After years of planning, Apple Park opened its doors to the company’s employees in 2017, but before that, Apple’s nerve center was in its most secretive offices. classic of The Cupertino Infinite Loop. This is where Steve Jobs catapulted the company with the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad with his entire team of engineers, designers and developers.
And that is why in these offices there is something that has barely been touched since Steve Jobs died in 2011: his office. So loved by many, feared by some employees, the office where the CEO of Apple worked has become a kind of temple through which time does not pass. Even Tim Cook did not want to change that.
An office frozen in time
The current CEO of Apple himself said this in an interview he gave to Fast Company in 2015, when asked by an interviewer who had seen the poster of Steve Jobs next to his desk. Curiosity killed the cat and Tim Cook was sincere in his answer: I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. with this office and, therefore, he had not come to touch anything.
The only time anyone ever entered the office was when Jobs’ own family stopped by the Infinite Loop offices. Laurene Powell-Jobs came by several times to pick up some of the family’s drawings that were lying around her desk. Tim also took the opportunity to show the office to one of his daughters, Eve. so I can see some drawings she made herself years ago, on a blackboard inside these four walls.
But beyond family visits to see or collect things, Tim still doesn’t touch anything else. In his own words:
“At first I didn’t want to go in there. It was too much. Now I really enjoy doing it, even though I don’t do it often. I don’t know what we’re going to do with that office, I don’t know. I didn’t want to move there, Steve is an irreplaceable person and I don’t think it’s fair for anything to go in that office. His computer is still there, his desk hasn’t moved and there are books on it.. […] I don’t know. His name should always be on that door. That’s how it should be. That’s what I think is right.
“
It’s a gesture that shows great respect for the legacy of one of the world’s most popular technology leaders. And of course, we’re talking about a place that very few people have had access to, and even fewer today. Who could open this Mac and see the system desktop of Steve Jobs himself, your way of organizing files and the applications I used. This would be something interesting to analyze from the current perspective.
An older version of this article was originally published on 08/07/2023.
Cover image | Recreation by Gaspar Morgado
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