Steve Jobs

The foundation of Apple

657 'Steve Jobs' stories February 2010 - June 2011

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Steve Jobs was the co-founder and CEO of Apple. He also founded NeXT and was the majority shareholder of Pixar, both of which he was also CEO. Jobs is known as an icon of creativity and entrepreneurship. The prolific author Walter Isaacson released Jobs’ biography in October of 2011. Isaacson describes his major accomplishment as being a “creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.”

Jobs attended Reed College for a short period of time before dropping out in 1972. However, he continued to dabble with classes unofficially and came across a calligraphy course instructed by Robert Palladino. This course ended up being highly influential for Jobs as he attributed it to bringing multiple typefaces to the Mac.

Steve Jobs founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. After a drawn out power struggle Jobs was pushed out of Apple in 1985. He then founded NeXT in 1985 and also funded the move of Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group to become its own corporation, which became Pixar in 1986. Just over a decade later in 1997, Jobs returned to Apple as they acquired NeXT. His return marked the beginning of a new era of success. He took over as CEO in July of 1997 and continued on until handing the position to Tim Cook on August 24, 2011 after increasing health problems. Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011.

Isaacson describes his major accomplishment as being a “creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.”

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Death of the web? No. But people are spending more time in Mobile Apps

Seth Weintraub Jun 20 2011 - 1:22 pm PT

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Steve Jobs’ favorite analytics company, Flurry, has some interesting numbers that put app usage above web usage.

Today, however, a new platform shift is taking place. In 2011, for the first time, smartphone and tablet shipments exceed those of desktop and notebook shipments (source: Mary Meeker, KPCB, see slide 7). This move means a new generation of consumers expects their smartphones and tablets to come with instant broadband connectively so they, too, can connect to the Internet.

Yeah but those devices have web browsers…

Our analysis shows that, for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption. This stat is even more remarkable if you consider that it took less than three years for native mobile apps to achieve this level of usage, driven primarily by the popularity of iOS and Android platforms. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

But what if one of those apps is a web browser like Opera? (via Business Insider.)

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WWDC 2011: Steve Jobs takes the stage, cranks up the reality-distortion field

9to5 Staff Jun 6 2011 - 10:09 am PT

Image credit: Engadget

Our own Seth Weintraub is on hand at San Francisco’s Moscone West where Steve Jobs has taken the stage at 9am Pacific, ready to deliver a landmark presentation on the future of Apple’s operating system and cloud services. A press release issued last Tuesday has divided the agenda for the software-focused WWDC 2011 show between iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud segments.

The statement also said “a team of Apple executives” would help Jobs deliver the keynote. We’re guessing Timothy Cook will join Apple’s CEO shortly to provide an update on business metrics and are keeping our fingers crossed for Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller to demo the new stuff in iOS 5 and Lion, respectively, with Jobs jumping in and out between segments…

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Amazon/iBookStore post pre-releases of iSteve authorized biography: The Book of Jobs

Seth Weintraub Jun 5 2011 - 5:18 am PT

Amazon today lists the Walter Issacson authorized Biography of Steve Jobs, the one commissioned by the Apple CEO last year. Issacson will have had three years of access to the normally reclusive Steve Jobs. Listed at 448 pages, the book will be published by Simon & Schuster.

Product Description

From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In iSteve: The Book of Jobs, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson has conducted with Jobs as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, iSteve is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation.

About the Author

Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and ofKissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.

Before you get too excited however, the book doesn’t ship for nine months (March 2012). But even so, it will likely be a big hit and as you know with iPads, it is good to get in early.

The iBookstore has a placeholder as well:

Full Res book cover below:

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Will Scott Forstall start tweeting on Monday?

Seth Weintraub Jun 4 2011 - 8:08 am PT

iOS software head and frequent Apple Keynote presenter Scott Forstall got his Twitter account verified in July of last year. That was right after the Apple-Ping-Facebook breakup (iOS Facebook integration was planned in late betas) and, with the benefit of hindsight, about the time Apple may have started getting the idea of Twitter integration.

He follows one account: Conan O’Brien’s, but has yet to send out his first tweet.

Two recent reports say that Apple will integrate Twitter into its iOS 5 as a low level, integrated service with “mediastream” integration.

Forstall will likely be on stage presenting what this Twitter integration will allow iOS users to do. He may even send out his first Tweet.

