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CNN Live Event/Special

Newsroom Special Edition: An Inspired Life

Aired October 06, 2011 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world to a special edition of NEWSROOM, "An Inspired Life."

I'm Ali Velshi in New York.

To understand Steve Jobs and the profound impact of his death we are taking the next half-hour to pause. Look around you. All you have to do is watch TV, read the front pages, pass the magazine stand, surf the Internet or literally just walk around and you'll get just a glimpse of the extraordinary influence and reach of Steve Jobs.

The word visionary and genius have practically become synonyms for Steve Jobs. He's been gone less than 24 hours and he's already being placed among history's giants like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

What Steve Jobs leaves behind goes far beyond iPhones, iPods, iPads. He leaves a generation changed, lives improved. More people connected than ever before. And that's putting it simply.

The news of Steve Jobs' death after his battle with pancreatic cancer has unleashed an outpouring of emotion and tributes flooding in from all over the world.

We're covering this from all angles across the globe as only CNN can. Richard Quest is standing by in London, Sandra Endo is at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Sandra, let's start with you at the one place that really defines Steve Jobs. Walk us through the scene on the Apple campus as employees came in to work today after hearing the news that Steve Jobs had died.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, it's certainly very bustling here. They're about an hour and a half into their work day here and for a guy who never graduated from college, he certainly came to this campus every day.

There is a campus feel about Apple headquarters here in Cupertino. You see a lot of employees walking around. Let me show you. It's a campus feel because there are certain buildings and employees are bustling around carrying book bags and a lot of them carrying their super thin computers, their Macs, of course, like they would carry textbooks.

That is the main building right there. The main entrance where you see all day long already employees bustling, shuttling from building to building, and obviously a heavy media presence, of course, Ali, because of the passing of Steve Jobs.

But take a look through the trees there. That is the memorial that has been taking shape here at the Apple headquarters. You can see a lot of people there laying down flowers, cards, candles, apples themselves and that is all in tribute to the co-founder of this company.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANJEEV CHALA, RESIDENT: He's not a Nobel Laureate but from a technology point of view he's like another Nobel Laureate for us. So he represents technology. And then he's an iconic figure. As simple as that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: Taking a live look again at this memorial. You can see a line of people there just staring at all the flowers that people have been placing down. Employees as well stopping to take pictures.

They have been instructed not to talk to the media but of course a very somber mood, a sad mood. But a lot of people here at work today and we understand that Apple will be holding an internal private memorial for Steve Jobs, for their employees, but we understand they want to make it a celebration of his life, not such a sad affair -- Ali.

VELSHI: Right. And Sandra, you know, you mentioned a private memorial. Steve Jobs was a private guy. This all happened in relative secrets. The company came under some criticism for the way it handled not being entirely public about Steve Jobs' health situation in the beginning.

I guess they're keeping you some distance from people having told employees not to talk to the media. They're maintaining a bit of a security perimeter around the place.

ENDO: Absolutely. And we did speak to some employees who of course couldn't talk to us on camera and they again described the mood at work here very somber, very sad day. They lost a visionary, innovative man who was really the heart and soul of this company.

So clearly, they want to remember him. They want to keep working hard and really implement the vision they have -- really have come to embrace here in Cupertino.

VELSHI: All right. Sandra Endo in Cupertino, California at Apple headquarters. Thanks very much. We will check in with you in a little while.

The profound scope of Steve Jobs' life and work can be seen in the memorials that are popping up, as Sandra said, everywhere. But look at this. All across the U.S., in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and that's not all of them. Whatever people may say about the company's future and its products, Apple has a messianically devoted consumer base making their views known around the world.

Richard Quest is in London for us tonight.

Richard, set the stage for us.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: If there is a messianic devotional consumer base, as you rightly say, then the temple where they go to pray is of course the Apple Stores. More than 300 of them worldwide.

Let me take you around the world as you see some of the outpourings and some of the memorials.

In Regent Street in London, one of the largest such Apple Stores. And where from the very early morning people were gathering outside to pay their respects. The store actually flew a black flag with a white Apple logo in the reverse of what we're told is usual.

Cross the channel and in the heart of Paris, a similar scene. More people wanting to remember Steve Jobs and the contribution he made to the life of the digital age.

You travel continents from Europe to Asia, China, and Hong Kong, and the vast new store in Hong Kong was the scene of more people. All of whom just wanted to have their say. And what's fascinating about those areas, of course, this is where many of the products particularly in China, in Beijing, this is where the products were manufactured.

And even in Japan, Ali -- even in Japan where Jobs was beating the Japanese electronics game companies at their own game, like Sony who had the Walkman, more time for (INAUDIBLE) out of respect.

Ali, an extraordinary scene. It doesn't matter what continent they were all there.

VELSHI: Question. You and I talked about this earlier. It's a question you had, it's a question I've had. From people who are saying, can you think of another brand, another company, another game changer in industry that is so clearly associated with one name at some point in history -- and I can think of Henry Ford. We can think of Thomas Edison. What else can you think of?

