Madmen, confident that they can change the world, actually change it /
from Apple's "Think Different" commercial

Apples can be different: sour, sweet, rejuvenating, the kind that fall not far from the apple tree right on Newton’s smart head. And they can also be gnawed. One of these apples became the logo (from the English “apple”).

Today we will talk about Steve Jobs, the co-founder of this company, an innovative businessman who gave another definition to the word “Apple”.

The world lost this talented man in 2011. Steve Jobs, who never minced his words, during his lifetime spoke about this eternal topic:

And although ready-made recipe there is no success suitable for everyone, we will try to highlight those qualities of Mr. Jobs that helped him reach heights, and which can be safely adopted.

His unusual story begins with this fact. Immediately after birth, his biological parents abandoned him. They were not at all disadvantaged - their mother, Joan Schieble, was the daughter of German immigrants who settled in Wisconsin and were farmers, and their father, Abdulfatt Jandali, worked at the university. Joan's father was against their marriage and threatened to disinherit his daughter. Because of this, the couple did not get married, but gave their child up for adoption. The adoptive parents were given the condition that the boy must receive a higher education, and the couple who adopted Steve would subsequently keep this promise.

This is how little Steve ended up with the Jobs, whom he called dad and mom: “They are my real parents 100%.” Subsequently, some colleagues saw in Steve’s behavior the influence of the “abandoned child” complex, but Jobs himself denied such an opinion: “I knew I was adopted and felt more independent, but never abandoned.”

Steve's adoptive father, Paul Jobs, served in the Coast Guard and then worked as an auto mechanic, and his mother, Clara Agopian-Jobs, worked as an accountant. Paul was a kind, calm and hardworking man. Steve fully adopted this last quality from his father, who from childhood tried to involve his son in his work. Steve recalled: “I didn’t like fixing cars, but I enjoyed being with my dad.”

The habit of involving “little helpers” in joint work is worth taking note of.

This is a good technique in raising children and strengthens family relationships. And although the “younger generation” sometimes causes more harm than real benefit, such moments are not forgotten. Steve always watched his father work with delight.

The lesson taught by Jobs Sr. is etched in his memory: “ It is necessary to carefully finish the back side of the fence“, he taught his son. “It doesn’t matter that she’s not in sight.” Steve will continue to maintain this attitude of excellence when developing his own products.

As a child, Steve considered himself a humanitarian, but at the same time he was also attracted to technology. The first time he saw a computer terminal in Ames, he simply “fell in love with computers.” Having once read a phrase about how important people are, problem solving At the intersection of the humanities and the exact sciences, Steve made a decision in life: “This is exactly what I want to do.”

Jobs was one of the first to understand that to achieve success in the modern world, it is necessary to combine creativity and technology.

He liked it when a thing combined beauty and functionality, and it was Jobs who later brought culture to computer production. "We made the buttons on the screen so cute you'll want to lick them"– this is exactly how he will position the new operating system.

As a child, his parents supported Steve's endeavors. Their faith in the exclusivity of their son was the seed that later bore fruit in adult life. According to Jobs, this had a greater influence on the formation of his character:

Parents should not forget that it is their attitude towards their child that forms his self-esteem and determines his future place in the world.

Steve grew up as a resourceful and independent child, but he started having problems at school. The wayward boy did not recognize authorities and did not want to study. He was expelled from school for poor discipline, but at his new school Steve was lucky to meet a real teacher.

She taught mathematics and managed to find an approach to the contradictory child. Thanks to this, in the 4th grade, Steve passed the exam in the subject with the result of a tenth grader. He “jumped” a year of study, but, unable to find common language with high school students, I applied to another school.

Quite often, when looking at the biographies of successful people, we are faced with the fact that during their school years they were “black sheep.”

Parents should always be on the side of the child in such a situation, because the “dissimilarity” of your child from other children may indicate his unique abilities.

Jobs later met his namesake, Steve Wozniak, who later became the co-founder of Apple. Their first joint operation defined the principles of the partnership: Wozniak came up with a brilliant invention, and Jobs decided how best to adapt it to the needs of the consumer and benefit from it.

In 1972, Steve entered the expensive Reed College in Portland, but dropped out in his first year. Pay attention to this fact. Steve Jobs did not have the higher education that every person today strives for. That is, what you achieve in life is influenced by completely different things.

In 1976, he founded the company with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. There are a couple of versions of the origin of the “apple” name. One of them says that Steve wanted to see the company on the first pages of the telephone directory, hence the name with an “a”. The second story claims that during a brainstorming session the name of the company did not come together, and the expressive Steve exclaimed:

The version looks plausible, since Steve’s colleagues always noted his categoricalness: “... everything with him was either “amazing” or “poor.”

In the late 70s, Apple introduced the Apple II series of personal computers. They sold over 5 million worldwide and paved the way for the PC manufacturing industry once and for all.

At the age of 29, Steve becomes the youngest American to be included in the ranking of rich people according to Forbes magazine.

In general, if you trace the chain of capital growth of the founder of Apple, then, according to him, at the age of 23 - his net worth was a million dollars, at 24 he exceeded ten million dollars, and at 25 he had more than a hundred million.

One day, or rather a night, in the life of Steve Jobs was remarkable, when in one night his fortune increased to 217.5 million dollars. This happened in December 1980, when Apple's initial public offering (IPO) took place on the stock exchange.

What allowed him to reach such heights?

Speaking of Steve Jobs, we definitely recognize him as a talented businessman and innovator. He was convinced that it was “Innovation distinguishes the leader from the catcher.”

Jobs always had an intuitive sense of what the consumer wanted:

I think we should take on board his recommendation to Stanford graduates: “Stay hungry. Stay reckless." Jobs argued that " It's great to have a newbie's opinion." and emphasized the important role of thinking outside the box.

In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan awarded Jobs and Wozniak medals for the development of technological progress. Jobs’s innovation was also noted by his competitor, who commented on the work of a colleague at the D5 conference in 2007:

"..what Steve did, simply phenomenal... Steve's team did a great job and was even a little ahead of its time..."

Thus, another secret of Steve Jobs' success was his ability to assemble a team. He was a charismatic business leader whose drive and energy commanded everything and everyone. Steve knew how to identify talent and surrounded himself with professionals:

He was not an ideal leader and could offend people. But at the same time, Jobs, like no one else, knew how to inspire productive work. Here, for example, is how Jobs formulated a technical problem:

And the Apple specialist agreed that in this case he would have found a solution. And Jobs shared with him a simple calculation:

“If 5 million people use a Mac every day and it takes an extra 10 seconds to turn it on, then reducing that time would save people up to 300 million hours every year, which equates to 100 lives saved.”

In 1985, Jobs left Apple due to management conflicts. In the same year he founded the company NeXT. In 1986, Jobs co-founded the animation studio Pixar, which under his leadership released such cartoons as “Toy Story” and “Monsters, Inc.” In 2006, Jobs became a member of the board of directors of Disney, which bought the Pixar studio.

In general, if you have watched the amazing cartoons that were created by the Pixar studio, you should imagine what kind of person Steve Jobs was.

Of course, he did not take part in the creation of the cartoons themselves. He was always a first-class manager, an executive who could attract the best people for his business. And most often he seduced them not with high wages, but with an idea.

He always wanted to make the world a better place. All his thoughts were aimed precisely at this. And this quality needs to be adopted and cultivated in yourself. Only with this attitude can you become great and change the world like Jobs did.

In 1991, Steve Jobs married Laurene Powell, the couple had three children - a son and two daughters.

Meanwhile, by the end of the 1990s, Apple was already suffering millions in losses. Jobs returned to the company in 1996, and thanks to his innovations, the company opened up new market segments.

