Top Three Steve Jobs Speeches

26.08.2011
As a CEO, Steve Jobs will be remembered for many things--not just as a purveyor of innovative, landscape-changing products. He'll also be remembered as one of the most powerful and charismatic orators and marketers of our time. Here are my top three picks for Steve Jobs' most compelling speeches.

Apple's Partnership with Microsoft at Macworld Boston, 1997

Steve Jobs handled a lot of tough crowds (a recent example was , which was easily quelled by handing out free iPhone 4 cases). But perhaps Jobs' toughest situation came in 1997, after Bill Gates and Microsoft bailed Apple out of impending bankruptcy with a $150 million stock purchase -- and a few added provisions.

Some of those provisions were positive: Microsoft Office arriving on Apple's platform was greeted with cheers. But as soon as Jobs announced that Internet Explorer would become the Macintosh's default Web browser (around minute 2:23), the auditorium fills with boos and groans.

Ever the master, Jobs laid on the charm and made the problem disappear with just one line, delivered with a smirk: "… since we believe in choice" (2:42), reminding his grumbling audience that Mac users can, of course, change their default browser settings. And change they did: Internet Explorer is no longer available for the Mac.

The "one more thing" moment (4:29) isn't a new product, but a special guest: Bill Gates, who appears on the big screen much like . This, too, caused a wave of dissent from the crowd, and Jobs, who had looked defeated up until Gates' visage left the screen, followed through with words advocating a complete change (around minute 7:15).