Steve Jobs: “Your phone is the dumbest f***ing idea I have ever heard”
This will be the funniest thing you will read all day. An apparent excerpt from Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN
The story goes that ESPN president George Bodenheimer attended the first Disney board meeting in Orlando, Florida, just after the company had bought Pixar, the innovative animation factory, and spotted Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a hallway. It seemed like a good time to introduce himself. “I am George Bodenheimer,” he said to Jobs. “I run ESPN.” Jobs just looked at him and said nothing other than “Your phone is the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard,” then turned and walked away.
Steve is a champion who is not afraid of speaking his mind.
What an awesome find from Gruber of DaringFireball, who points out that the “dumbest” phone in question is this ESPN branded Samsung flip-phone from 2006, shown here:
DaringFireball also points out that ESPN and Disney when on to lose $135 million on that phone, which kind of proves it was a dumb idea. Assuming this quote comes from when that ESPN phone was released (mid-2006), this was pre-iPhone, but the iPhone was certainly being tested internally at that point for a launch the following year in January of 2007. The rest is history, as Apple released the iPhone which changed the entire face of the mobile industry, and in just Q3 2011 alone they sold over 20 million of the phones.
By the way, what better way to sell a book than an epic Steve Jobs quote?
LOL
Steve Jobs is the coolest genius on the planet. The Dude abides.
This is not Nom, this is bowling, there are RULES!!!!
More proof that Steve Jobs is, oops was… a f***ing a**hole. Open your eyes people quit playing tribute to someone who didn’t deserve your admiration. It WAS a good phone and a game changer, but there are far more people out there that deserve your admiration then that f***ing a**hole.
Perhaps if you paid at least a tiny bit of attention and actually read the article, you’d know ESPN and Disney lost $135M on this dumb idea.
How is this a proof? If anything, your comment proves that you’re an ignorant imbecile – oh sorry most anti-Apple brain deads are like this anyway.
Just cracks me up. Man, he got balls to tell him that.
You mean Disney went on lose $135 million?
to*
It’s ok man. Read the article again.
“DaringFireball also points out that ESPN and Disney WHEN on to lose $135 million on that phone”
The writer isn’t that great a proof reader hisself.
Excuse me: “himself”.
Sorry, I’m French and I’m Affraid to understand : “Dumbest f*** idea” : could-you help me (of course not for f*** !). Did steve was CEO of Pixar in 2006 ?
Thanks
Yes and Disney bough Pixar with Steve, and Disney also owns ESPN. Steve though ESPN’s phone was a stupid ides, he was right.
Motorola ROKR.
Pot, meet your friend the kettle.
Actually ROKR was genius move by Apple ! It was killing 2 birds with 1 stone… It was the perfect example of “This is how NOT to do it!” and kill Motorola’s credibility as well in the process!
I was involved with a couple of exchanges with Steve Jobs in the 1980s; this sure sounds like him. However, rudeness works well when you’re on a great uphill sweep as Apple is now. It didn’t work so well when the company struggled and had to have (shudder) Microsoft help them out. Jobs is hitting on all cylinders now but should learn some manners if for no other reason than to show his own maturity.
AFAK: The “help” MS gave Apple back then was how they settled a lawsuit Apple had against MS. MS agreed to support Office on the Mac for 5 years, and invested in the Company. They kind of kept that quiet for awhile. That’s the keynote where he uttered the epic phrase about changing the way they think: “For Apple to succeed Microsoft doesn’t have to lose”
AFAIK it’s AFAIK
I’m with you on the manners thing. I don’t care how smart or good at your job you are if you can’t work with other people and be civilized, that’s not okay.
Karma is a bitch, just saying..
Personal experience from when was at the top of his game- you steered clear from Steve when he was leaving the IL campus.
Sorry man, I’ve seen the cupertino city meetings on the expansion for CC4-5 on homestead road ( remember Glenn, your facilities VP? ).
I did not get it :/ ?
sorry, I’m hardly understand the word “epic” means what, can u detail to me
An “epic” is like a classic heroic story from literature, most people think of The Iliad or Beowulf, but it has also become a slang term used to describe a memorable event.
thanks for your reply
Funny you understood English at all, Mr. I’m-Hardly-Understand.
In slang, most people use the word “epic” in place of the word “grand” or “super”.
In slang most people use the word ‘epic’ in place of the word ‘good.’ That word is so over-used it makes me ill.
ill, another word overused…however not in the context that you put it.
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What an utterly lame geeknerd humor. Pointless up to a level of total fail.
You will ruin any date with such boring stuff.
“when on”?
You mean “went on”!
An excellent time to publish this: just as Samsung’s Galaxy S is outselling the iPhone. Karma IS a harsh mistress.
Are these comments auto-generated?
my comments hardly ‘suck’, more like succulent
Just more proof that Steve Jobs in a complete douche.
The king of the douchebags
Steve Jobs on ESPN PHone: “Your phone is the dumbest f***ing idea I have ever heard” and the phone went onto make a loss of $135 million
contrast that with:
Steve Ballmer on iPhone in 2007: “IPhone – dont make melaugh” and iPhone is the fastest selling phones in the history of smart phones!!!
i think that says it all.