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24.02.16 10:02

During his lifetime, his name became a household name, and after the untimely death of Steve Jobs, the biography of this genius became a tasty morsel for screenwriters: two full-length films have already been made about him. Moreover, the title role in Danny Boyle’s biopic “Steve Jobs” brought Michael Fassbender an Oscar nomination. However, we are not talking about cinema at all! Outline detailed biography It is very difficult to talk about Steve Jobs in one article, so we will highlight the main milestones in the life of this iconic person.

Biography of Steve Jobs

Unwanted child

From the very first days of his life, Steve was “not like everyone else.” It was the fruit of the passion of a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin with German roots, Joanna Schieble, and a Syrian, Abdulfattah Jandali, who worked at the department. Catholic Joan was unable to have an abortion, just as she was unable to keep the child: her parents were categorically against it. Much later (31 years later), Steve, who suffered from the fact that his mother abandoned him, found his biological family and maintained contact with his relatives.

In the meantime, the baby, born on February 24, 1955, was adopted by the childless Jobs family. Californians Paul and his wife (Armenian by nationality) Clara named the boy Stephen Paul. They were pretty ordinary people- a mechanic and accountant, but Steve grew up as a young inventor. He didn’t get along very well with his peers, but he was on friendly terms with technology.

Fateful acquaintance

One day, while carrying out an assignment for a research group organized by the Hewlett-Packard company, Jobs realized that there were not enough parts for his frequency counter. Without thinking for a long time, he called the head of the company, William Hewlett, not at work, but at home. He was imbued with the tenacity and intelligence of a 13-year-old teenager, shared the necessary details and invited him to work at Hewlett-Packard during the holidays. A fateful meeting took place there - with an older guy, Stephen Wozniak, Jobs' future companion.

Steve didn’t have a good time studying in college - after the first semester, he left Reed College (it was too expensive for his parents to pay for him, and Jobs decided not to strain them). But during this semester, Steve managed to make friends with some students, switched to a vegetarian diet and became interested in Eastern philosophy. He stayed with his friends in Portland for almost whole year, doing odd jobs.

The biography of Steve Jobs continued in the Atari company: by that time he had returned to his native California, it was necessary to decide on a profession. The work of a technician did not really appeal to him, so he took a break for the sake of a pilgrimage to India. It was a time of experimentation - Jobs took stimulants (including LSD), did therapeutic fasting, and became a hippie. After a seven-month journey, he found himself back at Atari.

During this period there is a funny story that surfaced after Jobs gained worldwide fame. He involved his friend Wozniak in one of the Atari projects: it was necessary to minimize the number of chips on the board for a video game, and a bonus was awarded for savings. Wozniak met 44 chips and received half the payment - $350. Years later, it turned out that Steve had deceived his partner - in fact, he was paid not $700, but $5,000 (each part cost $100).

Own business: ambitious partners without a penny

Jobs soon said goodbye to his previous job - Wozniak persuaded his friend to start creating homemade computers for sale (Stephen had already made one for himself). They started with printed circuit boards, and then moved on to PC assembly. In 1976, the two Steves, taking engineer Ronald Wayne as their third partner, registered the company Apple Computer Co. Starting capital became $1,300 (Jobs donated a minibus, and Wozniak donated a programmable calculator). However, Wayne soon left the company.

The name (both for the company and for the computers) “Apple” was suggested by Steve, probably due to the fact that he had recently lived in a hippie commune, worked there as an apple picker and was on an apple diet. The friends' first customer was a small electronics store. For the trial batch (50 computers at $666.66 per unit), they took out components on credit. Soon the order was ready. Also in 1976, a computer for mass production was born.

Young millionaire

When Wozniak designed the “Apple II” model, a logo was developed and an advertising campaign was agreed upon for the new product, which the partners sold in an unprecedented “circulation”: 5 million. Thus, 25-year-old Jobs became rich (his fortune exceeded a million dollars).

The next stage of the corporation was the invention of a computer with an interface in which commands were given by a cursor. A model was in development, named after Jobs' daughter "Lisa". But friction arose in the company, and as a result, Steve became the head of another project - Macintosh, which later became a very popular PC in the electronics market. At the same time, Jobs managed to lure talented marketer John Sculley from Pepsi-Cola Corporation. He eventually headed Apple, but they never worked out with Steve. This was the reason Jobs left the company. Following him, in 1985, Wozniak left Apple.

Head of an animation studio

Jobs, of course, found something to his liking: first he organized the NeXT corporation (it produced hardware), and then, in 1986, he headed the Pixar studio, a pioneer of computer animation (its founder in the late 1970s was George Lucas). The studio cost Jobs $5 million: Lucas was in predicament(divorcing his wife) and needed money. It was at this studio that the cult Toy Story franchise, the animated masterpieces Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and others were born. The box office receipts for these films were simply insane.

Latest successful projects

Ten years later, Steve sold Pixar to the Walt Disney Company, but retained his seat on the board of directors. At that time, he already held the post of executive director of Apple: the “prodigal son” (no, rather the founding father) returned!

He was always a genius of presentation - an excellent speaker who could win over any, even the most distrustful, audience to his side. So in 2001, Steve himself held a presentation of the IPOD player, the mass production of which brought sky-high profits. In 2007, a similar revolution was made by the iPhone mobile phone.

Personal life of Steve Jobs

Stormy romances: from hippies to respectable businessman

Steve's first strong passion was a free-spirited girl, Chris Ann Brennan, with whom he ran away from his parents before graduating from school and spent some time hipping in the mountains. He was only 17 years old then. The affair lasted several years, and in 1978, Brennan gave birth to a child from Jobs, Lisa.

For a long time he did not want to admit paternity - they say that Chris dated other guys. And only years later, after a DNA test, he began to communicate with his daughter.

When Apple Computer Co.'s business took off, Steve Jobs's personal life also changed. He had to live up to the image of a businessman, so the hippie period was over. He became close to the beautiful advertising woman Barbara Jasinski. An organized life, an elegant mansion - all this lasted until 1982.

A brief affair with Joan Baez flattered Steve. The ex-lover of Bob Dylan, a famous country singer herself, she was 14 years older than Jobs and raised a son.

The relationship between Steve and another IT worker, Tina Redse, lasted almost four years. He considered the girl the most beautiful on earth and called her his first true love. True, the obstinate Tina refused the marriage proposal that followed in 1989, and Steve backed down.

20 year marriage and three children

Steve was married only once. He met bank employee Lauren Powell in the fall of 1989 - she healed the wounds inflicted by Tina. At the beginning next year The engagement took place, but then Steve became too carried away with new projects, and Lauren, unable to bear it, left. The disagreement was short-lived - a month later the groom gave the bride a ring, then they spent a vacation in Hawaii. And on March 18, 1991, a wedding ceremony, conducted by a Soto Zen monk.

Lauren radically changed the personal life of Steve Jobs, became his “guiding star” and gave birth to three children in marriage: the eldest Reed (in the fall of 1991) and daughters Erin (in 1995) and Eve (in 1998). Jobs had no time for his offspring - he remained full of ideas until the end and brought them to life. Although he loved to talk with his son, and he considered Yves a worthy successor.

He struggled with pancreatic cancer for a very long time; the cancer was discovered in the fall of 2003. Steve delayed the operation and resorted to alternative treatment. If not for this, the untimely end probably could have been avoided. But cancer still won - the IT genius, who adored worn jeans and black turtlenecks, passed away on October 5, 2011.

Steven Paul Jobs from San Francisco, California, was born on February 24, 1955. He was an American inventor, entrepreneur and industrial designer. And also one of the founders, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Apple Corporation. A very famous person.

