Jobs, wearing his normal mock black turtleneck, was in full-on aw-shucks-just-folks mode, opening his presentation with a chuckle and the statement, "Apple is growing like a weed." He spent 21 minutes running through a presentation about the massive new building Apple hopes to build -- one he admitted looks "a bit like a spaceship landed."
For those who have watched Jobs shill for the iPod and iPhone and a myriad of other Apple products, it's not a stretch to see the salesman at work. Explaining that Apple wants a building to hold 12,000 people, he says: "Think about that; that's rather odd. 12,000 people in one building. We've seen these office parks with lots of buildings -- and they get pretty boring pretty fast. So we'd like to do something better than that."
Cue the stunning new campus.
Explaining that Apple has learned a lot from making retail stores, Job boasts, "There's not a straight piece of glass in the whole building."The building will also boast its own energy center, using natural gas as the primary source of power, using the Cupertino grid only as a backup.
The big loser in all of this? San Francisco's Moscone Center, which for years has served as a host for major Apple events, including the WWDC this week. "We've got an auditorium," Jobs says, "Because we put on presentations, much like we did yesterday. But we have to go to San Francisco to do them."
Ouch.
For it's part, the Cupertino City Council simply seemed a bit stunned to be in the same room as Jobs. At one point, Councilwoman Kris Wang asked Jobs how residents could benefit from having this campus built in their hometown. Jobs affably told them that Apple is the largest taxpayer in Cupertino, and that Apple employees are some of the finest people Cupertino could ever hope to have. But more importantly, he noted, it would be a shame if Apple had to move over to Mountain View.
When Wing attempted to extract a promise for Apple to provide free WiFi, Jobs smiled sharply, replying, "I'm a simpleton, but I've always had the view that we pay taxes, and the city pays for those things." When Wing gamely pressed for free iPads, Jobs just replied, "Well, I think we bring a lot more than free WiFi."
The Apple mothership is set to break ground in 2015. Judging from the city council meeting, we don't expect Cupertino officials to raise any objections.
Check out more art of the iSpaceship below:
