I had the pleasure of writing and editing stories about Apple Computer going back to the ’80s, including interviews with Steve Jobs and others. It included some “scoops,” such as the boardroom drama including the departure and return of Jobs to the firm he co-founded.
Since we “semi-retired” to the Sierra Foothills (AKA from business journalism, where ethics bar direct stock ownership), we have been proud Apple shareholders — a good call.
Along with CNET stock, Apple stock has been “currency” used to launch our small publishing business (our FoodWineArt magazine, the Placer County Visitor Guide, and Nevada County Artist & Gallery Guide we publish and others), save for our son’s college, and more.
This week Apple announced it might well bring back home almost all of its $250 billion in foreign cash. The numbers are staggering considering its humble roots going back to the mid-70s.
Apple’s contribution to the U.S. economy will jump to $350 billion over the next five years and create over 20,000 jobs. It now creates and supports over $2 million jobs. It plans to announce the location of another Apple campus later this year. It also is expanding a data center in Reno.
I bought our son a book for Christmas — “Steve Jobs” by longtime Time magazine journalist Walter Isaacson, whom I met when I worked there in college — and it is an excellent biography.
“Mr. Isaacson takes his readers back to the time when laptops, desktops and windows were metaphors, not everyday realities,” as the New York Times review observes. “His book ticks off how each of the Apple innovations that we now take for granted first occurred to Mr. Jobs or his creative team.”
I remember Jobs coming to our offices at CNET and hinting at an iPhone. Now it generates most of Apple’s revenue.
