“With Steve Jobs stepping down from the CEO post at Apple, it’s a good time to take a look back at just how much he’s accomplished in 15 years,” VentureBeat writes.
“When Jobs returned to Apple in late 1996, the company was on death’s doorstep,” VentureBeat writes. “By 1998, Jobs had returned the company to profitability, and net profits have been on a steady upward march since 2001. What was the secret? According to former Apple executive Jay Elliot, it was a relentless focus on products.”
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VentureBeat writes, “But more importantly, says Elliot, Jobs’ success is due to the fact that he’s obsessed with the company’s products, and he is Apple’s primary customer… The question now is whether Apple can continue generating innovative new ideas with Jobs out of the CEO’s office. It will all depend on how well-built the structures are that he put into place. Only time will tell.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple owes everything to Steve Jobs.
MDN hit the nail on the head.
Apple owes everything to Steve Jobs. Truly. And Steve Jobs owes his success to the brilliance of the American system of free market capitalism, governed by laws, and offering unlimited opportunity to a person like Steve Jobs to innovate, attract capital, enjoy the protections of our legal system, make most decisions independent of government interference, and become a billionaire. Now, becoming a billionaire is becoming a bad thing, a target of derision and government theft. Steve should be be very vocal in defending the free market system he used to achieve his success. Tim Cook will need this same system, but it is now under constant attack from political forces that don’t respect freedom, capital, laws or the individual. If the capitalists fail to defend their freedoms, and those of others, they will not enjoy for longwhat they inherited from their predecessors. Godspeed Steve! All the best to you. And to America, for as long as we preserve it.
Looney Toons. Capitalism is Not under attack. Don’t make Steve Jobs a symbol for the tea party- I’m sure he’d gag at the prospect.
you don’t seem to be able to read. That makes you a Democrat. I said Steve Jobs is a Capitalist. Probably the most successful Capitalist since Ford or Carnegie. Obama and the Democrats are anti- capitalists. You probably dont understand that since you get your news from Howard Stern and The Daily Show. But these things are true. Obama would like to require Apple to have their products made in union shops in the US overseen by Jimmy Hoffa. And he would like to require Apple to transport all their products to market with vehicles powered by windmills. These are the religious tenets of Obama – and you.
A more subtle form of support for the capitalist system is the fact that when CEO’s whine about how it’s impossible to make it in this economy/political-climate/state/country/era (or insert your own excuse here), the success of Apple under Steve Jobs is an eloquent rebuttal to those cop-outs.
To some, it’s threatening to have a exemplar that invalidates their own excuse-factory, discredits their own avoidance of accountability.
Others, however, find such a role model extremely empowering.
The greatest irony about this success story: Microsoft kicking in $250 million to give Apple some breathing room.
Oh no, Not this again. It was $150 million in non-voting stock and was part of a settlement over stolen Quicktime code. MS was not doing Apple a favor. They had plenty of cash and MS made money when the sold the stocks later.
LOL there are still a few of you MS buffoons spouting that ridiculous statement.
Apple had about 2 billion in cash and no debt after they bought Next and before Steve led them out of the wilderness.
Microsoft didn’t do anything but settle a lawsuit for stealing Apple’s IP.
Oh to be in dire straits with 2 billion in the bank and no debt.
Contrary to what I have heard recently, I don’t think Apple was in danger of shutting down since they had so much cash. I thought it was $4 billion. No matter.
I remember M$ contribution being $150 M) and I did not think it was to settle a score but perhaps it was. I thought the deal with M$ included an agreement from M$ that they would continue publishing M$ Office, et al, to keep the Mac platform viable for a while longer. A deal Adobe did not agree to which I think put a rock up SJ’s nose, hence the Flash issue.
Well, that’s my perception of reality.
I hope he gets the full dollar of pay for 2011, not just 75¢!
I know SJ won’t accept but i agree. He needs to get a serious raise! A dollar just ain’t cutting it. You can’t even buy two scoops of BR Ice Cream with that annual salary!
What planet Earth owes to Steve Jobs is blazing progress, quantum leaps in revolution.
