“Jobs burst on the scene in the late 1970s as the boy leader who became the evangelist of the personal computer revolution.,” Hiner writes. “In 1984, he led the team at Apple that brought the graphical user interface to the masses with the Macintosh.”
“Then, just as quickly as he had burst upon the business world, his world imploded,” Hiner writes. “In a failed struggle for power and control at Apple, he got kicked out of his own company in 1985 and went into exile. He was a rich has-been by the age of 30.”
“Over the following decade, his next two companies — NeXT Computer (which he founded) and Pixar Animation (which he bought from George Lucas) – quietly made some important breakthroughs in computing but struggled financially and started bleeding away the $100 million fortune that Jobs had made at Apple,” Hiner writes.
“Jobs launched a coup to reclaim his white knight status in the mid-1990s. His first bit of redemption came with Pixar in 1995 when Toy Story became the highest grossing animated feature of all time and Pixar rode that acclaim to a very successful IPO, orchestrated by Jobs himself. Once the IPO launched, it instantly turned Jobs into a billionaire,” Hiner writes. “His next bit of redemption was even sweeter. At the end of 1996, a badly-struggling Apple decided to purchase NeXT to help reinvent itself as a technology innovator. Jobs initially joined Apple as an advisor as part of the NeXT deal, but he quickly convinced the Apple board to get rid of its leader, Gil Amelio. As a result, Jobs was thrust into the role of “interim CEO” and company savior.”
Hiner writes, “What happened next was a series of conquests that far exceeded anyone’s expectations and returned Apple to the role of technology superpower. These conquests also anointed Steve Jobs with the reputation of being a mix between warrior and magician.”
Steve Jobs’ five dragons:
1: The Macintosh
2: The iPod
3: Apple Retail Stores
4: The iPhone
5: The Tablet
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
Steve Jobs, the King Midas of Tech.
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May he live long
Hmmm, a bit premature using the tablet as one of Steve’s “dragons”, given that it doesn’t officially exist and not a single one has been sold (I will order the day it becomes available).
As the 5th dragon I would have used “repeatedly kicking the shit out of Gates, Ballmer and MS” instead.
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Bit early to put the Tablet on that list, innit? I mean, at least wait until Apple has even announced the thing… or preferably until it actually turns out to be a successful product!
tv
… if they ever stop treating it as a hobby
I would include iTunes with the iPod. So many people don’t realize that iTunes is Apple’s KILLER APP.
for some reason, the term burninating comes to mind, specifically as if sung by the vocalist of a metal band
Don’t dragons come in sevens? Or is it eight?
Tablet, what Tablet?
What about the IIe? Didn’t that start it all?
@G Spank
I agree. It’s acknowledged to be better than WMP by far by even the most diehard Windoze fans. I know, because that’s what some of my M$-oriented friends say. Actually, because of iTunes, they are now considering the Mac.
MacinScott… I had a windows buddy by the other day, and he wanted to watch some youtube video of “United Breaks Guitars.” Instead of going into the home office, I just fired up the Apple TV on the flatscreen tv. He was hooked! “What’s the name of that thing? You can youtube with it? When did Apple come out with that?
It was hilarious, and sad at the same time. This is a great product.
@G Spank
I agree. Without iTunes the iPod would not be as popular. That setup was parlayed into the iPhone/iPod touch and App Store (another dragon in my opinion – successful online mass marketing of applications with a new developer paradigm).
This doesn’t fit in terms of innovative “dragon” topics – but MacOS X on Intel was also a key strategic move for Apple. The growth of the Mac in recent years is directly traceable to that move. The iPod halo may have placed the Mac more in the public eye, but the switchers ramped up after the Mac transition to Intel.
Dragon Dictation is a good iPhone app. Saves texting.
What about Pixar?
What about App Store and iPhone/iPod touch/iTablet Apps?
Jobs is no 5 dragon wonder.
We never hear that much about Steve Jobs activity or involvement at Pixar. Does anybody have any info about his input there or does he delegate most of the oversight of Pixar’s projects to John Lasseter?
I would put iTunes in there. The iPhone and iPod would not be the products that they are without iTunes. I imagine we’ll see the same thing with the Tablet.
Yeah jobs did all the engineering work on the Mac…not. What rubbish. He didn’t slay the dragon of making the GUI work (Xerox PARC did, way before Jobs). Man, why can’t the idiots who write these stores STOP giving Jobs credit for absolutely everything and actually some of it point it in the right direction.
And BTW the Lisa was the first apple to use a gui
And how come they never mention Jobs stealing from Woz? The proceeds of the Atari game (Breakout?) which Jobs took the credit for and robbed Woz of thousands in royalties??? Such a hero isn’t he??
@ Brulek,
Everyone has the right to their own opinion.
Thing is, we don’t give a shit about yours.
Because, Brulek, everyone knows about PARC. We also know that shit would have languished in their labs for another decade if Jobs hadn’t had the vision and guts to put the future of the company on the line to put the ideas into a product for the masses.
Jobs is not a technician. He’s never invented anything. To the best of my knowledge he never has claimed such. He’s a visionary that is able understand the potential of disparate technologies conceives how to put the pieces together new ways.
Jobs deserves the accolades whether or not he “invented” the underlying technology featured in Apple products. That’s my opinion, anyway.
Steve Jobs’ five dragons… sounds like a made for tv movie!
@ Spark,
Well said. Much better than my snide remark.
@Sr Gill Bates
Well. “snide” has its advantages. You were able to post while I was still writing. I concur with with you by the way.