It’s a somber day not just for Apple fans but for the entire tech world with news that Steve Jobs has died aged 56. Just two days after the iPhone 4S was announced, the innovator who brought us the Mac, the iPod and
the iPad to name a few, finally lost his long battle with illness.
To pay homage to the man who made life-changing gadgets and said, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me”, we pick the top ten moments from under the turtleneck…
1. Jobs founds Apple – 1976
What were you doing in your early 20s? Most of it involved a beanbag, right? Not for Steve Jobs. Born in 1955, by 1976 he teamed up with his friend, handily a computer genius, Steve Wozniak and founded a new computer company, called Apple. By 1980 it had become the biggest stock market launch since Ford in the 50s.
2. What he wants, he gets – 1983
After a couple of turbulent years, Jobs was in need of a new experienced exec to become president of Apple, and so lured John Sculley, then president of PepsiCo, to his company with the immortal words: “Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?” After throwing in a desk tidy and use of the executive washroom, we imagine, he accepted.
3. Jobs proves he’s bigger than Apple – 1985
A sales slump of 1984 and Jobs’ lack of business acumen caused tensions within Apple that led to a falling out with Sculley, as Jobs quit. Did he get a part time gig in a burger bar? Go on the dole? No, instead he bought a fledgling computer company called Pixar (which after Toy Story in 1995 made him worth $1.5 billion) and founded NeXT, which Apple bought for $400 million, bringing Jobs back in the game. Show off.
Steve Jobs’ first ever TV interview
4. The prodigal son returns – 1997
As Apple’s new Interim CEO, Jobs immediately terminated Newton, Cyberdog and OpenDoc. Employees fear meeting him in case they are fired. But guess who was recruited? Yes, the British design wizard Jonathan Ive. The partnership caused aesthetic alchemy, and the pair began work on the most beautiful gadgets the world has ever seen.
5. iMac G3 being the first one… – 1998
In 1998, to take a computer and make it cool, to make it actually sexy, a design classic was no easy feat. The fully integrated computer with the funky transparent arse was the first computer to exclusively offer USB ports as standard and sold 800,000 in five months. Apple made a profit and by 2011 it would become richer than the USA. Not bad.
6. 1000 songs in your pocket – 2001
In 2001 all eyes were on the chubby little portable white box that held 1,000 songs and cost £349. Jobs proclaims: “Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player”. Our own Lord Sugar proclaims it would be kaput by Christmas. 250 million units sold worldwide. Jobs becomes known as a master of the presentation and the first Apple retail stores open.
7. Jesus Phone is born – 2007
Not content with changing music storage forever, now the tireless Jobs decides to change mobile phones forever. He and Jonathan Ive manage to create a vision of minimalist beauty, the common man coos and queues outside Apple’s worldwide stores. Fingers orgasm while sliding across a scratch resistant liquid crystal display, the word ‘iPhone’ is used more than ‘phone’. And the good Jobs said it was good.
8. There’s an app for that – 2008
When the iPhone platform became available for external app developers a whole new world was opened, as if, like Steve, his phones had dropped acid and opened their eyes to a land of endless possibility. Over 16 billion apps have now been downloaded, and we bet the first one you remember downloading was Angry Birds, right?
9. Ain’t nothing gonna stop us now – 2010
In 2003 Steve Jobs was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, which has a horrifyingly low survival rate. He appeared to be on the up following a successful liver transplant, but things looked grave in 2009 when he took half a year medical leave. When he returned, looking gaunt, what did he do? He unveiled the iPhone 4, and the iPad, changing yet another area of technology forever.
10. “Just avoid holding it that way” – 2010
This is why Steve Jobs is cool. When a man called Aram emailed him in June 2010 complaining that when he held his new iPhone 4 a certain way the reception cut off – a situation the press referred to as Antennagate – Mr Jobs replied 2 hours later with six words – “Just avoid holding it that way”, thus delivering a refreshing dose of common sense in the hyperbolic land of tech. Steve Jobs, we salute you.
via Steve Jobs dead: 10 Greatest Apple moments | T3.