Sunday, December 25, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
45 - An interview with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak - Mid Day
By: Sachin Kalbag | Date: 2011-12-04 | Place: Mumba |
He is the "other Steve", but to geeks around the world, he is the real deal; the man who practically invented the personal computer and changed the world. Steve Wozniak, supreme geek of the 1970s and the maker of the Apple II computer which brought about a worldwide computer revolution, was in Bangalore on Saturday to speak to a bunch of young entrepreneurs and achievers of the Young Presidents Organisation who wanted to hear the story of the most-loved technology brand in the world -- Apple. Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc) in April 1976 along with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. Both Apple I - the company's first product - and the hugely successful Apple II (arguably the world's first fully-loaded personal computer) were designed by Wozniak making him - and not Jobs - the darling of geeks around the world. 
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
44 - Foxconn to replace workers with 1 million robots in 3 years
2011-07-30 01:42:14
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Friday, November 25, 2011
43 - Against Nostalgia -New York Times
By MIKE DAISEY Published: October 6, 2011
STEVE JOBS was an enemy of nostalgia. He believed that the future required sacrifice and boldness. He bet on new technologies to fill gaps even when the way was unclear.
He often told the press that he was as proud of the devices Apple killed — in the parlance of Silicon Valley, he was a master of “knifing the baby,” which more squeamish innovators cannot do because they fall in love with their creations — as the ones it released. One of the keys to Apple’s success under his leadership was his ability to see technology with an unsentimental eye and keen scalpel, ready to cut loose whatever might not be essential. This editorial mien was Mr. Jobs’s greatest gift — he created a sense of style in computing because he could edit.It would be fascinating to know what Mr. Jobs would make of the outpouring of grief flooding the developed world after his death on Wednesday. While it’s certain he’d be flattered, his hawk-eyed nature might assert itself: this is a man who once called an engineer at Google over the weekend because the shade of yellow in the second “O” was not precisely correct. This is a man who responded to e-mails sent by strangers with shocking regularity for the world’s most famous C.E.O. His impatience with fools was legendary, and the amount of hagiography now being ladled onto his life with abandon would undoubtedly set his teeth on edge.Many of Silicon Valley’s leaders regularly ask themselves “What would Steve do?” in an almost religious fashion when facing challenges, and it is a worthy mental exercise for confronting the fact of his death. I think Mr. Jobs would coldly and clearly assess his life and provide unvarnished criticism of its contents. He’d have no problem acknowledging that he was a genius — as he was gifted with an enormously healthy ego — but he would also state with salty language exactly where he had fallen short, and what might be needed to refine his design with the benefit of hindsight.Mr. Jobs leaves behind a dominant Apple, fulfilling his original promise to save the company from the brink when he returned in 1997. Because of its enormous strength in both music sales and mobile devices, Apple has more power than at any time in its history, and it is using that power to make the computing experience of its users less free, more locked down and more tightly regulated than ever before. All of Apple’s iDevices — the iPod, iPhone and iPad — use operating systems that deny the user access to their workings. Users cannot install programs themselves; they are downloaded from Apple’s servers, which Apple controls and curates, choosing at its whim what can and can’t be distributed, and where anything can be censored with little or no explanation.The Steve Jobs who founded Apple as an anarchic company promoting the message of freedom, whose first projects with Stephen Wozniak were pirate boxes and computers with open schematics, would be taken aback by the future that Apple is forging. Today there is no tech company that looks more like the Big Brother from Apple’s iconic 1984 commercial than Apple itself, a testament to how quickly power can corrupt.Apple’s rise to power in our time directly paralleled the transformation of global manufacturing. As recently as 10 years ago Apple’s computers were assembled in the United States, but today they are built in southern China under appalling labor conditions. Apple, like the vast majority of the electronics industry, skirts labor laws by subcontracting all its manufacturing to companies like Foxconn, a firm made infamous for suicides at its plants, aworker dying after working a 34-hour shift, widespread beatings, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to meet high quotas set by tech companies like Apple.I have traveled to southern China and interviewed workers employed in the production of electronics. I spoke with a man whose right hand was permanently curled into a claw from being smashed in a metal press at Foxconn, where he worked assembling Apple laptops and iPads. I showed him my iPad, and he gasped because he’d never seen one turned on. He stroked the screen and marveled at the icons sliding back and forth, the Apple attention to detail in every pixel. He told my translator, “It’s a kind of magic.”Mr. Jobs’s magic has its costs. We can admire the design perfection and business acumen while acknowledging the truth: with Apple’s immense resources at his command he could have revolutionized the industry to make devices more humanely and more openly, and chose not to. If we view him unsparingly, without nostalgia, we would see a great man whose genius in design, showmanship and stewardship of the tech world will not be seen again in our lifetime. We would also see a man who in the end failed to “think different,” in the deepest way, about the human needs of both his users and his workers.It’s a high bar, but Mr. Jobs always believed passionately in brutal honesty, and the truth is rarely kind. With his death, the serious work to do the things he has failed to do will fall to all of us: the rebels, the misfits, the crazy ones who think they can change the world.
42 - The Agony and Ecstasy-and 'Disgrace'-of Steve Jobs
The Agony and Ecstasy-and 'Disgrace'-of Steve Jobs
Eric Alterman | November 9, 2011
We live in a media world simultaneously obsessed with technology and personality, and so it was hardly surprising that when Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer, the coverage of his life would focus, alternately, on his incredible accomplishments in the former category together with his apparent shortcomings in the latter. Yes, Jobs was a genius and also an SOB. This is hardly unusual when it comes to geniuses. In Jobs's case, his boorish behavior makes for an interesting biography, courtesy of Walter Isaacson, but it's not really an issue for the rest of us.
Far more significant are the societal roles Jobs played. And here, despite the myriad ways his companies improved our lives, Jobs was a hero only in the Ayn Randian sense. A living, breathing character out of Atlas Shrugged, he treated the people who actually manufacture Apple products like serfs and hoarded his $8.3 billion fortune to no apparent purpose.
Apple is a wonderful company for its customers and investors. So, too, Pixar. (NeXT, not so much...) But Apple is also an engine of misery for its subcontracted Chinese workers. That this story went largely unreported during Jobs's life is a testament to how enthralled our media are by the myth of the man's talismanic qualities, and how easily manipulated most reporters are by wealthy, successful entrepreneurs. But it is also a testament to how little the lives of laborers appear to count anymore. It fell to the monologist Mike Daisey, who created and stars in the brilliant one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, now at the Public Theater in New York City, to force this issue into public consciousness. Daisey traveled to the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China, which employs 420,000 people to manufacture products for Apple and other electronics and computer companies, to talk with the workers (unlike the Wired magazine reporter who, Daisey scathingly notes, penned a 3,300-word cover story on the plant without speaking to a single worker). Daisey's mission was risky-a photographer was recently beaten up by the company's guards-but he was determined, having heard about abuses at Foxconn. There, thirty-four-hour shifts, beatings, child labor, an epidemic of suicides and a general prison-camp atmosphere prevailed, and even yawning could get your (meager) pay docked. He met one worker whose hand had been "permanently curled into a claw from being smashed in a metal press at Foxconn, where he worked assembling Apple laptops and iPads." When Daisey showed the man his iPad, it was the first time he had ever seen one turned on. He thought it was "magic."
Faced with a public relations problem relating to the suicides, the company installed wire mesh on the factory windows to stop workers from jumping out to kill themselves. According to a subsequent London Daily Mail exposé, the workers have also been forced to sign a legally binding document promising that they and their dependents will not sue the company as the result of "any unexpected death or injury, including suicide or self torture."
