Steve Jobs and Apple….the two big names go hand in hand with each other.
His innovations have made a profound impact on the world.
He redefined computing, put the user experience first, and created products and services loved
by millions of people around the world.
He reshaped the music industry with the iPod and iTunes, the mobile phone industry with
the iPhone, and the movie industry with Pixar.
Jobs was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Computer Inc and one of the greatest
innovators of our time.
Nowadays it’s hard to imagine a life without personal computers, smartphones, or iPads;
we have Jobs to thank for that.
He saw the future.
His vision was way way beyond the imaginable, he challenged the unthinkable and, as a result,
completely changed the world we now live in.
Steve was born in California in 1955 to a Syrian father and a German/Swiss mother, but
then quickly adopted by the Jobs family who was American.
He was known to be a difficult child, a loner, argumentative, and often suspended from school
for troublesome behavior.
Jobs, himself, later admitted that he was “constantly bored” in school!
Into his teens, Jobs became interested in engineering and electronics and was even given
a summer job at age 13 by Mr. Bill Hewlett (of Hewlett & Packard).
After a brief stint studying at Reed College (he dropped out after just one semester!)
and a 7-month trip to India in search of Buddhist spiritualism, Jobs returned to America and
started his own company with his friend, Steve Wozniak, in his parent’s garage.
Today, this property is listed as a protected historical site simply because it is famous
for being the location where both Steves built the first 50 Apple I computers in 1976.
Apple became huge as investors quickly realized that personal computers were the next big
thing.
At 23, Jobs was worth over 1 million dollars and within the space of two more years, his
net worth grew to over 250 million dollars.
With money came great power and responsibility, two traits that Jobs was never really comfortable
with.
In spite of all the money, fame, and attention, he remained a modest man in terms of his surroundings
and his purchases.
He wore the same ‘uniform’ every day - a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans, and
sneakers, nothing fancy or flash, just simple.
His focus was purely to keep on producing great products, innovating, and wowing his
audience.
Jobs’ work manner, though, is one of many mixed opinions.
Clearly, he was a genius, a true technological visionary of our times, but he was also known
to be a stubborn man, a hugely demanding boss, a perfectionist who was completely unrealistic
with his expectations, and a terrible communicator.
He set unachievable deadlines, he often squashed his team’s opinions or ideas and he never
admitted failure.
The staff both feared and admired him!
Some might say these are surely the habits of a successful leader!
Others might suggest that these flaws led to his downfall when Apple’s board decided
to fire him back in 1985.
Whatever!
Apple took him back on to revive the company in 1997, shortly after his own PC company,
Next, became hugely successful.
That is where he funded Pixar, leading to Jobs becoming the largest individual shareholder
ever in Disney.
Apple knew they had made a mistake and boy, were they right?
Can you imagine if they’d missed out on the iPhone, the iPod, iTunes, the iPad, the
iMac?
iCan’t!
Love him or hate him, we cannot deny the brilliance that was Steve Jobs.
Sadly, Jobs passed away in October 2011 after fighting pancreatic cancer for 8 years, but
his vision lives on at the company.
Today Apple is the most valuable brand in the world with a valuation of around 3 trillion
dollars (that’s greater than the GDP of all the UK….go figure!).
And though he may be gone, there is no danger that Jobs will ever be forgotten.
Great job, Steve!