Legacy of Steve Jobs
Compiled by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz 05/13
Steve Jobs, Co-Founder & CEO of Apple, had a huge influence on the IT industry, and on personal computing in particular. Jobs was one of the few people who was involved in the industry right from the very early days of the micro-computer and, as one of the founders of Apple, he could even claim to have helped get the industry started.
The real Contribution that Jobs made over the years was in seeing the potential of new technologies, & turning them into a useful product that people actually wanted to buy. It should be remembered that many IT products have turned out to be clumsy kludges, or just so mind-numbingly complex to operate, that they have been virtually unusable.
Jobs’ approach was evident with the Apple II, one of the earliest micro-computers on the market. Unlike many rival machines, it was a polished, usable product that did not look out of place in the home. In contrast, many early computers were little more than self-assembly motherboard kits for the tech hobbyist.
Take a “look” at Apple’s most Successful products and you will often see that they were not invented by the company, but that Apple under Jobs had a knack of turning innovative concepts into money spinners.
1) Xerox invented the Mouse & GUI (Graphical User Interface), for example, but it was Jobs who brought the ideas to the mass market with the Macintosh computer line.
2) , Apple did not create the Digital Music Player, but the creation of the iTunes music download service – to complement its iPod devices helped Apple capture most of that consumer market.
The Irony of Genius. Jobs was famously charismatic on stage when unveiling new products, but he was often accused of being difficult to deal with, and this led to his being forced out of Apple in the mid-1980s – after differences over the direction of the company.
The Control Freak attitude that has often characterised Apple is also likely to be down to Jobs. Strategies such as forcing iPhone and iPad owners to get applications exclusively via Apple’s App Store might have arisen from a desire to offer the best user experience, but can also appear to be a barely concealed “Customer Lock-in”.
Jobs will be remembered for the Extensive Influence he has had on the PC industry through Apple, which has largely been to make technology more user-friendly and accessible to everyone – especially non-technical simple people
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