The Apple employee who won a prize for giving Steve Jobs. Surprisingly, it ended up being his right hand
He worked in Apple when the Macintosh project was only that, a project. It was essential to launch it, worked hand in hand with Steve Jobs and such was its proximity that has become his right hand. Although for that, he had to arm himself with value and have some differences with which he was co-founder of Apple.
Joanna Hoffman was Among the few people who faced Steve Jobs and continued to work with him. This, knowing the Fort Cara. Yes Hoffman, who still remembers this proximity to the legendary CEO of Apple. Like the anecdote of this time when “he wanted a knife” …
Joanna Hoffman, a cinematographic girl dedicated to marketing
Almost 60 years ago, on July 29, 1955, he was born in Poland Joanna Hoffman, daughter of Jerzy Hoffman, director who still lives and who made films such as “with blood and fire” or “the battle of Warsaw”. However, he had lived little with him, since in 1967, with only 12 years, he moved to the United States.
In Buffalo, the second largest city in New York State, Hoffman settled with his mother. He didn't know anything about English, although they say it didn't take long to learn the language and successfully finish his studies in high school. Subsequently, he studied Anthropology, physical and linguistic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (WITH).
Years later, he wanted to doctor the doctorate in archeology at the University of Chicago, although he did not finish it because, among other things, a company called Apple Computer crossed its way. Or it in Apple's. A story that we will talk about later, but it was portrayed in the cinema. Not his father, but Danny Boyle, director of “Steve Jobs” (2015) with Michael Fassbender in the role of employment and with Kate Winslet Play Hoffman.
The unpublished commission of the Macintosh project
With 25 years, Joanna Hoffman began what would be the most successful professional stage of her life. And also the most difficult for its complication. It was in 1980 and It was the fifth member of the Macintosh projectThis madness of the computer with a graphical interface with which Steve Jobs wanted Apple to gave the final blow to an IBM who saw more and more suspicion how the competition developed.
Members of the Macintosh project
Of course, in 1980, the “Macintosh Project” was literal. There was not yet a solid basis on which to develop the idea and everything was of pure research and development. Steve Jobs would take little time to see What was the best role of Joanna in Macintosh.
Only two months after their arrival in this team and with jobs already completely immersed in its direction, He wanted Joanna Hoffman to be the marketing director. A most complex task if we take this into account, as we have already said, everything was very in the diapers. And to top it all, she had no experience in this area. Something would see jobs in it, of course. In the end, we can say that he succeeded.
First shock with Jobs: “I wanted a knife in the heart”
This “something” that Jobs saw in Hoffman was linked to courage and sincerity. In the “non-Idiots” policy of Jobs, he underlined his idea of always surrounding himself with people who were able to tell him the truth, as painful. And it's something that Joanna Hoffman knew how to get to the extreme.
When Jobs put himself at the head of the Macintosh project, he had the idea that he was ready in just 18 months. This was transferred to the newly appointed marketing chief. That, neither short nor lazy, told him that it would not be possible. Priority at work without deadlines to better work And Macintosh's design does not look like.
It was a tense meeting and transcended that, leaving it, Hoffman addressed Steve Jobs to tell him that he was going to “take a knife and nail him in his heart”. A sample which, so boss is, and although his name is Steve Jobs, She did not shake her pulse under any circumstance. I preferred to work slowly and be realistic with deadlines so that the final product is the best.
In this way, Joanna Hoffman was one of the few to realize Win the “courage award” in AppleA satirical recognition granted by Steve Jobs to those who were able to face it in this form and always prioritizing the good of the final product. A very little distributed price, we must say, because it has not transcended the name of Hoffman and that of Debi Coleman, another of the key elements of the 80s, although in his case on the side of finance.
After goodbye to Jobs, Hoffman said “next”
It is possible that without the work of Joanna Hoffman in the 80s, Today we would not have the Mac in Europe. The marketing manager was responsible for the sale of Macintosh in Europe and Asia. He is also the one who designed the instructions of this first and revolutionary Macintosh.
The Macintosh finally made its debut in 1984 with the best announcement considered in history. A year later, Steve Jobs' tensions with the board of directors led to its Apple march. This was at the time the confidence between Jobs and Hoffman that he followed.
The same year, Steve Jobs founded Next Computer, a company with which Jobs intended to transfer all his acquired knowledge and carry out the projects he could not in Apple. Hoffman did not hesitate to the project and followed his boss at Apple to Develop identical marketing functionsAlthough this time with a more complicated task, given how the company was new.
As for the general magic of Malgrada
Joanna Hoffman's adventure with Steve Jobs only lasted five years. They did not transcend the reasons why he ended up abandoning this business, but it is known that it was not for any shock with jobs. Hoffman is likely to simply change air.
So things, In 1990, Magic went to General, where she was appointed vice-president of marketing. The history of this company has a lot of relations with Apple, since its idea began to settle in 1989 within the company, but years later, it became independent and, close to the contacts of Hoffman as Porat Marc, Andy Hertzfeld and Biull Atkinson founded it in 1990.
General Magic tried, among other things, to create what would have been the precursor of the iPhone, because part of its strategy was based on the creation of pocket devices with IT capacities. However, his trip to the industry was relatively short. In 2002, their operations ceased until 2004 closed definitively.
Withdrawal and link with a Spanish company
Years before the cessation of activity, and already aware of the drift of society, Hoffman abandoned it in 1995. Already with 40 years, He preferred to give priority to the family and continued to give conferences from his scene with jobs. Just as Apple covered him from him, because in 1997, he returned to be appointed CEO and with ideas that would eventually take Apple from foreseeable bankruptcy: iMac G3 in 1998, iPod in 2001, iPhone in 2007 and iPad in 2010 would be his great successes.
Today, and despite the age of 70, Hoffman is always active. Not in the same way as before, but since 2020 Spanish sherpa advisorA company dedicated to artificial intelligence. Although this company has been founded and remains led by Gastron Xabi Uribe-Extebarria, it is based in Silicon Valley, the cradle of great technology like Apple and how Hoffman knows.
So things, Joanna Hoffman will descend in history for her indelible footprint in the technological sector. Not only for their role in Apple, Next or General Magic, but for its strategic and relentless vision of character. A personality that does not subscribe, capable of contesting Steve Jobs and being a key figure in Macintosh's success. Today, he is still linked in one way or another to this world, clearly indicating that his heritage goes beyond the products he has helped to launch. Leadership, courage and passion for technology.
Cover image | Getty Images and Cnet
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