How the World of Personal Computers and Communications
Were Changed Forever
When Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, he left behind the most financially successful and innovative company in the world. What is more important, Steve Jobs’ influence resonates with ever growing force every time millions of children and adults with minimal knowledge about computer software interact effortlessly with computers or mobile devices. When music lovers can access hundreds of music files and readers have hundreds of books at their fingertips without visiting libraries in person, it is thanks to the pioneering creative genius of Steve Jobs. Business people are able to carry their office in their mobile devices enabling them to send and receive e-mails, share files among business associates, stay connected at all times without having to stop at their offices, all thanks to the creative power of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was able to turn the telephone, an already existing device into a highly personal object which is almost an extension of its owner with its many personalized features. The present essay takes a brief look at the story of Apple and the rise of Steve Jobs.
Before surveying Jobs’ professional career a few words should be said about the man who revolutionized the personal computer and the way people communicate with each other around the world using electronic devices like the smartphone. Jobs is recorded to have said that he was not much of a genius; he was only a person who knew how take a device that already existed and turn it into something significantly better. He believed that the power of creativity rested in discovering how a product had been assembled and how it could be modified to create something new and better ("Steve Jobs: ‘Creativity is Just Connecting Things,’” 2015). Perhaps one of the clearest examples of such statement is the creation of the smartphone. Biographical sources indicate that the roots of Jobs’ creativity originated in a journey to India which he undertook in 1974.He was surprised by the fact that in India people placed a higher value in instinct rather than in intelligence. For Jobs creativity was most powerful when it originated from intuition and spontaneity (Steve Jobs: ‘Creativity’”, 2015). Such beliefs would explain Job’s instant appreciation of the graphics user interface when he first saw it at the Xerox research center and its role in the computer of the future. Isaacson (2011 stated that Steve Jobs was very much like a pathfinder: “he could sniff the winds and sense what lay ahead.”
Job’s road to success started in the late 1970s, but earlier he had given proof of his tremendous capacity for creativity when in 1972 he and his friend Stephen Wozniak started selling a device known as the “blue box” which allowed users to make illegal free long distance calls on AT&T networks without leaving a trace. Jobs later said that it was through this experience that he became fully conscious of the creative power of ideas (“A Brief Look at the History of Apple,” 2015). Jobs’ career started seriously in 1976 when he, Stephen Wozniak and Ronald Wayne created a company which they called Apple Computer. Initially the three friends started working in Steve Jobs’ family garage. They were fortunate to get their first order of fifty computers for five hundred dollars each (“A Brief Look,” 2015). Since the Apple I computer was well received in the market Apple Computer secured investments and loans and work got started on the Apple II which went on sale in 1977. In 1977 Apple was officially incorporated and adopted the logo with which it has been associated ever since. .Ever since Apple adopted the logo it has become one of the most famous and popular logs in history, as many loyal customer of the company put it on their vehicles. The logo is admired for its beauty and simplicity, attributes which characterize many of Jobs products. According to the logo designer, the reason behind the colored stripes was that the Apple II was the first personal computer that capable of reproducing color images on the monitor. The logo represented color bars on the screen. The logo was also intended to be very accessible for young learners since Jobs intended to market his product in schools (Mon, 2009).
Because he disagreed with Jobs ‘idea of securing a loan for the company, Ronald Wayne, who held 10% of the company stock, ended his association with the company (“A Brief Look,” 2015). By 1978 Apple was earning $2 million exclusively on the sale of Apple II. While the Apple II did not offer the most advanced technology, it allowed users with sufficient knowledge about computers to create and sell their own programs. One example of such programs was VisiCalc, a precursor of excel that became the first software with business applications. Such programs broadened the uses of the Apple II even though the company did not profit directly from the creation of such programs; nevertheless, this modality of allowing users to create and sell their own programs eventually evolved into the app market of today (Beattie, 2016). When the company went public in 1980 its leadership structure was well set, Jobs assuming an aggressive leadership style, while Wozniak quietly built on Jobs’ visions. Apple’s board of directors was uncomfortable with the company’s unbalanced leadership and tried to maintain an equilibrium by inviting John Scully, former Vice President of Pepsi Cola to join the company. Steve Jobs was removed from his position within the company soon after Scullery’s arrival (Beattie, 2016).
