Steve Jobs is considered one of the greatest business leaders of all time. As Apple’s cofounder and CEO, Jobs led the tech company that created generation-defining tech devices such as the iPhone that soon became models for consumer tech.
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In 2022, the White House posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Steve Jobs, recognizing Jobs’s work as the cofounder and longtime CEO of Apple, as well as a longtime leader at Pixar.
During his Macworld San Francisco 2007 keynote address, Jobs claimed Apple had reinvented the phone by integrating phone capabilities with internet access and music playback from its iPod product line. The multitouch display eliminated the need for a stylus or keyboard hardware typically found on other smartphones.
As a leader, Jobs was both admired and resented for his unwavering commitment to his vision, which led him to push his colleagues beyond their limits. Jobs once told a rival computer executive that he'd make a product so good, they'd buy one for their kid.
In 1974, Steve Jobs traveled to India after reading a book by the famous American psychologist Ram Dass. Jobs visited the temple of one of Dass’s influences, Neem Karoli Baba. He stayed in India for seven months before returning to the US to found Apple. Jobs’s trip to India helped shape the tech leader’s vision for Apple.
After Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he reportedly restricted his diet to just fruits or just fruits and vegetables, tried out hydrotherapy, and consulted psychics. There’s compelling evidence about the impact of alternative medicine on cancer patients.
The last major event outside of Apple that Steve Jobs spoke at, prior to his death in 2011, was the 2010 All Things Digital conference. In spite of his declining health, he is voluble and combative throughout.
Steve Jobs apparently liked to email himself to save his thoughts. This archival email, written the year before he died, shows Jobs expressing gratitude and wonder for the world and its creative people.
In 2011, then-President Obama asked Steve Jobs, “What would it take to make iPhones in the United States?” Steve Jobs said it wasn’t a viable option, explaining that overseas factories had far outpaced the US’s in terms of skill and speed.
Apple nearly went bankrupt in 1997, when the tech company had only three months of operational cash left. Apple’s board ousted cofounder Steve Jobs in 1985, but he was brought back as interim CEO to revive the company when Apple purchased Jobs' company, NeXT.
Shifting the focus of personal computing from businesses to everyday consumers, Apple found early success with the Apple II, which sold 6 million units, and the Macintosh, which featured a user-friendly graphical interface.
The United States is home to more than 33 million businesses, the vast majority of which are small businesses, with millions being created (and others closing shop) every year. These businesses often rely on loans, provide the goods and services that keep the economy flowing, and sometimes even grow large enough to enter public markets or provide private investment opportunities. Explore key topics central to business and finance, from the role of the Federal Reserve to how initial public offerings work, how millions of American students finance higher education, and more.