Steve Jobs had a remarkable impact on the world of business. His quality of life was more important than his net worth, he never got rich off an iPhone or iPad, and he didn’t care about what anyone thought about him. Here are some things you may not know about the icon who shaped our digital lives.
Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple Inc. and one of the most influential people in technology. He is known for his revolutionary approach to design, marketing, and business management. Jobs died on October 5, 2011 at age 56., Read more in detail here: who is steve jobs.
My last blog closed with a Simon & Garfunkel allusion to Steve Jobs as our generation’s Joe DiMaggio, and how Tech-Nation looks longingly at Larry and Sergey from Google.
Then I came to a realization… Steve Jobs’ series of successful consumer products is comparable to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game batting streak. Jobs, on the other hand, did not strike out.
If Steve Jobs had a baseball career, this blog would be the back of his baseball card, a special Commemorative 2013 Hall of Fame edition:
Steve Jobs rose through the minor leagues in the 1970s, working with his technical co-founder Steve Wozniak to construct illegal blue boxes that could dial vast distances for free all over the globe.
Jobs resigned Atari and sold his automobile to escape the California Penal League, while Woz sold his calculator and left Hewlett-Packard (HP had already rejected Woz’s Apple computer design).
The Steves raised funding to construct the Apple I, which was simply a circuit board that members of the Homebrew Computer Club could buy for $666.66 in July 1976 and use to build their own computer similar to Woz’s.
Jobs was promoted to the Major Leagues the following spring and hit for power right away. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak hit back-to-back leadoff home runs with the Apple II on Opening Day of the historic 1977 season, April 16.
That year, Woz got the gold glove award and the triple crown for inventing the whole Apple II… hardware and software. Jobs won the Cy Young Award for his proposal to put this gadget in every household. THE PERSONAL COMPUTER IS A COMPUTER THAT IS USED FOR PERSONAL USE. A watershed moment in human history, in my opinion.
Do you have 46 seconds to listen to Steve Jobs’ life philosophy? I certainly hope so, since it has already altered my life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvEiSa6 EPA&w=560&h=315] [youtube]
Here’s what he stated if you’re in an open cubicle or your employer has YouTube disabled from your workplace network:
When you’re growing up, you’re often taught that the world is what it is, and that your only role is to live your life within it. Try not to slam your head on the walls too often. Make an effort to have a pleasant family, have fun, and save a little money.
That’s a very brief existence. Everything around you that you call life was made up by individuals who were no smarter than you, and you can modify it, affect it, and construct your own products that other people can use once you realize one basic truth.
You’ll never be the same after learning that.”
Jobs would end up hitting for both power and accuracy throughout the course of his career, which spanned decades:
- In 1984, he hit a home run with Macintosh (today we have iMac, Macbook, Mac mini, etc)
- In 2004, he had a number of successful songs, including the Airport Express.
- In 2006, he won the AppleTV, and in 2008, he won the Macbook Air.
- In 2001, he hit several triples with the iPod, and in 2004, he launched iTunes to Windows. The music business as a whole was thrown into disarray.
If that wasn’t enough, Steve Jobs completed the circle by resigning from Apple, founding a new computer firm named NeXT, and then purchasing Pixar for $10 million. Steve went up to the plate and smacked Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3, and the list goes on!
Pixar was instantly worth billions – and years later, when Steve combined NeXT with Apple, he was still the CEO of Pixar – CEO of two NASDAQ businesses! It’s like having DiMaggio play for both the Yankees and the Red Sox at the same time.
Steve Jobs became Disney’s single biggest shareholder when Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion. Remember, none of this had anything to do with Apple or selling gadgets; it was just Steve being Steve.
Jobs was a five-tool player who knew all there was to know about the game. When Steve unveiled the iPhone in 2007, he even stole home plate with a “swipe” of his thumb, causing the whole telecoms sector to be disrupted out of nowhere. Treo and Palm were devastated, as were Nokia and Rimm. In any case, Apple’s are much more delectable than BlackBerry’s…
It’s a phone-sized computer! You have the internet in your pocket. That could’ve been the case. On the first ballot, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining the ranks of the game’s heroes at Cooperstown. Cupertino has a lot of similarities to Cooperstown, don’t you think?
Jobs, on the other hand, didn’t play baseball for the money; he did it for the love of the game. Steve might have ridden off into the sunset with billions of dollars in his pocket…
BUT THERE’S ONE… MORE… FACTOR TO CONSIDER.
In the bottom of Steve’s ninth and final inning in 2010, the bases were loaded…
On the pitcher’s mound, the Devil himself wore a Windows Vista hat and the #666 jersey with “Satan” emblazoned in crimson across the back. That night, El Diablo delivered his most dreaded heat; life’s curveball… pancreatic cancer — the fatal sort.
While the mighty Umpire of Life shouted from the skies above that the count was full, Jobs went into the batter’s box… Live or die with three balls and two strikes. Mr. Jobs, if you don’t swing now, you’ll have to take the long trip to the dugout… No re-entry after 6 feet underground. Steve was well aware that this was the last pitch. Have fun!
He closed his eyes and swung with all his strength, exactly as he did in 1977 with Apple II, with a bow to the tech-gods and tears ready to pour — like a movie scene right out of The Natural…
In 2010, Steve Jobs hit the ball out of the park with the iPad.
The crowd went crazy as fireworks exploded all across the globe. From Cupertino to Cooperstown, Cambodia to China, everyone is involved. When they played with Steve’s toy, every man, woman, and child’s face lighted up. The world’s first true tablet with a multi-touch screen! It’s enchanted. It just works. A walk-off grand slam to finish a career.
IN 1977, HE GAVE US THE PERSONAL COMPUTER, AND IN 2010, HE DESTROYED IT WITH THE TABLET.
A year later, Steve Jobs passed away. He was 56 years old at the time. He was capable of so much more.
In this game of life, there are no extra innings, no foul balls, and no one has ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame by seeing a 3-2 pitch fly past.
So remove the bat off your shoulder and put it down. Consider a new perspective. SWING FOR THE FENCES while wearing a black turtleneck and pants. Attempting to hit home runs may lead to death.
We’ll see you in Cupertino… I’m referring to Cooperstown.
STEVE JOBS, 1955-2011, R.I.P.
Watch Steve’s graduating address from Stanford in 2005, when he announced his cancer diagnosis and advised us to “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&w=420&h=315] [youtube]
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