Jon Rubinstein
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"Cook’s reputation quickly extended beyond the Apple campus. When Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s head of hardware, invited Cook to the Netherlands to negotiate with a company called Lucent as they were trying to help make Wi-Fi a standard, Cook demonstrated a skill in negotiating that awed him. Apple wasn’t even a big company at the time, but Cook managed to grasp every facet of Lucent’s business to understand what the real costs were, so he could low-ball an offer and convince them they’d still earn profit at scale. “Tim hammered home the prices,” Rubinstein says. “It was basically a proctology exam.”"
"Jobs went on a tirade. “Ninety-five fucking hundred jobs are depending on you, and you’ve failed!” Jobs fumed to Jony Ive, hardware chief Jon Rubinstein, technology chief Glen Miranker, director of engineering Josef Friedman, and a few others. “You’ve screwed the pooch,” Jobs continued. “I’m going to sell my one fucking share of Apple stock!”"
"The success of the iPod Mini all but assured Foxconn was getting the contract for the next iteration: the iPod Nano. But when Terry Gou invited Jon Rubinstein to Shenzhen to discuss the project, Apple’s hardware chief nearly had a panic attack. “Terry points to an empty lot. And he goes, ‘Here’s your factory.’ ” Rubinstein looked into the distance, his bewilderment turning to anxiety. “I’m terrified,” he recounts. “It’s a typical Chinese field filled with garbage. I’m panicking. And he says, ‘Don’t worry, I got you covered.’ ”"
"Jon Rubinstein, who worked for Steve Jobs on and off for sixteen years, called the long workweeks “shattering,” and it’s what led to his own departure later on. “A lot of people got sick at Apple,” he once said. “The list goes on and on of people who got terminally ill or really ill… and I worried that if I stayed, I’d end up damaging myself, and my health was, frankly, more important.” He added: “Steve used to always tell the groups, ‘This will be the high point of your life,’ and I was thinking, *God, I hope not,* right? Because that’s really a sad way to think.”"