Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

     I am currently reading the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. This book is a biography of Jobs life published shortly after he died. Jobs personally went to Isaacson to have this book made because he wanted the world to know his story. Jobs wanted no say in what was written. He only wanted a say in what the cover art looked like. In essence that was Jobs, he was all about the presentation.

     What I found really interesting about this book was the early years of Apple, and how it came to be. Jobs co-founded Apple with Stephen Wozniak. Wozniak was the engineer who built the computers, and Jobs was the business side of the company. Together they started the partnership with $1,300 in working capital.

The Apple I was the first product Apple Computers sold. It came preassembled for commercial use rather then for the hobbyists, who bought computers to assemble and customize for themselves. The order was for 50 computers that would be sold for $500 apiece. Apple did not have the money to pay for the parts. They took out a $15,000 loan for 30 days and worked around the clock to make sure the computers where made, and could be sold in time to pay back the loan. They made a profit of $10,000 on that first order.

Then came the Apple II in 1977. To finance the Apple II Mike Markkula invested $250,000 to become one-third equity participant. Thus Apple became a corporation with each owner having 26% of the stock saving the rest to offer to other investors. Markkula was in charge of marketing and sales. He taught Jobs that the look of the product was very important. Thus the Apple II had rounded corners and white instead of black. Over the next 16 years almost 6 million Apple II would be sold.

This launched the beginning of a great career for Jobs. The Mac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad would follow the Apple II and make Apple Corporation one of the most successful groundbreaking companies ever. From Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” commercial, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” That is what Apple has done with the leadership of Steve Jobs.

References

Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.