Original issue of Macworld #1 from February 1984, 144 pages, 9 x 10.75, signed on the front cover in blue ink by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs ("steve jobs"). The classic cover depicts Jobs as Apple Computer's chairman of the board, posing with a trio of Macintosh computers upon their introduction to the world. In fine condition, with scattered foxing along the edges of the front cover.
Introduced in February 1984, Macworld magazine became the most popular Macintosh-focused magazine in North America; the premier issue is scarce and desirable in its own right. This rare, signed example originates from the collection of a senior product manager at Apple's corporate office in Cupertino, CA, from 1991-1998. He writes: "I was a pretty hard core Apple fan. I even started a Mac Users Group with a couple of friends. We called it ChOMP, Champions of the Mac Proletariat in the 80s.
Having used computers, mainframes and personal computers since I was a kid in the 1970s, the Macintosh changed everything I thought about the future of computing, and technology in general.
I could hardly believe Apple wanted me to speak on behalf of their technology applications in higher education in the late 1980s and then asked me to join the company in the early 1990s. It was a thrill to meet and spend time with then Apple CEO John Scully during my first week. I still have the Apple tee shirt he signed for me that day as well as his "Chief Listener" business card.
Before long, I was the Product Manager for Apple's QuickTime architecture. One of the coolest technologies in the company at that time. Quicktime democratized digital video, music, 3D, VR, and other dynamic media types, enabling the multimedia revolution of the 1990s. I was working closely with some of the smartest people at Apple and the most creative customers in the world.
Several years and CEOs later, I could hardly believe I was being called in to meet with the original CEO of the company, Steve Jobs, to discuss QuickTime. Steve had just returned and was methodically meeting with Product Managers from every part of the company to get up to speed on current projects. I had a first issue copy of MacWorld Magazine in my office and brought it along so I could ask him to sign it. After showing him several demos, discussing the strategy behind the technology, and the vision for where it could go, when I knew he was really into it, I pulled out the magazine and asked for his autograph. I reminded him that I had invited NeXT to go head to head with Apple at a ChOMP meeting almost 10 years earlier just as he was launching, and that he had sent several people and Cubes down for the event. The NeXT boxes had been a very big hit.
He smiled, picked up a pen, signed the magazine, and we continued speaking about QuickTime for a while longer. I didn't learn until later that my request was a risky move. Folks informed me that he didn't like signing things, and that my request could have ended very differently. I didn't know any better at the time. He was a bit of a hero to me, I had never asked anyone for an autograph before. I just thought he was super cool, I wanted to be more like him. I wanted to have something to remind me of the positive impact that his life had on my life journey.
I ended up working closely with Steve very soon after that, assisting with the iMac launch and other high profile initiatives. So many wonderful things would not have been had I not experienced all of this. I miss him."
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