Maybe SJobs gets a twitter account as well? Nah.

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Apple COO Cook: Tablets to outsell PCs, (Cars to outsell trucks)

Seth Weintraub Jun 2 2011 - 9:56 am PT

http://www.viddler.com/simple/30fe0cca/

According to Business Insider, Apple COO Tim Cook told Goldman analyst Bill Shope, “he sees no reason why the tablet market shouldn’t eclipse the PC market over the next several years.”

That is right exactly in line with Steve Jobs comments of a year ago. Shocking, we know.
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Kara Swisher: Steve Jobs said "Android is a probe in your pocket"

Seth Weintraub May 31 2011 - 6:57 pm PT

More fun from the D9 event: Kara Swisher told Eric Schmidt that Steve Jobs told her “to do more privacy stories on Google” and that “Android is a probe in your pocket.” The conversation would have been off the record until now. More at 9to5Google.com
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'iSteve: The Book of Jobs' authorized biography coming early next year

Seth Weintraub Apr 10 2011 - 6:16 pm PT

According to ABCNews (via Fortune) Simon and Shuster will be publishing the Walter Isaacson Authorized Biography of Steve Jobs in early 2012. The title is a curious: iSteve: The Book of Jobs

The Jobs book will be his fourth major biography. In addition to Kissinger: A Biography (1992) he has written Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) and Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007). His most recent book is American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane (2009).

The Jobs book was announced in February of last year but now it has a title and release date. Fortune has a great profile on Isaacson who has a long history of convincing notable people to tell them their story.

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Steve Jobs sends message of support to Apple's team in Japan

9to5 Staff Mar 17 2011 - 4:56 am PT

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has sent out an email to the company’s team in Japan to share the message of support and help local employees cope with a series of terrifying disasters that have brought the country to standstill. The Macotakara website first published (and MacRumors confirmed it) the contents of Jobs’ email, posted here in its entirety.

//

To Our Team in Japan,

We have all been following the unfolding disaster in Japan. Our hearts go out to you and your families, as well as all of your countrymen who have been touched by this tragedy.

If you need time or resources to visit or care for your families, please see HR and we will help you. If you are aware of any supplies that are needed, please also tell HR and we will do what we can to arrange delivery.

Again, our hearts go out to you during this unimaginable crisis.

Please stay safe.

Steve and the entire Executive Team

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Bon Jovi: "Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business"

9to5 Staff Mar 14 2011 - 12:18 pm PT

Image credit: John Ferguson

Many Apple fans will disagree with such a strong statement about the charismatic CEO who has single-handedly shifted the balance of power in the music industry and persuaded youngsters that stealing music is bad for their karma. That’s exactly what Jon Bon Jovi said responding to a reporter’s question about the state of music today. Read on…

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Virgin's Richard Branson lavishes praise on Steve Jobs, Apple and iPad

9to5 Staff Mar 11 2011 - 7:30 am PT

British media magnate and entrepreneur Richard Branson heaped praise on Steve Jobs and his consumer electronics powerhouse Apple, which he says is his favorite brand. Contemplating about a theoretical merger between Virgin and Apple, he said it would be a great fit. As if that weren’t crazy enough, in a stroke of inspiration the UK billionaire calls Apple a “brilliant global company” that he admires the most. We have a video clip to prove it all right after the break.

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Apple emailer tells us to get in line for iPad 2

Seth Weintraub Mar 9 2011 - 7:18 am PT

Apple has mailers going out today telling us to get ready to interrupt our Friday in order to line up like little actors all over the place in their iPad 2 Friday marketing campaign blitz. Ugh. I’m kinda down on the whole “spend Friday in line without a reservation” thing if you hadn’t noticed.

It is also interesting that Apple seems to default to the White iPad more often than not in its marketing – which was only a rumor a week ago.

Sorry Apple, I’m not spending my Friday in line. Instead, I’m going to do the more convenient thing: Have my alarm wake me up at 2:55 am on Friday morning before work, order it online then, then try to go back to sleep. (we love you Apple) I won’t have a 2 to play with over the weekend but at least I’ll have my Friday.

I think @MarkGurman will be queueing up at the Grove in LA if anyone wants to go bother him there (or hold his place in line).

