SAN FRANCISCO — In a room full of luminaries on Tuesday night, there was one guest that had people talking more than any other: Steve Jobs, the chairman and CEO of Apple Inc.
In his typical attire, Jobs did some schmoozing with some of the night’s esteemed guests during a cocktail reception, but he had a greater task at hand. He was also there to congratulate Stan Sigman, the former CEO of Cingular and then AT&T Mobility, on being inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame.
Of course, Jobs and Sigman have a special relationship dating back to 2005 when they first started talking about bringing the iPhone to market.
“Steve called me at home late one evening,” Sigman said. “We had just introduced a Motorola phone that had iTunes on it and Steve had a vision of doing more with the device than that.”
When the pair decided to partner on the iPhone, there was no prototype, Sigman said. “Steve and I had not seen a phone — we just had confidence in our respective organizations that we could do this. It was a big gamble, but I had that much faith in Steve Jobs. He told me what he could do and I believed him, and history will show that was a good decision.”
The Wireless History Foundation also inducted three others into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday night: Ted Rogers, Roy Carlson and Ray Trott.
@ CTIA E&A: Steve Jobs inducts Stan Sigman into Wireless Hall of Fame
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