Despite his removal from the company which he helped to create Jobs continued to work in computer development. He acquired from George Lucas the struggling company Lucasfilms which Jobs later renamed Pixar. With financial input from Jobs the company became extremely successful in digital animation, producing the first entirely computer-animated film, “Toy Story.” The acquisition of Lucasfilms proved to be a very wise move for Steve Jobs. He originally invested $5 million in the company but was later able to sell it to Disney for $7.4 billion (Nath, 2015). One of his most important projects was the creation of NeXT Computer Inc. The objective of this company was to create technologically sophisticated computers with an operating system whose objective was to turn the power of UNIX to work with a graphic user interface, is a computer program that allows the computer user to communicate with a computer by using symbols and pointing devices such as the computer mouse. This is the program that eventually powered the Macintosh Windows operating system. Over time, the graphical user interface (GUI) replaced the textual interface used by IBM computers and their clones, making computers accessible to millions of users who lacked sophisticated computer knowledge Beattie, 2016). Jobs’ idea of incorporating GIU into his computer was the result of a visit he made to PARC, Xerox research center in Palo Alto California. Jobs was greatly impressed by Xerox Alto, a computer that had a graphic user interface and a three-button device which Xerox called a mouse (“A Brief Look, 2015). Jobs was so impressed by this technology that he is reported to have said that upon seeing how the Xerox Alto worked, he knew that the computers of the future would work that way. The Macintosh which worked with GIU became an instant success and Apple was able to sell 70,000 computers in 1984. The Mac was the first computer that had a mouse, pull down menus and icons In 1990 Apple developed three additional low-cost computer models: the Macintosh Classic, Macintosh LC, and Macintosh IIsi, all of which were successful products. With products like the LaserWriter and PageMaker, Macintosh sales sharply increased and Apple assumed a leading position in the desk top publishing market. (“A Brief Look,” 2015). In 1996 Apple acquired NeXT because of its operating system, returning Steve Jobs to the company which he had helped to create.
Steve Jobs was a life time learner and a passionate innovator; but in order to be a successful innovator he felt one must concentrate in developing only a few select products. When he returned to Apple after being absent for twelve years, he reduced the number of products the company sold from 350 to 10 because he believed that the success of innovation rested in creating a demand for high quality products that are pleasing to the senses and this could only be achieved by making a careful selection of the products to be developed (“Steve Jobs: ’Creativity,’ 2015). From Steve Jobs trajectory and accomplishment it is possible to gain an insight into Steve Job’s personality and while emulating his personality traits is no guarantee of success in the business or professional world some valuable lessons can be extracted from his life and accomplishments. One of his greatest qualities was his ability to look beyond what an existing product looked like and imagining ways to improve it and make it desirable for consumers. This ability is what made his mobile applications such as the iPhone and the iPad an overnight success; this is also the reason why so many consumer want to own his products. Another important quality was his relentless perseverance to stay focused on his projects. He was not deterred by setbacks like his being outsted from his own company. On the contrary, he went on to work on improving the operating systems that would make computers highly accessible by incorporating graphic design interface. It is this stubborn perseverance that brought him back to the company that had fired him earlier. Steve Jobs also had an unshakable confidence in himself. It is this confidence that allowed him to turn the company around after twelve years of absence from Apple. It was after his return to the company that he created his widely acclaimed mobile devices. Finally, Steve Jobs was pushy and arrogant; these personality traits caused him to collide head-on with Apple executives like John Scully. While these traits are certainly undesirable in Steve job’s case they helped him to stay focus on developing the products he believed would improve people’s lives by providing them with a pleasant entertaining and working experience. He would not allow any one to deter him from his goals
While ruthless when it came to competition and to exercise control over others, Jobs was willing to share some of his most valuable insights on creativity. Cofounder of Google, Larry Page visited Steve Jobs near the end of his life. Page was about to resume control of Google, and while the two leaders had not always been in the best of terms, Jobs was willing to give Page some useful advice on running his company. He advised Page to remain focused on the few products that would successfully move Google forward. Jobs stated that any other product besides the ones he chose to devote his attention to would only act as distractors that would drag him down. In January 2012 Page urged his employees to focus on a few key products such as Android and Google + and to enhance their beauty the way Jobs would have done (Isaacson, 2012).
References
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/steve-jobss-genius.html?_r=1
“The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs.” (2012). Harvard Business Review. April 2012. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs
Mon, I. (2009). “Interview with Rob Janoff, designer of the Apple logo.” Creative bits. Retrieved from
http://creativebits.org/interview/interview_rob_janoff_designer_apple_logo
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http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/012815/how-steve-jobs-changed-world.asp
“Steve Jobs: “Creativity is Just Connecting Things.” (2015). Unplag.com Retrieved from
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