Jobs, Steve

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Jobs, Steve

(1955-)
Apple Computer; Pixar

Overview

Maverick computer innovator Steven Jobs, along with his friend and partner, Steve Wozniak, is considered to be the one of the central figures in the development of the personal computer. Jobs and Wozniak formed the Apple Computer Company in the late 1970s, pioneering the design and development of desktop computers for the general public. The creation of the Macintosh computer in the mid–1980s ushered in a new era of tremendously widespread user–friendly machines. After being ousted from Apple, Jobs went on to form the NeXT Computer Company. He also bought Pixar Animation Studios, where Toy Story, the first wholly computer generated and animated film, was created. In the late 1990s, Jobs returned to Apple and oversaw its regeneration with the iMac products.

Personal Life

Jobs was born in 1955 and was placed for adoption by his unwed parents shortly after his birth. Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California, became his adoptive parents. The elder Jobs was a machinist who worked on lasers, and his wife was an accountant.

Jobs and his parents moved to Los Altos, California, before he entered high school. A statement the preteen Jobs made to his parents allegedly precipitated the move: He said that he wouldn't return to school in Mountain View, so his parents decided to move. While a high school student, Jobs showed a special interest in technology. He once went so far as to contact William Hewlett, the president of Hewlett Packard, for some parts he needed for an electronics project. Jobs not only obtained the parts, he was also offered a summer job at Hewlett Packard.

Jobs graduated from high school in 1972 and attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, for just one semester before dropping out. In 1974, he went to work for Atari Incorporated as a video game designer. After saving some money from his stint at Atari, Jobs was able to embark on a spiritual sojourn to the Indian subcontinent during the summer of 1974. While in India, Jobs sought to immerse himself in the Eastern way of life. A bout with dysentery in the autumn of 1974 cut his trip short, and Jobs moved back to California and into a commune.

When he was 23 years old, Jobs had a relationship that resulted in the birth of his daughter, Lisa. He reportedly dated folk singer Joan Baez for a time during his twenties. Jobs met Laurene Powell while on a lecture trip to Stanford University; the two married in 1991. Along with daughter Lisa, Jobs and his wife have three children; they live in Palo Alto, California.

By 1975 Jobs started to get involved with the Homebrew Computer Club, which was headed by Steve Wozniak, an acquaintance of his from Hewlett Packard. Wozniak was starting to develop what would become the prototype for the Apple Computer series. Jobs persuaded him to market his designs and prototypes, and the two of them began, in earnest, to develop what would ultimately become the first Apple Computer.

Career Details

Jobs and Wozniak worked on the Apple I in Jobs' parents' garage, and by 1976 they offered models for sale. The most innovative feature of the $700 machine was its single board read–only memory (ROM), which instructed the computer to load and read other programs from outside sources.

The development and sale of the Apple II, which retained the unique features of its predecessor in an updated format, began in 1977. Jobs then got in touch with Mike Makkula, the former marketing manager at Intel, and brought him to Apple as the chairman. Jobs began to encourage independent programmers to create software for the Apple II, and soon over 16,000 programs were available, ranging from business management tools to video games.

First–year sales for Apple were almost $3 million. Impressive as that was, it paled in comparison to the figures reached by the beginning of the 1980s. By 1980, sales had ballooned to $200 million, and the phenomenal success of Apple helped to usher in the revolutionary personal computer era.

Throughout the 1980s, Apple was forced to continually update its systems to stay ahead of the competition. Jobs and Apple faltered a bit with the release of the Apple III in 1980. The model was riddled with technical and marketing problems and, as a result, sold poorly. However, sales picked up after the bugs were fixed. Nonetheless, the executive organization was restructured; Makkula became president, and Jobs became chairman. Apple went public in 1980, and the company's market value rose to $1.2 billion.

In 1983 Jobs pitched a model he named "Lisa" as the computer for business people who had limited computer expertise. Lisa did not sell well due to its high price and the increased competition from IBM who, by 1983, had gained half of Apple's market share. In the same year, Jobs lured PepsiCo president John Sculley to Apple as the new president and CEO.