Also, Me: White 16GB Wifi, Tan Leather iCover. You?
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Mac App Store Downloads Top One Million in First Day

9to5 Staff Jan 7 2011 - 6:59 am PT

CUPERTINO, California—January 7, 2011—Apple today announced that over one million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store in the first day. With more than 1,000 free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to the Mac, so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, download and install them in just one step.

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Steve Jobs upgrades BluRay from ‘Bag of hurt’ to ‘Mafia’ and other rumors

Seth Weintraub Jan 3 2011 - 12:17 pm PT

Hardmac reports today some of Steve Jobs’ latest thoughts on BluRay.

He admitted that retrospectively he feels ashamed that Apple’s name is associated to Blu-ray, as he thinks that BD supporting associations look today more like Mafia than anything else.

Jobs famously called BluRay a ‘Bag of Hurt’ during a Q&A after a MacBook Event in 2008.

Concerning authoring on Blu-ray, it seems impossible to provide software supporting such format for consumer market. In addition to DRM, here it is the cost of licenses that slow down the entire process; one would have to start paying 3,000 USD to AACS, then 80,000 USD to Sony, 40,000 USD to Sonic, etc.

Hardmac also reports that the next version of Final Cut Pro will come in March or April 2011, which is what we’ve seen in Jobs emails.

Finally, they say that not everyone is happy with the Xserve axing but they don’t know what comes next. We’ve heard some things.
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AAPL market cap breaks $300 billion barrier

9to5 Staff Jan 3 2011 - 8:42 am PT

Apple remains the world’s most valuable company (after Exxon) with a market cap that this morning exceeded $300 billion, reports declare. On active trade on the Dow Apple (AAPL) rose $7 to hit a new record intraday high this morning — right now Apple stock sits near $330 per share for a market cap of over $302 billion.
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How will Apple battle the $100 Android device?

Seth Weintraub Dec 27 2010 - 8:54 am PT

Tran says that [Android] phones made from the BCM2157 chipset will retail for under $100 and may dip as low as $75. Those devices should debut in just 3-6 months (and we might hear about them next month at CES).

That means that popular pre-paid Android devices that currently can be found as low as $180 will drop by half in the next half year.

Apple’s low-end strategy so far has been to offer the last year’s model for $99 with a two year contract. That contract is at least worth $350 (AT&T’s ETF) which puts old retail iPhones at $450. Buying an iPhone 4 off contract costs $650.

What’s more important is that with Apple’s AT&T agreement, you have exactly one data plan option in the US (soon to grow). Even with Verizon and maybe even Sprint and T-Mobile, there isn’t going to be a $25/month data plan for the iPhone anytime soon. For the budget conscious, Android is the only smartphone game in town.

So how does Apple respond?

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Apple announces Q1 earnings conference call for January 18th

Seth Weintraub Dec 27 2010 - 7:43 am PT

According to Setteb.it, Apple will have its Q1 2011 conference call on January 18th. Tune in here to find out how many Macs and iOS devices Apple sold during the holiday and perhaps we’ll get another cameo by CEO Steve Jobs.
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Prototype of Apple’s first portable Mac hits eBay

Mark Gurman Dec 26 2010 - 9:43 pm PT

A prototype of Apple’s first portable Macintosh has just been posted for sale on eBay. The device is said to have not been intended for sale and is clearly marked as a prototype unit with a label stating “this device is a demonstration unit only. Production units will comply with all applicable Federal Rules and Regulations.” The device itself is in “perfect condition” but does not power on. By perfect the seller means the outside as the inside contains a defunct acid battery.

The Macintosh Portable is the basis for the laptop computers we use today. It ran on a rechargeable battery , included a screen which flipped shut and had an input device. In the case of the Macintosh Portable is was a trackball. More photos of the protoype device are at eBay.

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President Obama 'celebrates' Steve Jobs, FT calls him 'Man of the year'

9to5 Staff Dec 23 2010 - 3:11 am PT

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been named 2010’s ‘Person of the Year’ even while US President, Barack Obama, speaks up for the wealth of the Apple co-founder.

The Financial Times named Jobs its person of the year, saying the introduction of the iPad marked the moment when the ‘rebound’ in Apple’s fortunes “was complete”.

