It was Jan 2005. MacWorld expo in SFO, Moscone Center. I had somehow convinced my then boss to send me to Macworld even though my job had nothing to do with Macs. I remember standing in line for the keynote and running in to catch a seat as near as possible to the stage. The lights dimmed and Steve walked out on stage. That was the first time I saw him physically. He introduced the Mac Mini and the iPod Shuffle at that keynote. After the keynote I wandered around the show floor checking out the exhibits and generally enjoying the Apple geekfest.
As I was walking around to the Apple booth, I heard a hubhub in the distance and saw a crowd of people moving towards me. I moved to the left to swerve from their path and as the crowd surged around me, I was being gently pushed away. I turned and saw a woman shooing me away. I looked behind her and there was Steve. I said to the woman (who turned out to be Katie Cotton, Apple’s PR chief) and said ‘Hey, it’s me the switcher’.
And she said ‘Yeah honey, everyone here is the switcher’.
‘No, look at me,’ – I urged her. She finally looked at me (instead of through me) and a glint of recognition appeared in her eyes.
She turned around and said ‘Steve, look who is here’.
Steve turned and looked and me and said ‘Hey its you.. Our iPhoto switcher’ and extended his hand. I shook his hand and the media around us erupted in a frenzy of shutter clicks. They were probably wondering who the hell was Steve shaking hands with ?
I was too dumbfounded. I barely managed to stutter ‘Hi Steve.’ And he said ‘Hey thanks a lot for doing that for us. I really appreciate it.’
Now I was plain embarrassed. Why the hell was Steve Jobs thanking me ??
He spoke a few more sentences that I don’t remember.
I was too fucking stunned.
I whimpered out some gibberish and then he was gone. I didn’t even have the presence of mind to give my camera to someone to take our pictures. So then I followed him and lamely took some pictures of him admiring the iPod Shuffle and hanging out with John Mayer. He was gone in a few minutes… and I was on cloud nine all week…
Steve expounding the features of the iPod Shuffle with the lanyard...
Steve having fun with a kid blogger/reporter...
I was too embarrassed to get a selfie.. This was 2005 BI (Before iPhone), so I aimed my Canon point and shoot over my shoulder and clicked...