Daisey is right when he insists that Steve Jobs was the one man in the world uniquely positioned to change this. Apple's profit margins are immense. The stock could have continued to soar even if the pay and conditions of these workers' lives were built into the cost of an iPhone or an iPad. People would have kept buying the products, and other companies would have been forced to follow suit. But Jobs didn't care. He even instructed Obama that the United States had to behave more like China in the manner in which it encouraged corporations to act free of regulations or concern for their employees and their environment.
A second issue raised by Jobs's life and death is all that money he accumulated. When New York Times "DealBook" editor Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote a column before Jobs died, wondering why he seemed so stingy with his fortune-noting also that he did away with all the company's charity programs (which were restored after his departure in August)-Sorkin addressed the topic so gingerly, I half thought he feared Jobs would send a thunderbolt from the sky to disable his typing fingers (or possibly curl his arm into a claw). "None of this is meant to judge Mr. Jobs. I have long been a huge admirer of Mr. Jobs and consider him the da Vinci of our time," blah, blah, blah. Even so, right-wing bloggers and pundits evinced outrage that Sorkin even raised the issue. But come now: $8.3 billion? And add to this that Apple is apparently sitting on an estimated $76 billion in cash and other investments allegedly residing in a company called Braeburn Capital in Reno, Nevada-a corporation, according to BusinessWeek, that Apple created for "the purpose of managing its cash and short-term investments in a tax-advantageous manner" in a state that has no corporate or capital-gains taxes. (Why, after all, should Apple's millionaires and billionaires contribute to the local and statewide public services in Cupertino, California, that make those fortunes possible?)
How ironic that the media love to celebrate this alleged icon of '60s idealism at the expense of poor, square Bill Gates, who is devoting the better part of his fortune to improving the lives of millions of the world's poorest people. ("Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology," Jobs told Isaacson. In the past, he had suggested that Gates "would be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.")
True, I am deeply devoted to the 27,000 songs I can take anywhere on my iPod Classic as well as the exquisitely engineered MacBook Air on which I typed this column. But as a parent and a citizen, I'll take a Bill Gates (or Warren Buffett) over Steve Jobs every time. If we must have billionaires, better they should ignore Jobs's example and instead embrace the morality and wisdom of the great industrialist/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie: "The man who dies...rich dies disgraced."
Eric Alterman | November 9, 2011
We live in a media world simultaneously obsessed with technology and personality, and so it was hardly surprising that when Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer, the coverage of his life would focus, alternately, on his incredible accomplishments in the former category together with his apparent shortcomings in the latter. Yes, Jobs was a genius and also an SOB. This is hardly unusual when it comes to geniuses. In Jobs's case, his boorish behavior makes for an interesting biography, courtesy of Walter Isaacson, but it's not really an issue for the rest of us.
Far more significant are the societal roles Jobs played. And here, despite the myriad ways his companies improved our lives, Jobs was a hero only in the Ayn Randian sense. A living, breathing character out of Atlas Shrugged, he treated the people who actually manufacture Apple products like serfs and hoarded his $8.3 billion fortune to no apparent purpose.
Apple is a wonderful company for its customers and investors. So, too, Pixar. (NeXT, not so much...) But Apple is also an engine of misery for its subcontracted Chinese workers. That this story went largely unreported during Jobs's life is a testament to how enthralled our media are by the myth of the man's talismanic qualities, and how easily manipulated most reporters are by wealthy, successful entrepreneurs. But it is also a testament to how little the lives of laborers appear to count anymore. It fell to the monologist Mike Daisey, who created and stars in the brilliant one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, now at the Public Theater in New York City, to force this issue into public consciousness. Daisey traveled to the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China, which employs 420,000 people to manufacture products for Apple and other electronics and computer companies, to talk with the workers (unlike the Wired magazine reporter who, Daisey scathingly notes, penned a 3,300-word cover story on the plant without speaking to a single worker). Daisey's mission was risky-a photographer was recently beaten up by the company's guards-but he was determined, having heard about abuses at Foxconn. There, thirty-four-hour shifts, beatings, child labor, an epidemic of suicides and a general prison-camp atmosphere prevailed, and even yawning could get your (meager) pay docked. He met one worker whose hand had been "permanently curled into a claw from being smashed in a metal press at Foxconn, where he worked assembling Apple laptops and iPads." When Daisey showed the man his iPad, it was the first time he had ever seen one turned on. He thought it was "magic."
Faced with a public relations problem relating to the suicides, the company installed wire mesh on the factory windows to stop workers from jumping out to kill themselves. According to a subsequent London Daily Mail exposé, the workers have also been forced to sign a legally binding document promising that they and their dependents will not sue the company as the result of "any unexpected death or injury, including suicide or self torture."
Daisey is right when he insists that Steve Jobs was the one man in the world uniquely positioned to change this. Apple's profit margins are immense. The stock could have continued to soar even if the pay and conditions of these workers' lives were built into the cost of an iPhone or an iPad. People would have kept buying the products, and other companies would have been forced to follow suit. But Jobs didn't care. He even instructed Obama that the United States had to behave more like China in the manner in which it encouraged corporations to act free of regulations or concern for their employees and their environment.
A second issue raised by Jobs's life and death is all that money he accumulated. When New York Times "DealBook" editor Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote a column before Jobs died, wondering why he seemed so stingy with his fortune-noting also that he did away with all the company's charity programs (which were restored after his departure in August)-Sorkin addressed the topic so gingerly, I half thought he feared Jobs would send a thunderbolt from the sky to disable his typing fingers (or possibly curl his arm into a claw). "None of this is meant to judge Mr. Jobs. I have long been a huge admirer of Mr. Jobs and consider him the da Vinci of our time," blah, blah, blah. Even so, right-wing bloggers and pundits evinced outrage that Sorkin even raised the issue. But come now: $8.3 billion? And add to this that Apple is apparently sitting on an estimated $76 billion in cash and other investments allegedly residing in a company called Braeburn Capital in Reno, Nevada-a corporation, according to BusinessWeek, that Apple created for "the purpose of managing its cash and short-term investments in a tax-advantageous manner" in a state that has no corporate or capital-gains taxes. (Why, after all, should Apple's millionaires and billionaires contribute to the local and statewide public services in Cupertino, California, that make those fortunes possible?)
How ironic that the media love to celebrate this alleged icon of '60s idealism at the expense of poor, square Bill Gates, who is devoting the better part of his fortune to improving the lives of millions of the world's poorest people. ("Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology," Jobs told Isaacson. In the past, he had suggested that Gates "would be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.")
True, I am deeply devoted to the 27,000 songs I can take anywhere on my iPod Classic as well as the exquisitely engineered MacBook Air on which I typed this column. But as a parent and a citizen, I'll take a Bill Gates (or Warren Buffett) over Steve Jobs every time. If we must have billionaires, better they should ignore Jobs's example and instead embrace the morality and wisdom of the great industrialist/philanthropist Andrew Carnegie: "The man who dies...rich dies disgraced."
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
41 - Steve Jobs predicted Obama would be a one-term president
By Rachel Rose Hartman | The Ticket – Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Jobs (Jeff Chiu/AP)
Steve Jobs, known for his aggressive and sometimes prickly personality, didn't hold back when he met President Obama in 2010:
The Apple CEO warned Obama he wasn't going to win re-election.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," Jobs said during a meeting with the president that took place a year prior to Jobs' death related to pancreatic cancer, according to his upcoming biography as reported by the Huffington Post.
"You're headed for a one-term presidency," Jobs said during a meeting with the president that took place a year prior to Jobs' death related to pancreatic cancer, according to his upcoming biography as reported by the Huffington Post.
Walter Isaacson, who wrote the forthcoming Jobs bio, reportedly reveals that Jobs argued that Obama was jeopardizing his re-election prospects because of what Jobs took to be a pervasive anti-business climate in his administration. Jobs cited excessive federal regulations and operating costs for businesses as harmful legacies of the Obama White House.
Also, Jobs nearly missed the meeting in the first place.
