The man who changed the world with an Apple

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Photo courtesy of apple.com

Steve Jobs. The name itself pretty much says it all. Who was Steve Jobs? People have called him a visionary, a genius, the modern Michelangelo, an inventor, a technology icon. Yes, he was definitely all the aforementioned. He is an inspiration.

Nurturing his love for advanced technology, what had initially started out as assembling boards inside a garage had grown into a multinational corporation. It all began with passion and interest for technology; it all began with an idea. Taking entrepreneurial initiatives, he started to work towards publicizing Apple computers. The Apple advancements were incomparable to competition. When the Lisa project had taken place, Jobs was thrown out of it for his temperament. But he didn’t let this fallout discourage him from what he loved to do. Then, he had began Macintosh (or Mac), only to be kicked out of the corporation he had founded. He had stumbled upon a group of computer graphics experts, and he eventually bought the company, which came to be known as Pixar. Jobs had founded another company, known as NeXT, to develop advanced computers for educational and scientific purposes. Upon this proposal, Apple threatened to sue him and Jobs left the company. But things weren’t looking so great after that. Pixar seemed to be unrewarding and the NeXT computers did not sell. He had lost all hope by the time Disney had cancelled the contract to make a full film using computers.

But Jobs made an impressive comeback: Toy Story. The project was revived after improving the script. The release of Toy Story brought his net worth to over $1.5 billion. And after questioning the managerial competency of newly appointed CEO Gil Amelio in 1996, Jobs raised a board coup and was positioned interim CEO in 1997. The slogan “Think Different” encouraged individuals to believe they could change the world. And Jobs wasn’t done with the creation of Macintosh, he had yet to release the iMac. It had brought tremendous success to Apple and he was appointed full time CEO.

Jobs was always looking forward to expansion. What came next was one of his greatest innovative thinking: the iPod (mini, shuffle, nano). The iPod’s market share was approximately a significant 80%.

Just as things were looking hopeful for Jobs, he ran into health issues in 2003 concerning pancreatic cancer. He had undergone a surgery, believing it was curable. But he appeared to be losing weight considerably. And in 2009, he had taken half a year off to await a liver transplant. His relentless spirit was evident when he took off again as an active CEO in 2010. He has shown the world his brand new innovation: the iPad, not to mention the most recent generation of the iPhone.

Jobs was not merely a businessman, nor merely an entrepeneur. He was also a dreamer. He has millions of fans around the world. He is a huge contributor to technological advancements and animated movies.  I hope that by watching the following video, a speech Jobs gives at Stanford university’s 114th Commencement in 2005, you will grasp the brillance that are your dreams.

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R.I.P. Steve Jobs.