The iPad is the culmination of an approach that he has seemingly been perfecting for his entire career,” stated the newspaper’s opinion writers.
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Apple will close Mac OS X downloads site on January 6

Mark Gurman Dec 20 2010 - 5:04 pm PT

Apple has informed developers of applications and widgets on Apple’s downloads website that the site will be closing down come January 6th when the Mac App Store opens for business. Apple believes that the Mac App Store will truly be the best place to get Mac apps and this is another indication of that. One feature the downloads site has is access to Dashboard widgets. No word on whether the Mac App Store will be home to dashboard widgets and if not, Apple should think about leaving that portion up online.

Thank you for making the Mac OS X Download site a great destination with apps that offer users new ways to work, play, learn, and create on their Mac. We recently announced that on January 6, 2011, the Mac App Store will open to users around the world, presenting you with an exciting, new opportunity to reach millions of customers. Since the introduction of the App Store in 2008, we’ve been thrilled with the incredible support from developers and the enthusiastic response from users. Now we’re bringing the revolutionary experience of the App Store to Mac OS X. Because we believe the Mac App Store will be the best destination for users to discover, purchase, and download your apps, we will no longer offer apps on the Mac OS X Downloads site. Instead, beginning January 6, we will be directing users to explore the range of apps available on the Mac App Store. We appreciate your support of the Mac platform and hope you’ll take advantage of this new opportunity to showcase your apps to even more users. To learn how you can offer your apps on the Mac App Store, visit the Apple Developer website at <http://developer.apple.com/programs/mac/>.

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After $2500 sale, Steve Jobs action figures popping up all over eBay

Seth Weintraub Dec 19 2010 - 12:57 pm PT

That lovely Steve Jobs action figure you see up there went on auction for $2500 recently. Only 100-300 were sold through MIC Gadget before the operation was shut down by Apple, making the items a rare find for collectors. More have cropped up on eBay fetching prices from $1000.. to.. $2500.

BTW, is anyone interested in ours? We may have a charity auction or something later this month. Check twitter for updates.
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TK Maxx (UK) selling iPads £100 off

Mark Gurman Dec 17 2010 - 11:59 am PT

We have been told that TJ Maxx in the UK, TK Maxx, has started selling iPads at a discounted price. The discount appears to be £100 on all models making the entry level 16 GB WiFi iPad £329.00 instead of £429.00. We’re not exactly sure which models are in store but readers have spotted both the 16 GB and 32 GB WiFi models. These discounted iPads at TK Maxx are of course not authorized by Apple and are in extremely limited quantities. Let us know if you spot them in your local UK store.

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iPad 'Daily' Mag to drop Jan 17th

9to5 Staff Dec 17 2010 - 8:48 am PT

News Corp sources tell News Corp reporters that News Corp’s iPad app, the Daily will drop on January 17th.

Given that News Corp. has hired dozens of blabby journalists for the Daily, and interviewed many more, lots of other details about the app/service have leaked out already: It will come out daily, it will sell for 99 cents a week, it will use lots of video and it will have cool multimedia bells and whistles, including some kind of 3-D effect that lots of people are very excited about. And Apple CEO Steve Jobs may or may not participate in a launch event.

The date has moved around a lot but it appears that it will be coming at some point in the future and carry a $.99/week price. Other billionaires launching iPad publications recently include Richard Branson.
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iPod Nano as a watch? Great idea, here's a million dollars…

Seth Weintraub Dec 17 2010 - 7:52 am PT

People have been prognosticating the iPod Nano as a watch since before it even debuted. Steve Jobs mentioned in the keynote that an Apple board member was wearing his (or her) nano as a watch and the Apple Store has started selling them. Is it mainstream yet?

Perhaps the biggest indication of the iWatch phenomenon to date is that Kickstarter funded TikTock has raised a million dollars to produce its LunaTik watch bands for the Nanos. WTF.

Well, it is a little more complicated than that.

The project has clocked in nearly $1,000,000 in funding, helped in large part by a $25 pledge getting you first in line for a $35 MSRP TikTok watch kit, while $50 scored you the metallic LunaTik, which will go for $70.

Still!

Apple’s Mac App Store to Open on January 6

9to5 Staff Dec 16 2010 - 5:51 am PT

Apple this morning confirmed it intends opening its Mac App Store on Thursday, January 6.

The store will be available in 90 countries at launch and will feature both paid and free apps in various categories.

“The App Store revolutionized mobile apps,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can’t wait to get started on January 6.”

Oh and Devs? You need to submit apps by Dec 31 to be in the grand opening.

Press Release follows:
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