Ten Minutes with Steve Jobs
After I said, “I won’t take money in exchange for my technology, so I’ll speak to Steve Jobs directly for just ten minutes,”
About five minutes later, Zero spoke again.
“Master. As requested, Steve has agreed to speak with you directly.”
I smiled faintly.
Of course. Even Steve must be curious about the person who turned down twenty million dollars just to talk to him.
“That is correct.”
“Then tell him we can talk in about twenty minutes... though where should I have him call?”
“Vincent has already taken down Steve Jobs’s office number.”
“His office number? Guess he’s still working. Isn’t it nighttime in America right now?”
“It is currently 10:36 p.m. in California.”
He was working that late?
“He’s obsessed with work. Though, Master, aren’t you exactly the same? You stay up all night thinking things through and even write code yourself.”
“That’s... true, I guess?”
I had already roughly decided what I wanted to ask Steve for.
The reason I’d asked for twenty minutes even though I’d already worked out my demands was simple: taking the call at home would be a little awkward, so I wanted to go somewhere else first.
If Mom or Seohee walks into my room during the call, that would be a disaster.
If I started rambling in English, it wasn’t just that they’d realize my English was better than they thought; they’d definitely get curious about who I was talking to.
I’m going to have a lot of English calls from here on out, anyway... I originally planned to live alone once I got into college, so if I pass, I should start looking for a studio right away. That way I can work without worrying about what anyone thinks.
That didn’t mean I planned to move out for good.
On weekends or whenever I had no classes, I’d come home and spend time with my family.
Happiness with my family came first in my life.
Click.
I grabbed my coat, slipped it on, and opened my bedroom door.
Seohee was sprawled out on the living room sofa, watching TV.
Apparently her padded jacket was getting too warm, because she’d draped it over herself like a blanket.
“Oppa, where are you going?”
“I’m just running to the convenience store out front for a bit.”
“Ah, then bring me back an ice cream!”
“Ice cream? In this weather?”
“Ice cream tastes best when it’s cold!”
I snorted and nodded.
“Fine, I’ll get you one. Mom, do you want me to pick something up for you too?”
From the kitchen, I heard my mother’s voice.
“No, sweetheart, Mom’s fine. Be careful on your way out.”
“Okay.”
Still thinking I should buy one for her too, I headed out the front door.
As the elevator carried me down, I asked Zero, “Give me Steve’s office number.”
“Yes.”
I entered the number Zero gave me into my phone.
Direct line to the Apple CEO’s office...
There were probably only a handful of people in the world who knew this number.
“Hoo.”
I took a short breath.
Not because I was nervous.
Because I was looking forward to what was about to happen.
Ring.
The moment I reached the first floor, I hit the call button.
In California, at Apple’s headquarters, inside the CEO’s office.
Steve was staring at the phone sitting on his desk.
He rolled a pen between his fingers, deep in thought.
What exactly does he want in exchange for his technology, if not money?
He was dying of curiosity. Someone had turned down twenty million dollars and asked to speak with him instead.
If he wanted a direct conversation that badly, then he’d better have a proposal worth that kind of attention.
If he asks for some flimsy nonsense like stock options or investment tips...
He’d hang up immediately.
And he planned to permanently kick Another Technology out of the App Store and find that so-called “partner” somehow, just to make sure he could never set foot in this industry again.
The punishment for wasting his precious time was severe.
You can buy technology with money. You can buy people with money. But you can’t buy time with money.
Lately, Steve had been feeling that with painful clarity.
Then it happened.
Ring-ring-ring.
The phone broke the office’s silence.
Without hesitation, he picked up the receiver.
Before he could say a word, a voice came through the line.
“Hello, Steve.”
It was a young man’s voice, younger than Steve had expected.
But there’s noise on the line. Where is he calling from?
There shouldn’t have been any interference if the call was coming from within the United States.
Sounds like international line noise?
There was static in the call, but the voice itself was steady.
In fact, it was almost unnervingly calm.
With a voice like that, he’s not begging for stock or anything cheap.
Steve answered in a low voice. “Are you the ‘partner’ Vincent Lightman mentioned? The one who turned down the money?”
“That’s right. We’re both busy people, so let’s skip the small talk and get to the point.”
“Fine. So what do you want from me in exchange for giving me your technology for free?”
