Steve Jobs on Education: Maine's Laptop Initiative
What Jobs talks about
Steve Jobs visits Portland High School in Maine to talk about the state’s laptop program and why Apple wanted to be involved. He says the initiative matched what Apple believed in and was excited to support it.
The recording is brief, but it captures Jobs connecting technology in schools with a larger vision for learning. His remarks frame laptops not as gadgets, but as tools that can support education at scale.
The context is Governor Angus King’s Maine Learning Technology Initiative, which gave students iBooks. Jobs’s comments highlight Apple’s support for putting computers directly into students’ hands.
Jobs speaks, with narration introducing the segment and describing the Maine program.
In his words
“When we heard what you guys were doing here in the state of Maine, we not only were thrilled, but we decided we had to be a part of it because this is exactly what we believed in.”
“We not only were thrilled”
“We had to be a part of it”
“This is exactly what we believed in”
Key points
- Apple saw Maine’s laptop program as aligned with its own beliefs about education.
- Jobs presents student access to computers as something worth backing at the state level.
- He emphasizes enthusiasm and commitment, not just sales or technology.
- The visit shows Apple’s interest in education as a real-world use of personal computing.
Full transcript
Jobs made a visit to Portland High School back in June 2002 to speak about the success of governor Angus King's laptop computer program. It was Apple Computer that won the four year $37,000,000 contract to provide those laptops. Jobs spoke to students about why he was so excited about the program. When we heard what you guys were doing here in the state of Maine, we not only were thrilled, but we decided we had to be a part of it because this is exactly what we believed in. Well, read read as the world reacts to the death of Steve Jobs on our website, wm2w.com, where we have a live Twitter feed there. There's also slideshow of the Apple founder through the years, and you can leave your condolences there as well. It's all on our website wmtw.com.
Transcribed from the audio by speech recognition (Deepgram). Timestamps link to the video above. Errors are possible.