Steve Jobs changed the world

The visionary former president of Apple with his quirky lifestyle and often eccentric ideas, who shunned publicity with the exception of product launches, was born 69 years ago, on February 24, 1955.

Steve Jobs, who passed away on October 5, 2011, has undoubtedly brought the revolution in the field of technology.

He was one of the pioneers of “Silicon Valley” and one of the main reasons why the region was designated as the global center of technology; especially after the founding of Apple, together with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak. The two of them were the ones who brought to the market what is essentially considered the first PC on the planet, the “Apple II”.

Although he was fired from Apple (1985), Jobs returned to the company 11 years later, at a time when the competition had overtaken Apple. And what followed was possibly the most amazing “comeback story” in business history.

Towards the end of the presentations, he used to say the phrase:

“and one last thing…”

so the participants knew immediately that the most important part of the event was just about to begin; and he was about to reveal yet another breathtaking new feature.

The most important quotes of Steven Jobs

• It’s more fun being a pirate than enlisting in the Navy.
• You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them. Once this is done, they will immediately want something new.
• Being the richest man in the graveyard doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we did something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.
• When you’re young, you watch TV and think, there’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to make us dumb. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. Networks are businesses, giving people exactly what they want. This is an even more depressing thought.
• I would trade all my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.
• You must have faith in something. In your intuition, in your destiny, in life, in karma, in whatever. This approach has never failed me and has made all the difference in my life.
• I am the only person I know who has lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year. This kind of thing shapes your character.
• Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose your faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I really loved what I did. And the only way to do great work is to love it. If you haven’t discovered it yet, keep looking. Don’t rest.
• Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
• Stay hungry. Be a fool.

Analysts argue that Apple became such a big company not because it had technological advantages over its rivals but because it emphasized on user-friendly, easy-to-use products, a strategy started by Jobs himself.

Steve Jobs himself may have managed to convince millions of consumers to immediately acquire Apple’s latest technological “miracles”, but he set some important restrictions in his own home: He prevented his children from using Apple devices, while also limited access to the internet.

“We put limits on the use of technology in the home.”

had answered a related question in 2010. Jobs’ 4 children are currently 43, 31, 26 and 23 years old respectively.

One of the most intriguing stories in Jobs’ career and life was the love-hate relationship he had with Bill Gates, with whom he was sometimes friends, sometimes enemies and sometimes just allies. According to author Walter Isaacson, who wrote one of Steve Jobs’ biographies, if Microsoft didn’t exist, Apple most likely wouldn’t exist either. During the early years of the ‘Macintosh’, Microsoft and Apple worked closely together. At one point Gates had stated that he had more employees working at Apple than Jobs had.

Their professional relationship broke up in 1985 when Microsoft announced the first version of ‘Windows’. In fact, Jobs accused Gates that Microsoft essentially copied the “Macintosh”, with mr. Microsoft for its part argued that Apple did not have exclusive rights to the idea. Gates, however, has always admired Jobs’ work. In fact, when “iTunes” was released, he sent an internal email to Microsoft employees stating, among other things, that:

“Jobs has accomplished many amazing things”.

During his absence, the new CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, managed to connect his name with the “explosion” of the use of “smartphones” throughout the world. According to him, the “iPhone” has become Apple’s most important product, with the device currently accounting for up to 2/3 of the company’s profits.

Many claim that this success is credited to Jobs, who created a product culture that proved to be long-lasting. From the “Apple II” and the “Macintosh” to the “MacBook Air”, the “iPod” and of course the “iPhone”, they were just some of these products, which he himself called “magical”.

The bet for Cook now is to manage to maintain enthusiasm for new Apple products. So far, however, the only gadget that has come to market entirely under Cook is the “Apple Watch”.

Not bad at all though.

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