Steve figured the other man would take a little time to think before answering.
The call’s recipient had likely prepared his thoughts in advance, but before a deal this important, anyone would usually reconsider things one more time.
Yet the answer came immediately.
“Put FreeChat in the default apps on the Apple phone.”
“...Huh?”
A laugh escaped Jobs’s mouth.
To ask for default placement on the device... that was advertising you couldn’t put a price on, forcing the app onto every Apple phone user.
“Isn’t that a little arrogant? The Apple phone is my pride and soul. Not just anyone can walk in there.”
“Arrogant? Well, you know it too, don’t you? No matter whether you allow it or not, Apple phone users are eventually going to download FreeChat from the App Store anyway.”
“...”
He was right.
At the current rate of FreeChat’s downloads, it was only a matter of time before all Apple phone users had it.
It was already spreading quickly not just across North America, but in Europe as well, and it had even started to creep into Japan.
And that was without any real marketing at all.
Still, pre-installing FreeChat had undeniable value.
Because whatever messenger app came out in the future, anyone using an Apple phone would first consider the FreeChat already sitting there on their device.
Don’t underestimate him just because he’s young. This guy isn’t some ordinary developer.
“I’ll think about it. Anything else?”
“Several.”
...Several?
More than making his app a default on Apple phones?
“Second, allow the apps I create in the future to use Apple’s API, including its private core-access permissions.”
“What?”
Steve’s brows furrowed.
At the time, Apple phones did not fully open their APIs to any developer, citing security and the “nobility of Apple” as reasons.
If someone could get that permission, Another Technology would gain overwhelming speed and functionality that no other app could imitate.
He’s basically asking to open up the API so applications can use the Apple phone’s hardware performance at 100 percent... but FreeChat is light enough that it shouldn’t need that. Is he planning to build something else later?
He couldn’t tell the man’s exact intentions, but it was clearly a developer’s kind of demand.
Rude, too.
“...I’ll consider it for now. You do realize you’d be responsible for any security issues, right? If anything goes wrong, we’d be looking at damages in the tens of billions of dollars.”
“Of course.”
“Then that’s settled.”
“Third, access to the MP3 library.”
...There was more?
“Access to the MP3 library? You mean you want access to Apple Tunes?”
“I’d rather call it ‘integration.’ In any case, let users share music in chat rooms and listen together in real time—not just music from Apple Tunes, but songs stored on the Apple phone as well.”
“That raises copyright issues...”
“Handle it. You can do that, can’t you? And if users share music through FreeChat, Apple Tunes’s revenue will shoot up too.”
“Hmm.”
Steve rubbed his chin.
This condition wasn’t something that benefited only Another Technology.
As he’d said, it directly benefited The Apple’s revenue too.
There was only one thing he didn’t like.
Namely, that the other side was the one driving the conversation.
Nobody had ever spoken to him like this before.
Still, if FreeChat could be used to share music, it would be a huge help in expanding the Apple phone and Apple Tunes ecosystem. Music had that kind of power.
“Fine. Surely there isn’t a fourth?”
“Fourth, permanently waive Another Technology’s App Store fee.”
“...You actually think that’s going to happen?”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Absolutely not.”
The App Store fee was 30 percent.
It was one of Apple’s core sources of revenue. Asking for a permanent exemption from that was absurd.
“Then how about 10 percent?”
“...So you were planning to ask for 10 percent in the first place.”
Jobs mentally worked through the numbers.
FreeChat is a free service. If he’s asking for that, then... does he plan to go paid someday? Or maybe sell some other paid service? Especially after asking to open the API earlier.
Twenty million dollars in cash right now, versus giving up a significant amount of future fees.
He didn’t know how successful Another Technology would become, but in the midst of a difficult economy, keeping that cash was certainly tempting.
While Steve was thinking, that greedy bastard spoke again.
“Fifth, give me a fast-track pass through app review.”
“No review, absolutely not.”
“Then approve any new apps or updates I submit within twenty-four hours, no matter what.”
“Twenty-four hours... make it seventy-two.”
“Forty-eight hours.”
“Seventy-two.”
“Sixty hours. Final offer.”
“...Fine. I can live with that.”
This condition was nothing compared to everything else the guy had asked for.
“One last thing.”
