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Scarce circa 1988 NeXT Computer, Inc. business card of Steve Jobs, 3.5 x 2, listing him as "Steven P. Jobs, President," signed and inscribed on the reverse in blue ballpoint: "Daniel, Your generation will change the world using computers. Lets go! steve jobs." The off-white card boasts NeXT's iconic logo designed by Paul Rand, and gives the address of the company's headquarters as "3475 Deer Creek Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304." In very fine condition. Encapsulated and graded by PSA/DNA as “NM-MT 8.”
Having been ousted from Apple in the fall of 1985, Jobs founded the innovative NeXT project, a computer and software company aimed at the markets of business and higher education. The first NeXT Computer was introduced in 1988 with great fanfare thanks to Jobs's marketing strategy. At NeXT, Jobs helped to develop a pioneering 'fingerless' automated manufacturing line right in Silicon Valley. He believed that keeping the design, development, and manufacturing in close proximity—all in a single plant, rather than outsourced overseas—would help NeXT out-innovate its competitors by allowing continuous improvement of their products. NeXT occupied the 3475 Deer Creek Road address from 1986 to 1989, where the staff was spoiled by fancy perks such as hi-fi systems and an unlimited supply of fresh juice. The luxurious common area featured large Ansel Adams prints, hardwood floors, a kitchen with granite countertops, and 12-seat U-shape sofas.
Originating from this pivotal moment in Steve Jobs's career, this NeXT business card is offered by the original recipient, who obtained it directly from Steve Jobs at the EDUCOM ’88 Conference in Washington, D.C., the first academic unveiling of the NeXT Computer. Held from October 25–28, 1988, EDUCOM ’88 followed NeXT’s private press debut in San Francisco and marked Jobs’s first major public return to higher education computing. The consignor accompanied his mother, a journalist for The Chronicle of Higher Education, to the conference venue to interview Jobs; she had previously interviewed Jobs at Apple and was meeting him again for this new venture.
Their meeting took place not on the bustling conference floor but in the exclusivity of Jobs’s private hotel suite, where he discussed his vision for NeXT. During this intimate conversation, Jobs inscribed and signed the business card with a visionary statement about the next generation using computers to change the world.
The consignor recalls Jobs speaking passionately about the power of PostScript, and clarifying that he viewed it not merely as a printer language but as a display language—a distinction that would become central to the architecture of NeXTSTEP and, ultimately, macOS and iOS. Accompanied by the consignor's signed provenance statement.
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