In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh computer. Envisioned as the computer that would revitalize not only Apple but the computer industry as well, the Macintosh floundered at first. The initial downfall of the Macintosh in business circles was its lack of a letter–quality printer and a hard drive. The less–than–stellar sales of the Macintosh were instrumental in bringing about Jobs' forced resignation from Apple in 1985. Essentially, Jobs lost a boardroom powerstruggle with Sculley and resigned with $150 million in severance.

Jobs, who still remained chairman of the Apple board of directors, then formed the NeXT Computer Company. The NeXT computer, introduced in 1988, boasted a number of innovations, including extremely quick processing speeds, a superb graphics and sound system, and an optical disk drive. Despite all of these innovations, however, sales of the NeXT computer fell flat due to its steep price, black and white screen, and inability to network. Not to be deterred, Jobs pressed on with NeXT, changing the focus from hardware to software. NeXT eventually gained some prestige by helping to facilitate the establishment of the World Wide Web in the 1990s.

In 1986, Jobs acquired Pixar Animation Studios for $10 million from filmmaker George Lucas. Jobs poured large amounts of his own money into Pixar to develop and establish it as a premiere movie studio. His $50 million investment in Pixar paid off when the first wholly computer–animated film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures, was a certified smash hit when it opened in 1995. By 2000 Toy Story had become the second highest domestic grossing animated feature in history. A Bug's Life, released in 1998 and using even more sophisticated technology, was the highest grossing animated film of the year. Likewise, the sequel, Toy Story 2, which won a Golden Globe award for Best Picture, Musical, or Comedy, was the highest grossing animated film of 1999. The three films combined grossed $1.2 billion worldwide. By 1999 Jobs' 73 percent share of Pixar was worth $1.1 billion.

Hoping to concentrate more fully on developing Pixar, Jobs decided to sell NeXT; Apple bought the company in 1996 for $400 million. At the time, Apple was in need of an updated operating system, and NeXT had one to offer. NeXT had also developed an association with Internet users that Apple desired as well. Apple, which by then had lost about a third of its market share and was struggling to keep afloat, also acquired Jobs as a non–salaried, part–time consultant to Apple's CEO Gilbert Amelio.

The renewed relationship shifted into high gear in 1997 when Jobs agreed to take over as interim CEO of the troubled company after the board of directors ousted Amelio. Jobs implemented the eighth version of the Macintosh operating system, developed a dialogue with Microsoft, and eliminated Apple's clone licensing program. Jobs' leadership proved successful. In less than two years, he had pared Apple's confusing product line down to four basic models and introduced the innovative iMac. With its translucent case, bright color choices, and affordable price tag—just $1,199—the iMac was an astounding success. Launched in 1998, the iMac sold more than 1 million units in its first year and helped boost Apple's market share to about 6 percent. Following on the iMac's success, Jobs introduced the portable version, known as the iBook, in 1999. That year, the combined value of Apple and Pixar reached $6.3 billion.

Following Jobs' success with the iMac, and G3 and G4 PowerMacs, which addressed the needs of the publishing and multimedia markets long dominated by the Macintosh, Jobs brought out a moviemaking application, iMovie, that allowed non–experts to make their own home videos. Next came iTunes, which allowed novices to burn their own CDs. The latest offering is an application that allows users to make their own DVD discs at home. In January 2000, Jobs announced that he was taking over as the company's permanent CEO.

Jobs also remained the chairman and CEO of Pixar, which struck a deal in 1997 with Walt Disney Pictures to co–produce five animated films, sharing all associated costs and profits. Monsters, Inc., the first film under the new deal, was released November 2, 2001. The second film, Finding Nemo, is scheduled for release in 2003.

Chronology: Steve Jobs

1955: Born.

1975: Joined Homebrew Computer Club.

1976: Formed Apple Computer Company with Steve Wozniak.

1977: Unveiled Apple II computer.

1984: Introduced Macintosh computer.

1985: Resigned from Apple.

1985: Formed NeXT Computer Company.

1986: Bought Pixar Animation Studios.

