Steve Jobs and Barack Obama both knew a winner, it would seem: according to an upcoming book by former Obama-advisor David Axelrod, then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave then-Senator Barack Obama a sneak peek of the iPhone in 2007 before it was released. According to Mr. Axelrod, Senator Obama knew the device would be a hit.
Believer: My Forty Years in Politics Cover
The book, Believer: My 40 Years in Politics, won't be released until February 10th, but The New York Daily Mail (via Gizmodo) got advance access to the book and published several excerpts. One of those excerpts concerned the iPhone and how the late Steve Jobs gave the presidential candidate a private meeting that included a demo of the iPhone.
"If it were legal, I would buy a boatload of Apple stock," Senator Obama reportedly said. "This thing is going to be really big."
The Washington Post walked through some math to estimate that had the future president invested, say, US$400,000 in Apple when he made that statement, it would have turned into $3.6 million. Not that it really matters, mind you, but it's a fun walk for anyone who wishes that he or she had made their own investment in Apple at that time.
David Axelrod is a political consultant and strategist who played key roles in election campaigns and administrations of Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. His new book is an autobiographical look at his entire career in politics, and very little of it has anything to do with technology or Apple. For those interested, however, you can find more excerpts at The Daily Mail.
You can pre-order the book at Amazon for $25.55 or Apple's iBooks for $12.99.