Apple and Steve Jobs

Introduction

San Francisco, 1955: Steve Jobs was adopted by a modest white-collar family living in the Palo Alto area. This event would mark him for the entire course of his existence and would also haunt him in the work environment itself. Contrary to what one might think, Jobs did not seem like one of the classic wunderkinder born to succeed. Rather, he was a hippie and spoke quietly about how LSD had changed his life. After just six months, he decided to drop out of college at Reed in Oregon and focus exclusively on the courses that most interested him. This path allowed him to discover his greatest passion, electronics, and through this, he would meet a person who would change his life…

Steve Wozniak.

Friendship with Steve and the Personal Computer

Steve Wozniak, a brilliant engineering graduate student, experimented on his own with a new invention: a personal computer much smaller than the classic ones on the market. It also had an integrated keyboard and screen so users could interact directly with the machine and see the job being executed. Unlike Jobs, Wozniak was only interested in showing off his invention to a few nerds interested in the subject, not realizing the magnitude of what he had in his hands. When Steve saw this first sketch of the computer, he fell in love at first sight and understood what he wanted to do for the rest of his life…

Personal Computers.

The union between an engineer disinterested in sales and fame and a now-retired former college student and marketing genius enabled the founding of Apple in 1976, with Steve Jobs working out of his garage at his Palo Alto home.

Apple I and II

Steve Jobs and Apple needed funding, and the first came from a small electronics store interested in purchasing their first creation, the Apple I, which was equipped only with a motherboard. This first product, of course, was not an intercontinental mega-success but allowed Wozniak and Jobs to start working seriously on the project and hire some guys, practically for free, to manufacture their first little jewels.

But the real breakthrough came with the Apple II.

At this point, however, to make the real breakthrough, the two young men needed a substantial investment to produce a real computer. While Wozniak and the other helpers worked day and night on the creation of their new PC, Jobs spent his time looking for someone willing to invest in the company. Despite many rejections, one day, someone decided to take a meeting…

Then again, the seekers finds.

Mike Markkula was the first to see a future for those young boys locked inside a garage in Palo Alto. He decided to make a decision deemed crazy at the time: he invested $250,000 in 1977 in the newly founded Apple Computers, acquiring a third of the company. Time would eventually prove him right; the Apple II came to sell 50,000 to 70,000 units a month.

The next investments came in 1980 when Apple was officially listed on the stock exchange, generating more money than any placement since Ford’s.

Geniuses, steal.

After the great success of the Apple II, Jobs found himself compelled to repeat the miracle. He had to bring innovation and could not stop dreaming. He was sure he would be able to create something truly innovative, capable of changing the world. To the rescue came Xerox, who invited Jobs and some of his engineers to their Palo Alto Park and showed off some of the new inventions they had created: The graphical user interface and the mouse. Stuff for nothing, in short…

At this point, Steve, being the true artist that he was, decided to apply one of the most famous phrases in history uttered by none other than Pablo Picasso:

“Good artists copy, great artists steal!”

Thus, Jobs was able to devote himself to the creation of both the Lisa and the more important Macintosh, announced in 1984 and made famous above all for a simply unforgettable commercial. Although Jobs’ latest creation completely changed the world of personal computers, it was not as successful as he had hoped and for that, he was pushed to the margins of the company, forcing him to quit completely.

The story between Apple and Steve Jobs seemed to end there…

Young, millionaire, and unemployed

This was the situation Jobs found himself in after being fired. An ordinary person might have decided to relax and enjoy his status as a legend and live off his income, but a troubled soul like Steve’s was unable to sit still. He decided to devote himself to not one but two different companies.

The first was NEXT, where he could continue to pursue his greatest passion: computers. He decided to buy the animation department of Lucasfilm, creating what we know today as PIXAR.

The NEXT project did not go as hoped; sales were marginal, and Jobs certainly could not occupy the same market position he had during his Apple days. In contrast, PIXAR exceeded all kinds of expectations. They began working with Disney and created some of the most famous films of the period, such as “Toy Story.”

This allowed Steve to sell the company for as much as $7 billion in 2006 to Disney. As for NEXT, well…

He had his revenge.

The Revenge

In 1996, Apple was in dire straits and decided to buy NEXT and bring Steve himself back “home.” Jobs had finally gotten the revenge he longed for: his own company, from which he had been kicked out years earlier, was forced to buy his new business to bring him back.

At this point, it was necessary to save a company that seemed all but irretrievable. Only someone like Steve could do that.

And indeed he did. By 1998, Apple and Steve Jobs had already returned to profits and were finally beginning to focus on a few but truly revolutionary products. One of these was the iPod, capable of completely revolutionizing the music market in 2001. Another was the iPhone (2007) and the iPad (2010), which were also incredible for their historical period.

At this point, the miracle was done: Apple had become one of the richest and most famous electronics companies in the world.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Jobs died shortly thereafter from a rare pancreatic cancer. Despite his young age, a guy who seemed destined to do nothing managed to change the way we live to this day. He was certainly a character studded with lights and shadows, with a character that was certainly peculiar and at times even cruel.

Nevertheless, no one can deny the greatness of Steve Jobs’s genius.