Jobs, Steven Paul
(1955–)
American
Entrepreneur
Steve Jobs was cofounder of Apple Computer and shaped the development and marketing of its
distinctive Macintosh personal computer (see apple corporation). Jobs showed an enthusiastic
interest in electronics starting in his high school years and gained experience through summer
work at Hewlett-Packard, one of the dominant companies of the early Silicon Valley. In 1974, he
began to work for pioneer video game designer Nolan Bushnell at Atari. He also became a key
member of the Homebrew Computer Club, a group of hobbyists who designed their own
microcomputer systems using early microprocessors.
Meanwhile, Jobs’ friend Steve Wozniak had developed plans for a complete microcomputer
system that could be built using a single-board design and relatively simple circuits (see
Wozniak, Steven). In it Jobs saw the potential for a standardized, commercially viable
microcomputer system. They formed a company called Apple Computer (named apparently for
the vanished orchards of Silicon Valley) and built a prototype they called the Apple I. Although
they could only afford to build a few dozen of the machines, they made a favorable impression
on the computer enthusiast community. By 1977, they were marketing a completer and more
refined version, the Apple II.
Unlike kits that could be assembled only by experienced hobbyists, the Apple II was ready to use
“out of the box.” It included a cassette tape recorder for storing programs. When connected to a
monitor or an ordinary TV, the machine could create color graphics that were dazzling compared
to the monochrome text displays of most computers. Users could buy additional memory (the
first model came with only 4K of RAM) as well as cards that could drive devices such as printers
or add other capabilities.
The ability to run a program called VisiCalc (see spreadsheet) propelled the Apple II into the
business world, and about 2 million of the machines were eventually sold. In 1982, when Time
magazine featured the personal computer as its “man of the year,” Jobs’ picture appeared on the
cover. As he relentlessly pushed Apple forward, supporters pointed to Jobs’ charismatic
leadership, while detractors said that he could be ruthless when anyone disagreed with his vision
of the company’s future.
However, 1982 also brought industry giant IBM into the market. Its 16-bit computer was more
powerful than the Apple II, and IBM’s existing access to corporate purchasing departments
resulted in the IBM PC and its “clones” quickly dominating the business market (see IBM pc).
Jobs responded to this competition by designing a PC with a radically different user interface,
based largely on work during the 1970s and the xerox PARC laboratory. The first version, called
the Lisa, featured a mouse-driven graphical user interface that was much easier to use than the
typed-in commands required by the Microsoft/IBM DOS. While the Lisa’s price tag of $10,000
kept it out of the mainstream market, its successor, the Macintosh, attracted millions of users,
particularly in schools, although the IBM PC and its progeny continued to dominate the business
market (see Macintosh). meanwhile, Jobs had recruited John Sculley, former CEO of PepsiCo, to
serve as Apple’s CEO.
After a growing divergence with Sculley over management style and Apple’s future priorities,
Jobs left the company in 1985. Using the money from selling his Apple stock, Jobs bought a
controlling interest in Pixar, a graphics studio that had been spun off from LucasFilm. He also
founded a company called Next Step. The company focused on high-end graphics workstations
that used a sophisticated object-oriented operating system. However, while its software
(particularly its development tools) was innovative, the company was unable to sell enough of its
hardware and closed that part of the business in 1993.
In 1997, Jobs returned as CEO of Apple. By then the company was struggling to maintain market
share for its Macintosh line in a world that was firmly in the “Wintel” (Windows on Intel-based
processors) camp. He had some success in revitalizing Apple’s consumer product line with the
iMac, a colorful, slim version of the Macintosh. He also focused on development of the new mac
OS x, a blending of the power of UNIX with the ease-of-use of the traditional Macintosh
interface.
Beyond the mac
At the beginning of the new century, Jobs and Apple made bold moves beyond the company’s
traditional strengths. The Power PC chip in the mac was phased out in favor of Intel chips, the
same hardware that runs Microsoft Windows machines. (Indeed, the mac was also given a utility
that allowed it to run Windows.) This potentially opened the mac to a much wider range of
software.
The biggest move, however, was into media, first with powerful video-authoring software for
home users as well as professionals, then with the tiny iPod that redefined the portable media
player (see music and video players, digital). At the same time, Apple entered the digital music
business in a big way with the iTunes store (see music and video distribution, online). In 2007
Apple charged into the mobile communications market (see smartphone) with the innovative if
expensive iPhone. So far, the market has responded positively to Jobs’ initiatives, with Apple
stock increasing in value more than 10 times between 2003 and 2006.
While Jobs is brash and unconventional (reflecting his countercultural roots), critics have
accused him of egotism and of having an overly aggressive (and abrasive) managerial style. Jobs
has also been the subject of lingering investigations into his receiving discounted Apple stock
options, failing to report the resulting taxable income, and correspondingly overstating Apple’s
earnings. In December 2006 Apple’s internal investigation cleared Jobs of responsibility for
these issues, and the options were never exercised. Whatever the future brings, Steve Jobs has an
assured place in the history of entrepreneurship and innovation in computing.
Further Reading
“Bill gates and Steve Jobs” [on-stage interview]. All Things Digital, may 30, 2007. Available
online. URL: http://d5.allthingsd. com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview/. Accessed August 11,
2007.
Jobs, Steve. “Steve Jobs: Oral History” [interview]. April 20, 1995. Available online. URL:
http://www.cwheroes.org/archives/ histories/jobs.pdf. Accessed August 11, 2007.
Markoff, John. What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal
Computer Industry. New York: Penguin, 2005.
Young, Jeffrey S., and William L. Simon. iCon: Steve Jobs, the Greatest Second Act in the
History of Business. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2005.