Steve Jobs. Success story

Steve Jobs' childhood

Steve Jobs' parents were unmarried students. His father is from Syria, and his mother is a German emigrant. Steve's mother studied at the university where his father worked as a teaching assistant. The relatives of the girl, who was only 23 years old, were against their relationship and threatened to deprive her of her inheritance. A young student was forced to go to a private doctor in San Francisco to give birth and give the child up for adoption.
Paul Jobs and the American Armenian origin They adopted a boy because they could not have children of their own. They named their adopted son Stephen Paul. Stephen's biological mother wanted her son to grow up in a family with higher education. The adoptive parents gave her a written agreement that they would pay for the boy’s education. Jobs always considered his adoptive parents father and mother. It irritated him when someone called them adopted. The biological parents did not know anything about the whereabouts of the child.
Steve's adoptive father worked for a financial company. He was an auto mechanic who repaired old cars in his garage to sell. His desire was to instill in the boy a love of auto mechanics. But this activity was not for Steve. Through cars he became acquainted with the basics of electronics, which he found very interesting.

School

Steve didn't like school. The way Steve Jobs studied at school was interesting. Except for one teacher who saw his abilities, all the teachers considered him a prankster. She found an approach to him and rewarded him for good studies, stimulating his learning. As a result, Steve began to study well without help, and passed all exams perfectly, so much so that the director offered to transfer him from the fourth grade directly to the seventh! Steve was enrolled in sixth grade.
Steve talked to an engineer who brought him into a company's research club. There he saw a personal computer, which he was impressed by. In this club, each participant worked on their own project. Steve decided to build a digital frequency meter. But to implement his project, he needed details. Then Jobs, who was only 13 years old, called the head of this company at home. So he got the necessary parts and work on the assembly line, which aroused the envy of his rivals. Steve also delivered newspapers and worked in the warehouse of an electronics store. At the age of 15 he already had his own car. A year later he traded it for a better one. Steve started hanging out with hippies, listening to Bob Dylan and The Beatles, smoke marijuana and use LSD.
A friend and classmate of Jobs introduced him to Stephen Wozniak, who was interested in computers. In 1969, Woz and a friend began assembling a small computer and showed it to Jobs, who was very interested. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak became best friends.
Jobs implemented his very first business project while still in school. After it, Steve realized that electronics was a good income. He carried out this project together with Stephen Wozniak. After which they collaborated a lot more.

Reed College

In 1972, Steve Jobs graduated from high school and left his parents' home, despite his parents' objections. That same year, Steve entered Reed College, a private university, the most expensive in America. His parents found it difficult to pay for his education. But Steve wanted to study there, despite the fact that he dropped out after half a year. This college was full of free morals and a hippie atmosphere, and the standards of education were high and the curriculum was rich. But to Steve she seemed boring and uninteresting. There Jobs first became seriously interested in one of the eastern spiritual practices - Zen Buddhism. He became a vegetarian and began to fast.
He was expelled, but he could attend classes that seemed interesting to him for free for another year. One of them was calligraphy courses.
Jobs led a bohemian lifestyle, despite the fact that he sometimes slept on friends' floors and ate free meals once a week at the Hare Krishna temple.

Working at Atari

In 1974, Jobs got a job as a technician at the young company Atari. There he finalized the games and made design suggestions. But for his arrogance and unkempt appearance, they disliked him. But the founder and head of this company liked him, who transferred him to work on the night shift in order to save his job.
That same year, Jobs traveled to India in search of spiritual enlightenment. His family knew that he went on this trip to numb the pain of being abandoned immediately after birth. Having learned about his real parents, Steve hoped to understand something very important about himself and his place in life. Upon returning, Jobs found himself a spiritual mentor. He stayed in India for 7 months and arrived very thin, tanned, with a shaved head and wearing Indian clothes. Also during this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics.
"Homemade Computer Club"
On March 5, 1975, a meeting of the Homemade Computer Club was held. Steve Wozniak was there, for whom the club became a second home. After the first meeting, he began designing the machine, which was later called the Apple I. Wozniak received his first unique result: displaying characters typed on the keyboard on the screen. Woz showed this to Steve Jobs, who was greatly impressed.
Jobs also began visiting the club. More precisely, he was at several meetings and was able to get the best, expensive and very scarce spare parts for Wozniak’s computer for free.

Creation of Apple

The history of the creation of Apple began with Jobs immediately starting a conversation about the commercial potential of this invention. He convinced Woz to stop handing out computer blueprints to everyone, despite the fact that the club was not used to hiding the exchange of ideas. He also drew attention to the fact that club members are working on drawings without bringing their projects to working condition. Jobs suggested that Woz sell ready-made printed circuit boards at the club and take on the most difficult part of the work, deciding to sell them at twice the price.
For the required amount, he sold his minibus, and Wozniak sold one of his main valuables - a programmable calculator. With this money, Jobs paid an Atari employee he knew to create a circuit board diagram so that he could then put it into mass production. They received the first batch of boards.
He took one of his friends, who was well versed in documents, to his team, in case of disagreements with Wozniak.
All that remains is to register the company. We had to come up with a name. Jobs had just returned from a farm where he had been pruning apple trees and eating an apple diet. He became a fruitarian, considered it sufficient to wash no more than once a week, and returned home absolutely happy. Woz met him at the airport. On the way home, they were choosing a name for the future company, because in the morning they had to submit documents for its registration. Jobs came up with "Apple Computer" and said that if nothing was offered by the morning better name will remain. And so it became.
The company was registered on April 1, 1976. Wayne drafted the partnership agreement, wrote the first manual for the Apple I, and created the logo. After 12 days, Wayne realized that the tasks of his two comrades were beyond his strength, and left the company, taking his share.

Together with a friend, Steve developed one of the first personal computers, which had great commercial potential.
At a meeting of the Homemade Computer Club, Jobs and Wozniak presented their computer. Steve Jobs spoke with passion and conviction, but only one person became interested in computers—the owner of a computer store. The next day, Jobs came to his store and made a deal, because he ordered 50 pieces at once.
They were housed in the Jobs' home and garage. Work began, Steve attracted almost everyone. During this work, Jobs first showed himself as a tough, authoritarian leader. He made an exception only for Woz, never raising his voice to him.

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A month later the order was ready. The Apple I came with fully assembled motherboards. The Apple I is recognized as the first computer in history to be supplied ready-made, as other computers appeared on the market as kits. Later they managed to sell more than a hundred more Apple I computers.

The Apple II computer became the company's first mass-produced product.
The Apple I contained almost no electronic innovations. While working on it, Wozniak came up with ideas that he later implemented in a separate model. Apple's new product had many revolutionary features.
Due to the reorientation of the business towards the mass consumer, the first serious disagreements arose between Jobs and Wozniak.
Jobs concluded that device design matters a lot.
He realized that they couldn’t afford to produce computers with plastic casings and original designs. He decided to sell the rights to the entire development to Atari. There was a meeting with the director. But nothing came of it, because Steve smelled so bad that the director was sick. In addition, Jobs threw his bare feet right onto the table and he kicked him out the door with a scream.
Then Jobs held a presentation of the Apple II. He behaved so arrogantly and self-confidently that Wozniak was very ashamed. Management turned them down, but Jobs did not give up. He was advised to contact the founder of one of the first venture capital companies.
The founder of this company showed up in the Jobs garage. The decor and appearance of the garage's inhabitants impressed him. Steve tried to look like an informal person - skinny and with a sparse beard.
He told Jobs that he was ready to finance them if he hired an employee who understood marketing and could draw up a business plan. It turned out to be Mike Markkula, who offered Jobs and Wozniak financing in exchange for a third of Apple shares. On January 3, 1977, the Apple Computer partnership became the Apple Corporation.
Markkula greatly influenced Jobs, because his authority was comparable to that of his father.
After the founding of the corporation, Apple acquired its own office. The company had several employees. The question arose about its president. The 22-year-old eccentric, shaggy, constantly dirty and ragged Jobs was not suitable for this job. Mike Scott was invited to this position; he was an experienced leader, and his main task was to pacify Jobs, who was becoming more rude and hot-tempered, which made it difficult for ordinary programmers.
It was not easy for the new president to cope with Jobs, who always wanted to be first. Jobs never had as many conflicts with anyone as he did with him.
Without the help of an advertiser who quickly agreed to cooperate with Apple, success could not even be dreamed of. We were tasked with developing a company and product logo. The art director proposed two options: a logo in the shape of an apple, whole and bitten. Jobs said that a whole apple could easily be confused with a cherry, so he chose a bitten one. In addition, he settled on a version with six colored horizontal stripes because of its psychedelic quality. This logo was approved before 1998.
In 1977 there was the first Computer Fair. Jobs decided to amaze everyone with the Apple exposition and his efforts paid off, because Apple received an order for 300 computers and the company got its first foreign dealer.

