Opinion

Steve Jobs didn't make the first Macworld, either

Apple CEO Steve Jobs watches an advertisement for the MacBook Air during his keynote address to open the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. Jobs announced upgrades to the iPhone and iTouch and introduced the new MacBook Air and Time Capsule. less Apple CEO Steve Jobs watches an advertisement for the MacBook Air during his keynote address to open the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. Jobs announced upgrades to ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Steve Jobs didn't make the first Macworld, either 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Steve Jobs didn't show up to the first Macworld Expo, which was held in San Francisco in January 1985, one year after the introduction of the Macintosh. He was in the city, but he spent most of his time holed-up at the Union Square Hyatt Hotel with his strikingly beautiful blond girlfriend, whom I only knew as Tina. I know this because Jobs and Tina came to the Macworld magazine dinner party I put together at the Sutter 500 restaurant to celebrate the success of the first expo, and of the first year of the Mac itself.

There were about 20 of us at the dinner, including the late, great Chronicle columnist Herb Caen; Will Hearst, then editor and publisher of the competing San Francisco Examiner; John Sculley, CEO of Apple; John Warnock, founder of the software company Adobe; and Ted Leonsis, the AOL executive, who these days owns the Washington Wizards basketball team and the Washington Capitals hockey team. While everyone else at the dinner wore formal or business attire, Jobs and Tina arrived in blue jeans and T-shirts. Tina was barefoot. They showed up shortly after we had all sat down at a long table. I was at the head, Caen was to my right, Hearst to my left. Everyone on the right side had to move down to make room for Jobs, who sat between Caen and me. Tina sat on Jobs' lap.

Jobs had no idea who Caen was, much less the tremendous clout he had with hundreds of thousands of Bay Area readers, who religiously read his daily columns. One mention in one of Herb's three-dot columns could make or break your social life, or even your career. So, I introduced Jobs to Caen.

Caen said, "It's a great pleasure to meet you at last," and Jobs' only reply was, "How come The Chronicle is such a bad newspaper?"

"It used to be a good paper," Herb said with a twinkle in his eye. "Why, what would you consider a good newspaper?"

This certainly got Hearst's attention. "Hopefully, the Examiner," he laughed. "I only read the San Jose Mercury News," Jobs said. "It covers the greatest industry in the universe like no one else."

"But Steve," Hearst interjected, "the Mercury is in Silicon Valley, so of course they cover technology more."

Sculley was totally jazzed about the Expo. For him, its success proved that Apple-users were devoted to the company and to the Macintosh. Apple wasn't merely a computer company; it was a more like a spiritual reality to many of them. As there weren't yet that many products for the Mac, the show itself was confined to half the floor space at the Moscone Center - the other half was occupied by a boat show. Just a few more than 10,000 people from every state in the union, and several foreign countries, paid to attend - roughly double what we had expected.

Sculley encouraged Jobs to make an appearance.

"Sure, sure, OK," Jobs replied, "Maybe tomorrow."

Later on, Sculley confided to me and to my partner, Bart Rhoades, that the first Macworld Expo had saved Apple. He complained that Jobs and his team were so burned out from getting the Mac out the door that they had accomplished virtually nothing since. Users were clamoring for more memory, a hard drive, faster boot-up, a color monitor and other enhancements. Macintosh sales had started off with a bang, thanks to the 1984 Super Bowl commercial and to the Mac's ease of use and graphic capabilities, but by 1985, sales had slowed considerably.

Jobs may have been camping out with Tina, but the other Apple folks were at the Expo, listening to their customers. When they left, they had a renewed sense of urgency. I often wonder, had Jobs bothered to show up at the first Macworld Expo, if he, too, might have regained his focus.

Instead, Jobs got into a power struggle with Sculley. By the end of May, he was sacked as the leader of the Mac division.

The first Macworld Expo he attended was in 1997, shortly after his return to Apple.