“Steve Jobs has a way of making outlandish dreams come true, according to Jeffrey Young and William Simon, co-authors of iCon: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, an unauthorized biography of the Apple CEO,” Kerry Hannon writes for USA Today.
“Roughly two pages are spent on the news of Jobs’ pancreatic cancer, diagnosed in 2004. Readers learn that he returned quickly to work after surgery to chase after one more ‘outlandish Stevian dream: to take back the computer business from Microsoft,'” Hannon reports. “In sum: ‘There’s one more battle he wants to win,’ according to the authors. ‘Steve Jobs is going to best Bill Gates.’ Act Three, anyone?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Naysayers: In 1929, Ford held just over 61% of the U.S. market for automobiles. GM’s market share stood at just 12%. Ford was thought to be invincible, with GM regarded as a niche auto maker. But, in 1936, just seven years later, Ford held 22% of the market for new automobiles while General Motors held a 43% share. No company is invincible.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Author of ‘The Second Coming of Steve Jobs’ Alan Deutschman reviews Steve Jobs ‘iCon’ bio – May 23, 2005
Apple about to resurrect its Switch campaign? Are the ‘OS wars’ really over? – May 09, 2005
Banned in Apple Retail Stores, ‘iCon’ unauthorized Steve Jobs bio doubles initial printing run – May 01, 2005
Publisher says Apple removed all its books from Apple stores due to upcoming Steve Jobs bio – April 26, 2005
Microsoft will be the Novell of this decade.
Steve Jobs wants people to buy this book, hes created more publicity for it that it would have ever had otherwise.
He’s not that stupid to give it all this publicity as an accident
And, Hyundai will surpass Honda.
and as soon as His Steveness can put the next gen “Cell-Macs” on the store shelves … the mighty Bill Gates and his cronies will be left so far in the dust, you’ll be seeing Billy doing infomercials touting his vapor ware Shorthorn… just after that joker who touts the “TigerPC” from Tiger-Direct !
With my friend Larry Ellison’s help (and ego) I’ll be able to do it! ss
(Can you say Oracle, Intel-Driven, Peoplesoft X-Serves?)
I live in hope. Still many small victories can mean winning a war. And one small victory is that I have finally convinced my dyed in the wool older sister to dump Windows and to join the ranks of happy Apple users.
Of course for me there is a downside. Remember when we all started using computers and there was someone who helped us through those painful first clicks. You guessed it, I’m her technical support. There goes my weekends.
One small step…one giant leap for mankind. That’s what switching is all about; screwing those Redmond rednecks and helping the Cupertino cool cats.
If SJ was determined to best MS, we’d see….OS X ADVERTISING.
“And, Hyundai will surpass Honda.”
Like Samsung and LG surpassed Panasonic and Sony….
Oh yeah, Honda the small motorcycle and mini car maker, they will be out of business in couple of months with their tin cans. You can bring your rice cup next to my Oldsmobile anytime. Wait a minute… where did my Olds go…
The reference that MDN likes to periodically make to auto market share is a good one, but what kind of share numbers did Apple have at the height of AppleII’s popularity? I just hope the pendulum swings back again.
“what kind of share numbers did Apple have at the height of AppleII’s popularity?”
If we go by that analogy, then
Apple II == Model T (first mass production computer)
IBM & Clones == GM
Mac == Mustang
I don’t think I like where this analogy is going.
I thought Apple = BMW?
I’m about to commit message board suicide, but here goes: There is one flaw with MDN’s take. In the GM vs Ford case, when your car’s life ends, you have no investment that will keep you tied to the automaker other than brand loyalty (and perhaps snow tires or something). In the Mac vs MS, you do, it’s called software and it’s expensive. I would suggest the only opportunity Apple has to grab large shares of market is when MS releases a new Windows that breaks compatibility with exisiting software apps and consumers are essentially back to square 1. I am sure MS knows this and simply won’t make that sort of change. If the roles were reversed, I am sure Apple would not have gone the OS X route, so in a way, it’s good things are the way they are. Interestingly, Apple is in the opposite place with iPod, with all of us buying cases, speakers, remote controls, etc etc that only work with iPod. When it comes time to get a new mp3 player, are you going to junk all that and start over? Maybe, if it’s really old, but likely not.
However, I don’t think Apple needs or necessarily wants the desktop market (other than for ego’s sake). With the recent release of Bonjour for Window’s, I think Apple is up to something along the lines of the media server which will now have no problem connecting to any computer. I, for one, can’t wait to see what they have in store.
Good point turnabout. I think Apple lost a lot of people when Steve-o decided to go back on his Apple II Forever promise. I know I left and so did every other Apple II user I knew. It wasn’t until the pc platform became riddled with malware that I began to look at Apple again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad I did. BUT, had Steve kept his promise, myself and scores of other users may have never left.
Most computer users, Mac & PC, use the software that came with the computer plus 1 or 2 other titles. A Mac with the bundled software plus MS Orifice covers 90% of Apple’s new market. Sell your old software on Ebay, find out what it’s really worth.
I’m with sd on this, Bonjour for Windows is a BIG announcement… I mean, doesn’t Micro$oft have ‘Plug & Pray’, what a joke that is – stupid ‘Wizards’ guiding you through to the final step only to fail.
An Apple Media server is on the cards, it’ll be able to use other devices (PS3, XBox 360 etc.) for processor power etc. while Bill & Steve will be struggling on a stage trying to demo their lastest variation of aincient code, probably called Windows something-or-other.
What Apple seem to realise and Microsoft seem blinkered to is that computers and devices become more advanced at communincating with each other then compatability between platforms should really become less of an issue. Accordingly it will be who offers the best product that wins out. Apple.
“You can afford to lose every battle, except for the last one….”
Jobs has already bested Gates. They both started out wanting to be the best in the computer business. Steve runs a company that is consistently held up as an example of excellence and Bill runs a company that is consistently ridiculed for it’s inadequacies. The winner is clear.
Smithy: “while Bill & Steve will be struggling on a stage trying to demo their lastest variation of aincient code”
You had me confused there, until I realized that “Steve” wasn’t Jobs but Monkey-boy. Please use his correct title in future.
Im officially dubbing Longhorn with a new name….
Longshot
Bill, sorry, but Steve was outed from Apple by Sculley in 1985, before the Apple II Forever thing. Even if Steve had made the II Forever promise, it didn’t mean sculley, spindler, ameilio, and the other ceos had to follow that directive.
It funny how many people are ready and willing to dump on Jobs for all the terrible things that happened AFTER he left the company and was away for 12 years
sd made some good points; also the auto industry in 1929 was not nearly as mature as the computer industry is today; cars didn’t really take off until the 50s when the interstate highway system was started under eisenhower. there are lots better analogies to be found that the car industry in 1929.
If you can’t see that the personal computer industry is in its infancy, you can’t see the big picture or beyond your limited lifetime so far.
Microsoft will not dominate forever.
“there are lots better analogies to be found that the car industry in 1929.”
Ok, how about the car industry in the 1960s? It was certainly mature by then. Japanese automobiles certainly had low single digit market share at that time. Fast forward 20, 30 and 40 years later and where did the market stand? Ford and GM didn’t innovate and they lost the lion’s share of their old market dominance as a result. Again, nobody stays on top forever…and that includes Microsoft.