I never got the chance to see Steve Jobs speak in person at an Apple event. I’ve been covering the company and its products for decades now (it feels a little weird to type that), but always from afar—at least in those days. Even before announcement events were livestreamed, Jobs and Apple knew how to put on a show. Looking back at a nearly 40-year-old Popular Science article makes me wish I could have been there for his return. Unfortunately, I was six.
Popular Science sent William J. Hawkins to Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco for the October 12, 1988, debut of the NeXT Computer, and his story in the January 1989 issue opens with the guards. They paced outside locked doors with walkie-talkies until the doors swung open; by Hawkins’ count, all 3,000 seats filled within minutes. Jobs walked onto a bare stage with a lectern and a bouquet of flowers, raised his hands, and said, “I think I speak for everybody at NeXT saying it’s great to be back.” It was his first major product presentation in the three years since his contentious departure from Apple, and the crowd went wild.
Read Full Article: https://www.popsci.com/gear/apple-live-blog-from-1988-steve-jobs/
