user, or dare we say it even a gamer then the M3 Pro or M3 Max models may be calling to you. While Apple still isn't challenging the best gaming laptops , it is making a meaningful plunge into gaming after just dipping its toe in for years.

Our complaints with the 14-inch MacBook Pro are nothing new, the notch still isn't our favorite design choice and it still stings that they are using up all that display real estate without giving us Face ID. However, these are minor quibbles regarding an outstanding laptop that is now available for a more affordable price.

See our full 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3, 2023) review .

5. MacBook Pro (16-inch, M3 Max)

We called the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max the "new king of MacBooks" and while you might think that means it belongs at the top of this list, the price makes it a choice you need to carefully consider despite how phenomenal it is.

Starting at $2,499 for the M3 Pro model and $3,499 for the M3 Max model, the 16-inch MacBook Pro isn't for everyone. However, if you are a creative professional or someone who just wants the biggest and best without concern over cost this belongs on your short list.

The notebook’s design is still virtually identical to the 2021 and early 2023 models, but that's not a complaint just yet. That means the new model retains the blessedly returned full HDMI and SDXC card reader. Battery life is mind-boggling for a laptop this powerful at just over 18 hours on a charge in our test, it also delivers that show-stopping Super Retina XDR mini-LED display, a super comfortable keyboard, and an excellent audio system. 

I still would recommend a gaming laptop with a discrete GPU for those who want the best overall gaming experience, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro is finally good enough to meet the needs of more casual gamers and there is evidence that things are only going to improve.

Overall, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is one of the best laptops on the market and the only real hurdle a buyer needs to clear is that price.

See our full 16-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Max, 2023) review

How to Choose the Best MacBook for You

For us, the MacBook Air is an easy choice. It comes in at $999 (on the rare occasions when it isn't on sale) yet sports solid performance and incredible endurance thanks to its M1 processor. It's also the most portable of the bunch, and the improved 13.3-inch display is great for watching TV shows or movies. If you want a little more power, screen real estate, and a fresh design the MacBook Air M2 is your answer.

However, those looking for endurance and better performance over longer periods should consider the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3. It lasts for a remarkable 17 hours and 16 minutes on a charge and scored benchmark numbers that blow away much of the competition. 

Those three options should cover at least 90% of users. However, if you need either a larger screen or vastly more power for professional apps then the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro with either the M3 Pro or M3 Max are outstanding, if expensive, options. 

We put MacBooks through extensive benchmark testing — both synthetic and real-world — before they end up in the hands of our reviewers. We evaluate everything from speed and battery life to display brightness, speaker volume and system heat.

We use a Klein K10 colorimeter to detect the brightness and DCI-P3 color gamut of a laptop's display. For performance benchmarking, we run the laptop through a gauntlet of benchmarks, including Geekbench 5.4 and 3DMark professional graphics tests. 

To determine real-world performance, we task the laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution and to duplicate a 25GB multimedia file. Our real-world graphics tests include Assasin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry New Dawn, Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm and Shadow of the Tomb Raider with 1080p or higher resolution when the display supports it. 

We also run heat tests by playing a 15-minute full-screen video and our battery test consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. We consider everything over roughly 10 hours to be a good result. Of course, these tests are complemented with hands-on testing from our reviewers.

Laptop Mag reviews over a hundred different laptops every year, from paperweight ultralights to everyday workhorses to lumbering gaming notebooks that scorch the frame rates of even the hottest AAA games. We're not just experts in the laptop field, as we go one step further by meticulously testing smartphones, tablets, headphones, PC accessories, software, and even the latest in gaming. 

We are 100% independent and have decades of experience to help you buy with confidence. In fact, Laptop Mag has been testing and reviewing products for three decades, and we continue to deliver trustworthy reviews you can rely on. 

Our experienced team of writers and editors scour the available information about the laptop and put it through its paces to determine which is best for you. But before they start, the testing team subjects each system to a rigorous regimen of synthetic and real-world tests to see how a system handles the type of work and games you’re most likely to throw at it. 

Our editorial trustworthiness is enforced by one of the world's largest technology publishers,  Future Publishing . As a company, we have unrivaled experience across every tech sector — and we're the group's specialist for all things mobile tech.

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Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more. 

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