QUEST: There's pretty much nothing else in our time. I mean, yes, you can say Bill Gates with Windows.

VELSHI: Sure.

QUEST: But you know nobody is going to really remember who did the PC at IBM. Nobody is necessarily going to remember Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, even for the work that he did. So you are left with these unbelievable giants of industry commerce. And they were the true renaissance people because they were able to take culture, commerce and consumers, and put them all together.

VELSHI: Yes. No kidding. All right, Richard, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you.

Richard Quest for us in London.

And most probably you believe that it was Apple where Steve Jobs gained his fortune. Believe it or not, it wasn't. So here's some trivia for you.

Which company made Steve Jobs a billionaire? Was it, A, Motorola? B, Walt Disney, or C, IBM. I'll have the answer for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Before the break we asked you which company made Steve Jobs a billionaire. Was it, A, Motorola, B, Walt Disney or C, IBM? The answer, Walt Disney. The company bought Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion. Jobs had purchased Pixar 20 years earlier when it was a struggling graphic supercomputing company. But all that changed in 1995 when Pixar and Disney teamed up to create "Toy Story." The film made more than $360 million at the box office.

Talk about rich. See the feed running on the screen right next to me? Well, that's the tweets that are featuring the hash tag Steve Jobs. It's a conversation that began globally at the news of his death and it continues to flow at breakneck speed. This is live. You are watching all of these tweets going on. It's pretty remarkable.

Now chances are the Steve Jobs that you know and admire is this man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE JOBS, APPLE FOUNDER AND CEO: You ever wonder what this pocket's for? I've always wondered that. Well now we know. Because this is the new iPod Nano.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: The confident Steve Jobs. But now we want to show you something that most of you have probably never seen before. Nervous and scared are probably two words you would never use to describe Steve Jobs. But that's exactly what the young genius was while he was getting ready for his first TV interview back in 1978.

Take a look at the rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the man before he changed the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOBS: God, look at that. Look, I'm on television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

JOBS: Hey.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to be in New York, too. JOBS: No. No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you are.

JOBS: Am I really? Are you serious?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're watching --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they got you in New York.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put this in your own ear and just -- you see what it is? It is a talkback. They're going to talk back to you.

JOBS: Yes. Now this is not the real thing, though, right? You just want a picture of me now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's -- yes. They're going to just sit you here --

(CROSSTALK)

JOBS: Gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you would like. Some water, Steve?

JOBS: Well, I'm not going to have to sit here until you're ready, right? You're going to let me go away and come back?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So if you got to do anything, do it now.

JOBS: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to go to the bathroom or anything?

JOBS: No. You could bring me some water though. I'm not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After he's -- we get a shot of him, he's free to walk around. And then --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The show isn't coming on for another half-hour. He doesn't have to sit there for another half-hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You sure. OK.

JOBS: Great. That would be good. You need to tell me where the restroom is, too, because I'm deathly ill actually and ready to throw up at any moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That's pretty fascinating. Did you notice something though? Even in his fear and nervousness, he never lost his sense of excitement and curiosity.

All right. Despite Steve Jobs' phenomenal success, did you know he never graduated from college? In fact, he dropped out of Reed College after just one semester.

So some more trivia for you. Why did Steve Jobs drop out of college? Was it because of a job offer from Hewlett-Packard? Was it because it was too expensive? Or was it to create his own software company?

We'll give you the answer coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to "An Inspired Life," our tribute to Steve Jobs.

Before we took a break we asked you, why did Steve Jobs drop out of college? Was it because of a job offer from Hewlett-Packard? Because it was too expensive or to create his own software company?

The answer, it was too expensive. Jobs' adoptive parents were working class people. He didn't have the money for his education. He said it was the best decision he ever made.

Steve Jobs' death has sparked an outpouring of memories and imagination around the world today.

CNN iReporter drbkrepps sent in this picture of her 3-year-old son who has autism. She says even though her son doesn't speak or talk, the Apple iPad he got in April has been revolutionary in his development. Apparently the little boy just can't put it down.

Like so many of us.

She writes, "Thank you, Steve Jobs, for helping my son. You've given us hope where we thought we would never have any."

IReporter LopesLouis87 sent us this incredible illustration of Jobs saying, "The tech world mourns the loss of a true titan of industry."

What a great, great picture.

And this picture from iReporter musicinme says it all, doesn't it? Take a look at this. She writes, "Thank you for transforming me from a gadget and gizmo illiterate to a high-techie."

A picture of an apple and a little iPad shuffle right next to it.

