Steve jobs changed apple

Steve Jobs and the Apple Story

The legacy and lessons of Apple’s co-founder

On Aug. 2, 2018, Apple (AAPL) made history by becoming the world’s first publicly traded company to achieve a market capitalization of $1 trillion. On April 30, 2019, Microsoft (MSFT) joined Apple’s exclusive club, also catapulting past the $1 trillion mark. On Jan. 16, 2020, Alphabet (GOOGL) became a $1 trillion company, followed by Amazon (AMZN) on Feb. 4.

Key Takeaways

• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1977, introducing first the Apple I and then the Apple II.
• Apple went public in 1980 with Jobs the blazing visionary and Wozniak the shy genius executing his vision.
• Executive John Scully was added in 1983; in 1985, Apple’s board of directors ousted the combative Jobs in favor of Scully.
• Away from Apple, Jobs invested in and developed animation producer Pixar and then founded NeXT to create high-end computers; NeXT eventually led him back to Apple.
• Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s and spent the years until his death in 2011 revamping the company, introducing the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, transforming technology and communication in the process.

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Investopedia / Bailey Mariner

On Oct. 5, 2011, Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56. He had just left the CEO post at Apple, the company he co-founded, for the second time. Jobs was an entrepreneur through and through, and the story of his rise is the story of Apple as a company, along with some very interesting twists. In this article, we’ll look at the career of Steve Jobs and the company he founded, as well as some of the lessons Apple offers for potential entrepreneurs.

As to be expected, the market value for each of these companies has swung up and down as prices fluctuate, and maintaining the $1 trillion valuation can be elusive. However, the fact that Apple was the first company to surpass the $1 trillion mark is in no small part connected to the legacy and lessons learned from Steve Jobs.

From Blue Boxes to Apple

Steve Jobs got his start in business with another Steve, Steve Wozniak, building the blue boxes phone phreakers used to make free calls across the nation. The two were members of the HomeBrew Computer Club, where they quickly became enamored with kit computers and left the blue boxes behind. The next product the two sold was the Apple I, which was a kit for building a PC. In order to do anything with it, the customer needed to add their own monitor and keyboard. 

With Wozniak doing most of the building and Jobs handling the sales, the two made enough money off the hobbyist market to invest in the Apple II. It was the Apple II that made the company. Jobs and Wozniak created enough interest in their new product to attract venture capital. This meant they were in the big leagues and their company, Apple, was officially incorporated in 1976.   Steve Jobs was a month shy of turning 22 and would be a millionaire before his next birthday.

The Roller Coaster Ride Begins

By 1978, Apple was making $2 million in profits solely on the strength of the Apple II. The Apple II wasn’t state of the art, but it did allow computer enthusiasts to create and sell their own programs. Among these user-generated programs was VisiCalc, a type of proto-Excel that represented the first software with business applications.

Although Apple did not profit directly from these programs, they did see more interest as the uses for the Apple II broadened. This model of allowing users to create their own programs and sell them would reappear in the app market of the future, but with a much tighter business strategy around it.

By the time Apple went public in 1980, the dynamic of the company was more or less set. Steve Jobs was the fiery visionary, with an intense and often combative management style, and Steve Wozniak was the quiet genius who made the vision work. Apple’s board of directors wasn’t too fond of such a power imbalance in the company, however. Jobs and the board agreed to add John Sculley to the executive team in 1983. In 1985, the board ousted Jobs in favor of Sculley.

The Gap Years

Steve Jobs was rich and unemployed. Although he wasn’t working at Apple, he was far from idle. During this time, from 1985 to 1996, Jobs was involved in two big deals; the first of which was an investment. In 1986, Jobs purchased a controlling stake in a company called Pixar from George Lucas. The company was struggling, but their eventual success in digital animation led to an initial public offering (IPO) that earned Jobs around $1 billion.

