“‘I’m coming to Paros.’ Hearing those words was much scarier than you’d think,” Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos reports for The Hollywood Reporter.
“During the spring and summer of 2006, Steve Jobs was negotiating with Fox and other studios to expand iTunes from selling digital music and TV shows to selling feature films,” Gianopulos reports. “I had known Steve for several years, and as usual, he had very strong views — in this instance, about how movies on iTunes should be priced, marketed and presented to his growing base of devoted followers.”
“Unfortunately, many of those views were inconsistent with existing media, and as was often the case, he thought the studio guys were Luddites (if not idiots),” Gianopulos reports. “I was one of them.”
“We spent many hours on the phone and in person hashing out ways to reconcile the new offering with our concerns about it,” Gianopulos reports. “We were very eager to make it work — but nowhere near as eager as Steve, who wanted to corral all the studios and make one of his bold and exciting announcements, which he’d scheduled for September. We wanted to change things; he wanted to change them now.”
“We argued and debated back and forth into the summer, and as August arrived, we remained a fair distance apart. So, as a respite from Relentless Steve, I sneaked off to my annual retreat on the tiny island of Antiparos, near Paros in Greece,” Gianopulos reports. “I thought I was safe. But not from Steve.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
Read the whole thing. It is quite touching (and moving).
Reminds me of how the Grateful Dead used to roll out the carpets and play like they had a giant living room.
I’d love to hear the conversations Steve is having with John, Jimi and Jerry now…
Very sad and unfair. All the science and progress could only go this far providing us with one of the brightest minds ever. At least two-three decades in the future could have been definitely enlightened with that brightness.
Yep we are not even close to figuring out the most complex computer and machine that we interact with most… our mind and the human body
The best quote:
“At one point, he said: “Hey, do me a favor, will you? Don’t let what happened to the music business happen to yours — keep coming up with better ways to provide people with your content.”
I couldn’t tell whether it was more “Think Different” advice I’d gotten so often in the past or a legacy request from someone who had spent decades giving people better ways to work, play, live and, of course, enjoy entertainment. But it doesn’t matter.
We all owe it to Steve to do that. We’ll just miss him telling us how.”
That’s the point everybody was clueless except Steve. We will miss him. We already miss him.
Vision is a gift.
Somehow, it just doesn’t sound like Steve. Maybe some info is lost (held back) in the paraphrasing.
and so was Steve.
“Luke……” cough – wheez – grumble…. “there… is… a…noth..er…” grunt “ssss…ky..walker”. “it is…” “Steve’s bio-logical… sssii…sster.” “M….” “Mmm…ona…. Mona Simpson”…… aaaaaaarrrrgghh..gaaah.
Steve has a sister? yes. his mother eventually married his father and they had another child… she’s quite intelligent too….