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Byting into Apple: How Steve Jobs came to rule the Orchard

On October 5, 2011, the world lost a visionary leader. The company this man founded in 1976 has risen to set the golden paradigm in consumer technology markets worldwide, introducing us to the iMac, iPod, iPad, and the iconic iPhone. Furthermore, this company currently holds more cash assets than the U.S. Treasury and has a huge loyal customer base, with sales of the iPhone smashing all sorts of smartphone sales records. Steve Job's passing was met with an outpouring of condolences and Apple's stock stoically held it's position, closing a couple cents below the opening price. Job's legacy will allow the company to continue to be successful. His influences can be heavily attributed to Apple's runaway success in the second millennium. Contrary to the transparency of many retail electronic companies when releasing new products, Apple's enigmatic product launches and research and development department is a clever form of advertising; Jobs seems to borrow a page out of Walt Disney's playbook for marketing tactics. Jobs was a perfectionist, and it is evident in the design of Apple products. This company's products are unique sleek and sexy; they fundamentally differ from their competitors. The business model Apple adopts creativity and innovation and precipitated the company's rise to the top. The main catalyst behind Apple was Steve Jobs. Apple has changed our perception of technology and the ways in which we use it.

Apple employs a unique approach to showmanship and advertising of their product line. Secrecy of product launches and retail store openings is industry and customer renowned. “Retail industry executives say Apple's demands for absolute secrecy in its store-development process are peculiar and unjustified” (Milian). The buzz, rumors, and controversy spurned by this strategy produces invaluable publicity that could not be had with traditional marketing. It surrounds Apple products with a mystical aura and has a psychological effect on the consumer, piquing their curiosity and desire for Apple products. The roots of Apple's ingenious marketing can be traced back to Jobs and the acquisition he negotiated of Pixar in 2006. Pixar is a division of the Walt Disney Company, and Larry Dignan notes this link between Jobs and Disney, suggesting, “There’s a solid argument to be made that Jobs was the digital version of Disney” Jobs was a theatrical and artsy nerd with a vision of capturing the worlds attention, not much unlike Disney. Coincidentally, mice became the mascot of these men's enterprises. Apple exudes a Disney-like magic, which is a major customer draw.

Product design was crucial in precipitating Apple's success. Apple doesn't put their logo on a product unless they believe it has been perfected to the greatest degree. Steve Jobs was the tyrant who enforced this perfectionist culture. Stories of his obsession with perfection emanate through Silicon Valley. Once he corner one of his engineers about the battery life on the latest iPhone, and when he got the answer he did not want, he fired him on the spot. There is an organic and humanistic element to Apple products. Before Apple shook the tree and the iMacintosh fell to the ground, computers were ugly, intimidating boxes. The iMac changed that with it's cutesy rounded transparent plastic unibody design and bright colors. The design is natural and humanistic, as Scanlon asserts, “...you feel that it's part of the DNA. They are crazy about every detail, and you feel that. Today, many more companies invest in design, but they do it because they are forced to, not because they like it, and I think you can feel that in their products" (Scanlon). Instead of a typical triangle corporate structure, everyone at Apple is on the same level. The lower level designers get their opinion voiced and senior level management can't override them. Lunar's Edson notes how great the challenge is for companies without this structure to excel in design, "What Apple demonstrates to me is that if we're not working with very senior levels of management, our impact will be limited” (Scanlon). Apple and Jobs took product concepts and turned them into the best form possible. At one juncture Jobs, “scrapp[ed] an entire product line because it wasn't perfect” (Long 27). This is evident in the case of the mouse for personal computers. Xerox PARC created a prototype mouse, but Apple was the first company to successfully integrate the mouse into a graphical user interface and make it commercially viable. Minimalistic and simple was the key. National Public Radio host John Gage commends of Jobs, “He saw clearly to take this enormous complexity and make something a human could use” (Guy). Clean, smooth lines and brushed metal accent their product line. Apple is the Mercedes-Benz of consumer technology.

The Apple orchard of products working together in synergy, orchestrated by Jobs and the talented men he hired, is rooted in the basic business model of Apple. The goal of Apple is to create products that become integrated into our routines at home, work, and our social lives. “It was not just about bringing out high quality devices for the public, but it was also creating a whole ecosystem” (Julian). Apple aims at controlling every aspect of their business, analogous to John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly of the 19^th century, except with hardware and software. By vertically integrating hardware, software, and peripherals, Apple perfects the customer experience and maximizes profits. Swallow Julian notes analyst Craig Skinner comments' after his interview with Jobs, quoting, “...Mr. Jobs also created accompanying operating systems and applications that not only anticipated the desires of customers but ensured business flowed to Apple rather than to existing retail stores” (Julian). The iPod launched Apple out of the doldrums of the ruptured Internet bubble, and the reason it succeeded was the seamless syncing of music achieved.

Under the leadership of the counterculture mogul Steve Jobs, Apple has been most successful. During the time period from 1985 from 1996 the reins were passed to two other CEO's, John Sculley and Gil Amelio. These men failed to gain Apple gain any market traction (Steve). Steve took back control by means of a boardroom coup in 1996, and it was all up hill from there. Apple's stock price began an exponential climb, starting at around ten dollars during the late 1990's to it's current price of 400 dollars (APPLE). Steve Jobs once said:

A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have. (Legacy)

Jobs certainly had a diverse background, from being an adopted kid to dropping acid. He describes doing LSD as, “One of the most important parts of his life” (Walter). Steven possessed a diverse human experience, which enabled him to understand the human experiences of the general populace and how to design and market a product successfully to them. “Though he had no formal business education or training, Jobs was one of the savviest people ever to run an American company because he understood what customers wanted”, Chris Preimesberger intuitively notes. Steve is the godfather of all modern consumer computing technologies.

In conclusion, Steve Jobs fathered Apple from the ground up, and with the help of many talented designers and engineers, created a legendary company. Mix in uncanny designs, an infallible business model, and unmatchable marketing and this is the recipe for success. Design and sales of all electronics have been molded by the model Apple cast. Byte marks left by Apple shape current social and economic trends. The complex chain of events that occurred to allow Apple to reap billions of dollars in profit a year were catalyzed by Steven Paul Jobs.