The Steve Jobs Archive has published for the first time a video of 28-year-old Steve Jobs’ speech at the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado, in 1983. This footage has never been published before.
Steve Jobs’ speech focused on the future of computers and how they would change people’s everyday lives.
Steve Jobs Archive was founded in 2022 by Lauren Powell Jobs’ widow, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive. The company has created a website containing a collection of quotes, photos, videos, and emails from Jobs. The company also offers scholarships to young creators who want to follow in his footsteps.
The new page includes an introduction from Jony Ive, who headed the design department at Apple for more than two decades and was a close friend of Jobs:
«Steve rarely attended design conferences. It was 1983, before the launch of the Mac, and it was still relatively early days at Apple. I find it breathtaking how deep his understanding was of the dramatic changes that were to occur when the computer became mainstream. Of course, he was not only prophetic, but also fundamental in identifying products that would change our culture and our lives forever.
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Steve notes that design efforts in the U.S. at the time were focused on automobiles, with little attention or effort given to consumer electronics.
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During the talk, Steve predicts that by 1986, PC sales will exceed car sales and that in the next ten years, people will spend more time with their PCs than in their cars. For the early 1980s, these were absurd statements. As he describes what he sees as the inevitability of this new category becoming pervasive, he asks for help from the designers in the audience. He asks that they start thinking about the design of these products, because well or poorly designed, they will still be made.
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The revolution that Steve described over 40 years ago certainly came about, in part, because of his deep commitment to a certain kind of civic responsibility. He cared beyond any functional imperative. It was his victory for beauty, for purity, and, as he said, for being cursed. He truly believed that by doing something useful, attractive and beautiful, we express our love for humanity.»
On the page The Objects of Our Life you can find more information about Jobs’ speech, as well as view photos and exhibits from the time. The full video of Jobs’ speech can be found at the bottom of the page.
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