APPLE employs thousands of incredibly talented, clever people, but Steve Jobs was by far the company's biggest asset.
From the genre-defining Apple computer he designed in his parents’ garage in 1976, to the revolutionary music players, mobile phones and tablet computers he conceived over the past decade, there’s little doubt Jobs had a unique ability to, in his words, “think different”.
Sadly, we already have an insight into how Apple may fare post-Jobs. Cruelly ousted in 1985 from the company he founded, Jobs went on to start Next Inc, developing the computer system Tim Berners-Lee used to invent the worldwide web. Jobs also bought Pixar and turned it into the world’s most successful animation studio.
Meanwhile, Apple’s technology stagnated, driving the company to the brink of bankruptcy. It was only Jobs’s return in 1997 that resulted in the company changing strategy and returning to profitability.
Many famous Steve Jobs quotes have been recycled in the past 24 hours, but I feel it’s one of his favourite quotes that sums him up best.
Taken from the final issue of the Whole Earth Catalogue in May 1974, the back page simply read, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish”, a sentiment that reflected his approach to everything he did.
l Grant Gibson has a weekly column in The Herald Magazine on Saturday.
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