My Experience with Jobs and Apple
Update: I have appended this follow-up. All Photos are by Sara Krulwich, staff photographer at the NYT and my mother, with two exceptions. The last is a Reuters picture taken at the event, and the first is credited AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh.
Growing up I was a huge apple fan-boy (fine, still am.) The first NY apple store in Soho opening was probably the coolest thing that happened to me between the ages 6 and 12. For a while I would spend almost every weekend there. Every year for halloween I was a mac, and I made a habit of shaving the Apple logo into my head to celebrate every OS launch.
My neighbor Brooke mentioned that Steve Jobs, busy as he is, always reads email sent to his public address. I think I was around 10 or 12, and I sent a very enthusiastic and grammatically incorrect message including a picture of my shaved head.
Apparently he forwarded it to the head of Public Relations, Katie, and I got invited to the opening of the 5th Avenue Cube. I can never thank them enough. This was probably the high point of my childhood.
[Apparently the kid in the blue coat just said “I’m Apple’s biggest fan” to which Steve replied, “what about that guy”]
There’s David Pogue snapping a picture outside.
Apple was my childhood. I know a lot of techies feel the same way. Steve Jobs will be missed. I hope his resignation lets him spend the time with his family that he couldn’t while running Apple.
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Follow-up:
I’ve been getting a great response to the story, posted earlier today.
First, a challenger approaches! Apparently the “boy in the blue coat” is none other than Alex Godin, son of Seth Godin, and active in the startup community.
My pic:
His pic (via Seth Godin):
What a small world. Alex, there is plenty of room for Apple fans.
Second, to those who wanted to see the Halloween costume I mentioned, here are a few pics. The screen had a plastic bag that you could put candy in, and it would turn on a horizontal axis and empty into a larger bag inside the box.
