Stacey Vanek-Smith: Not only has Apple done well on the markets, it’s also changed the way we live.
Walt Mossberg joins me now. He’s the personal technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal. Good morning, Walt.
Walt Mossberg: Good morning.
Vanek-Smith: Walt, Apple and Apple products have become such a part of all of our lives. What do you think Jobs’ legacy is?
Mossberg: I think people are lucky if they can make one major change in the world or the way people live. And Jobs, he has a legacy where he changed the way people lived, and the way technology works, multiple times — again, and again, and again. That makes him, in my mind, a truly historic figure.
Vanek-Smith: Most of us know Steve Jobs from what we’ve seen on television. Obviously, he’s a visionary and quite charismatic. You know personally — what is he like in person?
Mossberg: Well, he can be prickly. He is very passionate about what he believes. But he’s also willing to listen. I think the most interesting thing about him is he thinks long term. He recently disclosed that the iPad actually was developed before the iPhone, but he decided to put it on the shelf because he thought a phone was the right thing to do first. He makes products for the actual users of the products, and that’s a big legacy of Steve Jobs.
Vanek-Smith: Well, it’s certainly paid off. Apple surpassed Exxon as the most valuable public company earlier this month, and I think had more money at one point than the U.S. Treasury, although that may not be the bar that it once was. But you know, it really did pay off monetarily.
Mossberg: It has paid off monetarily, but I also think they’ve been the most influential technology company now for at least a decade. And they have influenced every other company in the technology space. And to me, personally, that is a more important thing than the fact that their market cap is now higher than any technology company, and almost as high as Exxon’s.
Vanek-Smith: Walt Mossberg is personal technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal. Walt, thank you so much.
Mossberg: Thank you.
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