It was a resonant, return-of-the-prodigal-son moment. But it wasn’t at all clear that Jobs could save the company he cofounded. Apple had brought him back to the fold after a 12-year absence by purchasing his failed start-up, NeXT Inc. Just a month before MacWorld came to town, Apple’s board had sacked the chief executive who had made that decision.
Jobs had not yet assumed the position of Apple’s interim chief executive; he introduced himself that day as chairman and CEO of Pixar.
There was very little good news for Jobs to report. The company had been within three months of running out of cash and declaring bankruptcy. Sales had dropped precipitously.
Things were so bleak that when Michael Dell, founder of rival computer maker Dell Inc., was asked what he would do if he ran Apple, he said that he would “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.’’ There were about 8,000 fewer people attending the MacWorld trade show that year.
When Jobs told the crowd that Microsoft was making a $150 million investment in Apple - money that would help sustain the company - the audience booed. They kept booing as Bill Gates’s face appeared on a huge screen, looming above Jobs, to assure everyone that Microsoft would continue producing Office software for Macs. Jobs chastised the audience: “If others are going to help us, that’s great, because we need all the help we can get.’’
The audience was full of Apple retailers, software developers, and clone-makers: Apple had allowed companies like Power Computing and Motorola to crank out generic-looking computers that ran its Macintosh operating system. Jobs would eventually put an end to those clones, which cannibalized Apple’s own sales without doing much to spread the gospel of Mac. But on that morning, he said nothing much about the future, outlining a bland strategy of getting Apple focused on markets where it was strongest: creative agencies and schools.
