Apple co-founder addresses Omantel’s corporate clients

MUSCAT: Omantel, the pioneer integrated telecom services provider in the Sultanate, hosted Stephen Wozniak as a guest speaker addressing the company’s corporate customers. Stephen Wozniak is an American inventor, computer engineer and programmer who co-founded Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne.

The event was part of Omantel Business Alliance, a forum that helps recognise and foster thought leadership. Omantel Business Alliance brings the company’s corporate customers closer to some of the best and brightest business minds, who have a significant impact on the world.

Wozniak, who talked about “Life at Apple, and the Future Evolution of the Digital Revolution” said that innovation is about doing things differently, not necessarily inventing a new idea but doing it better.”

Wozniak emphasised on education and the importance of utilising the available opportunities saying, “Never pass on the opportunities which come on your way as they may never come again.”

Wozniak’s speech covered different aspects and narrated the history of Apple Inc, from the inception until the launch of the most recent device, iPhone 5. The guest speaker emphasised on the importance of involving engineers in the decision-making. Stephen expressed also his passion about teaching and children and has provided thousands of hours and many hundreds of laptops and other state-of-the-art technology donation and equipment to students and technology programme in his local Los Gatos school district.

Wozniak who met his best friend, the late Steve Jobs jointly established more than 40 years ago a company that is now known to be the second largest company in the world, Apple Incorporation. In 1976, Wozniak developed the computer that eventually made him famous. By himself he designed the hardware, circuit board designs, and operating system for the Apple I. After the success of the Apple I, Wozniak single-handedly designed the Apple II, which was the first personal computer that had the ability to display colour graphics. In 1984, Steve Wozniak greatly influenced the design of the Apple Macintosh computer, the first successful home computer with a mouse-driven graphical user.

As many as 300 top-level executives, especially chief executive officers and chief technology officers, from Oman’s corporate sector attended the event.

Welcoming the audience, Todd Dick, vice-president of Corporate Business Unit at Omantel, said that Omantel Business Alliance is an endeavour to create a forum that recognises and fosters thought leadership, by helping Oman’s corporates to connect and network with some of the brightest business minds in Oman and abroad.” “The forum is an opportunity for our corporate clients to come together, to network, to discuss, to be stimulated by contemporary topics, to share, to listen and to personally and professionally gain from the membership in Omantel Business Alliance,” Todd further pointed out.

The event, which was third in the series, is part of Omantel’s initiative to add value for its business customers. The first event was on social media and hosted Randi Zuckerberg, the former director and head of Marketing, Facebook. As a key force behind one of the world’s great brands today, Randi presented a thought provoking and entertaining session on the relevance of social media to our business community, with case studies that testified how social media had changed the very fundamentals of communication.

In September last year, Omantel hosted Mary Buffet, who spoke eloquently of global financial trends and shared insights to Buffet’s investment strategies. She emphasised how investment in education will help reduce unemployment and the upbeat flow-through effects that ultimately will produce wide-spread, long-term positive results in the economy.