“Apple opened its first retail stores in May 2001, but it turns out the idea for the tech giant’s shopping hubs came 25 years earlier,” Richard Nieva reports for CNET. “Regis McKenna, the legendary Silicon Valley marketing guru, talked about his first meeting with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak back in 1976, during a fireside chat Thursday at the Computer History Museum here.”
“The pair came in looking for someone to help market the Apple II. During the meeting, McKenna rubbed Woz the wrong way and hit it off with Jobs. McKenna initially turned down Apple’s business and showed them the door,” Nieva reports. “‘Steve [Jobs] called back probably 40 times that night,’ McKenna said.”
“Jobs and McKenna had dinner and talked about what the future of Apple could look like, and McKenna signed on,” Nieva reports. “Eventually McKenna drafted an eight-page marketing plan in December 1976. Lo and behold, what was written under ‘Distribution Channels?’ Apple stores.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]