John Sculley

John Sculley

John Sculley (born 1939) was a president of Pepsi Cola USA until he was named president and CEO of Apple Computer on April 8, 1983. In what is now an over-repeated legend, then chairman Steve Jobs wooed Sculley from Pepsi by asking him, "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?" In 1985, Sculley would push Jobs out of the company.

Sculley coined the term personal digital assistant referring to the Apple Newton.

Sculley made many famous predictions in a Playboy interview in 1987. Some were foolish such as that the Soviet Union would land a man on Mars within the next 20 years. However other predictions rang true such as the claim that optical storage media (CD-ROM) would revolutionize the use of personal computers. Some of his ideas for the Knowledge Navigator would eventually be fulfilled not by Apple itself, but by the Internet and the World Wide Web.

After adverse financial results at Apple, Sculley was forced out and replaced by Michael Spindler.

Sculley is currently a partner in Sculley Brothers, a private investment firm formed in 1995.