Sales and prosperity began to grow rapidly for several years to come. They no longer paid attention to scandals and conflicts between its founders. The Apple II was successful and profitable for 16 years. During this time, up to 6 million Apple II computers were sold, because it was one of the most profitable projects, and this is the result collaboration engineer Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, manager and designer. If Jobs had not improved it externally, it would have been collecting dust on shelves without use.

The Apple III was a redesign of Wozniak's business computer. Businessmen, purchasing an Apple II for work, purchased two additional expansion cards for the computer. It was decided to deliver everything together. These were two different computers in one case.
There was great advertising, but it quickly became clear that computers were unstable in Apple III mode. The machine was improved, increasing the stability of its operation, but the reputation of the Apple III was already spoiled, and two years later the Apple III was completely discontinued.
Apple Lisa

Steve Jobs lost interest in the Apple III even at the development stage. He started new project. And he brought two engineers to Apple, giving them the task of developing an “advanced” computer. Jobs named the project Lisa, in honor of his recently born daughter. Apple engineers completed the task, designing a better and more powerful computer that had nothing new except applications.
The state of affairs with Lisa did not suit Jobs, because he needed a breakthrough, movement, and not a repetition of what had been done.
Xerox was involved in venture capital investments and expressed interest in acquiring Apple shares. Jobs immediately put forward the condition that in return Apple employees would have access to their latest developments. An agreement was reached. Xerox management felt that Apple employees would not understand anything about their developments. Jobs realized that they were trying to deceive him and demanded to organize a second excursion, to which he took Bill Atkinson and programmer Bruce Horn with him. It didn’t work again: Atkinson and his colleagues quickly saw through them. Jobs became very angry and complained to the head of the venture capital department over the phone. The company's management immediately contacted the research center and demanded to immediately show Jobs the full development capabilities.
Apple's raid on Xerox PARC is called the most daring robbery in the history of the IT industry, because Jobs learned the secrets of Xerox. The main thing was ideas, and their implementation became a matter of time.
Xerox had an excellent chance to capture the computer market, but missed the opportunity. The next move was Apple's.
Jobs could easily call some engineer in the middle of the night and dictate his instructions to him. He became more aggressive and terrorized employees so much that Markkula and Scott, without looking at his status, reorganized Apple behind his back. 25-year-old Jobs was removed from his post and transferred to the honorary chair of the chairman of the board of directors, without real powers. So Steve Jobs found himself excommunicated from the project that he himself initiated.

Jeff Raskin, who drew Jobs' attention to Xerox's developments, led another project at Apple. He wanted to create an inexpensive, portable machine that folded like a suitcase and looked more like a household appliance. After starting work on the project, he changed its name to Macintosh, after his favorite apple variety. The Macintosh prototype was three times cheaper and still ran twice as fast. Jobs switched from the Lisa project to the Macintosh.

There were differences between Jobs and Raskin.
It was said about Steve that he does not trust anyone and when new ideas are presented to him, he criticizes them and says that they are complete nonsense and a waste of time. But if the idea is good, then soon he begins to tell everyone about it as if he came up with it.
Jobs took charge of the Macintosh project and immediately set about revamping the Mac team while continuing to recruit new employees. After observing each candidate's reaction, he demonstrated a prototype computer. If the candidate became animated, started asking questions about everything and wanted to try everything right away, Jobs enrolled him in the group.
Jobs limited the size of the computer. Even its internal parts had to look harmonious. He was convinced that only Apple employees should have access to the contents of the system unit. Jobs believed that the buyer should feel that he was purchasing a unique and complete work of art.
Due to the personal ambitions of Steve Jobs, his actions led to a split in the team, because he did not miss an opportunity to make a barb or some other trick.
Jobs did not dare to develop the style of subsequent Apple products on his own.
While working on the Macintosh, Jobs traveled to Japan, visiting high-tech production facilities there, which impressed him with exemplary discipline and impeccable cleanliness in the workshops. Upon returning, Jobs decided to build a plant to produce Macintosh. He ordered the factory walls to be whitewashed and the machines to be painted in bright colors, shocking the employees and workers.
The Lisa computer was presented to the public, differing favorably from competitors' products with its high quality and advanced capabilities. But the unaffordable price did not show strong sales. All the same, Jobs, having lost the battle, confidently moved towards final victory.
He lured the best specialists companies working on other projects and from the Lisa project he stole everything that had been developed and valuable.
Jobs increasingly took control of the company's leadership, almost restoring his influence and authority, but he understood that much would depend on who would take the chair of Apple's president. Jobs was the obvious choice, but everyone understood that he was not yet ready to lead. I had to look for a candidate on the side.
Steve always knew how to get his way, and knew exactly what to say to everyone.
The new head of the company liked Jobs and accepted the offer to lead Apple. The first serious conflict between them occurred before the presentation of the Macintosh, when he insisted on including the cost of an advertising campaign in the price of the product, which led to an increase in the price of the computer.
Jobs turned the Macintosh presentation into a show. The computer spoke about itself using a software speech generator.

The dismissal of Steve Jobs

After the successful launch of the Macintosh on the market, Steve Jobs' position at Apple was temporarily strengthened. But within a year, Macintosh sales began to plummet. Users found strong and weaknesses computer. Jobs took a very dubious step by ordering Macintosh emulation to be installed on unsold Lisa computers and releasing the result to the market under the Macintosh XL brand. Sales tripled, but it was a hoax that Apple's top experts rebelled against.
Jobs' second unsuccessful move was the launch of an advertising campaign for the Macintosh Office suite. Jobs took on too much of an assertive and aggressive tone. The ad turned out to be gloomy and depressing. The Macintosh Office project did not materialize.
Jobs became increasingly withdrawn and irritable. The crisis caused his working relationship with the new manager to deteriorate, leading to a power struggle between them. Jobs' management did not support him and removed him from management. Then he decided to stage a coup in the absence of a new leader and seize power. But even his most loyal supporters considered this plan crazy. The council sided with the leader. So, in 1985, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple. He lost the power struggle. Steve believed that everyone had betrayed him and abandoned him. After a while, he stopped going to work and made sure that no one noticed his absence. Jobs lasted five months, after which he left Apple and founded NeXT Inc.

NeXT Computer

In 1985, Jobs met a biochemist who said that the computer should be personal, powerful and inexpensive. Jobs launched the Big Mac project aimed at creating such a computer.
He recruited several members of the Macintosh team and registered NeXT Inc, a company developing a computer platform for universities and businesses.

Jobs saw the creation of the computer for the needs of science and education. He pledged to position the new computer as a "professional workstation" that would ship directly to colleges and universities.
A year later, Steve Jobs' company went bankrupt. The situation was saved by a businessman who bought a 16% stake in the company for $20 million, which became the first major investment in NeXT.
NeXT computers are now on sale.
In the same 1990, the second generation of the computer, the NeXTcube, was released. Featuring an innovative multimedia email system, NeXTcube allowed the sharing of voice, images, graphics and video.
The NeXT station was rejected as too expensive. But among those who could afford it, NeXT gained a following because of its technical advantages. Only 50 thousand cars were sold.