We received several video testimonials, including this one from iReporter Melissa F. shot from her iPad2, of course.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MELISSA FAZLI, CNN IREPORTER: Steve Jobs was an extraordinary man. He changed my life in the way that I see, hear and touch the world. And he changed the lives of millions with the iPad, the iPod, the iPhone, the Mac Book, it doesn't matter. He was a true visionary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: And iReporter Ryan Navarro snapped this picture of his company's tribute to Jobs. He says he could say one thing to Steve Jobs, it would be, thank you and continue to stay hungry and foolish.

We encourage you to keep sending in your iReports on Steve Jobs. Just go to CNNireport.com/desk.

Web sites from across the spectrum are paying tribute to Steve Jobs today, from blogs to humor sites, to Apple itself. Take a look. This is Apple's home page. It's the one you just saw in that iReport. It's a simple classy tribute to their co-founder just as he would have had it.

Search engine Google featuring a link on its home page directing users straight to Apple's site right under the place where you put your search in.

And check out tech site wired.com today. This is its front page. The entire page a dedication to Steve Jobs.

As you can imagine, tweets thanking Steve Jobs have come in from all corners of the world. From Hong Kong to Hollywood, from the UK to D.C.

President Obama tweeted, "Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. From all of us at Obama 2012. Thank you for the work you make possible every day, including ours."

Steve Jobs gave President Obama an iPad.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said, "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it's been an insanely great honor. I will you immensely."

And Oscar winner Kevin Spacey sums it up best, "The world lost a true visionary today. Think different."

Steve Jobs delivered the commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005. You may have seen pieces of this already because it's a speech that still resonates as much today as it did back then.

So one last bit of trivia for you. In that speech Steve Jobs warned college students never to be trapped by this in life. Think about it. What did he say don't be trapped by? Cheating? Well, we'll have the answer for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Before the break we asked you what Steve Jobs warned students never to be trapped by in life. The answer -- well, let me read you his quote.

"Your time is limit. So don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma. Don't let the noise of others' opinion drown out your inner voice and most important have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Steve Jobs told a group of young graduates in 1995, quote, "You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something. Your gut. Destiny, life, karma, whatever, this approach has never let me down and it has made all the difference in my life."

Well, as we end this half hour special, we see the future by looking back to the words Apple's core Steve Jobs had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOBS: Today, for the first time ever, I would like to let Macintosh speak for itself. We think a lot of them are going to get into the home but we like to say they're going to get there through the garage door. People are going to bring them home over the weekend to work on something. Sunday morning they're not going to be able to get their kids away from them and maybe someday they'll even buy a second one to leave at home.

The strangest thing about Apple is it hasn't had a good consumer product. Here's one of the best consumer brands in the world and they haven't had a compelling product under $2,000. And the one we introduced today, the iMac, is incredibly sweet. So I think it's going to make a difference.

Well, this $1299 product is faster than the fastest Pentium II you can buy. You can go out and buy a 400 megahertz Pentium II and this thing smokes it. And so it's amazing. And the market has never had a consumer product this powerful and this cool looking.

What is iPod? IPod is an MP3 music player. Has CD quality music. And it plays all of the popular open formats of digital music. But the biggest thing about iPod is it holds 1,000 songs. Now this is a quantum leap because it's your -- for most people it's their entire music library.

This is huge. The coolest thing about iPod is that whole -- your entire music library fits in your pocket.

I've got a pocket. Right here. Now this pocket has been the one that your iPod has gone in traditionally. The iPod and the iPod Mini fit great in there.

You ever wonder what this pocket is for? I've always wondered that. Well, now we know because this is the new iPod Nano.

Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. An iPod. A phone. And an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone.

The question has arisen lately, is there room for a third category of device in the middle? Something that's between a laptop and a smart phone? And of course, we've pondered this question for years as well. The bar is pretty high. In order to really create a new category of devices, those devices are going to have to be far better at doing some key tasks.

And we call it the iPad. And what this device does is extraordinary. You can browse the Web with it. It is the best browsing experience you've ever had. It's phenomenal. To see a whole Web page right in front of you that you can manipulate with your fingers. It's unbelievably great. Way better than the laptop. Way better than a smart phone.

For 2010, we're going to take the biggest leap since the original iPhone. So today -- today we're introducing iPhone 4. The fourth generation iPhone.

Stop me if you've already seen this. Believe me. You ain't seen it. You've got to see this thing in person. It is one of the most beautiful designs you've ever seen.

Hey, Johnny. I grew up here in the U.S. with the Jetsons and with "Star Trek" and communicators, and just dreaming about this. You know dreaming about video calling. And it is real now.

Good morning. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to introduce today iPad2. The second generation iPad. It is an all- new design. It is not a tweaked design. It has not got marginal improvements. It's a completely new design.

And the first thing is, it's dramatically faster. One of the most starting things about the iPad 2 is it is dramatically thinner. Not a little bit thinner, a third thinner. And that is iPad 2.

(APPLAUSE)

As always, I would also like to thank everyone's families, because they support us and let us do what we love to do. So thank you very much to our extended families out there who make it possible for us to work our tails off making these great products for you.

TEXT: "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)