architect42  01  600

From left: Bobby Shriver, Jurvetson, and Jobs in 2007

Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who worked with Steve Jobs at NeXT and Apple, writes in Businessweek about his memories of Jobs. He shared one story in particular -- from the NeXT years -- that would foreshadow Steve's vision for the future:

When I invited Jobs to take some time away from NeXT to speak to a group of students, he sat in the lotus position in front of my fireplace and wowed us for three hours, as if leading a séance. But then I asked him if he would sign my Apple Extended Keyboard. He burst out: “This keyboard represents everything about Apple that I hate. It’s a battleship. Why does it have all these keys? Do you use this F1 key? No.” And with his car keys he pried it right off. “How about this F2 key?” Off they all went. “I’m changing the world, one keyboard at a time,” he concluded in a calmer voice.

See Businessweek for Jurvetson's full piece.

Top Rated Comments

chrmjenkins Avatar
176 months ago
What's funny is that he was put in a situation where two possibilities are common. One - the person asked is thrilled to sign it for the fan. Two - the person is offended that this lowly fan is asking for his time. Instead, Steve sees past the request and sees a product to fix. Gotta love Steve.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RoboCop001 Avatar
176 months ago
Hahaha... naturally.

And now every key has a purpose. The F keys are used to trigger different things instead of being just F keys, especially on MacBooks. I don't think I've ever actually used an F key for a "Function" command. I've only used them for the other icons that are on them, such as brightness, dashboard, keyboard light, etc.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
r2shyyou Avatar
176 months ago
"Do you use this F1 key? No." And with his car keys he pried it right off. "How about this F2 key?" Off they all went. "I'm changing the world, one keyboard at a time," he concluded in a calmer voice.

Awesome. So awesome.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nagromme Avatar
176 months ago
If he popped off the keys AND signed it, that would be a great keepsake!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yvan256 Avatar
176 months ago
This might also explain why the function keys on the most recent Apple keyboards are smaller than regular keys.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DESNOS Avatar
176 months ago
When did that happen? Apple keyboards still utterly, completely suck. They're the worst in the industry - at least for people who actually WRITE. And they're even worse for programmers, especially when you use a German version that has not even the brackets accessible in a usable way. Life would be easier if those damn stupid Apple keyboards would at least follow industry standards, but of course they don't. The only thing they have going for them is that they look quite nice. Yes, after iOS and iTunes "synchronization", the keyboards are the things that I hate most in the Apple universe, followed by Apple mice.

But the story is nice, and there are a lot of great stories about Steve Jobs. He was one of the most impressive characters in the computer industry and one of the very few who actually had taste.

I mean fixing the fact that the function keys did nothing genius...
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
iOS 18

Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.5 to Developers

Wednesday April 2, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...