Pixar and Disney

Shortly before leaving Apple, Jobs met the head of the computer division of the Lucasfilm film studio, who was looking for a buyer for this division, and Jobs decided to buy this division computer graphics Apple.
An agreement was reached for Jobs to purchase 70% of the division, which developed both hardware and software for graphics and animation, and produced films. The company became Pixar Studios. Jobs envisioned entering the mass market with the Pixar Image Computer, making it cheaper. But the company suffered losses, and Jobs was forced to constantly invest personal funds in it.
Jobs realized that they should focus on filmmaking. The Disney film company has turned its attention to Pixar. An agreement was signed on their joint production, the terms of which were unfavorable for the young company, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Jobs decided to take a risk by going public after Pixar's premiere. But it became profitable, and the studio gained financial independence.
Steve Jobs was Pixar's CEO and major shareholder. Disney agreed to acquire Pixar. Once the deal was closed, Jobs became the largest private shareholder of The Walt Disney Company with 7% of the company's shares. His shareholding was larger than that of the founder, a member of the Disney family, Roy Disney. After Jobs' death, his Disney shares were transferred to the Steven Jobs Trust.
Steve Jobs. Return to Apple
By the mid-1990s, Jobs was already the head of a family with a wife and two children. He needed a constant source of income. But his company, NeXT, was having difficulty developing a new operating system for the Mac and was at an impasse. Jobs understood that he couldn’t get out on his own, and again began to look towards Apple, whose business was also not going very well, because after Jobs left, Apple stuck to old ideas and developments for several years, and then its market share fell.
The Apple director realized the depth of Apple's crisis and accepted Jobs' proposal for a possible merger or takeover of NeXT.
On December 20, Jobs returned to the company he founded and was introduced to the team as “adviser to the chairman.” Immediately, movement began to be felt: production was reduced, followed by a series of personnel changes and reshuffles. Jobs quickly managed to bring people loyal to him to key positions in the company.

Think Different

Steve Jobs dissolved the board. Jobs' mentor was among those fired. Jobs treated him like a father and went personally to inform him of his dismissal and ask for advice. He was sympathetic to Jobs’ decision and said that to save the company he would have to again produce something that no one had done before.
Jobs turned to old friends from the agency for help. Of all the options, Steve Jobs chose the Think Different concept.
He set out to restore the old relationship between Apple and its customers.
Jobs regained control of Apple, leading the corporation. Under his leadership, the company was saved from bankruptcy and began to make a profit within a year.
He took tough measures to revive the company and closed a number of projects. Many employees at this time were afraid to run into Jobs in the elevator for fear of losing their jobs. Over the course of the year, more than 3,000 people were laid off.
Jobs opposed the cloning of goods and refused to renew software licenses for third-party hardware manufacturers.
Instead of a large assortment, he announced the development of only four products, appearance which Jobs paid special attention to.

The achievement of the alliance between Jobs and one of his employees was the first iMac G3, because it became the best-selling computer in Apple history.
From then on, attractive design and a powerful brand worked for Apple.

Apple Store

Steve Jobs did not like the conditions in which Apple products were sold and he thought about creating a specialized Apple store.
He hired a vice president of sales, who advised him not to rush into opening a store, but to start modeling it in secret.
Jobs himself thought through and approved every detail.
The Apple Store was predicted to fail, but after 3 years, Apple stores averaged 5,400 people a week. There are a lot of Apple stores in the world now. which generate the most income.

Creating iTunes

The IT industry has developed. Steve Jobs came up with a global vision for the computer to make a breakthrough.
The great work began with the creation of high-quality software. On January 9, 2001, the iTunes media player was introduced.

An important part should have been the miniplayer. We decided to create our own device. Jobs changed the switch, which became a distinctive feature of many Apple devices.
The first generation of iPod was released on October 23, 2001. Jobs calculated that sales of the iPod would spur demand for computers, because the iPod was positioned as a cult accessory and actually acquired this status.
This is how Apple became a major player in the music industry.

iTunes Store

Steve Jobs introduced the online music store iTunes Store. He decided to sell songs not as albums, but individually. Music magnates took a risk because the losses from piracy were massive.
The head of the iTunes Store predicted a million sales in the first 6 months, but a million songs were sold out in just 6 days! Apple entered the market confidently.

First iPhone model

The success of the iPod did not bring Jobs peace of mind. The development of mobile phones has led to a drop in demand for cameras and digital cameras. Jobs knew that all the functions of other devices must be included in the telephone. Then the music player will no longer be needed.
The mechanical keyboard was removed and its functions were taken over by the software part. Jobs decided to try glass, which was supposed to be strong and resistant.
The main trump card of the model was the large glass screen.

The phone was introduced in January 2007, the presentation of which was the best of Steve Jobs' career. The telephone was also declared the invention of the year.

Over the next few years, Steve Jobs was ill a lot, but he took part in the development of the iPad Internet tablet, which he himself presented.
It was the most successful consumer product launch in history.

The company's success allowed Apple to become the most valuable company in the world in 2011. The resurgence of Apple has been called one of the greatest achievements in business history. Despite this, Jobs was criticized for his authoritarian management style, aggressive actions towards competitors and the desire for total control of products even after they were sold to the buyer.

Resignation

On June 6, 2011, Steve Jobs gave his last presentation. Jobs later resigned as CEO of Apple, retaining his post as chairman of the board of directors. A few hours later, Apple Inc. shares. fell.

State

Steve Jobs became a millionaire by age 25. He owned 5.426 million shares of Apple. Also owned 138 million shares of Disney. Forbes magazine in 2011 estimated Steve Jobs' net worth at $7 billion and placed him in 39th place in the ranking of the richest Americans.

Management style

Jobs sought to position Apple and the company's products at the forefront of the information technology industry. He said that great things in business are not accomplished by one person, but by a team. His subordinates respected him, because Jobs created the feeling that the impossible was possible.
After leaving Apple and working at NeXT, Jobs' character softened.

Inventions and projects

Relations with figures in the IT industry

Steve Jobs and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates are the same age and are at the origins of the computer revolution. They played decisive roles. The first of them developed the talent of a designer and the eloquence of a salesman. The second, experienced and cautious, knew a lot about programming.
Microsoft developed its own operating system, Windows, based on the same principles as the Mac. Jobs accused Gates of treason and theft. Their relationship deteriorated. The differences between them were in different approaches to work.
Returning to Apple, Steve Jobs decided to end this war, which was the result of several lawsuits. Jobs invited Gates to invest $150 million in Apple and develop programs compatible with the Mac. Jobs later said that this was one of his biggest mistakes.
Later, relations between entrepreneurs improved.
Jobs gave a speech, raising a toast “To both of us” and tearing up. In 2011, Bill Gates paid a final visit to Steve Jobs, whose illness was already critical. They spent more than two hours together, discussing with great animation.
One of Jobs' best friends in the IT industry was the founder of Oracle. Jobs was modest and did not show off his wealth. Another close friend of Jobs was Millard Drexler.
Jobs was surrounded by both friends and enemies. He was constantly in conflict with someone. Towards the end of his life, Steve Jobs fought with Google.
Apple is still making attempts to get its way through the courts, now without Steve Jobs.
Social activities
Jobs did not sign the Giving Pledge, which required the world's richest billionaires to give at least half of their wealth to charity. But despite this, Apple has become the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
In 2010, US President Barack Obama met with Steve Jobs, who criticized the US educational system, saying that he would not last longer than one term. In 2011, Obama was at a meeting with representatives of the IT industry, where Jobs said that the President was a smart person, but endlessly explained why this or that could not be done. And that it infuriated him.

Scandals

In 2001, Jobs received stock options worth 7.5 million Apple shares. The case has been the subject of criminal and civil investigations. Jobs could face a range of criminal charges and civil penalties. Jobs was not fully aware of them. The scandal led to a fall in Apple shares and the dismissal of several employees.
The decline in share price due to fraud and scandal led to the filing of a number of lawsuits. A $7 billion class action lawsuit was filed against several Apple board members, including Jobs. Apple management reached an agreement with shareholders and paid a number of compensations.

Unauthorized biographies

In 2005, the publishing house John Wiley & Sons sent a copy of the unauthorized biography “Icon. Steve Jobs." According to some reports, the order not to release the publication came personally from Steve Jobs.

