Lost Interviews Offer a Unique View of Steve Jobs

After Steve Jobs' passing last year, a number of so-called "lost interviews" with the iconic businessman were released, but Fast Company claims it has "a treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew [Jobs] best."

091350 jobs forbes 400 2010
Since 1985, reporter Brent Schlender had covered Steve Jobs for Fortune and the Wall Street Journal and discovered three dozen tapes with recordings of interviews Schlender had conducted with Jobs over 25 years:

Rummaging through the storage shed, I discovered some three dozen tapes holding recordings of extended interviews--some lasting as long as three hours--that I'd conducted with him periodically over the past 25 years. Many I had never replayed--a couple hadn't even been transcribed before now. Some were interrupted by his kids bolting into the kitchen as we talked. During others, he would hit the pause button himself before saying something he feared might come back to bite him. Listening to them again with the benefit of hindsight, the ones that took place during that interregnum jump out as especially enlightening.

The interviews cover much of the time that Jobs spent at Pixar, which often gets forgotten because of what he did putting Apple on top of the corporate world. But, of all that Schlender shares of Steve Jobs is the change in Jobs after he marries Laurene Powell-Jobs and starts a family.

Even after he went back to Apple, there was nothing Jobs liked more than spending time at home. Not that he wasn't a workaholic. We were iChat buddies for several years, so his name would pop up whenever he was working at his computer at home. Almost invariably, he was in front of his Mac until after midnight. We'd occasionally have a video chat, and if it took place early in the evening, I'd often see one of his children in the background looking on.

The full article, "The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes" -- as well as the selected highlights from the interviews themselves -- are worth a read and show some of the personal and professional growth that Jobs experienced during his years at NeXT and Pixar.

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...

Top Rated Comments

macus3r Avatar
168 months ago
Tim's the man, but I think everyone can agree: there'll never be anybody else like Steve.

I miss the guy...
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hobo.hopkins Avatar
168 months ago
I hope at least some of these are released. They sound fascinating. Love him or hate him he was definitely brilliant.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ProVideo Avatar
168 months ago
While I'm sure there will be a release of a professionally edited with narrative commentary version. I'd love to hear a "raw dump" of these tapes streaming in my office as I work during the day. That is a subscription I'd gladly pay for over a few months.

I want a soundbyte of him saying "This is ****" on an infinite loop.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mobi Avatar
168 months ago
His vision and focus over the past 3 decades give me productivity and utility that I cherish every day!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Stouver Avatar
168 months ago
I would be really interested to hear some of these if they were ever released.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
entatlrg Avatar
168 months ago
His vision and focus over the past 3 decades give me productivity and utility that I cherish every day!

Can't believe some idiot downvoted your post.

Agreed, Steve was an inspiring and brilliant man. I miss him.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)