From the Huffington Post:
Though his wife told him that Obama "was really psyched to meet with you," Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days. When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.
After laying into the White House's purported anti-business outlook, Jobs offered to help Obama repair the rift by arranging meeting between the president and a group of CEOs. When the guest list began to grow, Jobs reportedly resolved to back out of the gathering.
Instead, he attended, though he poo-pooed the fancy menu. "But he was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie," Huffington Post writes.
Jobs also offered to to help create political ads for the president in 2012. Jobs had scotched a similar effort to craft Obama ads in 2008, when Isaacson claims that Jobs was unhappy that Obama strategist David Axelrod showed insufficient deference to the Apple honcho.
This and other political news is just the latest information to leak from the hotly anticipated book.
This and other political news is just the latest information to leak from the hotly anticipated book.
Another revelation that Isaacson has teed up for a "60 Minutes" interview featuring the biography this Sunday is that Jobs wished he had chosen sooner to undergo cancer surgery.
40 - Steve Jobs an American Visionary with Arab Roots
10/7/2011 - Social - Article Ref: NA1110-4890
Number of comments:
By: Shirin Sadeghi
New America Media
Abdul Fattah Jandali, a young Syrian Muslim immigrant in Wisconsin, never met his son Steve Jobs. When a baby was born to the 23-year-old Jandali — now known as John — and his 23-year-old German-American girlfriend, Joanne Schieble, in 1955, there was no chance he’d be able to grow up with his biological parents.
Joanne, who belonged to a white, conservative Christian family could not convince her parents to marry an Arab, a Muslim, according to Jandali, who called her father "a tyrant" in a New York Post interview in August 2011. In fact, according to Jandali, she secreted off from Wisconsin to liberal San Francisco to sort out the birth and adoption without letting either him or her parents know.
And so it was that a nameless Arab American baby was adopted by an Armenian American family. Clara Hagopian and her husband Paul Jobs had been married around seven years and had not been able to conceive. The little bundle that would be Steve, was very much wanted in the Jobs household.
Steve Paul Jobs, as they named him, grew up without ever knowing his biological father. It seems he had no interest in knowing him later in life, either. When, in August 2011, the London tabloid The Sun, contacted Jandali, he publicly reached out to Steve saying, "I live in hope that before it is too late he will reach out to me. Even to have just one coffee with him just once would make me a very happy man."
But Steve never replied. Less than two months later, he has passed away.
Jandali says it was his "Syrian pride" that kept him from reaching out to his famous son. In a September 2011 interview with the Reno Gazette — Reno, Nevada being the city the 80-year-old Jandali lives and where, having never retired, he is the Vice President of a casino. "The Syrian pride in me does not want him ever to think I am after his fortune. I am not. I have my own money. What I don’t have is my son…and that saddens me."
One wonders what Jobs knew of his background.
His biological father was no ordinary Syrian. According to an interview he gave to the Al Hayat newspaper in February 2011, he was born in French-mandated Syria in 1931 in the town of Homs to a "self-made millionaire" father with no university education who owned "several entire villages" and a homemaker, traditional mother. He was one of five children Ð the only son of a family with 4 daughters.
He left Syria at 18 to study at the American University in Beirut, where he was "a pan-Arab activist", a "supporter of Arab unity and Arab independence" who organized with some of the most famous activists of his time. After university, he moved to the United States, and the rest is history, though he regrets leaving his homeland.
"If I had the chance to go back in time, I wouldn’t leave Syria or Lebanon at all. I would stay in my home country my whole life. I don’t say that out of emotion but out of common sense," he told Al Hayat. "Of course I miss the social life and wonderful food [in Syria], but the most important thing is the outstanding cultural attributes which in general you don’t find in the West," says the non-practicing Muslim, who nonetheless "believe[s] in Islam in doctrine and culture."
His nostalgia aside, millions worldwide would no doubt disagree with Jandali. Surely a Steve Jobs of Apple Computers could only have been possible in America.
The estrangement of a father and son is made even more tragic by the fact that not only did each know of the other, but they shared more than a father-son biological connection. Jandali and Schieble eventually did marry — just ten months after she gave their baby boy away to adoption, and just a few months after Joanne’s father died. And they had another child — a daughter with whom Steve eventually had a relationship. Mona Jandali — now Simpson — is a world renowned author who was, in her own words, "very close" to her brother Steve once they established a relationship as adults.
According to Jandali, he had no idea until just a few years ago that the baby his then-girlfriend secretly gave birth to in San Francisco was the man the world knew as Steve Jobs. But Steve must have known for decades, through his relationship with Mona.
In the August New York Post interview, Jandali tried to let his son know that he didn’t know of Joanne’s San Francisco plans. That he was saddened when he learned of it. "I honestly do not know to this day if Steve is aware of the fact that had it been my choice, I would have loved to have kept him," he said.
And unless Jobs’s upcoming November authorized biography addresses the issue, Jandali may never know. Instead, with news of Jobs’s death, Jandali has refused any further interviews about his long lost son and will always wonder what could have been. In that, he will not be alone.
Follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter: @ShirinSadeghi
Source: New America Media
Number of comments:
By: Shirin Sadeghi
New America Media
Joanne, who belonged to a white, conservative Christian family could not convince her parents to marry an Arab, a Muslim, according to Jandali, who called her father "a tyrant" in a New York Post interview in August 2011. In fact, according to Jandali, she secreted off from Wisconsin to liberal San Francisco to sort out the birth and adoption without letting either him or her parents know.
And so it was that a nameless Arab American baby was adopted by an Armenian American family. Clara Hagopian and her husband Paul Jobs had been married around seven years and had not been able to conceive. The little bundle that would be Steve, was very much wanted in the Jobs household.
Steve Paul Jobs, as they named him, grew up without ever knowing his biological father. It seems he had no interest in knowing him later in life, either. When, in August 2011, the London tabloid The Sun, contacted Jandali, he publicly reached out to Steve saying, "I live in hope that before it is too late he will reach out to me. Even to have just one coffee with him just once would make me a very happy man."
But Steve never replied. Less than two months later, he has passed away.
Jandali says it was his "Syrian pride" that kept him from reaching out to his famous son. In a September 2011 interview with the Reno Gazette — Reno, Nevada being the city the 80-year-old Jandali lives and where, having never retired, he is the Vice President of a casino. "The Syrian pride in me does not want him ever to think I am after his fortune. I am not. I have my own money. What I don’t have is my son…and that saddens me."
One wonders what Jobs knew of his background.
His biological father was no ordinary Syrian. According to an interview he gave to the Al Hayat newspaper in February 2011, he was born in French-mandated Syria in 1931 in the town of Homs to a "self-made millionaire" father with no university education who owned "several entire villages" and a homemaker, traditional mother. He was one of five children Ð the only son of a family with 4 daughters.
He left Syria at 18 to study at the American University in Beirut, where he was "a pan-Arab activist", a "supporter of Arab unity and Arab independence" who organized with some of the most famous activists of his time. After university, he moved to the United States, and the rest is history, though he regrets leaving his homeland.
"If I had the chance to go back in time, I wouldn’t leave Syria or Lebanon at all. I would stay in my home country my whole life. I don’t say that out of emotion but out of common sense," he told Al Hayat. "Of course I miss the social life and wonderful food [in Syria], but the most important thing is the outstanding cultural attributes which in general you don’t find in the West," says the non-practicing Muslim, who nonetheless "believe[s] in Islam in doctrine and culture."
His nostalgia aside, millions worldwide would no doubt disagree with Jandali. Surely a Steve Jobs of Apple Computers could only have been possible in America.
The estrangement of a father and son is made even more tragic by the fact that not only did each know of the other, but they shared more than a father-son biological connection. Jandali and Schieble eventually did marry — just ten months after she gave their baby boy away to adoption, and just a few months after Joanne’s father died. And they had another child — a daughter with whom Steve eventually had a relationship. Mona Jandali — now Simpson — is a world renowned author who was, in her own words, "very close" to her brother Steve once they established a relationship as adults.