Harassment of bloggers

Jobs was very sensitive to his speeches at product presentations and demanded the strictest secrecy. A website was founded where information about Apple's new products was published before its official announcement. A lawsuit was filed against the site owner and his resource was closed.
On March 25, 2010, a certain Brian Hogan found a prototype of a new iPhone model in one of the bars, accidentally left there. An article about the phone's design appeared on the blog. Apple filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office, and searches were carried out in the apartments. As a result, the bloggers, by agreeing to return the sample to the corporation, avoided charges of buying stolen goods. Steve Jobs took part in the development of this conflict.

Censorship on iPhone and iPad

Jobs tried to maintain control over user actions. It was about banning pornography on Apple devices. Jobs responded that his definition of freedom included “freedom from porn” and other unwanted and potentially harmful content.
It was suggested to him that arrogance is not appropriate for an industry leader. But Jobs said there was no arrogance in his position.

Personal life

Steve Jobs tried to adhere to the principles of Zen Buddhism and Bauhaus. He was a pescatarian. Jobs usually wore a long-sleeved black turtleneck, blue jeans and sneakers. This is how he expressed his style.
Jobs drove a silver Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG with no license plates and leased a new one every six months.
He was a big fan of Bob Dylan and The Beatles and made numerous references to them in his performances.

Searches for biological relatives

In 1986, Jobs' adoptive mother died. Steve had previously hired a detective to find his mother. He found a doctor who gave it to the Jobs. The doctor lied to him that all the documents were burned in a fire, but in reality he put them in an envelope, writing to send them to Steve Jobs after his death. Soon the doctor died, and Jobs received documents from which he learned everything about his parents and sister.
Steve considered Paul and Clara his parents, and in order not to upset them, he asked journalists not to publish if they learned anything about his biological parents.

Meeting the biological mother

Steve met his own mother and younger sister only 31 years later.
After the death of his adoptive mother, Steve called his biological mother and arranged a meeting. He did this out of curiosity and wanted to reassure the biological mother that she did the right thing. He wanted to meet her to see if she was okay and to thank her for not having an abortion. She apologized to him. Steve told her not to worry, because he had good childhood and everything worked out.

Meeting your biological sister

In 1985, on the day he met his birth mother, Steve also met his sister, Mona Simpson, who, with the help of a private detective, found her father, whom Steve did not want to meet because he had left his wife and daughter.

Not knowing who his son had become, he told Mona that he used to have a cafe in Silicon Valley and said that even Steve Jobs had been there and was generous with his tea. Jobs asked Mona not to tell her father about herself. But his father accidentally found out that Jobs was his son, but also did not seek a meeting with him.

Relationships with biological family

Ten months after giving up the child, Steve's biological parents got married. Later they had a daughter. They divorced and the father lost contact with his daughter. Steve's mother remarried.
Jobs and his sister were close friends and kept their relationship secret until 1986. He also maintained a friendly relationship with his biological mother.

Relationships with women

Jobs always had difficulty containing his feelings and emotions. He was very addicted and publicly demonstrated delight from a new romance or melancholy from separation. Many considered him a romantic person, although in relationships with women he was sometimes calculating, selfish, rude and cruel.

Chris Ann Brennan

Chris Ann Brennan, a hippie girl, was Steve's first love, with whom he began dating before graduating from high school. Their relationship was not easy. Steve and Chris were constantly drifting apart and then getting back together. After some time, Chris became pregnant. Jobs acted like it didn't concern him. Chris gave birth to a daughter, Lisa Brennan. Jobs continued to deny his paternity, claiming that Brennan was not only dating him. Chris argued with Steve that he was making her look like a walker so as not to take responsibility. Jobs took part in the fate of his daughter: he persuaded Chris not to give the child to strangers, helped choose the girl’s name and named the new Apple Lisa computer with this name.

A year later, Jobs took a paternity test, which showed that he was the father of the child and he was ordered by court to pay child support. But even after this, Jobs still for a long time refused to acknowledge his daughter. He later recognized Lisa as his daughter, and when she grew up, she and her father got along well.

Tina Redse

In 1985, Jobs met, in his words, the most beautiful woman in his life and his first true love, the hippie type Tina Redse. She also worked in IT. They were united by a difficult childhood, both of them were in search of beauty and harmony. In character they were similar in neuroticism, sensitivity, and could give free rein to tears. She was strong-willed and easily neglected her unusual beauty, often not wearing makeup, which made her even more beautiful. Their romance was very stormy. Despite the similarities, the differences were insurmountable, because Redse was the kindest person. Philosophical differences were also very deep. In 1989, Steve proposed to Tina. There followed a refusal and a break in the relationship.

Lauren Powell was Steve Jobs's only wife and the second woman he loved. She was eight years younger than him.
On January 1, 1990, Jobs proposed to Powell. They went on a trip, after which it turned out that Lauren was pregnant.
There was a wedding in 1991. Jobs was happy in his family life.
In the same year, the couple had a son, then two daughters. But Jobs did not spend much time with children. He communicated more with his son, who had good manners and a gentle character, only in appearance he was similar to him.

Health problems

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The prognosis for the development of this form of cancer is extremely unfavorable, but Jobs turned out to have a type of disease that can be treated surgically. Jobs refused to undergo surgery for nine months. He tried to prevent the disease using alternative medicine. In July 2004, Jobs agreed to a pancreaticoduodenectomy operation, during which the tumor was successfully removed, but at the same time metastases were detected in the liver. Doctors managed to partially sequence the cancer genome. During Jobs' absence, the company was run by Tim Cook, Apple's head of global sales and operations.
Jobs' health gradually deteriorated, and he became very thin. Jobs did not reveal the truth about his health. The cancer had metastasized, and due to painkillers and immunosuppressants, Jobs had no appetite and was subject to frequent depression. Apple shares were declining.
In 2009, Jobs informed everyone about his illness and went on vacation, again handing over matters to Tim Cook. He underwent liver transplant surgery. In early 2010, he returned to work.
On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his retirement. Tim Cook was his successor. Jobs continued to be involved in Apple affairs, advising Tim until his last day.

Death of Steve Jobs

After eight years of battling the disease, on the afternoon of October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs died due to complications that led to respiratory failure. The cause of Steve Jobs' death was pancreatic cancer. He died surrounded by his family at 56. His initial choice of alternative treatment led to his early death.
Relatives said Jobs died peacefully. Steve Jobs' words before his death were: Wow! Wow! Wow!
Apple and Microsoft have lowered their flags. There was also a directive to lower flags at all Disney properties, including Disney World and Disneyland.
A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, at the only non-denominational cemetery, which was not disclosed.

Media coverage

Adult Swim aired a 15-second spot with the word "hello" fading out and then changing to "goodbye."
Awards and public recognition
Jobs received public recognition and a number of awards for his influence. He is called the "father of the digital revolution." Jobs was a brilliant speaker and took innovative product presentations to a new level.
A long article was published about Jobs as "micro's most famous maestro."
Steve Jobs was awarded, received a prize and was a laureate of the “Technology - Chariot of Progress” competition. In 2007, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife inducted Jobs into the California Hall of Fame.
In 2007, Fortune magazine named Jobs the most powerful person in business, and in 2010 he was ranked 17th on its list of the world's most powerful people.
In 2011, a bronze statue of Steve Jobs was unveiled. In 2012, Steve Jobs was called "the greatest entrepreneur of our time" and was posthumously awarded the Grammy Trustees Award. The Disney film “John Carter” and the Pixar cartoon “Brave” were dedicated to him.
On the first anniversary of Jobs' death, a sculpture was unveiled - the 330-kilogram composition represents the almost two-meter palm of Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs changed a lot modern world and revolutionized no less than six industries.

