Stanford University and Apple: A beautiful relationship
Apple, Inc. and Stanford University go together like apple pie and ice cream -- they're outstanding on their own, but put them together and you have something very special. USA Today's Talking Tech reported on the close ties between Apple and Stanford in a posting and video last week.
Many people are aware of the relationship between the university in Palo Alto and the company in Cupertino from the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs. In the book, Jobs is often taking long walks "in the hills above the Stanford University campus," he gave his famous 2005 commencement speech ("Stay hungry. Stay foolish.") at Stanford, and son Reed Jobs attends the university.
But the largest connection between Stanford and Apple these days is in the way that many Stanford grads, students, and dropouts are making it rich as iOS developers. The university's entrepreneurial atmosphere has given birth to a gaggle of startups, many of which are well-known to iPad and iPhone users.
Talking Tech's Jefferson Graham discusses Ankit Gupta, a Stanford student credited with helping create the highly successful Pulse News Reader. Ge Wang, the Stanford assistant professor who co-founded music app-maker Smule, has created virtual musical instrument apps for iPhone and iPad. He hired recent graduate Nick Kruge, who created the fun and unique MadPad app.
Graham also highlights Matt Sullivan and Zach Weiner, creators of the Storytree app that is a finalist for the SXSW Interactive Awards tonight. Weiner, who is still a senior at Stanford, notes that developing apps and starting companies "is just really kind of emblazoned into the culture here," in reference to the university.
Graham's interview of several past and present Stanford students who are making their name in the app world is embedded below.