According to Jandali, he had no idea until just a few years ago that the baby his then-girlfriend secretly gave birth to in San Francisco was the man the world knew as Steve Jobs. But Steve must have known for decades, through his relationship with Mona.
In the August New York Post interview, Jandali tried to let his son know that he didn’t know of Joanne’s San Francisco plans. That he was saddened when he learned of it. "I honestly do not know to this day if Steve is aware of the fact that had it been my choice, I would have loved to have kept him," he said.
And unless Jobs’s upcoming November authorized biography addresses the issue, Jandali may never know. Instead, with news of Jobs’s death, Jandali has refused any further interviews about his long lost son and will always wonder what could have been. In that, he will not be alone.
Follow Shirin Sadeghi on Twitter: @ShirinSadeghi
Source: New America Media
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
39 - iConic Jobs - The Hindu
August 27, 2011
Steve Jobs could connect the dots and how. Apple Computer, which he co-founded with Steve Wozniak in 1976, has been a world-beating success under his visionary leadership. It soared from its start as a garage venture into a technology giant with a market valuation of $350 billion, and an unmatched reputation for inventing disruptively brilliant gadgets.
Apple's orchard has been sprouting wonderful things starting with the Macintosh computers and going on to the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, each testifying to the value of fine minimalist design and excellence in performance. What makes the legacy of Mr. Jobs remarkable in the fast-changing world of consumer electronics is his ability to come back to the core of innovation after fighting tough battles, and set the bar higher.
Neither a 12-year absence after his 1985 exit due to an internal power struggle nor serious health setbacks seemed to curb his spirit. Now that he is stepping down as CEO, the question naturally arises — can Apple maintain its pre-eminence without the boss at the helm? The answer would seem to lie in the leader's own philosophy of life and work.
Mr. Jobs, who was raised by working class parents, did not graduate from college. But he continued to learn. He listened to intuition. He is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications. Talent must be allowed to speak and experiment with ideas, even if every move is not bound for immediate commercial success. Mr. Jobs has a timeless message for everyone — the only way to do great work is to love what one does.
Mr. Jobs, who was raised by working class parents, did not graduate from college. But he continued to learn. He listened to intuition. He is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications. Talent must be allowed to speak and experiment with ideas, even if every move is not bound for immediate commercial success. Mr. Jobs has a timeless message for everyone — the only way to do great work is to love what one does.
A second powerful message from the 56-year old tech wizard is to learn from failure. Mr. Jobs is on record that his departure from Apple in the mid-1980s was one of the best things that happened to him — the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of becoming a beginner once more.
He proved himself all over again before returning to the company. Perhaps even more extraordinary is his triumph over life-threatening health challenges. Yet, as events show, indomitable spirit must also defer to the constraints of physical ability.
Today, legions of fans look differently at music, video, and the web with each wave of innovation at Apple. The iPad tablet computer is the latest. They will look for the same game-changing impact in future products, an expectation that incoming CEO Tim Cook will have to meet. In a competitive future, Apple will have put its trust in itself.
As Mr. Jobs told Stanford University graduates in a 2005 commencement address: “You have to trust in something. Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” A fine thought from someone who has lived it.
COMMENTS:
Wonderful achievements in individuals emerge from the life histories of Americans.Thanks to the Freedom as practiced there.It was T Thomas, the then Chairman of Hindusthan Lever limited, in one the company's Annual Report,gave an account of his rise to the top job, from a scratch.Landing in then Bombay only equipped with a Chemical Engineering degree in his pocket,with determination,hard work and reasonable good luck he could scale the heights of Pyramid at HLL.Thus the Freedom available to the citizens to enrich themselves in the field of their choice is something, we too, can be proud of.LET US HOPE,the effective control of Leakages of Tax Payer's money, in the proposed LOK PAL Bill, its implementation, should bring up several SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR, to take India to greater heights.
from: K P Natarajan
Wonderful achievements in individuals emerge from the life histories of Americans.Thanks to the Freedom as practiced there.It was T Thomas, the then Chairman of Hindusthan Lever limited, in one the company's Annual Report,gave an account of his rise to the top job, from a scratch.Landing in then Bombay only equipped with a Chemical Engineering degree in his pocket,with determination,hard work and reasonable good luck he could scale the heights of Pyramid at HLL.Thus the Freedom available to the citizens to enrich themselves in the field of their choice is something, we too, can be proud of.LET US HOPE,the effective control of Leakages of Tax Payer's money, in the proposed LOK PAL Bill, its implementation, should bring up several SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR, to take India to greater heights.
from: K P Natarajan
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 06:55 IST
A genius retires. His ideas and inventions have changed our world, even convictions and values are changing. One who is using a MacBookAir or an iPhone gets in touch with Apple´s own philosophy. Apple enjoys high reputation for inventing disruptively brilliant gadgets. Today, legions of fans look differently at music, video, and the web with each wave of innovation at Apple. Without Steve Jobs no one knows if the success of Apple will continue.
Though he did not graduate from college, he is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications. Up to now Apple gadgets have been used and are used by the Middle and Upper class there should be a change that more segments of society can afford Apple products. And the first step has been already taken, Apple will release a cheaper iPhone4 within weeks. Steve Jobs never stopped learning and he listened to intuition. An outstanding personality retires.
from: Kurt Waschnig Oldenburg Germany
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 10:36 IST
A genius retires. His ideas and inventions have changed our world, even convictions and values are changing. One who is using a MacBookAir or an iPhone gets in touch with Apple´s own philosophy. Apple enjoys high reputation for inventing disruptively brilliant gadgets. Today, legions of fans look differently at music, video, and the web with each wave of innovation at Apple. Without Steve Jobs no one knows if the success of Apple will continue.
Though he did not graduate from college, he is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in more than 230 awarded patents or patent applications. Up to now Apple gadgets have been used and are used by the Middle and Upper class there should be a change that more segments of society can afford Apple products. And the first step has been already taken, Apple will release a cheaper iPhone4 within weeks. Steve Jobs never stopped learning and he listened to intuition. An outstanding personality retires.
from: Kurt Waschnig Oldenburg Germany
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 10:36 IST
I am very pleased to read this tribute. The Hindu very rarely praises an entrepreneur/businessman! I am glad you have filtered out two messages from his life: love your work, and learn from failure. Even a terrorist would subscribe to those messages. Therefore, I would add a few more messages. Focus on building and not tearing down. Elevate your game and don't get dragged down by the competition. Do not suffer from competitive myopia. Focus on innovating. Be bold, and do not be risk averse. Jobs story is not complete without his home market, the USA. Only in the USA his innovations took root. The USA must be applauded for allowing capitalists to flourish, and that is the lesson public policy makers and opinion writers at The Hindu should take note. On a biographical note, please review Jobs commencement speech gave at Stanford a few years back. In that speech, he mentions how in his youth he walked 6 or 7 miles to get a free vegetarian meal at a ISKCON Hare Krishna temple!
from: Subra Balakrishnan
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 14:12 IST
from: Subra Balakrishnan
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 14:12 IST
Apple is a phenomenon,it brought about massive changes in modern consumer electronics with its elegant,simple,innovative and smart designs/technology.Apple products are a roaring success in the industrialized developed world ,but it has some catching up to do in developing countries like India.Countries like India require an 'Apple' of there own ,which reaches out to the people of this country.The youth and entrepreneurs of this nation should strive to come up with such innovations that would have the effect that companies like Apple,Facebook,Google had on this world. The founders of these companies weren't from well to do families, these are men of great strength, character and resolve. What we need is an Indian Apple for the Global appetite.
from: Narendra
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 15:26 IST
from: Narendra
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 15:26 IST
Steve Jobs and his Stanford's commencement speech are going to inspire generations to come! People will remember him for his professional as well as personal achievements. He said he has retired for he was not able to meet his own standards! A sign of a genius indeed!Why can't our politicians take a note of this? Many seem to have one leg in graveyard and another in the ministry!
from: harsh raghava
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 15:41 IST
from: harsh raghava
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 15:41 IST
The below question was asked to him in an interview and his response shows his greatness. The core message, of not accepting mediocrity and not giving up, applies to all of us and in all walks of life.
