A Half-Bitten Anecdote
Louie Florentine A. Sanchez
ASIDE from
being the executive who used to wear black mock turtleneck and rugged rubber
shoes, Steve Jobs is known as the man behind the weighty revolution called
Apple rage. No doubt he’s one of the world’s greatest innovators and the
avant-garde of novelty and modernization. His finicky and fussy ego in
technology which transfigured the antediluvian modes into something men have
long wished for made him as he was.
The first step
It was in 1976 when the trio of Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak (who worked for Hewlett-Packard) and Ronald Wayne (who
worked for Atari) first fabricated the very first radical digital computer. It
was a hand-built wood-framed built-it-yourself pocket calculator which is so
far-off from the standards of a good electronic gadget today— no keyboard, no
mouse, no monitor and even a hard drive. Jobs was a college dropout way back
then but who would have thought that their simple junk work in the garage, with
all their native sense of design, will lead to the inception of Apple I.
The first Apple computer had a startling
sale in the market; being bought for $666 each! Because of this, Apple I was
considered to be the most collectible PC of all time. After the success of
Apple I, Apple conceived more inventions like the Macintosh, the Macintosh TV,
the iMac and the Pippin to name a few.
An initial glitch
In 1985 the
Apple board members voted to fire Steve Jobs out of the company due to being so
“uncontrollable.” According to his
co-workers that time, it was difficult working with Steve. With all his ideas
flowing into his mind, he always wanted to go for what he thinks is right
without further considerations. He was just inclined with making beautiful
objects and not with their probable upshots to mankind and even to the profit for
the company.
After his
desistance to Apple, he had bought the Graphics Group which was later renamed
Pixar. He tried to focus himself into devoirs far from Apple. But Apple is
Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs is Apple. Apple is the expression of his personal
ethos and ideals. Jobs’ termination to Apple caused a crash to the company’s
earnings; with Microsoft Windows, Apple’s top competitor, taking on the seat.
Apple had no choice but to bring Jobs back and believe in his conviction.
A great comeback
In 1997 with the company’s full
support, Jobs came back to Apple and became its de facto chief. The
original founder of Apple became a better and responsible leader and inventor
that time.
In his speech at Stanford University
in 2005, he said being fired from Apple was the best thing that had happened to
him. He said, “The
heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner
again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most
creative periods of my life."
He also added
"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired
from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed
it."
One year
after his comeback, the iMac was introduced and turned out to be the best
selling personal computer in the US. And after less than one year (just that quick!), the second wave of
iMacs was introduced.
“Hint: It’s Not a Mac”
Apple
continued to soar in skyrocketing heights during the late 1990s. Jobs’
management to the company created business wise performance and their profit overwhelmingly
multiplied with continuous introduction and improvisation of appliances and
gizmos. But Apple is so unpredictable and their inventions are so arbitrary and
in 2001, they released a new innovation which Jobs teased as “It’s not a Mac!” That was the birth of
the very extraordinary music player, the iPod.
The iPod entailed
the launch of iTunes digital music software and the iTunes, which is a more
convenient means of legal downloading of music. Since iPod’s unveiling, 170
million units had already been sold and is continuously being bought in the
world.
Not
contented enough, Jobs debuted two more Ipod versions for different
applications like the iPod Nano and the iPod Video.
Sophistication and
Resignation
After the
iPod comes the iPhone then the iPad afterwards. And Apple seems to be in the
perfect smooth sail until in August 2011, Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple; but
he remained to be the company’s chairman of the board. As announced in his
resignation, “Unfortunately, the day has come. I can no longer meet the duties
and expectations as Apple’s CEO.”
His abandonment to his position gave
him the opportunity to focus in his health. It can be remembered that he was
diagnosed with cancerous tumors in his pancreas in 2004 and they were affecting
him exceedingly.
Salient Leaving
In 2004, he had undergone a
successful surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer called islet
neuroendocrine tumor. Patients of this kind of tumor are said to have a high
survival rate most especially if the disease is removed promptly. But after the operation, Jobs was still in series
of medications while he was becoming skinny and the effects of his disease
being more vulnerable. Despite of this, he still worked for Apple until the day
before his death.
At 3 PM on October 5, 2011, Jobs passed
away due to complications from relapse of his previously treated pancreatic
cancer resulting in respiratory arrest. The world, not just Apple, lost a visionary
and Promothean genius the society has never had since him.
His great love for technology bore
countless innovations—the products of his brilliance, passion and desire, which
improve and uplift the standards of human life. Steve Jobs will forever be remembered.
He will forever be an inspiration to those who wish to soar exalted heights
than the usual (regardless of all the pitfalls).
