By Anjora Sarangi:
He revolutionized computer and phone technology, he transformed the music industry, he altered the course of the media world, he founded three incredible companies, he changed the meaning of Apple for the world, Steve Jobs, co-founder and chairman of Apple resigned this month as CEO of his company leaving his followers cheerless.
Jobs did not have a particularly prosperous start. His biological mother, Joanne Simpson gave him up for adoption to Paul and Clara Jobs since he was born out of wedlock. He dropped out of college because his parents were not being able to afford the tuition. However, he continued auditing classes at his college — Reed College such as the calligraphy class which was striking but had seemingly little relevance in his future career. However, it was this skill that enabled him to design beautiful Apple merchandise and Macintosh computers later in his life.
His interest in technology led him to work with a video games company, Atari Inc. where he met Steve Wozniack, a fellow designer. The Steves together founded Apple Computer Co. in 1976 in Jobs parents’ garage. Apple spearheaded its way through the market in the next few years especially famous for its minimalistic but sophisticated design and graphics. The first personal computer was sold for $666.66. Apple II soon followed. It was faster than the earlier version, could produce colour and could handle high-resolution graphics and sound. Both founders became multimillionaires within 5 years of their venture.Steve Jobs pioneered the personal computer industry with the Macintosh in 1984 but by the end of the year, the company saw a big slump and Macintosh sales were low. Following a tiff with co-worker – John Scully, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple the following year.
Wishing to change the hardware industry, Jobs immersed himself in a brand new venture called NeXt Computer. He invested more than U.S. $250 million into the company but it saw successive failures. He also started another enterprise called Pixar which has gone on to create some iconic animated films in Hollywood such as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles.
Soon, in 1996, Apple decided to buy NeXt which brought Steve Jobs back to the company that had been his brainchild. Apple branched out to cater to the entertainment industry introducing the portable music player iPod, digital music software, iTunes, along with the multi-touch cell phone iPhone, and recently the iPad and they all sold like hotcakes. In 2000, Jobs became the CEO of his company.
During this course of professional success, Steve’s personal life was too undergoing tremendous changes. He fell in love with a beautiful woman Laurene Powell and they got married in 1991, with whom he now has three children. More than a decade later, in 2004, Jobs was diagnosed with an incurable pancreatic cancer. Miraculously, the doctors declared it a rare form of cancer which was completely curable through surgery and soon Jobs was back on his feet.
Today, the company that Jobs built from scratch with his friend in his garage is valued at $222 billion having trumped the computing giant, Microsoft. ‘The fruit company helped turn the turbulent prince of Silicon Valley into the king of the digital age’. Pixar stands at being the most successful movie studio in Hollywood and is the future of animation.This crude, blunt man of simple means , little money, and not even a college degree at hand has through his sheer genius and innovative ideas has taken the world by storm through seamless, intuitive, exciting and beautiful technology with astounding reach and propensity.
Therefore in the words of Apple’s Think Different commercial,
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits.The rebels.The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.