What was the design lesson of the iPod? "Look at the design of a lot of consumer product - they're really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through."
from: Subbu Padharthi
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 18:53 IST
What was the design lesson of the iPod? "Look at the design of a lot of consumer product - they're really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through."
from: Subbu Padharthi
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 18:53 IST
Its really astonishing that Steave Jobs was not even a graduate and he was founded the most innovative company in the world. And over that he has 250 patents on his name. Apple is the only company, I know of, which makes unconventional products. Compare any Apple product with other company product, from looks to technology, completely different.The new CEO should know that he has some VERY LARGE SHOES to fill.
from: Abhishek Sharma
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 20:52 IST
from: Abhishek Sharma
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 20:52 IST
It was nice to read about Jobs. He is indeed an inspirational figure. However, I feel another gem in his crown of success is the rise of PIXAR, and should be mentioned here. It was the vision of Jobs and his collaboration with artists like John Lasseter that culminated into the creation of a new breed of CGI movies starting with the Toy Story in 1995. Though Pixar has been taken over by Walt Disney now, Steve Jobs will always be a remembered as a pioneer.
from: Parth Kanungo
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 23:07 IST
from: Parth Kanungo
Posted on: Aug 27, 2011 at 23:07 IST
Great editorial but for one misquote, The editorial says that Steve jobs said that one should love their work but what he actually said is that everyone should find out what they love and then go for it. This is so true because excellence in any career comes from the passion within.
from: Venkat
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 09:40 IST
from: Venkat
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 09:40 IST
The most inspiring man of 21st century with all his guts of innovation and dare to love without fear and do all with his conscience. We all salute him.
from: Charudatt Kumbhare
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 09:55 IST
from: Charudatt Kumbhare
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 09:55 IST
Where there is a will,there is a way.This 'will' is synonymous to charismatic qualities such as - concentration ,self discipline,a cool mind with an enthusiastic soul.With all these qualities , a man can conquer the world.We must also remember that most of us travel only half way on the path of life than we ought to have travelled.
from: saurabh shubham
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 11:35 IST
from: saurabh shubham
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 11:35 IST
Steve jobs deserves every reverence that he has got from the Editor and many more like us.He had the wont of pulling it off every-time,he bettered himself time and again & it is quite evident how much it takes to achieve something.I still remember the last speech he delivered.It has a lot of lessons for everybody to learn.The resilience shown by him from the very early age and penchant to learn and move ahead is what has separated him from the rest.Can you believe a man on the verge of dying is going along just by thinking he has nothing to loose,how many can think like that?Whatever he has given to us deserves a lot of praise and acknowledgement.
from: Sanjay
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 12:10 IST
from: Sanjay
Posted on: Aug 28, 2011 at 12:10 IST
Thank you so much Mr. Editor. I must salute your inclination to include an inventor and an innovator of electronic devises, which had had changed the forceps of the human mind to new paradigms, that was not even possible to have been imagined in 1976 for your cherished editorial. The co-founder of the bitten-apple will never be forgotten so long the human race is alive. A given away child by parents, without tertiary education and selling Coca-Cola bottles and living on welfare food at Hare Krishna centers tells us of a story of how perseverance and persistence could raise the Man to a Superman. Steve Jobs has defeated the nihilist concept of Man and Superman told to us through Frederich Nietzsche and had proven beyond doubt the victory of the Nirvana as a transcending light through which the human mind can be guided to realize perfection and premonitions. The, I, he had invented has now become a We for all of us. I am so saddened yet amazed.
from: Richard Kamalanathan
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 16:28 IST
from: Richard Kamalanathan
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 16:28 IST
Steve jobs now finds a permanent place in history. He will be remembered for ever for his experiments in transforming the digital scene. He was a cancer patient and was embracing Death since 2004 . In 2005', he told the students of Stanford university, that the time before them was limited and that they should not waste it living someone else's life. He also asked them to ' stay hungry. Stay foolish' . He made full use of his life to make a real difference in the life of millions in this land. His death has created a vacuum to humanity.
from: C.p.Chandra das
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:12 IST
from: C.p.Chandra das
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:12 IST
The brands that are built on everlasting cult of desire thrive the test of time. Few brands have such a following and Steve Jobs is the wonder guru who created that iconic brand. May his legacy endure and inspire many a followers to work with passion with an obsession to create that something everybody would aspire for.
from: Saravanan Subramanium
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:17 IST
from: Saravanan Subramanium
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:17 IST
No one else from the business world that I read of or knew in the past few decades have had a profound impact on both the business world and the society than Steve. To me, he is undoubtedly one among the greatest innovators and entrepreneurs the world ever witnessed. His Apple products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad are not only very user friendly and aesthetically designed, but also have upended the music, communication and media industries. Very few business leaders or innovators had done that before him. Thank you very much for everything you provided, Steve. May the world see many more great innovators like you. Rest In Peace.
from: Manjunath Nallani
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:50 IST
from: Manjunath Nallani
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 19:50 IST
The foresight and innovative spirit that Steve Jobs epitomizes the what could be achieved when we break shackles of economic and technological convention. Steve's products succeeded as he often remarked because he could connect technology and liberal arts. Even the most useful devices would be rendered useless if it can't appeal to our senses. Steve Jobs was a portal a middle-man between ground breaking technological advances in electronics and IT industry, and the consumers.
from: Hari
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 21:46 IST
from: Hari
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 21:46 IST
Steve Jobs was the campaigner for Proprietory software and vendor locked hardware. He used his creativity to strengthen the company than the community at large. I love his indomitable spirit but somehow I am not convinced of his attitudes towards open culture. To sum up in an example, take iPAD. It is totally locks the user. The idea of OC Tablets (in my view) should have been more freedom, but alas, Steve has locked the consumers. While I commend his efforts, I request the media to write analytical pieces, which may contain good and bad things.
from: Beluru Sudarshana
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 23:13 IST
from: Beluru Sudarshana
Posted on: Oct 6, 2011 at 23:13 IST
Behind each great company, there is a great mission statement. Apple's mission is to bring the best personal computing experience to consumers through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. This mission statement has been driving Apple for years, fueling the company's vision of what the future could look like, and then turning that vision into reality. Steven Paul Jobs was the most successful CEO in the world for the last 25 years realizing such a mission. He uniquely combined an artist's touch and an engineer's vision to build an extraordinary company....Apple Inc, one of the greatest World leaders in history of computing. What he told the graduating students may be Steve Jobs's best legacy. Here is one part we all should remember, "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
What a great man he was!
from: Major AM Manohar
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 04:47 IST
What a great man he was!
from: Major AM Manohar
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 04:47 IST
Goodbye Steve and thank you.
from: Sumesh R Bhat
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 09:23 IST
from: Sumesh R Bhat
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 09:23 IST
Steve Jobs life story should be read by every student/young and old,he should be a role model and the young generation needs to learn a lot from his experiences and the struggle he went through when he was thrown out of his own company and to come back with innovative products,only if we have people like him in all walks of life industry/schools/colleges/govt servants/politicians etc,India would be a better place to live. every one should read his Stanford university speech as an inspiration/motivation.
from: dr g shivalingam
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 11:17 IST
from: dr g shivalingam
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 11:17 IST
Steve, Steve, Steve.. The godfather of every modern computer, the architect of the technology that we see now. I've never been inspired so much by another person. Not only in the context of the geek or tech person but he is the best example to learn, 'How to live a life'.. He can never be replaced.. According to me, he lived he most meaningful life on this world. His innovations and products will continue living his life for ever..
