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Essay / The History of the Apple Company and Steve Job's Contributions to the Multi-Billion Dollar Empire
Apple enthusiasts are sometimes described as a sect who only desire an Apple device because of its sleek looks and its slim design. Even though Apple is not a cult, the fact that people love Apple products because of their looks is not far from the truth. Thanks to the vision of Steve Jobs and the genius of Steve Wozniak, Apple is not only coveted for its looks, but many believe it to be a superior and superior product to anything available on the market . To better understand why Apple is a superior product, it is necessary to examine Apple's creation, destruction and rebuilding of a multi-billion dollar empire. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Throughout Steve Jobs' youth, it was clear that Jobs was extremely talented. As described by his school friends, Jobs was a smart boy who often played pranks on his classmates. In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and later that year attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately, Jobs' parents couldn't afford his tuition, so he dropped out after six months. However, for the next eighteen months, he continued to take classes and sleep on his friend's couches and floor, continuing to work at a computer company called Atari, Inc. When people think of Apple Inc ., they automatically think of Steve Jobs, the creator. . Jobs had the vision of what Apple Inc. was and what it could be; he knew what people wanted before they even did it. However, the inspiration and brilliant software came from Jobs' friend and classmate, Steve Wozniak, or more often called Woz. Throughout his life, Woz had a passion and talent for creating technology. Woz met Jobs in college and they quickly became friends, sharing their love of technology. In 1975, just after Jobs dropped out of college, Woz completely designed what is now known as the Apple I and showed Jobs his prototype (Isaacson 21-27). Highly impressed, Jobs came up with the idea of selling the Apple I so that owners could have their own personal computer. Skeptical at first, Woz quickly succumbed to his friend and pitched the idea to the Homebrew Computer Club, a local Palo Alto group filled with electronics enthusiasts (Lashinsky). Among these enthusiasts was Paul Terrell, a man who just opened a computer store in Mountain View, California, called Byte Shop. Eager to buy their computers, Jobs sold his pickup truck and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator so they could buy the parts needed to make the computers and sell them to Paul Terrell. In 1976, Apple Inc. was officially founded in the garage of the Jobs family home. After Hewlett-Parkard said he would not fund Woz's latest project, Woz quit his job at HP and began working full-time in research and design for Apple while Jobs struggled to find investors and buyers. For their next project, Apple II, Jobs decided he wanted to go in another, bigger direction. While Woz was trying to figure out how to put color on the computer, Jobs had the idea for a sleek plastic case that was completely different from anything currently on the market. Jobs returned to Atari and they led him to engineer Rod Holt. Holt designed the Apple II case, then successfully made history bydesigning a smaller, more efficient cooling system for the computer, which was silent. This computer was by far the most elegant piece of technology ever invented. Jobs was a millionaire at twenty-one, but suddenly, at thirty, Apple was taken from him. Apple was not doing well because Job's incessant spending and desire to produce his LISA product put it in debt, with not enough money to fully fund other projects. The company's board of directors decided to strip Jobs of his CEO title and replace him with John Scully, a spokesman for Pepsi-Cola. Despite their efforts, Apple failed even more under the leadership of John Scully. Apple's board decided that Scully was not the right choice to replace Jobs and quickly hired two other CEOs who also failed (Geuss). It wasn't that Apple was now producing horrible products; it was the horrible management that went into selling and managing the products. Somehow Jobs convinced the world that it needed his products before they even knew they could exist and that this was not a talent that the three CEOs possessed (Grossman 67) . Wozniak also had the genius to pursue what he wanted in a computer and make it a reality. One of Apple's problems was that it allowed other companies to make devices with their operating system, something Jobs would never have allowed (Geuss). One of the reasons for the iPhone's success is that no one can duplicate it; the only iPhone on the market is the iPhone. With the exception of a few, most of the products Apple made after Jobs lost were horrible. During the time Jobs was away from Apple, he was anything but inactive. From 1985 to 1996, Jobs founded a high-end computer company named NeXT. It was an important moment in his life because it was NeXT that brought Apple back into Jobs' hands. Apple purchased NeXT in 1996 for its operating system (Isaacson 297-298). Unfortunately, the Apple Inc. that Jobs founded was not the same as he had hoped. Jobs had managed to get himself back into control of Apple and began taking risks to restore Apple to the top spot. The first item he addressed was to eliminate everything that wasn't selling and hire a new management team. Fortunately, thanks to brilliant products like the iMac and iPod, excellent campaigns, and classic, elegant designs, Apple has once again captured the attention of the buyer's market. There are several reasons why Apple is considered the number one in the technological world. The first reason would be quality. Unlike other brands, Apple strives to offer its customers a high-quality product at a decent price. Instead of plastic, Apple uses high-quality Gorilla Glass for its displays and milled aluminum for the surrounding body of the product so that it feels good to the touch. The second reason is software/viruses. In 2013, a detailed report from F-Secure was released stating that 97% of cell phone viruses target Android phones (Kelly). While Android software works on an open model, Apple has a closed system that doesn't allow other parties to sneak in and hack your phone. The third reason, and certainly not the last, is the Apple Store. What Android users will never know is the beauty of knowing that a person can simply go to the Apple Store if they are having problems with their iPhone and they will fix it for free or give one away altogether new to this person. No paperwork is necessary. Steve Jobs managed to create something that no one knew we needed, he created.