Meeting Steve Jobs; Newer Technology

A long time ago, far far away...

It was after a day at MacWorld. We'd had a busy time in the booth, but this evening was to be far more special. I'd been invited to an Apple VIP party. It was to be held in a hotel somewhere near Moscone, in downtown San Francisco.

I remember walking around the room and looking at name badges. For whatever reason, I remember seeing and meeting Jonathan Ivy, design guru.

Steve Jobs walked into the room, as all oxygen in the room exited simultaneously.

We were seven feet apart.

He said: "We don't like it when you introduce accelerator cards which are faster than our computers." (At that time, I was the CEO of Newer Technology, which ultimately sold somewhere around 150K+ CPU accelerator cards for Macs.)

Well, that was a nice Howdy Do.

I had an Apple handler with me. He was as flustered as I. I certainly didn't know what to say; but the handler stepped in, saying: "Newer Technology is a big supporter of the Apple platform" or similar words to that effect, as if a pithy statement about our Mac attitude could save us from the fact that we were competing on Mr. Jobs playground.

Yeah, I got it.

Newer Technology ultimately failed. Perhaps one of the reasons was that we competed indirectly against Apple. The company that exists today using the same name bought that name and trademark through a Chapter 7 asset liquidation. They gained the right to use the Newer badge to sell anything they want.

Over the years, I also had the pleasure of meeting Gil Amelio (a decent guy, I ended up seeing him several times) and Jon Scully (met him once).

That's enough old times for now. See you soon.