“The saga of Steven P. Jobs is so well known that it has entered the nation’s mythology: he’s the prodigal who returned to Apple in 1997, righted a listing ship and built it into one of the most valuable companies in the world,” Randall Stross reports for The New York Times. “But the Jobs of the mid-1980s probably never could have made Apple what it is today if he hadn’t embarked on a torment-filled business odyssey.”
“Mr. Jobs was relieved of operating responsibilities in a company reorganization in May 1985. But he was still the company’s chairman. Apple was ailing: sales of the Macintosh, introduced the previous year, were falling well below expectations; inventory was piling up; and the company seemed headed for its first-ever loss. In September 1985, Mr. Jobs resigned from Apple to start a new computer company he called Next,” Stross reports. “Suppose Mr. Jobs had not left in 1985. Suppose he had convinced the Apple board to oust his nemesis, John Sculley, then chief executive and president. Under Mr. Jobs’s uninterrupted direction, would Apple have arrived at the pinnacle it has reached today, but 12 years earlier?
MacDailyNews Take: One thing’s for sure: Without NeXT, there’d be no Mac OS X/iOS and, therefore, possibly no Apple, at least not as we know it today.
Stross reports, “It took 12 dispiriting years, much bruising, and perspective gained from exile. If he had instead stayed at Apple, the transformation of Apple Computer into today’s far larger Apple Inc. might never have happened.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lynn W.,” James W.,” and “iWill” for the heads up.]