Kenji Yamamoto, the former VP of Apple Japan and our current CRO, wrote an article remembering his experiences with Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, who passed away on October 5. Originally published on Yamamoto's personal website, this is our translation of his post, which originally appeared here. This is the second of two parts — this first part is here.
At the time, I was trying to decide whether to accept a job offer to become a COO of a large public company. Unquestionably, this offer was for a prestigious position. It was an excellent B2B company, but on the inside, I simply did not like some of the products enough to get honestly fired up about them. Perhaps my disposition reflects my origins as an engineer, but recommending products that I honestly didn't like to customers would have meant a continuous loss of my own vitality.
You also shared your views with me about the B2B solution. "I have the same opinion about the products that trouble you, Kenji. My good friend Larry has told me the same thing at least 100 times." I remember being amazed once again as I realized that for the geniuses of the high-tech world, fences or boundaries at the B2B and B2C level do not exist.
It goes without saying, but when I met you for a second interview, I was already smitten.
In shorts, carrying a paper bag of some sort, you appeared in front of the meeting room. "Hey, Kenji, I got this from someone in the neighborhood. Have some!" and do you remember handing me a loquat?
At that instant, I think my heart came to a decision. That day, you spoke to my heart, sending a message as if I were already a full team member, asking things like whether I would go to the Pixar studios. I am also grateful for receiving many phone calls and e-mails from the HR team during the time before my second interview. I feel grateful that a person like me could experience going along this path.
When I finally decided to join the company, one small box came by international mail. The box contained a new silver iPod mini that was not yet on sale in Japan and a welcome card with a collection of signatures from each of the company's top managers. I had never been so completely moved. I thought, "That's Apple." It was also a moment in which I determined, deep in my heart, that I wanted to deliver that feeling to as many customers as I could.
Steve, thank you.
After I joined Apple, I kept getting the same message from Steve: "What can I do for Japan, Kenji? Let me know anytime." I decided to limit my answer to a single message: "Steve, Somehow or other, come to Japan." About a year later, it finally happened. It was the fateful day of August 5, 2005, a moment I'll never forget. He came to Japan to announce the launching of the iTunes business in Japan.
To put it into context, the legendary speech he gave at Stanford had been in June 2005.
As you can imagine, Steve had power. From that day forward, Apple drew great new breaths of fresh air. Until then, Apple’s presence in Japan had mainly been through questions — why does a Mac or PC need to be connected to an iPod? IT literacy felt like it was probably lagging the US and Europe by at least 15 years, but August 5 marked the day when Apple's sails were filled with strong gusts of fresh air. People started saying, "Apple is amazing!"
In September, the following month, the first-generation iPod nano was announced and launched in Japan. We felt overpowered by a massive wave. With this momentum alone, during that year's Christmas sales battle, every week's sales volume was doubling and tripling, going up and up on an unbelievable growth curve. Even today, I deeply believe that Apple's success in Japan in 2005 can also be credited to Steve, and that’s the truth. From Tim I got the message that for the first time Steve was happy about Japan's rebirth that came with the energy flow we experienced that year. The joy even brought tears to my eyes, and I won’t ever forget the moment I heard that.
This article was taken from Communica, where it was published on October 8. Both parts of this translation were done by amazing myGengo translator #1489.
