The legacy of Steve Jobs lives on in the company he founded, according to the people who knew him best.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, former design chief Jony Ive and Emerson Collective founder Laurene Powell Jobs gathered Wednesday at the Code Conference in Los Angeles to remember Jobs, hours after the company unveiled iPhone 14 and other products.
“I think at Apple I believe and hoped that he would be proud of a day like this when we bring out a lot of innovations that are very much on the principles that he articulated so well,” said Cook in a joint interview moderated by Kara Swisher.
“His understanding and reverence of the creative process was extraordinary,” said Ive.“He was masterful at helping peoplenot ignore the problems but remain focused on the promise and vision of the actual ideas.”
Powell Jobs noted that her husband, who died in 2011 at age 56, would have been distressed by the state of the world today, and not shy about expressing his displeasure.
“He would be very disappointed inthe political climate,” she said. “He would not be quiet about the current climate. He would be speaking out easily and often.”
Cook seconded that notion.“The greater world, he would be troubled by a lot of things, the partisanship and division of the world,” he said.
All three observed the many ways that Jobs’ influence can still be felt in the company, from the Monday morning meeting at 9 a.m. PT where he convened the company’s leaders to his decision to not separate all of Apple’s many different businesses into separate profit-and-loss statements.
“We don’t sit around and say ‘What would Steve do,’ he told us not to do that,” said Cook. “But the reality was he was the best teacher I ever had, by far. Those teachings live on, not just in me, in a whole bunch of people who are there.”
(Pictured: Jony Ive, Laurene Powell Jobs and Tim Cook)