At the words “one last thing,” Steve focused.
Every demand up to now had been sharp and specific, so if there was one final request, it was bound to be no small thing.
“What’s the last condition?”
“Give me your personal phone number. Not the office line.”
“...You want my number?”
“Yes. So I can call whenever I need you.”
For a moment, Steve went blank.
It was hard to say whether it was absurd, strange, or simply beyond anything he’d imagined.
“Ha... hahahaha!”
It had been a long time since Steve laughed that hard with genuine amusement.
“You’re not just some ordinary lunatic. Interesting. Very interesting.”
“So you’re giving it to me?”
“I will. But I have a condition too.”
“Go on.”
At the confident words of this “partner,” Steve stated his own condition without hesitation.
“Next year—meaning in 2009—I want your company to generate 10 percent of the entire App Store’s revenue worldwide.”
“...”
“If you can’t, then this whole deal is void. I’ll persuade your partner to sell Another Technology to me for pennies on the dollar. And you’ll come work at Apple under me. Of course, we’ll keep using your technology, and we’ll pay you a proper salary.”
Steve had already been briefed on the projected revenue for next year’s App Store.
They’d estimated it at between one billion and, at most, 1.5 billion dollars.
Which meant Another Technology would need to generate at least one hundred million dollars in revenue next year.
For any startup, no matter how impressive, that was an impossible condition.
But for the conditions that bastard had demanded, Steve had to put at least that much risk on the table.
Under this deal, The Apple had nothing to lose.
If the revenue target wasn’t met and the contract fell apart, then all of the other side’s demands would disappear. Apple would have gotten the technology for free, and it would also be able to bring in a genius who outclassed its own developers.
And even if Another Technology miraculously hit the target, that was fine too.
Apple’s revenue would increase.
In other words, whether the other side failed or succeeded, The Apple would come out ahead.
Why isn’t he saying anything? Is he scared because the revenue condition is too much for him?
That would be a real disappointment.
Just as Steve was thinking that, the man spoke.
“I can do that. Let’s do it.”
“...Aren’t you taking that a little too easily? Your app, FreeChat, is free.”
“No problem. Ten percent of next year’s App Store revenue would be around one hundred million, or one hundred fifty million dollars. I can make that much easily.”
At those words, Steve’s expression stiffened.
...He already knows how much revenue he’ll need to bring in?
That meant he had already finished analyzing the smartphone market and the App Store market.
What a terrifying guy... bold, too.
And yet...
That’s exactly why I want him more. A person like this can’t be some ordinary developer or some lawyer’s side partner.
“Let me ask one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“From this call, I can tell you’re not merely Vincent Lightman’s partner—you’re the real owner behind him.”
“...”
“Can you at least tell me your name? I should know exactly who I’m doing business with.”
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
Then a low, clear voice answered.
“Zero.”
“Zero?”
“Yes. My name is Zero.”
Click.
The phone disconnected.
Steve sat there holding the dead receiver, staring blankly into space.
“Zero... What an immature alias.”
But then again, “Apple” had been the same.
When he’d first named it, people had laughed at him for naming a company after a fruit.
And now? It was an icon of innovation.
Just as I named this company Apple, he probably had his own reason for calling himself Zero.
In that sense, the name Another Technology was funny too.
But if it really made “other” things, there was nothing cooler than that.
Steve stood from his chair and muttered, “No matter how well he hides, it’ll show eventually. Especially if he’s a lunatic like that.”
Just from the voice, he could tell. This wasn’t someone hiding because he wanted to disappear.
There was some unknown reason for it.
“If I find out who he is later, I should make sure I get a good look at his face.”
Steve wrote down everything from the call.
Then he took the paper and left the office.
Step, step.
Steve came out of the office.
Outside, staff who had been waiting for him to emerge—employees who still hadn’t been able to go home—were gathered there.
Handing one of them the paper with the contract terms, he said, “This was decided just now, so draft the contract, confirm the details with Another Technology, and move forward.”
“Ah, yes!”
The employee glanced at the papers.
The moment he saw them, his tired eyes flew wide open.
He agreed to all of this? Even if it’s only for next year... this is insanely generous.
But the employee didn’t dare call after Steve as he headed out.
If Steve said it, then that was that.
And he didn’t want to get fired for arguing with him either.