Criticism

Jobs's personal qualities were often criticized because he always strived for the universal, the only possible, perfection, beauty and simplicity. He needed complete control over any situation. Steve was considered angry, cruel and vindictive. He often lured away employees from other companies and abandoned everyone he hired.
Apple's policy has always been Steve Jobs' policy. Apple tightly controls consumer computers and portable devices.
10 books have been written about Steve Jobs, 6 documentaries and 3 feature films have been made, as well as one theatrical production in New York.

Steve Jobs has long been elevated to the rank of god. But he had many quite earthly shortcomings: lack of restraint, pettiness, greed and irresponsibility. Today the documentary film "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine" was released in the United States, which examines his personality with critical point vision. The Atlantic magazine wrote an article about the importance of rethinking the figure of Jobs, and The Secret selected the most interesting episodes from it.

Like any technical device, the iPhone has a motherboard, modem, microphone, microchips, battery, and gold and silver conductors. The indium tin oxide coating on the screen conducts electricity and thus brings the iPhone back to life with one touch. Of course, the iPhone is much more than a simple smartphone. Thought, memory, empathy - these things are usually called the soul. The metal, coils, parts and chips of the iPhone are designed so that a person can simultaneously have grocery lists, photos, games, jokes, news, music, secrets, voices of loved ones and messages from close friends at his fingertips.

It doesn’t matter how many years have passed since 2007, and the outgoing and coming generations of iPhones mean nothing. There is some kind of anthropological alchemy in this device, something magical and mystical at the same time. They say about Apple technology that these are the first devices that began to evoke affection and love among consumers. Apparently, this is why the man who gave life to the iPhone is already included in the pantheon of inventors who changed the world beyond recognition. Gutenberg, Einstein, Edison - and Steve Jobs.

However, what did Jobs actually do and what were his methods? These questions are the subject of Alex Gibney's new documentary, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, about the man who insisted that technology has a self of its own. The film does not question Jobs' merits or his place in history. The director argues that Jobs and we deserve more than a banal and convenient biography for everyone. Gibney's work reconsiders Jobs' legacy, debunks myths and complicates already known facts with circumstances. The film opens with a scene at a makeshift monument erected in Jobs' honor after his death in 2011. “It’s not often that the entire planet mourns a loss,” Gibney notes. And in one of the many enthusiastic obituaries of Jobs on YouTube, a ten-year-old schoolboy says: “The head of Apple invented the iPhone, iPad, iPod. He created everything for us."

It's fair to say that the child is right in some ways - the iPhone and many other Apple products exist only thanks to Jobs. “He is still not an inventor, but a visionary who was able to sell his vision to the world,” Gibney insists.

Jobs' vision was shaped by Buddhism, Bauhaus design, calligraphy, poetry, humanism - a strong-willed fusion of art and technology. All this was transferred to his products. Jobs hired people who, under other circumstances, might have become both artists and poets - but in the digital age, they decided to express themselves through computers. He emphasized artistry and spirituality.

We are used to Steve Jobs being characterized this way. What everyone usually ignores is that he was still a real asshole, says Gibney. Not just a harmless jerk, but a tyrant who prefers threats. Jobs parked his unregistered Mercedes in handicap spaces. He abandoned the mother of his unborn child and admitted paternity only in court. He abandoned colleagues who were no longer useful to him. And he brought the useful ones to tears. And on top of all this is demonstrative contempt for charity, stock exchange fraud and the horrors of Foxconn (Foxconn is a Taiwanese company that produces components for Apple, Amazon, Sony and others. Human rights activists believe that employees work in inhumane conditions at the company’s factories, child labor is used, overtime hours are not paid, and accidents at work occur almost every day - Ed.).

These and other shortcomings of Steve Jobs, of which there were many, to say the least, are documented in blogs written before and after his death, in biographies and in the feature film Jobs: Empire of Seduction. Some biographers consider his shortcomings to be insignificant: they say, they are inherent in every genius. Others stubbornly try to reduce them to a minimum so as not to denigrate the image of their hero. There are those who do perhaps the worst of all - they assure us that Jobs's negative personal qualities not only do not make him less important, but also strengthen him on the pedestal. His uncompromising nature, his unapologetic bullying, his tendency to put the needs of computers above human ones - all this was necessary, according to supporters of this version. Jobs' goofy personality, as well as his black turtleneck and New Balance sneakers, made him who he was, and therefore gave the world Apple as it is. Jobs could afford to be an asshole because his successes made up for his shortcomings.

The documentary "Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine" does not attempt to exonerate Jobs. His shortcomings are not just mentioned, they are the focus. Alex Gibney in his film offers the viewer the opinions of all sides: like-minded people of Jobs and his critics, including former bosses, ex-friends, ex-girlfriends and former employees. "He wasn't good guy“says MIT professor Sherry Turkle. “He had only one speed - full speed ahead!” - says Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, under whose leadership Jobs once worked. “Steve was ruled by chaos: first he seduces you, then he ignores you, and then he denigrates you,” complains Jobs’ former subordinate, engineer Bob Belleville. "He didn't know what real connection was, so he created a completely different form of connection," says his daughter's mother, Chrisann Brennan.

Every conclusion in the film, every person, reminds us of the sacrifice Jobs forced those around him to make. “What kind of asshole do you have to be to become successful?” - the director asks a question.

But the most incriminating statements in the film come from Jobs himself. Gibney comes across a video of him testifying to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in 2008 in connection with the “options scandal.” In it, Jobs is openly irritated, fidgeting nervously in his chair, cursing and casting angry glances. When asked why he decided to ask for a bonus in the form of options, Jobs replies: “It wasn’t really about the money. Everyone just wants to be recognized by their colleagues. But it seemed to me that I wasn’t getting anything like that from the board of directors.” The viewer sees the head of one of the most influential companies in the world pouting with resentment. And this allows you to look at all of Jobs’s actions - betrayal, mockery, an absolutely self-centered view of the world - from a human point of view. Jobs may have been a great man, but he was also a little child: self-centered and desperate to please.

But does all this really matter? Wasn't Einstein the same child inside? And if Edison's actions were questioned and challenged, wouldn't the great inventor begin to sulk? We will never know the answers to these questions, because there were no social networks or blogs in their lives. They lived in blissful times that allowed them to be remembered by the world for what they did rather than for who they really were. Steve Jobs was not so lucky. He lived in our time - when the attitude towards our heroes consists not only of their achievements, but also of their personality. We live in an age of complex idolatry. And the irony is that this century is largely thanks to Steve Jobs.

Cover photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Instructions

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955. His father, Syrian Adulfatt Jandali, and mother Joan Schible, born into a family of German emigrants, lived in a civil marriage. Joan gives birth to a son and decides to give up the child. Her son fell into the family of Armenian-American Clara Jobs and her husband Paul. The boy was given the name Stephen. Before the adoption, Joan took from married couple obligation to pay for the child’s education in college. Jobs considered Paul and Clara his real parents all his life, although he knew the history of their appearance in the family.

Steve's father worked as an auto mechanic and encouraged his son to love this profession, but remained cold to engines. However, Steve enthusiastically studied the basics of electronics and soon, under the guidance of his father, assembled and repaired televisions and radios.

Steve earned money by delivering newspapers, and then, as a thirteen-year-old boy, he was invited to work on an assembly line at Hewlett-Packard. At the age of 15, Jobs bought his first car, and a year later Steve became interested in the work of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, began hanging out with hippies, smoking marijuana and using LSD.

Steve's classmate introduced him to Stephen Wozniak. Despite the 5 year age difference, we quickly found a common language. Their first joint project was the production of “blue boxes” - digital devices that made it possible to crack telephone codes and call anywhere in the world. Friends began selling such boxes to students and neighbors. The business was illegal, and therefore the production of devices had to be curtailed.

In 1972, Steve entered Reed College, which was famous for its excellent educational program, high standards and very free morals. The guy became interested in spiritual practices, refused food of animal origin, and periodically practiced fasting. Six months later, Jobs quits college, but continues to attend creative activities.