Steve Jobs made and defined advancement the last 30+ years.
Something Mr. Bill and wild Steve in Washington never figured out.
When a party is in control lead by 60s radicals who sought to tear down the ramparts and a President raised by communist parents, who seeks to “transform” our system, it is under attack. You may not be bright enough to realize it, but what exactly do you think he means by transform? Are you aware of the Boeing factory plan nixed by the government with no legal basis, ending 5000 jobs? Are you aware of the government assault on the Gibson guitar company because they have the audacity to contribute to Republican candidates? Are you aware the Federal Justice Department now permits black goons to patrol voting booths with guns intimidating voters they don’t like? Are you aware the Obama government stole legally owned automobile dealerships from legitimate owners with no due process? Are you aware the government now prohibits most use of fossil fuels on federal lands, and in the oceans by executive decree? Are you aware the Congress now routinely passes 2000 page laws, with another 5000 pages of bureaucratic regulation written after the fact, with nobody reading the bills before the vote, and maybe 24 hours of limited debate, with the target of the legislation being entire industries? How ignorant are you of what is going on? If the Federal government treated Apple like it treats the companies who find the power we need to conduct our daily lives, Apple would no longer exist. By the way, do have any idea why Apple keeps most of it $80 billion dollars locked in overseas subsidiaries? You are of course allowed to be totally clueless. Just don’t expect to remain a free person for long. The stupid are usually easily lead into docile servitude.
What did adding the color of the “goons” skin add to your talking point exactly? Bet you cheered the number of “kills” Perry took credit for last night too didn’t you?
Since you seem to be a fan of “the companies who find the power we run on” are you proud of the new oil slick at the deep water horizon site that they “fixed”?
Clearly you are already a servant.
Truth,
For a guy with the name “Truth” why are you complaining about the “truth”. In the “Black Panthers” case, the color of their skin is the exact reason the voter intimidation laws are not being enforced by Attorney General Holder (black) and Obama (half black). If white goons carried guns around the voting place harassing black voters do you think they would get a free ride. How many flash mobs of 100% white people going into a legal business and stealing everything in sight would be permitted to happen with no prosecutions? It is routinely happening now with mobs of lawless black thugs/teeen who film themselves committing the crimes and then they post them on youtube. There is a massive breakdown in civil society and it is purposely being ignored by the Justice Department and even much of the media, that like you, think it is not a crime if black people do it, because they have special rights. Truth – learn to live up to your name or find another one, like Ostrich.
This thread did NOT need the interjection of this political rambling. Even though I may agree with some of your points, I wish you wouldn’t bring it up here. Totally off topic.
Are you aware that you sound like more-than-a-little off your rocker, and most-likely are…
Right on Kent, glad there are still a few thinkers out there. Bravo!
Steve is the greatest, after Jesus.
I’m pretty sure that that article or at least the excerpt that MDN has used has nothing to do with politics so why don’t you guys either stfu or take you convo to a diff site I.E. not a tech site
How about you fsck 0ff? Who appointed you the comment police? Do you freak out when the gravy touches your peas too? There is frequently political discussion here as well as tech discussion. Don’t like it, don’t read comments.
Too late. He’s gone over to Politico to check out some OS X Lion tips and tricks.
DO NOT LET THE GRAVY TOUCH MY PEAS!
Frequent unwanted political discussion. There’s a difference.
Apple was Steve’s baby – and he raised it well.
What do you owe to your mom – everything MDN nailed it yes.
I take it you live in a Ted Kazinski shack in the mountains and don’t use any petroleum based products, electricity or products made with electricity. What a moron you are? How do you feed yourself?
Having read all your posts, let me commend you on your rigorous determination to keep your rhetoric free of irrelevant and childish ad hominum slurs.
Do you live in San Diego? If yes, did you feel good for a mere 12 hours being without the dirty power provided by the evil power companies, who are not like the virtuous Apple, which makes totally clean products, in China, by people making about $2/day, with the pollution in someone else’s backyard, and no worries about Obamacare, because hey, they have a one child policy that has the government abort the second child anyone dares to have. Sounds like a policy this administration would like to implement here.