What Steve Jobs Taught Me at 19 - by Steven Foster
On April 2nd, 2010, I was seated with my colleague and friend Ryan at Caffè Macs in 4 Infinite Loop Cupertino, California. I was 19 years old, an Apple Employee, and this was the eve of the original iPad release.
The two-seater table across from us against the large glass windows opening to the west coast sun held host to Steve Jobs and Jony Ive.
I had been around both Steve and Jony before, but today, on the brink of a new product launch, something felt different. Ryan was talking to me about a spec regarding the release while all I was trying to do was eat my yellowtail sushi and not think about how I was easily the littlest fish in this sea.
Sipping on the sparkling water Apple keeps on tap, I kept seeing Steve out of my periphery. He and Jony were relaxed yet radiating energy as they traded stories. I went for another bite of fish, seaweed, and rice, as Steve Jobs and Jony Ive got up from the sun soaked table. Continuing to converse, they began to walk.
For anyone who has not stepped on the paths among the grass and trees that make up the courtyard of Apple’s Infinity, it is humbling. Those paths have been worn by the feet of thousands of remarkable women and men as they converse through the world sized challenges and decimal small details required to create something worth celebrating. From the iMac to the iPod and now the iPhone and iPad, the stone serpentines and loops through those lawns will always be a part of history.