The first serious work of Steve Jobs can be considered the Atari company, which was engaged in the production of video games. Jobs received $5 an hour for refining games. A year later, Steve becomes a member of the Homemade Computer Club. After the first meeting, Jobs and his friend Wozniak began designing a personal computer, which was later named Apple I.

On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs and his friends Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne registered their own company and began serial production of printed circuit boards. It was during this period that Jobs became a fruitarian, went on an apple diet and proposed giving the new company the name Apple Computer.

In the garage of Jobs's parents' house, a group of friends who are passionate about electronics assemble the first Apple I computers. Byte store owner Paul Terrell ordered the production of 50 units of personal machines at once. Moreover, he did not need boards, but completely assembled and ready-to-use computers. However, the Apple I was very different from classic computers in the usual way. to modern man understanding. No one in the world produced similar goods at that time. In August 1976, Steve Wozniak completed work on the board for the Apple II. On the new computer it was possible to work with color and sound, and connect game controllers. The Apple II had an integrated keyboard, expansion slots, disk drives, and a plastic case.

The Apple Computer partnership evolved into the Apple Company, which now had its own office. Steve Jobs chooses Apple in the form of a six-color bitten apple. The company's founders were constantly in conflict, but the Apple II was successfully sold both in the United States and abroad. The Apple III was focused on helping with business and working with spreadsheets. The project was personally handled by Jobs, who was listed as the company's vice president for research and development. The Apple III project failed for a number of reasons, especially since in 1983 the IBM PC became the market leader in sales, which pushed Apple to second place. Jobs' toughness and integrity led to the fact that at the age of 25 he became chairman of the board of directors without the right to interfere in technical issues.

Steve Jobs gives presentations on new Apple developments, but conflict situation the company is becoming more and more serious. The board of directors fires Jobs. Steve founds NeXT Inc., which specializes in producing computers for scientists and students. Later NeXT Inc. begins to develop software for large customers, and Jobs returns to Apple. Soon, Steve Jobs launches the iMac G3, a computer with a futuristic design, USB inputs for connecting peripheral devices and a user-friendly graphical interface.

It was Jobs who came up with the idea of ​​selling goods through an online store, as well as opening sales points as close to the consumer as possible, that is, in residential areas. Jobs dreamed that the computer would become a digital center in which photos, music, films would be stored, through which one could communicate with friends and make purchases. Apple produces corresponding software (iMovie, iTunes). The founder of the company managed to realize another dream of his: to carry the entire collection of his favorite songs in his pocket. This is how iPods were born. But the head of Apple understood perfectly well that sooner or later mobile phones would become so powerful that they would replace players, photo and video cameras, and laptops, and therefore the famous iPhone smartphones were released onto the market. At the same time, Steve supervised the development of the iPad Internet tablet.

In October 2003, Jobs learned that he had pancreatic cancer. He refuses surgical treatment, preferring herbal medicine, veganism and acupuncture, but then still goes to the hospital. By that time, the tumor had metastasized. Neither surgery nor chemotherapy helped, time was hopelessly lost.

On June 6, 2011, Steve Jobs gives his last presentation, where he introduces the iCloud service and the iOS 5 operating system, and then resigns. Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011. He is still called a visionary, condemned for his business methods, but his genius is recognized.

Video on the topic

Steve Jobs is one of the founders of Apple, a brilliant speaker and talented businessman. Each of his presentations is an unsurpassed show, and Jobs' ideas are worth millions of dollars. Gallo Carmine in the book “iPresentation. Lessons of Persuasion from Apple Leader Steve Jobs” reveals the secrets of the top manager’s success.

Instructions

Be charismatic. Acquaintances describe Jobs as a complex personality: very demanding and prone to perfectionism. Nevertheless, for everyone, Steve is an attractive person who is able to hold attention for a long time even on technical information, as if watching an action-packed film.

Create a view. Steven Jobs makes a show out of every presentation and creates a special atmosphere. He carefully plans every stage, uses elements of stagecraft and infects the audience with his passion and energy. The purpose of the presentation is to provide information about the product, capture the imagination and inspire purchase. The purpose of the presentation is to attract maximum attention and create excitement. The performance takes place in the same way as the events in the play develop: there is a conflict, a plot, and a denouement.

Work on the brand. Special attention Jobs focuses on high quality in his activities. He constantly improves the product and strives to anticipate consumer desires. At the same time, an amazing corporation is presented to the target audience. Steve does not sell specific company products, but tools that can unlock human potential and improve the quality of life.

Ideas that can change the world. Steve Jobs feels his unique destiny. He strives to create products that will make dramatic changes in society. Jobs wants to make discoveries and benefit people.

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Tip 3: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates: friends, rivals or enemies?

Just a couple of decades ago, computer technology was almost considered exotic and was used only, perhaps, in the offices of government agencies and large companies. Today, almost all people have desktops and tablets. Such widespread dissemination of modern technologies is the merit primarily of two specialists - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Relationships between creators of Apple and Microsoft have always been difficult. Throughout the history of doing business, Jobs and Gates alternately became rivals, then comrades-in-arms, and even just enemies.

Rivals

In their early days, young Gates and Jobs were more rivals than friends or enemies. Many people believe that the first graphical OS that made working on a PC as simple as possible for ordinary users was Windows 85. However, this is not entirely true.

For the first time, the idea of ​​​​using graphical user-friendly interfaces for PCs was implemented by Apple on the Apple Macintosh PC. It was with the aim of concluding a contract for the supply of software for these desktops that Jobs, in his youth - in the 80s of the last century - came to Washington to see Bill Gates.

The creator of Microsoft at that time considered the capabilities of the new OS a little limited, but still agreed to cooperate with Apple. Subsequently, for a couple of years after the release of the Macintosh, the companies worked together and the relationship between Jobs and Gates was quite friendly.

Enemies

The joint work of Microsoft and Apple has become, according to both leaders, quite productive. However, Bill Gates once noted that he had more specialists working on Mac than Steve, considering this unfair.

After this, relations between the partners began to gradually deteriorate. They finally fell apart with the release of the first version of Windows in 1985 by Microsoft. The news hit Steve like a bombshell.

Jobs considered the new OS to be a common plagiarism from the Macintosh, which he was quick to inform the public about. Bill responded to this that even before collaborating with Apple, he had hatched the idea of ​​​​developing a graphical shell, believing that the future lay with it.

In addition, the founder of Microsoft pointed out the fact that the very principle of user interaction with a computer through graphics was not invented by specialists from Apple, but from the company Xerox PARC, which they once admired for Jobs. From that moment on, the former business partners became irreconcilable enemies.

In 1985, Steven Jobs left Apple and registered his own company, NeXT. However, even after he stopped working for Microsoft's main competitor, the relationship between Bill and him did not improve.

Have you ever been friends?

Despite many years of enmity, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs always treated each other with a degree of respect. Steve noted Gates' excellent sense of humor and excellent business skills, and Bill more than once expressed admiration for Jobs's good design taste.

In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple, which was then on the verge of bankruptcy. To improve matters, he decided to turn to Bill for help. From then on, the former enemies declared a truce.

Jobs, who had previously mercilessly criticized Microsoft products, even publicly praised Internet Explorer for Mac and Office, which simply shocked his fans. Over the next five years, until the end of the contract with Bill, Steve never allowed himself to express any criticism of Microsoft in any interview. But later, having never forgiven his partner for what he had done, from time to time he still tried to hurt Gates’ pride by releasing, for example, a series of truly brilliant videos ridiculing the PC.

The largest specialists in the field of computer software did not become friends until Jobs’ death. Even the success of Apple, who became rich and achieved much in life, did not reconcile their former partners. However, it is quite possible that the strained relationship between Bill and Steve was to some extent only a façade.

After Jobs' death, it turned out that until his death he kept a letter from Gates on the table next to his bed. The richest man in the world, as his relatives and friends noted, experienced the death of his “sworn friend” really hard.

Sources:

• American edition about the relationship between Gates and Jobs