Mossberg: The Steve Jobs I knew isn't in this movie


Unlike Mr. Sorkin, I did know the real Steve Jobs, for about 14 years -- the most productive and successful 14 years of his career. I spent scores of hours in private conversations with him over those years, and interviewed him numerous times onstage at a tech conference I co-produced. And the Steve Jobs portrayed in Sorkin's film isn't the man I knew.

Sorkin chose to cherry-pick and exaggerate some of the worst aspects of Jobs' character, and to focus on a period of his career when he was young and immature. His film chooses to place enormous emphasis on perhaps the most shameful episode in Jobs' personal life, the period when he denied paternity to an out-of-wedlock daughter.

Jobs and Apple really valued Mossberg's opinions in product reviews. I distinctly remember Jobs boasting about favorable reviews from Mossburg at Macworld Expo. Besides being a veteran observer and reporter, Mossberg got a lot of access going back to the early days of Jobs' return to Apple. So, some interesting insights here.

I plan to eventually see the movie, but I don't plan to spend a date night away from the kids to see this one.