The Second Coming of Steve Jobs

Over the last ten years or so, I've gotten hooked on audiobooks due to my long commutes. When I finally got my iPod (my first MP3 player) a year or so ago, I was able to burn my audio CDs to the iPod and listen there. As it turns out, I've used my iPod more for audiobooks than I do for music. Hence my constant plugs for Audible.com - MUCH cheaper at $10 a book vs. the $20-$30 I had been used to paying... not to mention the convenience of having an entire library at my fingertips (no more boxes of CDs in the back seat of my car). Of course I'm still frustrated that "Blink" by Malcom Gladwell is not available at audible.com yet. Argh.

Since moving to Seattle, I walk 20 minutes each way to work. Not bad for getting some listening in, but not nearly as fruitful as the 45 or 75 minute commutes (or 2.5 hours for my ventures down to Indy clients) I've had the "pleasure" of enjoying the past 10 years or so.

I started listening to The Second Coming of Steve Jobs a couple months ago, but found the first couple chapters difficult to get through. Finally, after several weeks, including a few times accidentally rewinding to the beginning (a rant on that is in the queue), I finally got through it. I must say, the middle few chapters are pretty fascinating in the life of Steve Jobs, as he roles between Apple, Next, Pixar, and Apple again play out.

The book starts out with Steve Jobs on top of the world and leaving Apple. First couple chapters go into much of his personal life, which I found dug too deep and spending too much time in. Without covering the whole book, here's some nuggets I found interesting:

NeXT: not a lot of insight here, just a rehash of much of what was already public: obsession with detail, trying to out do Apple/Macs, market failure, lost hundreds of millions of $, etc.

Pixar: did not realize George Lucas owned Pixar at one point. As a result Lucas' divorce, he had to raise some cash, and sold Pixar to Jobs for a song ($10M if I remember right... asking price was three times that).

Also, the technology behind Pixar was born in the early 70s. The early developers of the technology got the technology to the point where it could make motion pictures by the late 70s. However, the hardware to do so was too expensive: about $1B. Using Moore's theorem, they calculated that they would need about 10 years before studios could actually consider using technology. That was around the time frame Lucas scooped up the braintrust behind Pixar.

A Bug's Life actually outsold Toy Story at the box office. Would never have guessed that.

Pixar's original goal was to sell software and systems to studios; they never meant to be a studio. John Lasseter happened to showcase his talents in building a demo (Luxo Jr) to showcase the capabilities of the software. Eventually, he won enough short film awards to give credence to the idea that Pixar itself could develop a motion picture.

Perhaps most interesting: Jobs is damn lucky he still had Pixar when the deal with Disney came around in 1991. Jobs was trying to sell Pixar, but wanted to recover his $50M investment in it to make himself whole. No buyers. Imagine if Jobs had succeeded in selling?

Jobs had very little to do with Pixar's development and Toy Story. His first contribution was to rework the arrangement with Disney to give Pixar billing on promotional materials, credits, etc. Disney gave in, and the Pixar brand was born. (If you've seen an original Toy Story movie poster the word "Pixar" does not appear in it). Jobs next goal? Become the next Disney.

Apple, take two: not a lot of insight here either. Jobs did a lot of house cleaning, brought in NeXT's people and technology, and turned Apple into a software powerhouse. This book (2002) predated the iPod.

Long listen (eight hours), but I enjoyed it in the end. The relationship between Pixar and Disney has been interesting to me as I've taken Spencer to two Pixar films (Finding Nemo and The Incredibles) not to mention the amount of $ we've spent on Buzz Lightyear and Zurg stuff. I think older generations resonate with Disney as they grew up with Mickey, Donald, et al. My generation really didn't have a Disney character and thus Disney loyalty. Spencer's generation is Buzz Lightyear, Nemo, etc. Hence Pixar walking away from Disney recently. And a trip to Disneyworld will clearly point out the generation gap. You'll see the kids flocking to the Toy Story attractions and the adults huddled around the original Disney characters. Interesting lesson in building and maintaining loyalty.