One among your million fans..
Love you Steve.. Miss you.. RIP
from: Guna seakar
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 11:56 IST
One among your million fans..
Love you Steve.. Miss you.. RIP
from: Guna seakar
Posted on: Oct 7, 2011 at 11:56 IST
38 - A visionary passes - The Hindu
When Steve Jobs was asked in 1985 why people should make a heavy investment on a new computer built by Apple, he replied that if one had asked Alexander Graham Bell about the possible uses of a telephone, he would not have been able to say. Moreover, he envisioned a time when computers like the one he had made would be linked to a nationwide communications network. That uncanny understanding of the future course of technology, the intuition, vision, and courage necessary to build it marked the extraordinary life of Steve Jobs.
When he died on Wednesday at the age of 56, he left the venture he co-founded in his parents' garage the most valuable technology company in the world. A restless diviner of the digital future, Jobs made things for people before they knew they needed it. The first Macintosh computer brought technologies such as the graphical user interface and the mouse to the mainstream, scoring a giant leap over text-based displays. The iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were products of his belief that humans, as instinctive users of tools, would love them. These creations successfully disrupted the universe of gadgets and entertainment, creating new benchmarks for products.
A quarter century ago, at a time when the computer business was focussed on big corporations and mainframes, Jobs pursued a vision to take the productivity of the computer to the small businessperson and the home user. He used innovation and reliability as growth engines. He was the digital woodworker who never compromised on design, materials, or craftsmanship, in hardware and software.
A quarter century ago, at a time when the computer business was focussed on big corporations and mainframes, Jobs pursued a vision to take the productivity of the computer to the small businessperson and the home user. He used innovation and reliability as growth engines. He was the digital woodworker who never compromised on design, materials, or craftsmanship, in hardware and software.
Early in his career, Jobs argued that creativity was an asset of the young. As people grew older, they got stuck in the patterns etched in their mind by their thoughts. Companies with many layers of middle management filtered out the passion for products. Jobs was the great exception — mercurial, driven, and eager to connect the dots of the future till the end. Unceremoniously thrown out of the company he co-founded, he returned to it enormously enriched with creative ideas. Despite suffering from a rare form of pancreatic cancer diagnosed soon after he unveiled the iTunes music store, he persevered with the development of new products such as the iPhone.
In his famous commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, he reflected on the inevitability of mortality: “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living somebody else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking ... And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” This summed up the life and work of a college dropout who, by connecting the dots and having the courage to follow his heart and intuition, changed the world.
37 - Steve Jobs: The monk who left India to make i-Products - Times of India
The monk who left India to make i-Products
PTI PTI Oct 6, 2011, 02.46PM IST
NEW DELHI: "Three apples have changed the world. One seduced Eve, second awakened Newton, the third one was in the hands of Jobs."
This was one of the most widely circulated messages doing the rounds of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere on internet after the untimely demise of Steve Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur and the force behind the US-based global technology giant Apple.
Much before embarking on the path of giving the world iconic products like Mac computers, iPod music players, iPhone mobile phones and iPad tablet PCs, this cult figure of the world of technology came to India in early 70s in search of enlightenment or 'nirvana' and went back unsatisfied.
He found India far poorer than he had imagined at that time and, ironically, years later in mid-2000s, when he thought of setting up a facility for Apple's Mac computers, India appeared to be much less cost-effective to do business.
But, it was his unsatisfactory India visit of early 70s that could have been one of the major reasons for Jobs' focus on the world of technology and eventually the setting up of the company called Apple.
His biography, titled 'The Little Kingdom -- The Private Story of Apple Computer' quotes Jobs as saying that "It was one of the first times that I started to realise that maybe Thomas Edison did a lot more to improve the world than Karl Marx and Neem Kairolie Baba put together."
Neem Karori Baba was the guru that Jobs, then 18, visited in India along with his college friend Dan Kottke. The American duo had come to India after they dropped out of college and Kottke eventually joined Jobs as the first employee of Apple.
"The hot, uncomfortable summer made Jobs question many of the illusions he had nursed about India. He found India far poorer than he had imagined and was struck by the incongruity between the country's condition and its airs of holiness," author Michael Moritz wrote in Jobs' biography.
The book quoted Jobs as saying: "We weren't going to find a place where we could go for a month to be enlightened" and said that by the time he returned to California "he was thinner, thanks to a bout of dysentery, had closely cropped hair, and was dressed in an Indian attire..."
Years later in 2006, there were talks about Apple mulling over a 3,000-strong workforce centre in Bangalore to support its Mac and other products and it was said that the company even hired an initial team of 30 people. But, the plans did not fructify and reports said that the company did not find India as cost-effective as it had thought it to be.
Ironically, Jobs died on a day when Indian government unveiled its own answer to iPad, with a price tag much lower than that of the iconic brand, in the form of Aakash, the world's cheapest tablet PC.
The market gets swarmed with a number of rival products whenever Apple launches a new one and this has been the case of digital music player iPod, touch-screen mobile device iPhone and touch-screen tablet PC iPad.
Invariably, the rival products are priced much cheaper than Apple's and in places like India a comparatively costlier price tag has always come in the way of their market-leading positions.
The cost factor notwithstanding, the products that Jobs brought to this world achieved unmatched fashion value and cult status across the world, including in India.
Many argue that Jobs and Apple lost out to almost all his peers in the global technology space, including the likes of Microsoft, IBM, HP and Dell by not availing of the 'India advantage' in their businesses, the products that Jobs gave the world hold much higher iconic value that anything else in the technology space, India included.
This iconic status reverberated in the messages pouring in from people of all walks of the life here in India, mourning his death as the loss of one of the greatest icons of the modern times.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to industrialist Ratan Tata and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj to filmaker Karan Johar -- eminent personalities from different fields are mourning the death of Jobs.
Reacting to the death of Jobs, who quit as Apple CEO in late August due to his ill health, US President Barack Obama went on to say that "there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.
PTI PTI Oct 6, 2011, 02.46PM IST
NEW DELHI: "Three apples have changed the world. One seduced Eve, second awakened Newton, the third one was in the hands of Jobs."
This was one of the most widely circulated messages doing the rounds of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere on internet after the untimely demise of Steve Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur and the force behind the US-based global technology giant Apple.
Much before embarking on the path of giving the world iconic products like Mac computers, iPod music players, iPhone mobile phones and iPad tablet PCs, this cult figure of the world of technology came to India in early 70s in search of enlightenment or 'nirvana' and went back unsatisfied.
He found India far poorer than he had imagined at that time and, ironically, years later in mid-2000s, when he thought of setting up a facility for Apple's Mac computers, India appeared to be much less cost-effective to do business.
But, it was his unsatisfactory India visit of early 70s that could have been one of the major reasons for Jobs' focus on the world of technology and eventually the setting up of the company called Apple.
His biography, titled 'The Little Kingdom -- The Private Story of Apple Computer' quotes Jobs as saying that "It was one of the first times that I started to realise that maybe Thomas Edison did a lot more to improve the world than Karl Marx and Neem Kairolie Baba put together."
Neem Karori Baba was the guru that Jobs, then 18, visited in India along with his college friend Dan Kottke. The American duo had come to India after they dropped out of college and Kottke eventually joined Jobs as the first employee of Apple.
"The hot, uncomfortable summer made Jobs question many of the illusions he had nursed about India. He found India far poorer than he had imagined and was struck by the incongruity between the country's condition and its airs of holiness," author Michael Moritz wrote in Jobs' biography.
The book quoted Jobs as saying: "We weren't going to find a place where we could go for a month to be enlightened" and said that by the time he returned to California "he was thinner, thanks to a bout of dysentery, had closely cropped hair, and was dressed in an Indian attire..."
