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Former Apple chief John Sculley says Steve Jobs 'never forgave him'

Dublin crowd told Jobs held grudge after being pushed out

Web Summit John Sculley, former Apple chief and forever famous for pushing Steve Jobs out of the company in the '80s, has said that the pair of tech entrepreneurs never patched things up between them.

“We never really talked… Steve Jobs never forgave me – Apple was his baby,” Sculley admitted at the Web Summit in Dublin.

He said that the pair’s infamous boardroom bust-up, which led to Jobs being sidelined at the fruity firm, was down to Jobs’ conviction that the Mac would be the next big thing and his desire to pour resources into the division, while the board was more cautious.

“But he was right,” Sculley said.

Sculley was at Web Summit in Dublin to talk about his new business book, Moonshot, and his new mobile phone company, Obi Mobiles, which he said wouldn’t really be competing with Apple’s iDevices.

Sculley’s smartphones were launched in Asia and are aimed at the low-cost end of the market, “which Apple will never be interested in”, he said.

At a later press conference, he said that Ireland’s dissolution of the so-called Double Irish tax break could cause problems for the state, which is hosting the Web Summit as part of its drive to be considered a top destination for tech firms in Europe.

“There is a lot of talent in Ireland so I don’t think it will be an insurmountable problem but it will take the edge off, if tax advantages do go away,” he said.

Sculley has done business in Ireland – both with Pepsi and with Apple – and has said that Ireland is one of the top two destinations in the world to have a business, along with Singapore.

“Even without the special tax holidays and advantages Ireland has a lot to contribute including hard working people and immigration from people in other parts of the EU to come to Ireland,” he said.

“[But] it is going to be a challenge to get as much enthusiasm from international companies to locate in Ireland if there is a tax advantage somewhere else.” ®

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