Old Stories About Steve Jobs and Bob Dylan

By D.D. • September 24, 2008

Steve Jobs always protects his private life very well. But we all know he loves Bob Dylan. So what on earth does the relationship between Steve Jobs and Bob Dylan?

bob-dylan-apple-think-different

Apple’s Bob Dylan edition Think Different Post

Steve Jobs is absolutely one of messianic icons of this world. But he described meeting Bob Dylan as one of the high points of his life. They have some interesting stories too:

1. Steve Jobs never secretes his favor to Bob Dylan. At the famous Apple Shareholder Meeting which the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, Steve Jobs kicked off the event with a quote from a song of Bob Dylan.

Apple Shareholder Meeting 1984-Steve Jobs Quotes Bob Dylan

2. In a intervew with Rolling Stone in 2003, Steve Jobs said it was Steve Wozniak who introduced Bob Dylan’s music to him when he was only 13 years old. They obviously loved these music, “so we had our room full of tapes of Bob Dylan that we copied”.

3. In 1994, Apple developed a programming language for Newton and called it as Dylan, which also means “dynamic language.” Bob Dylan sued Apple for trademark infringement. Shortly after the suit was filed, Apple reached a confidential out-of-court settlement and obtained the rights to trademark Dylan.

4. The lawsuit event helped the relationship between Apple and Bob Dylan. In 1997, When Apple started it’s famous “Think Different” advertising campaign, Bob Dylan’s image was used together with other celeb like Einstein, Picasso, Hitchcock etc.

5. “Bob Dylan is one of the most respected poets and musicians of our time, and he is a personal hero of mine.” said Steve Jobs when Apple announced new album “Modern Times” from Bob Dylan will be offered through an exclusive pre-order on the iTunes Music Store on August 29,2006.

6. Together with the launch of Bob Dylan’s new album in 2006, Apple also introduced a new iTunes/iPod ad starring Bob Dylan, who plays a song from Modern Times.

Apple iPod + iTunes Ad - Bob Dylan