Years later in 2006, there were talks about Apple mulling over a 3,000-strong workforce centre in Bangalore to support its Mac and other products and it was said that the company even hired an initial team of 30 people. But, the plans did not fructify and reports said that the company did not find India as cost-effective as it had thought it to be.
Ironically, Jobs died on a day when Indian government unveiled its own answer to iPad, with a price tag much lower than that of the iconic brand, in the form of Aakash, the world's cheapest tablet PC.
The market gets swarmed with a number of rival products whenever Apple launches a new one and this has been the case of digital music player iPod, touch-screen mobile device iPhone and touch-screen tablet PC iPad.
Invariably, the rival products are priced much cheaper than Apple's and in places like India a comparatively costlier price tag has always come in the way of their market-leading positions.
The cost factor notwithstanding, the products that Jobs brought to this world achieved unmatched fashion value and cult status across the world, including in India.
Many argue that Jobs and Apple lost out to almost all his peers in the global technology space, including the likes of Microsoft, IBM, HP and Dell by not availing of the 'India advantage' in their businesses, the products that Jobs gave the world hold much higher iconic value that anything else in the technology space, India included.
This iconic status reverberated in the messages pouring in from people of all walks of the life here in India, mourning his death as the loss of one of the greatest icons of the modern times.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to industrialist Ratan Tata and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj to filmaker Karan Johar -- eminent personalities from different fields are mourning the death of Jobs.
Reacting to the death of Jobs, who quit as Apple CEO in late August due to his ill health, US President Barack Obama went on to say that "there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.
36 - Steve Jobs - Reuters | Oct. 05, 2011
Reuters | Oct. 05, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.
Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday. The Apple.com homepage featured a black-and-white picture of him with the words "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011."
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
A survivor of a rare form of pancreatic cancer, he was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement announcing Jobs' passing.
"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
Job's health had been a controversial topic for years. His battle with cancer had been a deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board alike. In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.
Now, despite investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether the company would stay a creative force to be reckoned with beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
The news triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy. Among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he will miss Jobs "immensely".
A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in the late 1970s. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.
But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.
Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday. The Apple.com homepage featured a black-and-white picture of him with the words "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011."
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
A survivor of a rare form of pancreatic cancer, he was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement announcing Jobs' passing.
"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
Job's health had been a controversial topic for years. His battle with cancer had been a deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board alike. In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.
Now, despite investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether the company would stay a creative force to be reckoned with beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
The news triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy. Among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he will miss Jobs "immensely".
A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in the late 1970s. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.
But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.
35 - A Tribute to Steve Jobs : The Apple Co-founder
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Tribute to Steve Jobs : The Apple Co-founder
Steve Jobs :: 1955-2011
PTI | Oct. 05, 2011
Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died.
He was 56. Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement.
“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”
Mr. Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January “his third since his health problems began” and officially resigned in August.
Mr. Jobs started Apple with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later and returned in 1997 to rescue the company. During his second stint, it grew into the most valuable technology company in the world.
Cultivating Apple’s countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, Mr. Jobs rolled out one sensational product after another, even in the face of the late-2000s recession and his own failing health.
He helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cell phone and music industries. For transformation of American industry, he has few rivals.
Perhaps most influentially, Mr. Jobs in 2001 launched the iPod, which offered “1,000 songs in your pocket.” Over the next 10 years, its white earphones and thumb-dial control seemed to become more ubiquitous than the wristwatch.
In 2007 came the touch-screen iPhone, joined a year later by Apple’s App Store, where developers could sell iPhone “apps” which made the phone a device not just for making calls but also for managing money, editing photos, playing games and social networking.
And in 2010, Mr. Jobs introduced the iPad, a tablet-sized, all-touch computer that took off even though market analysts said no one really needed one.
By 2011, Apple had become the second-largest company of any kind in the United States by market value. In August, it briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company.
Under Mr. Jobs, the company cloaked itself in secrecy to build frenzied anticipation for each of its new products.
Mr. Jobs himself had a wizardly sense of what his customers wanted, and where demand didn’t exist, he leveraged a cult-like following to create it.
When he spoke at Apple presentations, almost always in faded blue jeans, sneakers and a black mock turtleneck, legions of Apple acolytes listened to every word.
He often boasted about Apple successes, then coyly added a coda “One more thing” before introducing its latest ambitious idea.
In later years, Apple investors also watched these appearances for clues about his health. Jobs revealed in 2004 that he had been diagnosed with a very rare form of pancreatic cancer -- an islet cell neuroendocrine tumour. He underwent surgery and said he had been cured.
In 2009, following weight loss he initially attributed to a hormonal imbalance, he abruptly took a six-month leave.
During that time, he received a liver transplant that became public two months after it was performed.
He went on another medical leave in January 2011, this time for an unspecified duration. He never went back and resigned as CEO in August, though he stayed on as chairman.
Consistent with his penchant for secrecy, he didn’t reference his illness in his resignation letter.
Steven Paul Jobs was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco to Joanne Simpson, then an unmarried graduate student, and Abdulfattah Jandali, a student from Syria.
Simpson gave Mr. Jobs up for adoption, though she married Jandali and a few years later had a second child with him, Mona Simpson, who became a novelist.
Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs of Los Altos, California, a working-class couple who nurtured his early interest in electronics. He saw his first computer terminal at NASA’s Ames Research Centre when he was around 11 and landed a summer job at Hewlett-Packard before he had finished high school.
A Tribute to Steve Jobs : The Apple Co-founder
Steve Jobs :: 1955-2011
PTI | Oct. 05, 2011
Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former CEO who invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, has died.
He was 56. Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement.
“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”
Mr. Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January “his third since his health problems began” and officially resigned in August.
Mr. Jobs started Apple with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later and returned in 1997 to rescue the company. During his second stint, it grew into the most valuable technology company in the world.
Cultivating Apple’s countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, Mr. Jobs rolled out one sensational product after another, even in the face of the late-2000s recession and his own failing health.
He helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cell phone and music industries. For transformation of American industry, he has few rivals.
Perhaps most influentially, Mr. Jobs in 2001 launched the iPod, which offered “1,000 songs in your pocket.” Over the next 10 years, its white earphones and thumb-dial control seemed to become more ubiquitous than the wristwatch.
In 2007 came the touch-screen iPhone, joined a year later by Apple’s App Store, where developers could sell iPhone “apps” which made the phone a device not just for making calls but also for managing money, editing photos, playing games and social networking.
And in 2010, Mr. Jobs introduced the iPad, a tablet-sized, all-touch computer that took off even though market analysts said no one really needed one.
By 2011, Apple had become the second-largest company of any kind in the United States by market value. In August, it briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company.
Under Mr. Jobs, the company cloaked itself in secrecy to build frenzied anticipation for each of its new products.
Mr. Jobs himself had a wizardly sense of what his customers wanted, and where demand didn’t exist, he leveraged a cult-like following to create it.
When he spoke at Apple presentations, almost always in faded blue jeans, sneakers and a black mock turtleneck, legions of Apple acolytes listened to every word.
He often boasted about Apple successes, then coyly added a coda “One more thing” before introducing its latest ambitious idea.
In later years, Apple investors also watched these appearances for clues about his health. Jobs revealed in 2004 that he had been diagnosed with a very rare form of pancreatic cancer -- an islet cell neuroendocrine tumour. He underwent surgery and said he had been cured.
In 2009, following weight loss he initially attributed to a hormonal imbalance, he abruptly took a six-month leave.
During that time, he received a liver transplant that became public two months after it was performed.
He went on another medical leave in January 2011, this time for an unspecified duration. He never went back and resigned as CEO in August, though he stayed on as chairman.
Consistent with his penchant for secrecy, he didn’t reference his illness in his resignation letter.