1995: Pixar released the animated feature, Toy Story.

1996: Rejoined Apple as consultant to CEO.

1997: Named Apple interim CEO.

1998: Launched iMac computer.

1999: iMac sales reached 1 million; introduced iBook portable computer.

2000: Became permanent CEO of Apple Computer Company.

2001: Introduced the iPod, a 1000–song MP3 player; Pixar released Monsters, Inc. with Walt Disney Studios.

Social and Economic Impact

Jobs was one of the most important figures in the development of the personal computer industry. The Apples and Macs produced by his company were user–friendly, enabling a whole generation of office workers and home users to become comfortable with computer use. Jobs was also instrumental in engineering the joint agreement between Apple and its great rival Microsoft. Both companies agreed to cooperate on selected marketing and technological issues of mutual interest, which helped to simplify choices for consumers.

Jobs' understanding of consumer preferences has been a big part of his success. By pitching his products to young, savvy audiences, he helped dispel the stereotype that computer users were socially inept "nerds." Jobs insisted on being directly involved, for instance, in Apple's "Think Different" advertising campaign, which focused on such cultural icons as Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Ghandi. And with his introduction of the immensely popular iMac, Jobs proved that consumers would respond to innovative design. "For most consumers," he said in a June 1999 Advertising Age article, "color is much more important than the megahertz, gigabytes and other gibberish associated with buying a typical PC."

This focus has served Jobs well in renewing creative energies and profitability at Apple. His leadership was "a superb example of what can happen when a CEO has a simple, focused vision and gets the whole company to focus on and implement that vision," commented marketing executive Allen Olivo in a June 1999 Advertising Age article. "He got everyone on the same page, at the same time and for the same goal." As Jobs himself put it in an interview in Fortune, "if [great artists like Bob Dylan and Picasso] keep on risking failure, they're still artists. . . . This Apple thing is that way for me. . . . If I try my best and fail, well, I tried my best."

As the PC market slowed down and many of his competitors were already lamenting the death of the PC, Job remained optimistic about its future—despite the fact that Apple's share of the PC market has fallen to 4 percent in the United States and 3 percent worldwide. (In Apple's defense, Jobs points out that no one holds more than 16 percent of the market.) In 2001 he prophesied about the coming age of the digital lifestyle, in which the computer would serve as the hub of a vast array of home appliances. "The personal computer has the power and the memory to do the things that all the devices we are beginning to use will not be able to do. The software will be the glue holding it all together," Jobs told Garry Barker of The Age.

Numerous factors are working against Jobs' pleasant predictions. First, Jobs' pet project, the G4 Cube, a more expensive Mac version just one–fourth the size of a regular PC, was a retail flop. Jobs was convinced that the $3,000 model would sell at a rate of at least 200,000 per quarter. In reality, the G4 Cube sold only 100,000 during the first quarter on the market; in the next two quarters, sales dwindled to only 29,000 and 12,000. In July 2001, Apple announced that it would scrap the model and rely on sales the more popular, less expensive regular desktop G4. The significant slowdown of the economy in 2001 also took its toll on Apple's profit. In the third quarter of 2001, Apple posted a 70 percent decline. Nonetheless, cash reserves, just $280 million in 1997, have grown to $4.1 billion under Jobs' leadership. And Jobs isn't resting on his laurels; in October 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a pocket–sized 5–gigabyte MP3 player able to store 1000 songs and is equipped with an industry–leading 10–hour battery. Charles Haddad of BusinessWeek Online predicted, "this new handheld digital–music player will stand tall. Very tall. It's going to do for MP3 music what the original Palm Pilot did for handheld computing in the late '90s—that is, ignite demand like a match to dry twigs."

In Silicon Valley, Jobs remains widely admired, if not universally loved. He is lauded not only for his own ability but also for recognizing and hiring top quality personnel. He has a well–deserved reputation as one of the most demanding and intimidating bosses in the United States, if not the world. Stories still circulate about Apple employees being afraid to ride the elevator with their irascible boss lest they find themselves without a job when they reach their floor.