ESPN lost way, way, more money on this phone than $135 million. More likely $250 million.
What of the greatest technology mis-reads of all time.
If this is the funniest thing you will read all day, you are going to have a very sad day.
What is the music equivalent of ESPN? RIAA? ESPN phone is like a RIAA phone no? And isn’t iPhone about as close as you can get to an RIAA phone? Meaning, Apple uses DRM + iTunes to control that content licensed to them by RIAA. ESPN is the Sports Content equivalent of RIAA. Granted sports and music are much different forms of content. Nobody tends to watch sporting events over and over like they listen to the same song tracks. But they do subscribe to “Teams” and watch them play new seasons year after year. If Steve things the ESPN content + ESPN Phone was such a bad idea, what does he think RIAA + iPhone is? It’s the same thing, albeit the iPhone is a better execution, but music was also an easier market to succeed in since it isn’t LIVE.
If George ever meets Jobs again – I hope he has enough balls to break his Jaw.
Thanks for censoring my F$&$ word! I guess only Steve Jobs can say the F-word and get away with it. Please hold your editorial to the same standards as your reader comments. Thanks.
Comments containing curse words are automatically prevented from publication for anti-spam reasons, I removed it so the comment would pass the filter.
Who the **** is Steve Jobs?
the founder of apple.
I see what you did there
Just because he was right (and he certainly couldn’t be sure of that back then) does not give him the right to be such a dick. Guess he never heard of karma… maybe he’ll look into it now that he’s sick and it’s come back to bite him.
i guess he didn’t look into it
[...] Steve Jobs: “Your phone is the dumbest f***ing idea I have ever heard” (osxdaily.com) [...]
fyi Typo: went on to lose $135 million
I actually think the samsung espn flip phone is stupid..
to me, that just proves that he was a douche. if i was a rich as him, i would certainly also not be afraid of saying whatever i wanted – but i would still have the choice of being a decent guy. stupid idea or not.
Look where Samsung is now a couple years later. From Dumbest phone to one of the greatest android on the market. With the S3 just over the horizon, who knows where Samsung is headed.
And now the douchebag is dead in the ground. The world is a better place for it; now maybe the reality distortion field can dissipate and all these iSlaves can stop eating everything that is shovelled down their throats by the Apple marketing team.
Just goes to show what an unlikable, antisocial aspie he actually was.
The reality distortion field made people get things done that they thought were impossible. Steve would demand something and if somebody said it wasn’t possible he would give them a deadline and more often than not they would succeed. It may not be the best method of motivation for a lot of people but it worked at Apple.
He was certainly a man who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. I am currently reading “Steve Jobs”. At times he behaved like a child, crying when he didn’t get his way.
Ehh ok… Maybe he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, but that doesn’t make him less of an asshole for behaving that way.
I think the man was bloody brilliant; I harbor many of his products myself. But it seems like there are always people like him: brilliant, but egotistical. Then again, if he WASN’T this way, we definitely wouldn’t have the sleek, streamlined items we all own by Apple today.
God rest your soul, Steve.
Ahh the ignorance of the Crapple users will never surprise me. Your phones, are not phones. They are MPC’s , mini personal computers. That simply have a “phone” app built in. The best part is, that Steve Jabs@your wallet managed to sell you all a open ended TAB. And thats what you fail to realize. Society I guess, HAS gotten to that mass level of stupid exploitability. You will buy this device, that has reshaped your minds on “wasting money” Empty and useless unless you get some all mighty “APPS” (what ever happened to programs) to waste your time fiddling with. When you should be working, (if its a map app-) using your brain, (a WTF did they make that for app) doing exactly what you are doing on that POS phone, but on PC. I mean I guess the Yphone’s are cool , if you like blowing money on crap, Liking everything everyone else does(fb) , if you really dont plan on using it as a phone. Serious people use serious devices. I see no pro photographers using a Yphone. I dont see artists plugging into their Yphone/pad/pod’s to perform anywhere or ever. Novelty items. You fell for it. hahhahahahah
So you suggest everyone uses a rotary phone instead? Maybe a telegraph wire? Brilliant.
no a phone to make phone calls.
how smart is it buying a phone, to write letters with -.-
And yes, I would recommend people to use both of your above mentioned methods. I bet 99% of the people who would attempt to do so would have to google directions on how to do those simple tasks. Obviously you dont get it. You cant make things that were never hard in the first place, easier. People dont know how to say, open a Thomas guide and get to where they need to go. People cant even TALK to people because they are too busy texting, writing messages from a phone, a device which you verbally communicate with another participating party. A picture? Youl never see a professional photographer say “hold on I gotta take this pic, and I cant do it while aim talking to you” No, they will have a REAL camera for that. I guess if you have nothing at all its ok for games. Well, no I have a Vita, and 2 PSP’s got that beat. Maybe I want to un learn my dont touch the HD display etiquette.
Yes, all those things individually are better than the equivalent feature in a smart phone.
