January 7, 1997: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak returns to the corporate to take part in an advisory function, reuniting with Steve Jobs onstage on the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
Woz’s homecoming is revealed on the finish of the Macworld convention. With Jobs’ current return to Apple (due to the NeXT acquisition), it marks the primary time the 2 co-founders have been at Apple collectively since 1983. It’s a good way to have fun Apple’s twentieth anniversary. Sadly, the reunion gained’t final.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs reunite: Apple will get the band again collectively
As I’ve written earlier than in “Right now in Apple historical past,” Woz’s curiosity in Apple centered on the Apple II laptop and the times earlier than Apple turned a large firm. Whereas Jobs pushed for extra energy after Apple went public in December 1980, Wozniak took the $116 million he made within the IPO and dove into new ventures. These included all the things from pursuing the pc science diploma he by no means obtained to elevating youngsters and selling a few large music festivals.
By 1997, Woz’s beloved Apple II product line had been out of motion for round 4 years, and the Macintosh had lengthy since taken over. Apple continued to wrestle. However reuniting the 2 co-founders gave trustworthy followers one thing to really feel optimistic about.
Massive adjustments at Apple after NeXT acquisition
On the time, Steve Jobs had lately rejoined Apple as a part of the NeXT acquisition, which additionally gained Apple a brand new working system. Like Wozniak, Jobs was imagined to be nothing greater than an unofficial adviser to Apple CEO/turnaround artist Gil Amelio. (Jobs finally wound up parlaying his function into changing Amelio as CEO.)
When Woz and Jobs appeared onstage at Macworld, the reunion offered simply the jolt of life the occasion wanted. Previous to the co-founders’ onstage reunion, Amelio — by no means a clean talker — spoke for hours in a rambling, unexciting method.
Jobs, nevertheless, spoiled the second barely by refusing to totally be a part of within the triumphant scene. “He ruthlessly ruined the closing second I had deliberate,” Amelio later complained.
You may see the Wozniak and Jobs onstage reunion, and the Steves’ questionable style selections, within the video beneath.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs: A brief-lived return
As that second steered, Steve Wozniak‘s return to Apple didn’t final lengthy. Woz was filled with concepts for resurrecting the corporate (corresponding to looking for to broaden its give attention to the training market and producing easy-to-use machines). Nevertheless, Jobs clearly seen his personal return as a one-man present, moderately than as half of a double act.
As soon as Amelio misplaced his job in July, Jobs made CFO Fred Anderson name Wozniak and inform him he was not wanted within the advisory function.
Whereas it sounds brutal, it could have been for one of the best. Jobs proved greater than able to turning round Apple together with his personal concepts. Moreover, Woz wasn’t in whole settlement with Jobs’ method.
“To be trustworthy, I used to be by no means all that loopy for the iMacs,” Woz wrote of the unique iMac, the colourful laptop that helped set Apple again on the trail to success, in his biography, iWoz: Laptop Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Private Laptop, Co-Based Apple, and Had Enjoyable Doing It. “I had my doubts about its one-piece design. I didn’t care about its colours and I didn’t suppose its seems to be had been all that good. It turned out I simply wasn’t the proper buyer for it.”
Regardless of the onstage reunion with Jobs on at the present time in 1997, Wozniak’s return didn’t pan out as many hoped. Nonetheless, for Apple followers watching the Macworld Expo, it was a second to be savored!
