Amaya Toman In one of his recent interviews, Andy Miller, the founder of Quattro Wireless, shared a funny story about what it was like to work for Steve Jobs (long story short: stressful) and how he once even managed to accidentally steal the Apple co-founder's laptop .
It could be interest you
It all started with a phone call. When Miller got a call out of the blue from Steve Jobs himself in 2009, he thought it was just some bad prank. Only repeated calls convinced Miller that this was not a joke, and Jobs was given the opportunity to properly explain that he wanted to buy his company from him. As was customary with Jobs, he had no plans to wait for anything and convinced Miller to meet with him as soon as possible. Before the meeting, some of the Apple employees tried to prepare Miller for the meeting in order to make the best possible impression on Jobs.
The first problems arose during the negotiations on the acquisition price. While Miller was convinced there was a mutual agreement to buy Quattro Wireless for $325 million, Jobs insisted on $275 million at the meeting. In addition, he allegedly threatened Miller with blocking the iOS platform for the Quattro Wireless SDK if Miller did not agree to the price. So Miller had no choice but to accept the deal.
When Miller eventually joined Apple, his team was one day tasked with coming up with examples of advertising that would properly demonstrate the potential of the iAd platform. Miller and his colleagues created examples of ads for the Sears and McDonald's brands and presented their work to Apple's executive creative team. Miller describes how, after ten minutes, everyone present was laughing—except for Jobs. "I thought I was screwed," he admits.
Jobs hated the mentioned brands because of their low quality and because they did not reflect the high-end aesthetic so typical of Apple. He then called Miller into his office, where, after a heated conversation, he ordered him to get out of his sight and handle everything in the marketing communications department, which would be able to create better ads. Miller hastily packed all his belongings, not realizing that he had mistakenly packed Jobs' laptop and mouse into his backpack in a hurry.
When he arrived at the relevant department, the creation of advertisements was already in full swing. This time it was Jobs' favorite brands - Disney, Dyson and Target. To better concentrate on his work, Miller turned off his cell phone. About half an hour later, two security personnel approached Miller and someone handed him a phone. On the other line was Steve Jobs, who bluntly asked Miller why he had stolen his laptop.
Fortunately, Miller not only managed to convince Jobs that there was no intent, but also assured him that he had not copied any secret files from his personal computer. However, he was convinced that this was his final end. He only handed over Jobs' laptop and mouse pad to the security staff, only to realize belatedly that the mouse was still in his backpack - and he says he still has it at home.
You can watch the entire video podcast below, the story about the (un)stolen laptop starts around the twenty-fourth minute.
