A CREATIVE GENIUS PASSES AWAY
“Three apples have changed the world. One seduced Eve, second awakened Newton, the third one was in the hands of Jobs.”
This was one of the most widely circulated messages doing the rounds of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere on internet after the untimely demise of Steve Jobs, the visionary entrepreneur and the force behind the US-based global technology giant Apple.
Much before embarking on the path of giving the world iconic products like Mac computers,iPod music players, iPhone mobile phones andiPad tablet PCs, this cult figure of the world of technology came to India in early 70s in search of enlightenment or ‘nirvana’ and went back unsatisfied.
He found India far poorer than he had imagined at that time and, ironically, years later in mid-2000s, when he thought of setting up a facility for Apple’s Mac computers, India appeared to be much less cost-effective to do business.
But, it was his unsatisfactory India visit of early 70s that could have been one of the major reasons for Jobs’ focus on the world of technology and eventually the setting up of the company called Apple.
His biography, titled ‘The Little Kingdom — The Private Story of Apple Computer’ quotes Jobs as saying that “It was one of the first times that I started to realise that maybe Thomas Edison did a lot more to improve the world than Karl Marx and Neem Kairolie Baba put together.”
Neem Karori Baba was the guru that Jobs, then 18, visited in India along with his college friend Dan Kottke. The American duo had come to India after they dropped out of college and Kottke eventually joined Jobs as the first employee of Apple.
“The hot, uncomfortable summer made Jobs question many of the illusions he had nursed about India. He found India far poorer than he had imagined and was struck by the incongruity between the country’s condition and its airs of holiness,” author Michael Moritz wrote in Jobs’ biography.
The book quoted Jobs as saying: “We weren’t going to find a place where we could go for a month to be enlightened” and said that by the time he returned to California “he was thinner, thanks to a bout of dysentery, had closely cropped hair, and was dressed in an Indian attire…”
Years later in 2006, there were talks about Apple mulling over a 3,000-strong workforce centre in Bangalore to support its Mac and other products and it was said that the company even hired an initial team of 30 people. But, the plans did not fructify and reports said that the company did not find India as cost-effective as it had thought it to be.
Ironically, Jobs died on a day when Indian government unveiled its own answer to iPad, with a price tag much lower than that of the iconic brand, in the form of Aakash, the world’s cheapest tablet PC.
The market gets swarmed with a number of rival products whenever Apple launches a new one and this has been the case of digital music player iPod, touch-screen mobile device iPhone and touch-screen tablet PC iPad.
Invariably, the rival products are priced much cheaper than Apple’s and in places like India a comparatively costlier price tag has always come in the way of their market-leading positions.
The cost factor notwithstanding, the products that Jobs brought to this world achieved unmatched fashion value and cult status across the world, including in India.
Many argue that Jobs and Apple lost out to almost all his peers in the global technology space, including the likes of Microsoft, IBM, HP and Dell by not availing of the ‘India advantage’ in their businesses, the products that Jobs gave the world hold much higher iconic value that anything else in the technology space, India included.
This iconic status reverberated in the messages pouring in from people of all walks of the life here in India, mourning his death as the loss of one of the greatest icons of the modern times.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to industrialist Ratan Tata and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj to filmaker Karan Johar — eminent personalities from different fields are mourning the death of Jobs.
Reacting to the death of Jobs, who quit as Apple CEO in late August due to his ill health, US President Barack Obama went on to say that “there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”
SOURCE:THE TIMES OF INDIA
JOB’S FINAL DAYS
Over the last few months, a steady stream of visitors to Palo Alto, California, called an old friend’s home number and asked if he was well enough to entertain visitors, perhaps for the last time.
In February, Steven Jobs had learned that, after years of fighting cancer, his time was becoming shorter. He quietly told a few acquaintances, and they, in turn, whispered to others. And so a pilgrimage began.
The calls trickled in at first. Just a few, then dozens, and in recent weeks, a nearly endless stream of people who wanted a few moments to say goodbye, according to people close to Jobs. Most were intercepted by his wife, Laurene. She would apologetically explain he was too tired to receive many visitors. In his final weeks, he became so weak that it was hard for him to walk up the stairs of his own home anymore, she confided to one caller.
Some asked if they might try again tomorrow. Sorry, she replied. The man who valued his privacy almost as much as his ability to leave his mark on the world had decided whom he most needed to see before he left.
Jobs spent his final weeks – as he had spent most of his life – in tight control of his choices. He invited a close friend, the physician Dean Ornish, to join him for sushi at one of his favorite restaurants in Palo Alto. He said goodbye to longtime colleagues, including the venture capitalistJohn Doerr, the Apple board member Bill Campbell and the Disney chief executive Robert A Iger. He offered Apple’s executives advice on unveiling the iPhone 4S, which occurred on Tuesday. He spoke to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. He started a new drug regime, and told some friends that there was reason for hope.
