Steve Jobs, the boss in jeans
All Jobs initiatives were considered insane. Almost all have been successful.
In 1976 he founded Apple with Steve Wozniak. He was the one who gave ideas, Wozniak was the engineer who put them into practice. He has done so throughout his whole life.
Steve Jobs has never invented anything, his main quality is the popularization of technologies whose no one else had seen the interest. Thus, we are beholden to Apple, among others:
- The mouse and the GUI in 1984 (the mouse was invented in 1960).
- The 3.5 inches rigid disk, then replaced by memory sticks.
- The USB interface.
- The touch screen of the iPhone, while HP had already tried to market touch screens in 80 without success.
- The touch pad, tablet being another product that has existed for decades in a more conventional shape (we see it in Star Trek) and whose sales were confidential.
Fired from the company he founded (1985)
Considering that Apple needed an experienced manager, he hired John Sculley, who had succeeded in Pepsi-Cola, in 1983.
But Sculley believes that Jobs was making bad decisions for the firm and with the support of the Board, fired him in 1985. Jobs was broken down and wondered what future he has left. He could not at the time imagine what will happen twenty years later.
Some may think given what happened later that Sculley has made a huge mistake. It's not quite accurate at first. Under his direction. turnover of Apple has increased 10 times after the departure of Jobs.
In the late 90s, however, this growth slowed down, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy.
What it lacked was the person able to create attractive new products. He had been fired long ago.
He built the first computer to the Internet (1990)
Become unemployed (despite his name), Jobs sold his shares in Apple, created the NeXT company and debauched Apple engineers, which sued him on this ground.
His computer, the NeXT Cube is revolutionary, but has not been successful (50,000 sold). However the computer created by Jobs was the first server used for the Web, which Tim Berners-Lee invented at CERN in 1990. (Ref).
The Return (1997)
Apple is unable to create a new operating system. It then plans to buy one and put in competition NeXTSTEP of Jobs and BeOS of Jean-Louis Gassée.
It favored Jobs, NeXT was bought in December 1996, and as a result, the firm assigned him to the position of CEO in July 1997.
NeXT technologies are then transferred to Apple computers and the firm is seen revived with the help of Microsoft which invested in it (in 2011 Apple is bigger than Microsoft).
As soon that he head the firm, he took several important decisions. The personal assistant Newton created in his absence is abandoned. It was the ancestor of the smartphone, but it used handwriting recognition, which was not really efficient and was rather cumbersome.
He ceased licensing to third-party manufacturers that fall into bankruptcy and launched Apple Stores, retail space dedicated to Apple computers.
He also puts an end to all the philanthropy of the firm. Itself has never been a gift to anyone.
His admirers say that what he gives is more important: devices easier to use by all.
Ruthless with employees (2007)
When engineers have presented the first version of the iPod, he took it in hand, handled it, weighed it and then says them it was too big.
It is impossible to do it smaller, they said, we should reinvent everything. And they began to give a series of technical arguments.
After a moment, Jobs got upset, launched the iPod in the aquarium. The iPod dropped on the bottom and bubbles came up to the surface. Jobs showed them bubbles and told them: You see, there is air inside, so there is room unused.
Growing recognition
Since 1997, Apple has continued to grow and actually the products that have provided the greatest success came since 2001 after shorter and shorter intervals.
The main ones, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2011 came during the illness of Jobs who was suffering from pancreatic cancer since 2003.
It is likely that the previous success gave him more authority to impose its designs to engineers. But he has often been expressed about the disease how it changed his views on the world, gave him wanted to fulfill his desires, that performance he shared with others through his products.
History of the black polo neck
Why Jobs was he always dressed with this black turtleneck? It actually has a story.
In the 1980s, while visiting the Sony factory in Japan, he was surprised to see that employees wear a uniform.
The owner, Akio Morita told him that after the war, there was a lack of clothes, so companies had to provide them to their employees. Over time, they have become a hallmark of companies.
Jobs decided to do the same for Apple and urges the designer of Sony, Issey Miyake to make one. It was he who designed the polo-jacket with zipper.
Jobs has ordered a hundred but nobody wanted it in Apple, since he is the only one wearing them.
A patron in jeans and polo
Dressing of Steve Jobs is not just just for the show, but reflects the culture of the company he leads.
For instance he have often responded personally to emails sent by webmasters or even simple users. No other boss does.
"Think differently" was his motto. Where others strive to produce what sells the best, he created these products. He attached great importance to the beauty and manageability of his products, which also makes Apple unique.
Steve Jobs died October 5, 2011. This leaves a great void in the computer world. No one can replace him and it is likely that Apple will cease to be what it is and the success it has now melt with time.
Quote
"Being the richest man in the cemetery is not what matters to me. Go to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me."
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