The once and future Steve Jobs

In his first month as "interim CEO," Steve began walking around the office carrying a sleekly curved piece of white foam. It was the model for the size and shape of a computer, which would eventually become known as the "iMac," for "internet Macintosh." It was the creation of Jonathan Ive, who was 30 and looked more like a scruffy bicycle messenger or skateboarder than the chief designer at a major manufacturer of consumer products.

While the physical look of the iMac had been conceived before Steve took over, everything else about the computer was still uncertain. Steve's thinking was strongly influenced by his friendship with Larry Ellison as well as their unspoken rivalry. He believed the future belonged to stripped-down machines, called "network computers," or NCs, that would connect to the Internet and cost only half as much as PCs. Larry had even started his own company, Network Computer Inc., to try to cash in on the idea.

Steve decided that the iMac would be a network computer. "We're going to beat Ellison at his own game," he told his Apple colleagues, who were surprised to see Steve secretly delighting in the competition with his best friend.

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In September, Steve began taking decisive action. Gil had cut the number of research and development projects from 350 to 50. Steve cut it from 50 to about 10. Instead of hoping for some stunning technical breakthrough that would save the company, Steve looked instead at improving Apple's advertising and restoring its cool, hip image. He invited three ad agencies to pitch for Apple's business, including Chiat/Day, which had created the famous "1984" television commercial during Steve's first run at Apple.

Chiat/Day still had the same creative director from the "1984" campaign, Lee Clow, who came to Cupertino and proposed a new slogan: "Think Different."

"That's not grammatical," thought Jim Oliver as he sat there taking notes for Steve. But no one in the room had the guts to say so.

Lee Clow said that the comeback of Harley-Davidson motorcycles was a good model for Apple to emulate. Harley's advertising convinced people that they could feel its renegade spirit even if they were investment bankers rather than Hells Angels. It rehabilitated a counterculture icon for the baby boomers who had grown up and sold out.

That's exactly what Apple needed to do.

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Apple's new advertising campaign came together quickly.

Steve had always liked photos of cultural icons. At his first house in Los Gatos, Calif., near his mattress, he had kept pictures of Albert Einstein and an Eastern mystical guru. Steve also loved black-and-white photography. He hung Ansel Adams prints at the Palo Alto, Calif., house. Those were the elements: the slogan, the icons, the monochrome tableaux.

The first outsider to see the new ads was Newsweek's Katie Hafner. She arrived at Apple's headquarters at 10 on a Friday morning for an interview with Steve. He kept her waiting a long time. Finally he emerged. His chin was covered by stubble. He was exhausted from having stayed up all night editing footage for the "Think Different" television spot. The creative directors at Chiat/Day would send him video clips over a satellite connection, and he would say yes or no. Now the montage was finally complete.

Steve sat with Katie and they watched the commercial.

Steve was crying.

"That's what I love about him," Katie recalls. "It wasn't trumped up. Steve was genuinely moved by that stupid ad."

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