Rare photo pictures young, rebellious Steve Jobs flipping IBM the bird

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A photo captured nearly 30 years ago and brought to light this week shows a shaggy-haired Steve Jobs, clad in blue jeans and a leather jacket, expressing his affection for then rival IBM while walking the streets of New York City in the lead up to the launch of the first Mac.



Andy Hertzfeld, one of the original members of the Macintosh team that helped pioneer the personal computer revolution alongside Jobs and Steve Wozniak, published the photo to his Google+ page on Thursday in memoriam of the late Apple co-founder and his rebellious spirit.



The 28-year-old Jobs had flown to New York City with Hertzfeld for a quick meeting with Newsweek in December of 1983, as the publication was putting together a cover story for the launch of the Macintosh the following month.



"The photo was taken spontaneously as we walked around Manhattan by Jean Pigozzi, a wild French jet setter who was hanging out with us at the time," Hertzfeld said. "Somehow I ended up with a copy of it."







Although his editor begged him to include the photo in his 2004 book Revolution in The Valley, Hertzfeld admitted that he was "too timid" to ask Jobs for permission, especially given that IBM was still supplying processors to Apple for its Mac product line at the time.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 61
    Flicking stuff off could be the next internet meme... or has it always been one?





    edit: Fine, I'll start it off...
  • Reply 2 of 61
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Perhaps Steve was just buying IBM a Wild Turkey?
  • Reply 3 of 61
    Funny how the comments from some posters would look down on a young Steve Jobs...or ironic...or both.
  • Reply 4 of 61
    People who want to become famous need great ennemies to point at. For Steve/Apple, IBM was the first, then came Microsoft. The only one I can think of to play that part is Samsung. After this, there will be none left ...
  • Reply 5 of 61
    Stay classy, Steve.
  • Reply 6 of 61
    wardcwardc Posts: 150member
    I like the side-shot better:



  • Reply 7 of 61
    Flipping off the camera is a classic meme. I have a friend who hasn't been photographed in 20 years where he didn't have at least 1 middle finger extended
  • Reply 8 of 61
    His name is Hertzfeld, not Hertzfield.
  • Reply 9 of 61
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    Big deal....he's just a young guy having a little fun. Let's not make a big deal out of it. It's actually great to see Jobs in a photo where he's not being so serious.
  • Reply 10 of 61
    Anyone else find it ironic that Hertzfeld posted this on his Google+ account? If Jobs was around he'd be doing the same thing at Google HQ as he is in this photo.
  • Reply 11 of 61
    Blue, purple or pink?
  • Reply 12 of 61
    wardcwardc Posts: 150member
    There was a better high resolution version of this photo that was floating around a few months ago that got pulled, was also color, it was super high resolution, wish I had downloaded it.
  • Reply 13 of 61




    Ahh...



    That's just a picture....



    This was on live nationwide TV during Monday Night Football (1972). The commentary is by Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meridth:



    Houston Oilers fan



  • Reply 14 of 61
    True enemies need to be flawed or evil, and IBM were not and are not. Yes, they appear boring, however not in reality:



    1. Their products are exceptionally reliable - hence you see pre Lenovo Think Pads in use still today. In fact, I would happily pay for a ThinkPad that ran OS X for that superb keyboard!

    2. IBM put a lot of effort into ergonomics - again, consider our love of clicky keyboards, starting with the IBM PC, and the excellent ThinkPad keyboards.

    3 Exceptional industrial design - their contemporary desktop machines and the ThinkPads were superb, very well built and sexy too.

    4. IBM innovate, from modular computers, the ThinkPad butterfly keyboard (short lived I know) and others - not to mention their bleeding edge Chess playing mainframes.

    5. Superb advertising.

    6. Renowned customer service, hence the phrase, "No one ever got fired for choosing IBM." (Or similar.)

    7. Research labs that have contributed to a lot of what goes into Apple products!



    In other words, IBM are a respectable competitor, but in no way evil or boring.



    @gofonebox
  • Reply 15 of 61
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadash View Post


    Anyone else find it ironic that Hertzfeld posted this on his Google+ account? If Jobs was around he'd be doing the same thing at Google HQ as he is in this photo.



    Hypocritical that Google allows photos like this on Google+, but not if it's your personal profile picture.

    Would someone like to photoshop the IBM to "Google"? That would look real nice in color!



    btw: I've seen this photo before--it hasn't been hidden for 30 years.
  • Reply 16 of 61
    wardcwardc Posts: 150member
    I saw the photo about a year ago on Google images...doing a search for "Steve Jobs 80s" so it didn't "Just come out" it's been up online and available via Internet for awhile. Maybe somebody just posted it on a widely viewed news blog or mailed it around to 100 people for the first time.
  • Reply 17 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oflife View Post


    True enemies need to be flawed or evil, and IBM were not and are not. Yes, they appear boring, however not in reality:



    1. Their products are exceptionally reliable - hence you see pre Lenovo Think Pads in use still today. In fact, I would happily pay for a ThinkPad that ran OS X for that superb keyboard!

    2. IBM put a lot of effort into ergonomics - again, consider our love of clicky keyboards, starting with the IBM PC, and the excellent ThinkPad keyboards.

    3 Exceptional industrial design - their contemporary desktop machines and the ThinkPads were superb, very well built and sexy too.

    4. IBM innovate, from modular computers, the ThinkPad butterfly keyboard (short lived I know) and others - not to mention their bleeding edge Chess playing mainframes.

    5. Superb advertising.

    6. Renowned customer service, hence the phrase, "No one ever got fired for choosing IBM." (Or similar.)

    7. Research labs that have contributed to a lot of what goes into Apple products!



    In other words, IBM are a respectable competitor, but in no way evil or boring.



    @gofonebox



    No offence, but this sounds kind of trite.



    IBM was doing some truly evil stuff back then and they most definitely were the "enemy" of the new personal computer movement epitomised by people like Jobs at the time.



    IBM like Samsung is a lot of different things at different times. At this particular time they were an evil, anti-consumer behemoth that was dominating and controlling the market place for no particularly good reason.
  • Reply 18 of 61
    ortort Posts: 39member
    Rare?



    This photo has been bouncing around the internet for a long time now.
  • Reply 19 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ort View Post


    Rare? This photo has been bouncing around the internet for a long time now.



    Not the straight-on one. Just the angled one.
  • Reply 20 of 61
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by VanFruniken View Post


    Blue, purple or pink?



    It was the 80's so I assume all of them. Together. Zubaaz style.
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