The apple was born.
1955 On February 24th, Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, USA. Shortly after his birth, he was mercilessly abandoned by his ruthless father who worked in a restaurant in San Francisco and the mother of a handsome bartender. Fortunately, a kind couple took the poor guy in.
Although he is an adopted son, his adoptive parents are very kind to him, just like his parents. As a student, Jobs was clever, naughty and unscrupulous, and often liked to play some ridiculous pranks. However, his academic performance is outstanding.
At that time, Jobs lived near the famous Silicon Valley, and his neighbors were employees of Hewlett-Packard Company, a veteran of Silicon Valley. Under the influence of these people, Jobs was obsessed with electronics since he was a child. An HP engineer saw him so obsessed that he recommended him to join HP's "Discoverer Club". This is a party specially held for young engineers, which is held in the company restaurant every Tuesday night. Jobs first saw computers at a party, and he began to have a hazy understanding of computers.
In junior high school, Jobs met Woz, who was five years older than him, at a class reunion. Woz is the president of the school electronic club, and he is also interested in electronics. The two hit it off and founded Apple Computer Company eight years later.
/kloc-at the age of 0/9, the freshman Jobs had a whim and dropped out of school to become an employee of Atari Video Game Company. Not long after, he became interested in Buddhism again, and even gave up his job and traveled across the ocean to India to practice with exorcists. The result can be imagined. Not only did you not learn Buddhism, but you also suffered a lot on the way. He had to return to Atari to become an engineer.
After settling down, Jobs continued his interest in his youth and often pondered computers in his garage with Woz. They dreamed of owning a computer of their own, but at that time all the products on the market were commercialized, bulky and extremely expensive, so they planned to develop them themselves. It was necessary to make a personal computer with a microprocessor, but the retail price of the 8080 chip was $270 at that time, and it was not sold to people from unregistered companies. Fearless, they kept searching and finally bought Motorola's 6502 chip at the Wisconsin Computer Products Expo in San Francisco at 1976. Its function is almost the same as Intel's 8080, but the price is only $20.
With the 6502 chip, two ecstatic young people returned to Jobs' garage and started their great innovation. They designed a circuit board, on which 6502 microprocessor, interface and other components were installed, and the microprocessor was connected with keyboard and video display through the interface. In just a few weeks, the computer was installed. Jobs's friends were shocked, but they didn't realize that this ugly thing was the world's first personal computer, and how much influence it would bring to the future world. But smart. Jobs immediately estimated the market value of this homemade computer. In order to raise funds for mass production, he sold his Volkswagen and persuaded Woz to sell his precious HP 65 calculator. In this way, they have 1300 dollars, laying the foundation for their great ambitions.
/kloc-On April Fool's Day in 0/976, Jobs, Woz and his friend Long Wayne did something that influenced future generations: they signed a contract and decided to set up a computer company. The name of the company was decided by Jobs, who preferred Apple-called Apple. Then came the famous trademark-the bitten apple. And their homemade computers are naturally considered as "Apple I" computers.
Leave sadly
An accidental opportunity brought a turning point for Apple. 1One day in July, 976, retailer Paul Trail came to Jobs' garage. After watching Jobs skillfully demonstrate the computer, he thought that the "Apple" machine had great prospects and decided to take a risk-order 50 complete machines, but require delivery within one month. Jobs was overjoyed and signed the contract immediately, which was the first "big business" made.
50 complete machines were quickly sold out in Terrell's hands, which made a good start and "Apple" became famous in one fell swoop. Start small batch production. Jobs and Woz began to realize that their small capital was simply not enough to cope with this rapid development. Jobs later recalled: "In the autumn of 1976, I found that the market grew faster than we thought, and we needed more money." To this end, they went to seek financial support, including Hewlett-Packard, the company Woz worked for, but unfortunately, these companies did not realize the business opportunities and markets involved.
Opportunities tend to favor hard-working people. 1976 10, millionaire Markkula came to visit Woz and their garage workshop. Markkula is a trained electrical engineer. He is very good at selling, so he is called a sales wizard. He chose to retire early because he made a fortune in the stock business. But seeing the new products of these two young people, Markkula decided to return to his old job and help them set up a company with great fanfare. He took the initiative to help them make a business plan and gave them a loan of $690,000, linking his fate with two young people. With the guidance of experts like Markkula and this huge sum of money, the development speed of "Apple" company has been greatly accelerated.
1980, the wall street journal's full-page advertisement read "apple computer is the bicycle of human beings in 2 1 century" and contained huge photos of jobs. 1980 65438+February 12, Apple stock went public. In less than an hour, all 4.6 million shares were snapped up, and the closing price of the day was $29 per share. According to this closing price, Apple's top management has produced four billionaires and more than 40 millionaires. As the founder of the company, Jobs certainly ranked first.
Because of his great success, Jobs was awarded the 1985 National Technical Medal by President Reagan. However, success comes too fast, and there is a strong crisis behind too many honors. Because Jobs' business philosophy was different from that of most managers at that time, and the blue giant IBM began to wake up and launched personal computers to seize a large market, which made Jobs' newly developed computers fail one after another. The general manager and directors blamed the failure on Chairman Jobs, and in April 1985, the board of directors decided to revoke his business power. After several unsuccessful attempts to regain power, Jobs angrily resigned as Apple's chairman on September 1985.
Then, he began to introduce new computers. 1998, iMac bears the hope of Apple, condenses the sweat of employees, and presents Jobs' dream of revitalizing Apple to the world. It is a brand-new computer, representing a concept of the future. The translucent appearance, sweeping away the monotony of the computer, looks like the product of the space age, plus the glowing mouse and the price tag of $65,438+$0.299, which is pleasing to the eye ... It is really Apple's design, unconventional and extraordinary. For publicity, Jobs turned Descartes' famous saying "I think, so iMac" into an advertising copy of iMac. I think there is IMAC! This has become a classic case of advertising.
The new product rekindled the hope of Mac fans. What they had been waiting for for three years appeared, and iMac became the hottest topic of the year. 199865438+In February, iMac was awarded the title of "Best Computer of the Year 1998" by Time magazine, ranking third in "Top Ten Industrial Designs in the World1998".
Then in 1999, Jobs introduced the second generation iMac, which was available in five fruit colors: red, yellow, blue, green and purple, and was warmly welcomed by users as soon as it went on the market. IBook, a notebook computer with a blue and yellow appearance and exquisite toys, went on the market on July 1999, and was immediately sought after by users in the market. IBook combines the unique fashion style of iMac, the latest wireless network function and all the advantages of Apple computer in the field of portable computers. It is a "mobile iMac" specially designed for home and school users. 199 In June 5438+10, iBook won the first place in the "American consumer laptop" market, and also won the "Best Design Award of the Year" in the "199 World Best" selection held by Time magazine.
Finally create a miracle
From 65438 to 0997, Jobs was named "the most successful manager". More and more peers in the industry agree with this view. Even Sculley, who once pushed Jobs out of Apple, couldn't help admiring: "Apple's reversal is not a scam, and Jobs did absolutely well. Apple has begun to return to its original track. "
Jobs became a miracle, but this miracle will continue. He always surprises people, whether at first or later, his genius for computers; An approachable lifestyle; Wonderful creative brain; A great goal; The calm leadership style has built the core content of Apple's corporate culture, and Apple employees' reverence for him is simply a religious fanaticism. Employees even said to outsiders: I work for Jobs!