Essay- Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

The year is 2008 and most people take for granted what technology has brought to the human race. Take away a cellphone and people will be stranded, take away an iPod and people will cry, take away the internet and back to the Stone Age we go. The seventies brought to society a true pioneer and a person who has changed the way we communicate. Social patterns have changed due to the technology this man has sold to society. Steve Paul Jobs is the co-founder and current chief executive officer of Apple Incorporated, which was up until recently Apple computers Incorporated. A brief history of Steve jobs helps understand the important role he plays in the world as we know it.

Steve Jobs was born on the 24 February 1955, in San Francisco, California and is currently worth an estimated $ 3.3 Billion net worth, however, this figure is unclear as Jobs holds $ 3.7 billion worth of shares at Disney (www.wired.com 2008). Steve Jobs is the co-founder of Pixar, which has recently been merged with Disney. Pixar is a company that has made eight of the most successful animated movies including Toy story, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. (www.Apple.com 2007). Steve Jobs is more popularly known for what he has done for the computing and technology industry. “No computer has done more to democratize the computer and make it more user-friendly than the apple computer” (Vader 1998). Steve Jobs started his illustrious computing career in 1976 in the Silicon Valley; he and his friend Steve Wozniak took after school lectures at Hewlett Packard and attended the homebrew meetings. Steve Jobs saw the capability of his Counterpart, Wozniak, and the need for what Wozniak could do in the market. The two started the Apple Computer company and started selling one of the first personal computers, the Apple 1. This was shortly followed by the Apple 2 which was also revolutionary, as it was sold as a complete Personal Computer that required no self assembly. The Apple 2 sold for $ 666.66 and was a massive success, even though according too many “didn’t do much” (Cringley RX, 1996). The personal computing market was suddenly changed when IBM joined the market, and essentially overpowered Apples market share with their version of the personal computer. During this time Bill Gates, a software developer, was increasing his market share and creating what would eventually become, a dictatorship of the software and personal computer market.

With the exponential growth of Apple, Steve Jobs hired John Sculley, who was the CEO of Pepsi Cola at the time, and famously asked Sculley if he wanted to sell sugar water or if he wanted to make history. (Sculley, 1897). While Sculley and Jobs were helping Apple stay profitable; Jobs made, what is considered the mistake of his life, and saw the wrong company as the threat. Jobs should have according to many kept his eye more fixed on Microsoft and less on IBM. IBM lost their market share due to the growth of Microsoft and, much to the dismay of many, lost their large market share to even more computer companies such as Dell and Compaq. Apple was trying to save their share of the computer market with a Graphic user interface. It was the first commercial computer to feature such an interface and a mouse, and it helped the Macintosh division revolutionise the industry and end an IBM dominated market. This Graphic user interface was eventually copied by someone who had been brought in to help on the project. Bill Gates developed ‘stolen ideas’ into what we know as Windows. Windows dominated the software market and still does with very high sales figures and very high market share (www.Microsoft.com, 2002). Jobs had realized that the software market was going to be the next revolution of the personal computer (Halliday 1983, p.204) and had therefore put many resources into the software, however, with the expensive price tag on the Macintosh and sales down at Apple and up at Microsoft, Jobs was taken off the Macintosh project by John Sculley; Jobs left the company selling all but one share. The demise of Steve Jobs saw the rise of Bill Gates and a total domination by Microsoft. When Jobs left, he said that he would start a company that would surpass Apple. Scully even asked him to reconsider and offered for Apple to buy 10 percent of the Jobs’ proposed company, which was later called NeXT, Jobs, however, declined the offer as he felt betrayed by Sculley. (Sculley 1987, p.204). NeXT was never the success that Jobs had imagined it would be, however, NeXT was bought by Apple in 1996, and Jobs was offered a job as the interim CEO of Apple; while there Jobs incorporated many of the NeXT’s visionary ideas into Apple and subsequently turned Apple from a company dealing with loss into a company that was profitable again.

When Jobs finally took over the CEO position from Gilbert Amelio, who was ousted by Apple, he saved the company from near bankruptcy. “Though he is not an engineer his greatest talent had been spear-heading the development of new products”. (Uttal, 1985, p.119). This statement is still relevant eighteen years later, as the world watched as Jobs introduce the new iMac and the subsequent iBook, which was aesthetically pleasing and featured many of Jobs’ own personal touches, Steve Wozniak said: “It was Jobs who insisted the computer be light, trim and well designed in muted colours” (cited by Westly F, Mintzburg H, 1989, p.25-26). According to Romain-Moisescot the i in iMac stood for the internet, as the computer granted easy access to the internet (www.romain-moisescot.com, 2008, p.9). This might be accurate however the products that followed; such as the iPod never had internet capabilities and the ‘i’ in iPod, according to some, might serve merely as a good way to market the product, as it gives the product a more personal and social connotation.

Regardless the easy to use and aesthetically pleasing ‘i’ products have sold phenomenally since the return of Jobs and have most certainly altered the way people communicate. 110 million iPods have been sold to date. Communication has changed drastically over the last few years and regardless whether it is to our (the human race) benefit or demise Apple played and continue to play a part in the communication process.

In conclusion, Steve Jobs might not be liked by many people, such as Microsoft supporters or employees, supporters of open source software or just parents who feel neglected by there iPod wielding children, however he and Apple have built technologies that have enabled many things for mankind. The fact that people may find Apple too proprietary orientated or feel Jobs does not live by good business and moral ethics, does not change the important role he has played in shaping a piece of modern society. It will be of interest, to many, what new ‘insanely great’ products Apple come out with in the future.

References
Halliday, David. 1983. "Steve Paul Jobs". Current Biography 5 (February): 204-207.
Sculley, John. 1987. "Odyssey". Personal Computing, (December): 201-209.
Uttal, Bro. 1985. "The Adventures of Steve Jobs". Fortune, 14 (October): 119-124.
Westly, Frances and Henry Mintzberg 1989. Strategic Management journal, vol.10, Special issue: Strategic leaders and leadership, published by John Wiley & Sons
Vader D, 1998 Steve Jobs Biography -http://www.theapplemuseum.com/index.php?id=49 (accessed on 13 May 2008)
Cringley Robert X, 1996 Triumph of the nerds -http://www.pbs.org/nerds/transcript.html (accessed 13 May 2008)
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/bio.mspx, Published: May 30, 2002 Updated: July 30, 2007, (accessed 13 may 2008)

Wired technology-http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072 (accessed 28 May 2008)

http://www.romain-moisescot.com/steve/bio/long_bio/1/html/longbio_1FR.html (accessed 25 May 2008)

http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/jobs.html (accessed 13 May 2008)

Check out Triumph of the nerds at www.youtube.com as all three parts are available in 8 minute clips.
Also to view some of the new Apple adverts click one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80sWifG40B0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EbCyibkNB0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2D1ig4df4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCL1c8JCepg&feature=related