Back in the days when even I was an early computer user, Apple was hammering out its early deals with the likes of Stan Veit. Mr. Veit was the first Editor-in-Chief of Computer Shopper magazine, but before that he was a critical component in the development of the computer retail establishment. As such, Stan got to deal directly with Steve Jobs and an extremely nascent Apple Computer Inc. at a time when the Apple I came without a case. He’s written about it in a series of essays which appear on Computer Shopper’s website.

While the story is deeply interesting from Stan’s point of view, it shows a Steve Jobs which I’m sure nobody would be surprised at. Stan, however, spins Jobs as a very slick Snakeoil salesman who stabs people in the back. While I’m not shocked at this and don’t disbelieve it, it doesn’t benefit from the perspective of the other side. At one level, Mr. Veit clearly indicates that his association with Apple caused the failure of his computer store in New York City when Jobs changed the way the sales channels worked.

I’m not going to make this brief piece a defense of Steve Jobs and Apple, but I will say that its important to take these stories from a perspective which can only be granted by time and hindsight. Even today, Apple is ruthless when it comes to marketing and working with channels. I’ve also never seen anyone work as hard as Steve Jobs has at making a company like Apple work from almost every possible angle. That’s gonna piss some people off.

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