The second was a return to his old obsession with computers, founding NeXT to create high-end computers. These were expensive machines with an operating system representing the best attempt yet at making the power of UNIX fit into a graphical user interface. When Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, he did so using a NeXT machine. 

Of these two deals, NeXT proved the most important, as it turned out Apple was looking to replace its operating system. Apple bought NeXT in 1996 for its operating system, bringing Steve Jobs back to the first company he founded.

The critical year in which Steve Jobs sold NeXT, the computer maker he had founded, to Apple, returning him to the company eleven years after he had been ousted.

Getting Apple Back on Track

When Jobs returned, the company wasn’t in a good place. Apple had begun to flounder as cheap PCs running Windows flooded the market. Jobs found himself in the driver’s seat again and took some drastic steps to turn around Apple’s decline. The company asked for and received a $150 million investment from Bill Gates.   Jobs used the money to ramp up advertising and highlight the products Apple already offered while choking off research and development (R&D) money in non-producing areas.

The NeXT operating system was used to create the iMac, Apple’s first hit PC in a long time. Jobs followed this up with a list of successes from the iPod in 2001 to the iPad in 2010. The years between saw Apple dominate the smartphone market with the iPhone, open up an e-commerce store with iTunes, and launch branded retail outlets called, what else, the Apple Store. When Jobs stepped down as CEO, Apple was scrapping with Exxon for the world’s largest market cap.

Starting with the iPod in 2001, and then continuing with the iPhone and iPad over the next decade, Jobs rejuvenated the ailing Apple, putting it at the forefront of technology and communications.

The Bottom Line

It’s impossible to sum up Jobs’ career in a single article, but a few lessons stick out. First, innovation counts for a lot, but innovative products fail without proper marketing. Second, there are no straight paths to success. Jobs did get wealthy very early on, but he would be a footnote today if he didn’t return to Apple in the 90s. At one point, Jobs was kicked out of the company he helped create for being hard to work with. Rather than change, he bided his time, then took over again, and this time his attitude was seen as part of his genius.

There is much more to be learned from the life of Steve Jobs, as there is in the life of every successful entrepreneur. The sheer hubris of the entrepreneurial spirit, the idea you can do something bigger and better than it has ever been done before, always bears watching and studying, whether to imitate it or just to marvel at what that hubris can create.

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How Steve Jobs Changed the World

Jobs’ influence continues to spur new and innovative technology

Skylar Clarine is a fact-checker and expert in personal finance with a range of experience including veterinary technology and film studies.

As an innovator and visionary, Steve Jobs’ accomplishments can be held on a pedestal with the likes of Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bill Gates, Google’s (GOOG) Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Meta’s (FB), formerly Facebook’s, Mark Zuckerberg. The names above are all highly regarded within technology for transforming consumerism and the accessibility of information.

While best known as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple (AAPL), the late Jobs profoundly affected the world outside of technology. From purchasing Pixar in 1986 to supporting charities and environmental causes, Jobs’ achievements and innovations continue to affect industries and lifestyles worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• Steve Jobs’ impact on the world continues today through his accomplishments in technology, innovation, and product development.
• While at the helm of Apple, Jobs led the company in developing groundbreaking products, including the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
• Jobs founded the NeXT computer company, which developed an operating system that Apple eventually acquired to boost its personal computers.
• Jobs successfully turned Pixar into a leader in animated feature films, eventually selling the company to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion.

Most people associate Jobs’ success with Apple, but in the early days, Jobs’ relationship with Apple proved to be a rocky one. After being fired from the company he founded in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT, a firm that created computers for business and educational needs. While NeXT wasn’t particularly successful based on units sold, the company continues to be an integral part of computers today. Portions of Nextstep operating systems still live on within macOS. Additionally, the famous «Wolfenstein» and «Doom» computer games were written on NeXTcube stations.

In 1990, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web using a NeXT computer.

