Just a Thought - Conversations With Steve: 2 Minutes To Curtain...

by

The huge red curtain undulates slightly, as if sighing, as the air conditioner thrums to life. Steve stands beneath an overhead vent just beyond the curtains and closes his eyes while the cool air from the vent washes over him. Beyond the curtains, seats are filling, and the murmur of the sizable crowd grows more insistent as the event time nears.

Steve Jobs has done countless announcements on stage. To say that most have been enthusiastically received would be a gross understatement, but each time, just like now, he has gotten a bad case of the nervous jitters; gut willies, his friend calls them. He knows they will disappear once he is standing in the spotlight, but the knowledge does not help much at the moment.

The gut willies roil slowly in his gut, seemingly in time with the curtain's undulation, and Steve squeezes his eyes tighter.

A verse from the Eagles tune, Hotel California, materializes in his mind;

And in the master's chambers
They gathered for the feast...

He does not want to think about the next 2 lines.

"Gut willies?"

Steve is startled: The stage crew know to leave him alone in the few minutes before he is to go on stage. When his eyes open he is not surprised to find a familiar face before him.

"How'd you get in here?" Steve asks as he extends his hand.

"I know the stage manager," the man replies as he grasp Steve's hand and pumps it energetically. "I was in the area, getting my Mini serviced,  and thought I'd drop by to see what you are up to."

Steve cocks an eyebrow, "The stage manager, eh? So, who don't you know?"

The man smiles, "Bill Gates. Wanna introduce me?"

Steve shrugs. "If you want, but be warned, he's nowhere near the sense of humor that I have."

"So you say, and... you are probably right. So, why do you hang out with him?"

"Bill has his moments." Steve's eyes focuses on some distant spot and a strange smile forms. "Like the time we were at a convention in Vegas, and Bill got this cocktail olive stuck..."

Steve's blinks and remembers where he is. "Umm, never mind."

"One day you are gonna hafta finish that story."

"I don't think so. At least, not in your lifetime."

The Mini Driver walks over to the red curtains and peeks out at the crowd. "Hmmm, interesting looking bunch. Media types?"

Steve nods solemnly.

The man glances back at Steve. "Gees, you look as if they are going to eat you alive."

Steve responds with a spiritless smile.

The man changes subjects. "So, what's all this about anyway?"

A sparkle materializes in Steve's eyes. "You remember when I told you that I had some stuff in the pipeline?"

The Mini man nods. "Yeah. When you showed me the iPod nano. I got the one you had sent to me, by the way, and thanks for the  Harry Potter Collection."

"De nada. I thought you'd get a kick out of that."

"Yeah Boyee," The Mini Driver says excitedly,  "I've got Book Three loaded on my nano right now, as a matter of fact."

"Cool, cool. Now, back to the pipeline: Today I'm going to open the tap on that pipeline just a taste."

The man looks at Steve questioningly. "Is it another iPod? The media's been going nuts over guessing what you've got up your sleeves. Some say it's a video iPod."

Steve smiles but says nothing.

"It is, isn't it?

Steve grins.

"Lemme see."

Steve strolls over to a table near the curtains, takes a look around to insure no one is nearby, then removes a small device from under a dark velvet cover. He hands it to the man.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that screen! It plays video, right?"

Steve says nothing.

The man powers up the player and the color screen comes to life. He deftly negotiates the menus, then stops. "Ah-hah!" He holds up the iPod to show a listing of video content. "I knew it!"

He selects the Pixar video, 'For the Birds', and starts it. The man grins like a kid in a candy store. "So very cool," the man coos as the video plays.

When the video is done the man navigates through additional menus, smiling and nodding as he does. He marvels at the device, turning it this way and that, then, finally, he hands the iPod back to Steve. "Very, very cool, my friend. It's smaller than the current iPods, isn't it?"

Steve nods. "See, I've been thinking," Steve confesses, "People really don't use the hard drive based iPods for storing their entire music library, they use their computers for that. Folks use the iPod to play what they want to play when they want to play it, and to do other things as well, like carry data. 60 gigs is a lot of space, even for carrying data. I figure if I'm thinking that, people who could be deciding on an iPod might think the same thing. That led me to think that the better option for a music player would be Flash based; they far more rugged, and I can make it as small as I want."

"Hence, the nano," the other chimed in.

"Exactly," Steve said with his trademark showmanship flare. "Exactly."

Steve's friend looks thoughtful for a moment, then says," But the question remains: What to do with the hard drive based iPods?"

"You must be reading my mind, Buddy Boy. That's what I asked myself, and the folks in Research.

"I know that I've said that people don't want to watch movies on little screens, and I still believe that; Movie designed for the big screen just don't work well on small screens.

"So I started asking myself what would they watch on a little screen? The answer surprised me; little movies! The Internet is literally oozing with short films, music videos, animations, and TV commercials. I figure people wouldn't mind filling a spare 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there watching these video snippets. But that got me to thinking that people might want to watch something a wee bit longer, say 30 to 45 minutes, and THAT says TV programs."

The other man's eyes grew large. "Wait: Are you telling me that people can download TV shows onto your little video iPod and watch them whenever they want?"

Steve pauses for a few seconds for dramatic effect, then simply says, "Yep."

"Whoa!"

"Exactly. Of course, we had to develop a new version of iTunes to accommodate the video."

The man, eyes still wide, nods his agreement.

"And get some more programming, like the Pixar shorts.

"Yeah, Pixar," the man says absently. "You know what will happen now, right? Video Podcasting; I can see Saturday Night Live knock-offs, news and commentary, local sports...wait; can you plug it into a TV and watch shows that way?"

"Yep."

"WHOA!!! So what you are holding in your hand is a tiny TiVo."

Steve grins wolfishly. "Yep. And here's the kicker: People can buy TV shows through iTunes for $1.99 per episode. We've only got Disney on board at the moment, but we're talking to other studios as well."

The Mini Driver only stares back at Steve. Seconds pass in silence.

"So, there you have it; video to go," Steve says.

The Mini Driver shakes his head slowly, "Man! You guys have really been busy. Soooo, what are you going to call this one? The vPod?"

Steve grimaces. "Geez, no! It's an iPod that just happens to play video. It's the next step in the iPod's evolution, but it is still an iPod. I'm replacing existing iPods with this new one. It's an iPod, just with more capability."

"Well, you won't get an argument from me."

"Good, cuz I'm in a groove and the last thing I need is for you to mux up my train of thought."

At that moment the Mini man notices another covered table. He walks towards it but Steve blocks his progress. " You can't look at that just now."

"What is it? A new kind of iPod?"

Steve says nothing.

"A new Mac?"

Steve smiles.

"Ah-hah! You got a new Mac under there. Is it the Mactel?"

"Something I think is better."

"Better than a Mactel? Oh, you gotta let me see it."

"Sorry Buddy Boy, but you are just going to have to wait like everyone else."

At that moment a man wearing a headset appears in a doorway offstage. "Two minutes Mister Jobs."

Steve nods but continues to block access to the table. When the man with the headset disappears Steve says to his friend, "You'd better go and find a seat out there with the rest of the crowd, because that's the only way you'll get to see what on this table."

"Man!" Steve's friend says and heads for doorway. He turns back to Steve and says, "This had better be good."

Steve nods. "Oh, believe me, you are gonna love this."

The man leaves, and Steve walks to the side of the stage from which he will make his entrance when the curtains are drawn. Inexplicably, the tune and lyrics to Hotel California pops into his head again:

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely place (background)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
You can find it here
You can find it here

Steve smiles. "Any time of year," he sings softly to himself, "you can find it here."

The curtains open.