Steven Paul Jobs was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco to Joanne Simpson, then an unmarried graduate student, and Abdulfattah Jandali, a student from Syria.
Simpson gave Mr. Jobs up for adoption, though she married Jandali and a few years later had a second child with him, Mona Simpson, who became a novelist.
Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs of Los Altos, California, a working-class couple who nurtured his early interest in electronics. He saw his first computer terminal at NASA’s Ames Research Centre when he was around 11 and landed a summer job at Hewlett-Packard before he had finished high school.
34 - Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs dies at the age of 56 - Economic Times
Reuters Oct 6, 2011, 06.08am IST
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues
Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs
dies at the age of 56
Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday. The Apple.com homepage featured a black-and-white picture of him with the words "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011."
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
A survivor of a rare form of pancreatic cancer, he was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement announcing Jobs' passing.
"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
Job's health had been a controversial topic for years. His battle with cancer had been a deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board alike. In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.
Now, despite investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether the company would stay a creative force to be reckoned with beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
The news triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy. Among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he will miss Jobs "immensely".
APPLE, NEXT, IPHONE
A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in the late 1970s. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.
But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.
Apple's fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped "interim" from his title.
Along the way Jobs also had managed to revolutionize computer animation with his other company, Pixar, but it was the iPhone in 2007 that capped his legacy in the annals of modern technology history.
Two years before the gadget that forever transformed the way people around the world access and use the Internet, Jobs talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement announcing Jobs' passing.
"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
Job's health had been a controversial topic for years. His battle with cancer had been a deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board alike. In past years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming enough with directors about the true condition of his health.
Now, despite investor confidence in Cook, who has stood in for his boss during three leaves of absence, there remain concerns about whether the company would stay a creative force to be reckoned with beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
The news triggered an immediate outpouring of sympathy. Among others, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said he will miss Jobs "immensely".
APPLE, NEXT, IPHONE
A college dropout, Buddhist and son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in the late 1970s. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer.
But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with top management and the board soured. The company removed most of his powers and then in 1985 he was fired.
Apple's fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped "interim" from his title.
Along the way Jobs also had managed to revolutionize computer animation with his other company, Pixar, but it was the iPhone in 2007 that capped his legacy in the annals of modern technology history.
Two years before the gadget that forever transformed the way people around the world access and use the Internet, Jobs talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005.
"Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
"Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
33 - Digital diviner who made computing personal - The Hindu
CHENNAI, October 6, 2011
G. ANANTHAKRISHNAN
Flowers and notes are displayed in tribute to Steve Jobs
outside an Apple store in Chicago, on Thursday. Photo: AP
Steve Jobs, the 56-year-old iconic co-founder of Apple, breathed his last on Wednesday.
“Technology alone is not enough,” Steve Jobs, the 56-year-old iconic co-founder of Apple, declared last year while unveiling the iPad. “It's technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” On Wednesday, his own heart stilled as he lost the battle with pancreatic cancer; but the chord he first struck in his garage-based computer venture three decades ago by linking the drive for innovation with the consumer's desire for utilitarian technology will continue to move the world of computing and electronics for many years to come.
A pioneer who made Silicon Valley synonymous with entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and technological excellence, Jobs, launched Apple with his friend, Steve Wozniak, in 1976.
Jobs “died peacefully surrounded by his family,” his wife, Laurene, and four children, said in a statement. In a tribute, Apple said it had “lost a creative and visionary genius and the world [had] lost an amazing human being.”
Tributes poured in from around the world and fans flocked to Apple stores in several countries to mourn the passing of the “leading light” of the digital age, as one industry CEO described him. Flags flew at half mast at the headquarters of the company at Cupertino, California.
Steve Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of treatable pancreatic cancer in 2003, and underwent surgery. He had a liver transplant six years later with doctors giving him an “excellent prognosis.” In August this year, Jobs stepped down as the CEO of Apple, making way for Tim Cook to take over. He declared that the day had come when he could no longer meet his duties.
U.S. President Barack Obama described Steve Jobs as among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said in a statement, “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”
In India, the Prime Minister and captains of industry praised his contributions.
Google paid homage with a “Steve Jobs 1955-2011” hyperlink on its home page that took visitors to the Apple website. Others who paid tribute included Google CEO Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Starting as a young entrepreneur who swapped computer parts and ideas in a small computer club in the mid-70s, Jobs — a college drop-out who admired “brilliant troublemakers” — launched the Apple II personal computer in 1977 with Wozniak, achieving notable success. A personal computer that uses a graphical user interface and mouse, the Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984, developing ideas from Xerox PARC. It was also a commercial hit.
In a dramatic turn of events, Jobs had to leave his own company in 1985, before returning to it and taking over as CEO a dozen years later. In the interim years, he founded NeXT Computer (which was later acquired by Apple) and developed Pixar, the animation company famous for such hits as Finding Nemo, Cars and Toy Story.
Jobs' focus on music, images, videos and highly portable gadgets that connect to computers as part of a “digital hub” strategy was a big success with consumers, starting with the iTunes music management software, and evolving into wildly popular devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and more recently, the iPad tablet computer. This ecosystem of devices and services is described by some as a “walled garden” as it is controlled by Apple, but is a massive hit nevertheless with millions of fans around the world.
“Technology alone is not enough,” Steve Jobs, the 56-year-old iconic co-founder of Apple, declared last year while unveiling the iPad. “It's technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” On Wednesday, his own heart stilled as he lost the battle with pancreatic cancer; but the chord he first struck in his garage-based computer venture three decades ago by linking the drive for innovation with the consumer's desire for utilitarian technology will continue to move the world of computing and electronics for many years to come.
A pioneer who made Silicon Valley synonymous with entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and technological excellence, Jobs, launched Apple with his friend, Steve Wozniak, in 1976.
Jobs “died peacefully surrounded by his family,” his wife, Laurene, and four children, said in a statement. In a tribute, Apple said it had “lost a creative and visionary genius and the world [had] lost an amazing human being.”
Tributes poured in from around the world and fans flocked to Apple stores in several countries to mourn the passing of the “leading light” of the digital age, as one industry CEO described him. Flags flew at half mast at the headquarters of the company at Cupertino, California.
Steve Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of treatable pancreatic cancer in 2003, and underwent surgery. He had a liver transplant six years later with doctors giving him an “excellent prognosis.” In August this year, Jobs stepped down as the CEO of Apple, making way for Tim Cook to take over. He declared that the day had come when he could no longer meet his duties.
U.S. President Barack Obama described Steve Jobs as among the greatest of American innovators — brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, said in a statement, “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”
In India, the Prime Minister and captains of industry praised his contributions.
Google paid homage with a “Steve Jobs 1955-2011” hyperlink on its home page that took visitors to the Apple website. Others who paid tribute included Google CEO Larry Page, co-founder Sergey Brin, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Starting as a young entrepreneur who swapped computer parts and ideas in a small computer club in the mid-70s, Jobs — a college drop-out who admired “brilliant troublemakers” — launched the Apple II personal computer in 1977 with Wozniak, achieving notable success. A personal computer that uses a graphical user interface and mouse, the Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984, developing ideas from Xerox PARC. It was also a commercial hit.
In a dramatic turn of events, Jobs had to leave his own company in 1985, before returning to it and taking over as CEO a dozen years later. In the interim years, he founded NeXT Computer (which was later acquired by Apple) and developed Pixar, the animation company famous for such hits as Finding Nemo, Cars and Toy Story.
Jobs' focus on music, images, videos and highly portable gadgets that connect to computers as part of a “digital hub” strategy was a big success with consumers, starting with the iTunes music management software, and evolving into wildly popular devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and more recently, the iPad tablet computer. This ecosystem of devices and services is described by some as a “walled garden” as it is controlled by Apple, but is a massive hit nevertheless with millions of fans around the world.
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