Pixar

Jobs’ $5 million acquisition of Lucasfilms’ Computer Graphic Division in 1986 proved to be a wise investment. The potential he saw in the company—later renamed Pixar—paid off when he sold it to Disney (DIS) in 2006 for $7.4 billion. Before the mid-1990s, Disney was the gold standard of full-length animated feature films, and it wasn’t until the success of Toy Story in 1995 that Pixar landed on the map. With each subsequent film, Pixar gained steam and created a whole animation industry in Hollywood. The company’s movies grossed around $3.2 billion worldwide before its acquisition by Disney.

While Jobs lacked expertise in graphic design and video production, he believed Pixar’s computer technology and animation would one day match Disney’s work. Job’s biggest impact was on the company’s strategic direction, including leading and overseeing Pixar’s initial public offering (IPO) in 1995. The investment capital Pixar received from going public gave Jobs the freedom to rapidly expand the company. Many attest that Jobs’ drive and vision for Pixar gave the company the support it needed to prosper and flourish. Today Pixar is recognized as one of the most influential film studios in the world.

Apple

Jobs’ development of new product lines while at the helm of Apple continues to impact countless individuals and has created enormous success for the company.

The iPod

Released in 2001, the iPod was widely recognized as the first user-friendly and innovative means of accessing music on the go. Consumers had used portable radios, CD players, and tape players for remote audio purposes prior to the widespread access of mp3 files. Syncing with Apple’s iTunes program, the iPod gave users the means to carry and purchase hundreds of songs on a single device.

The iPhone

Jobs’ next big product launch was the iPhone. Combining the features of an iPod with those of a phone and computer, the iPhone enabled users to make calls, listen to music, and browse the Internet on one touchscreen-capable device. Besides synchronization to iTunes, the iPhone featured an exclusive App Store that liberated users from purchasing content from wireless carriers. Before the App Store, wireless carriers controlled the distribution of content to phones.

On Nov. 1, 2018, Apple announced it would no longer report the number of iPhones sold. However, between its initial launch in June 2007 and November 2018, cumulative worldwide sales for the iPhone had soared to nearly 1.5 billion.

The iPad

Taking their cue from the iPhone, Apple and Jobs then created the first touchscreen tablet without a keyboard. A cross between a laptop and an iPhone, the iPad spurred the development of a new industry that other technology companies have since entered. Jobs’ influence on retail products has revolutionized consumer technology, forcing engineers and developers to create new and innovative products. Consumers have benefited most from increased competition, as products remain modestly priced but boast increased capabilities and features.

Charity

As seen at NeXT, Pixar, and Apple, Jobs had a visible role in the success of products and companies. However, behind the scenes, Jobs was known by a select few as a philanthropist. While his philanthropic efforts were rarely made public, many have attested to Jobs’ charitable nature. Jobs donated over $50 million to Stanford hospitals through Apple and contributed to various projects to fight AIDS. As a philanthropist, Jobs’ goal wasn’t to be recognized but to help those who needed it.

Environment

Not only are Apple products considered innovative, but they are also environmentally friendly. Jobs promoted an initiative for environmentally friendly products during his time as CEO. Apple utilizes eco-conscious materials such as recycled aluminum, plastics, and papers in its products to conserve global resources. Likewise, all Apple products are Energy Star qualified, which means they follow the requirements set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for energy efficiency. Carrying on Jobs’ legacy, Apple has also enacted plans to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The Bottom Line

As the initial creator of upscale, user-friendly technology, Steve Jobs’ accomplishments continue to have profound effects today. The competition created from the introduction of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad has revolutionized the technology industry. Consumers have benefited from developments in phones and computing and have a wider array of choices when purchasing computers, phones, and tablets.

While Jobs’ influence on technology was apparent, his philanthropy has gone widely unrecognized. Jobs donated to various charitable causes, and he also sought to lessen the long-lasting environmental impacts of Apple’s products by changing the company’s environmental policy.

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