Video1984

Macintosh introduction

In a bow tie, Jobs opens with Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’, recounts IBM’s blunders, screens the ‘1984’ ad, then pulls the Macintosh from a bag and lets it boot to ‘Chariots of Fire’ before the machine introduces itself in synthesised speech (‘Never trust a computer you can’t lift’).

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All 202 recordings of Steve Jobs →

1983
Aspen design conference: the ‘lost’ informal Q&A session
Sitting backwards on a metal folding chair in casual clothes, Jobs takes questions from conference-goers for about 45 minutes on networking, privacy, graphic design, hiring and the future of the industry.
1983
Apple internal video: ‘The Macintosh Story’
An in-house Apple film from the earliest days of the Macintosh in which Jobs and development-team members discuss the machine’s design, demonstrate it and tour the automated Fremont assembly line being built for it.
1983
‘Lisa: Soul of a New Machine’ promotional film
Apple’s 1983 promotional film for the Lisa office system explains the 68000-based hardware, the mouse-driven common user interface and the integrated software suite, with on-camera comments from Jobs and the Lisa team about the development effort and the competition from IBM and Xerox.
1983
Apple sales conference, Honolulu: ‘It is 1958. IBM passes up the chance...’
Three months before launch, Jobs rallies Apple’s sales force with a litany of IBM’s missed chances (xerography in 1958, minicomputers in the late 1960s, the Apple II in 1977) building to ‘It is now 1984... Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry?’, then screens the Ridley Scott ‘1984’ ad to a roaring room.
1983
‘Macintosh Software Dating Game’ with Bill Gates
Jobs plays game-show host while Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mitch Kapor (Lotus) and Fred Gibbons (Software Publishing) compete as ‘contestants’ pledging Macintosh software.
1984
Newsweek On Air: the Macintosh (radio)
Two days before the launch, the weekly Newsweek radio programme devotes a segment to Apple’s forthcoming Macintosh, featuring Apple chairman and co-founder Steve Jobs alongside technology correspondent Michael Rogers (Newsweek ran its Mac cover the same week).
1984
Macintosh introduction
In a bow tie, Jobs opens with Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’’, recounts IBM’s blunders, screens the ‘1984’ ad, then pulls the Macintosh from a bag and lets it boot to ‘Chariots of Fire’ before the machine introduces itself in synthesised speech (‘Never trust a computer you can’t lift’).
1984
Macintosh launch video (Mac team film shown at the shareholders meeting)
The ten-minute film Apple played during the launch keynote: engineers explain the 68000, the 512x342 bitmap display and QuickDraw, developers Bill Gates, Mitch Kapor and Fred Gibbons pledge software, and the factory promises a Mac every 27 seconds, with Jobs predicting the product is ‘several years ahead of its time’.
1984
Macintosh introduction at the Boston Computer Society
Six days after Cupertino, Jobs repeats a more polished Mac unveiling for BCS members (600 were turned away), then joins Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld, Burrell Smith, Randy Wigginton and others for live MacPaint and MacWrite demos and a long Q&A; Wozniak wanders on stage to talk about the Apple II.
1984
French TV news interview (dubbed)
A short French-television interview, dubbed into French, in which Jobs talks about starting companies and the potential of software development to drive economic growth, recorded during the Macintosh’s first months.
1984
‘Apple II Forever’ multimedia show: Jobs and Wozniak on the genesis of the Apple II
A multimedia slide show produced for the Apple IIc launch in which the two Steves reminisce about the genesis of the Apple II and how they came up with the name ‘Apple’, among other company trivia.
1984
‘Macintosh: the first 100 days’ at the Apple II Forever event
In bow tie and suspenders at the ‘Apple II Forever’ extravaganza that launched the Apple IIc, Jobs reports on the Macintosh’s first three months – 50,000 units in 74 days – and shows off third-party software written for it.
1984
Interview with Michael Moritz
A 1984 filmed interview with journalist Michael Moritz in which Jobs reflects that making something truly outstanding takes more patience and perseverance than expected. The Steve Jobs Archive features it in its ‘Put Something Back’ exhibit.