However, when you go out would you rather take your street guide, camera, computer, portable game device and phone in a bag or just slip a smart phone in your pocket? I find a smart phone is just so much more convenient now.
Yes I do, a PSP, or my vita, has its own battery. My phone, has its own battery. My camera has its own battery. Not to mention their own memory. And the ability to use them all at once. As for directions, I look up where Im going before hand, and I am from “the old school” I have the rare ability to figure things out for myself. I don have to resort to asking “HAL” . Its like this, if having everything in one is great, why didnt the TVCR/TVDVD/TVBR take off? Because anyone with a individual identity, wants to pick their own components. That way of thinking has sadly changed. People will swallow anything that is thrown on a plate before them. Except, for me. (and remember, every time we set foot out side our houses, and get away from cyberspace, its an opportunity to actually connect with REAL people. So I dont need to have all of those entertainment options with me) I prefer to socialize whilst in society.
@OrcinasAdamantos – You obviously live under a rock.
Never heard of that espn phone.
“but the iPhone was certainly being tested internally at that point for a launch the following year in January of 2007.”
The Macworld iPhone keynote was in January, but it didn’t launch until June.
OrcinasAdamantos, with all your (self-accredited) intelligence, you still seem to have trouble with simple sentence structure, punctuation and grammar. Yeah, y’know… that ‘old school’ stuff.
Your first post made little, if any, sense. Then you were busted on the other one with regard to portability, but you completely ignored that. I suppose I could carry a music player, a phone, a notepad, a camera, a brand new map book (y’know… in case someone got the directions wrong or a street got renamed since the previous version… ya I know… ‘oh that never happens’… duh), and… ohoohh yeah… a freakin’ COMPUTER so I can check email, look stuff up on the web when necessary (since I can’t fit the entire Encyclopedia Britannica set in my car… and I don’t feel like taking my car out just to carry all this shite), etc etc etc. I’ll even concede that some of these things would be better than the all-in-one device at particular tasks but SHEESH… to put all that functionality into my *pocket*?!?? Wait… what? You mean it has GAMES TOO?!??
My mom used to lug over a dozen books with her on a trip, she loved reading so much in her down time. Now with the iPad, she has much, MUCH more selection available to her, wherever she may be, with nary a strain on her (increasingly) aged arms and back. To say nothing of allllll that other functionality she can take advantage of.
Steve expressed an opinion, that’s all. And jeezus people, we have NO idea what kind of attitude the other dude approached Mr. Jobs with. I personally think *watching* ANYthing on a freakin’ phone screen is insane. That is, unless you are really into myopia. And yes I do mean even a screen as big as the iPhone’s.
Years ago, when I first saw the Palm OS on a cell phone, I said to many friends that once Apple had a PDA that could play music, make calls (it’s a phone it’s not a phone WHATEVER it makes calls), and ideally have the ability to function as a portable hard drive, they’d take over. And they did… even more stunningly that I’d envisioned. Just wish I could have gotten that damn loan when the stock was at $15/ share. D’oh!!
Being a genius does not excuse you from being a a**hole.
Maybe, but he was very right about that phone.
Steve could perceive the future of it, and he just told him the truth. Well, Steve actually told it straight and cold, but still accurately.
Many people considered Steve Jobs a philanthropist, a person who cares for others. The difference here is that Steve most likely expected Bodenheimer to be someone at his level, a powerful person with the power to innovate; in his frustration, Steve directly expressed his disappointment for such terrible phone, just like a man who would yell at his own brother for acting dumb sometimes.
He wasn’t really perceiving the future or predicting anything. At the time of this Exchange, Jobs already had the iPhone on the way. The fact that this same Samsung phone was a hit in markets where the iPhone wasn’t available (Korea, for example), proves that it would have been a success for ESPN otherwise. Steve Jobs was just a grade A s-hole.
“One company administrator swears at another”.
If this impresses you, you’re an imbecile.
its not a swear towards another company, its a statement, a fact. and someone should tell “them” how crappy it is, rather than sucking up the butt of those who create stupid ‘idea’.
Sounds like Asperger’s to me.
If I saw Steve Jobs I would tell him “Your iOSification of the Mac OS is the dumbest f* idea I have ever heard.”
Viva Orcidas for speaking the truth…we watch films on TV if not in theaters, (I hope) and if we need a smart phone a musician will certainly choose an android driven one because of the metronomes, tanpura drones and other apps that android users have access to. I have bought a MacAir simply because it is light and supports all my other music softwares efficiently.
Still, it must be said that the era of both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs has come to an end. Indeed they would never have flourished had it not been for the break up of the Soviet Union. A communist Russia would surely have striven for and perfected open source softwares by the year 1996. Both Jobs and Gates had the paranoid mentality of eccentric accountants. In the later version of Windows it is impossible to access the command line without risking a crash. I have not even tried to look for such a thing on my Mac Air…so long as the appliance does the work it was bought for (writing music) its OK with me….but my next laptop will almost certainly be run on android…mark my words!
I believe you’re looking for “Terminal,” found in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Are you sure you know what you’re talking about? I’m beginning to believe you wouldn’t know the first thing to type in a command line.