'Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview' Available to Rent in U.S. iTunes Store

Late last year, Robert X. Cringely released his hour-long 1995 interview with Steve Jobs in several theaters in the United States. Roughly ten minutes of that footage was used in the 1996 Triumph of the Nerds documentary, but the remainder had been thought lost until a VHS copy of the footage was discovered just after Jobs' death last year.

As noted by Cringely, the interview has now been made available for rent in the iTunes Store, although the title appears to be limited to the U.S. store [iTunes Store]. The rental is priced at $3.99, and as with other content in the U.S. iTunes Store, customers have 30 days from the time of rental to begin watching the title. Once the customer begins watching, the rental expires in 24 hours.

Cringely indicates with some annoyance that Apple has apparently refused to feature the interview in its iTunes Store, deeming it "too controversial" and "too sensitive" for such publicity.

Deeming the film “too controversial,” Apple has it on the site but they aren’t promoting it and won’t. The topic is “too sensitive” you see. It isn’t even listed in the iTunes new releases. You have to search for it. But it’s there.

Maybe I’m not even supposed to tell you.

Of course there is nothing controversial or insensitive about this movie, which everyone including the critics seems to like. It’s a different look at an interesting guy and some people seem to take away a lot from it. You be the judge.

For those still interested in seeing the interview in the theater, it continues to play from time to time in select theaters.