It is going to destroy vast layers of our economy and make available a presence in the marketplace for very small companies, one that is equal to very large companies.
Predictor: Jobs, Steve
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 oral and video histories interview for the Smithsonian Institution, Daniel Morrow, executive director of The Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, talks with Apple and NeXT Computer CEO Steve Jobs. An excerpt from the interview reads: Morrow – “Give me your thoughts on the current status and the future of the Internet and the commercial online services and how they’re affecting computer development.” Jobs – ” … It’s very exciting because it is going to destroy vast layers of our economy and make available a presence in the marketplace for very small companies, one that is equal to very large companies. Let me give you an example. A small three-person company in Phoenix, Arizona, can have a Web server that looks identical if not better than IBM’s or the GAPs or anybody else, any large company. They can gain access to this electronic distribution channel for free. They don’t have to build buildings. They don’t have to sign up a thousand distributors and have people to call on them, etcetera, etcetera. In essence, direct distribution from the manufacturer to the customer via the Internet, via the Web, direct contact, direct transactions and distribution via UPS or Federal Express – that’s going to be cheaper than going through all these middlemen or building hundreds of stores around the country.”
Biography:Steve Jobs, co-founded Apple Computers in 1976 with Steve Wozniak. They began by building their computers in the Jobs family’s garage. Both men had earlier worked designing games for Atari. He left Apple in the mid-’80s and founded NeXT Corporation to build a new line of computers. He also helped fund and found Pixar in 1986. He returned to the position as Apple’s chief executive in the mid-’90s. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: April 20, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: E-commerce
Name of publication: Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories
Title, headline, chapter name: Excerpts from an Oral History Interview with Steve Jobs Founder, NeXT Computer.
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist/sj1.html#net
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Lusk, James T.