Steve Jobs correctly predicts the future in 1983 speech

Nearly 30 years ago, Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke at the International Design Conference in Aspen, CO. During the speech, he spoke about the future of technology and during the beginning of the speech he pointed out that, “The kids growing up now are definitely products of the computer generation, and in their lifetimes the computer will become the dominate medium.”

“Apple’s strategy is really simple. What we want to do is we want to put an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes. That’s what we want to do and we want to do it this decade. And we really want to do it with a radio link in it so you don’t have to hook up to anything and you’re in communication with all of these larger databases and other computers.”-Steve Jobs, 1983

The CEO gave his vision of Apple’s future which was to put a book-sized computer in everyone’s hand that could be learned in 20 minutes. Even more interesting was Jobs’ prediction that this computer could be hooked up to a radio link (Wi-Fi?). At the time, Jobs added that Apple was five years away from connecting all computers in an office and ten years away from hooking them up at home.

Other forecasts made by Jobs on that day in 1983 included a prediction that people would spend more time interacting with their PCs than their cars, Jobs predicted that people would be able to access their email even while walking around. In a very accurate look at where we stand with mobile devices today, Jobs said that his goal was to provide a tool to distribute “intelligence” that everyone could own. He even predicted some of the difficulties Siri is having by mentioning how difficult voice recognition is. Of course, the technology has improved greatly in that department since 1983 when Jobs said about it, “This is hard.”

You can relive the days before smartphones ruled the world by listening to the speech. Simply click on the play button below.

source: Life, Liberty and Technology, HuffingtonPost

Steve Jobs correctly predicts the future in 1983 speech