On the days that he was well enough to go to Apple’s offices, all he wanted afterward was to return home and have dinner with his family. Mostly, he spent time with his wife and four children – who will now oversee a fortune of at least $6.5 billion, and, take on responsibility for tending to the legacy of someone who was as much a symbol as a man.
“Steve made choices,” Ornish said. “I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done.'”
“But for Steve, it was all about living life on his own terms and not wasting a moment with things he didn’t think were important. He was aware that his time on earth was limited. He wanted control of what he did with the choices that were left.”
In his final months, Jobs’s home – a large and comfortable but relatively modest brick house in a residential neighborhood – was surrounded by security guards. His driveway’s gate was flanked by two black SUVs.
On Thursday, as online eulogies multiplied and the walls of Apple stores in Taiwan, New York,Shanghai and Frankfurt were papered with hand-drawn cards, the SUVs were removed and the sidewalk at his home became a garland of bouquets, candles and a pile of apples, each with one bite carefully removed.
“Everyone always wanted a piece of Steve,” said one acquaintance who, in Jobs’s final weeks, was rebuffed when he sought an opportunity to say goodbye. “He created all these layers to protect himself from the fan boys and other peoples’ expectations and the distractions that have destroyed so many other companies. But once you’re gone, you belong to the world.”
Jobs’s biographer, whose book will be published in two weeks, asked him why so private a man had consented to the questions of someone writing a book. “I wanted my kids to know me,” Jobs replied, Isaacson wrote on Thursday in an essay on a website. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”
Because of that privacy, little is known yet of what Jobs’s heirs will do with his wealth. Unlike many prominent business people, he has never disclosed plans to give large amounts to charity. His shares in Disney, which Jobs acquired when the entertainment company purchased his animated film company, Pixar, are worth about $4.4 billion. That is double the $2.1 billion value of his shares in Apple.
Many people expect that attention will now focus on his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, who has largely avoided the spotlight, but is expected to oversee Jobs’s fortune. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Powell Jobs worked in investment banking before founding a natural foods company. She then founded College Track, a program that pairs disadvantaged students with mentors who help them earn college degrees.
Jobs himself never got a college degree. Despite leaving Reed College after six months, he was asked to give the 2005 commencement speech at Stanford. In that address, delivered after Jobs was told he had cancer but before it was clear that it would ultimately claim his life, he said the benefit of death is you know not to waste life living someone else’s choices. “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
In his final months, Jobs became even more dedicated to such sentiments. “Steve’s concerns these last few weeks were for people who depended on him: the people who worked for him at Apple and his four children and his wife,” said Mona Simpson, Jobs’s sister. “His tone was tenderly apologetic at the end. He felt terrible that he would have to leave us.”
As news of the seriousness of his illness became more widely known, Jobs was asked to attend farewell dinners and to accept various awards. He turned down the offers. When one acquaintance became too insistent on trying to send a gift to thank Jobs for his friendship, he was asked to stop calling. Mr. Jobs had other things to do before time ran out.
“He was very human,” said his physician Ornish. “He was so much more of a real person than most people know. That’s what made him so great.”
SOURCE:THE TIMES OF INDIA
APPLE TO MOVE ON UNHINDERED
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook faces the challenge of crafting the company’s strategy following the death of Steve Jobs, a man he called “a visionary and creative genius.”
Cook, who became CEO on August 24 after Jobs switched to the role of chairman, announced his predecessor’s death yesterday in a message to employees.
“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” Cook, 50, said in the memo. “Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”
The announcement came one day after Cook took the stage to introduce a new iPhone, marking his first product unveiling since taking the reins. To maintain Apple’s growth, he will have to push into more new markets, continue the company’s Asian expansion and execute a shift tocloud computing.
Jobs hired Cook from Compaq Computer Corp in 1998, and the deputy soon proved his mettle as an operations expert. Cook transformed inventory management to enable Apple to ship the iconic iMac in a rainbow of colors, deviating from the typical plain beige box. He later was able to orchestrate the speedy delivery of iPods, iPads and iPhones — often within 48 hours — to help forge an army of Apple loyalists.
‘Not going to change’
Cook must now take up the mantle of charting Apple’s creative vision, something he was less involved with in his previous job as chief operations officer.
Following Jobs’s retirement as CEO, Cook said to employees that “Apple is not going to change” and he reiterated that thought yesterday: “We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.”
Cook led the company when Jobs was out during three medical leaves. Though he’s a counterpoint to Jobs’s more emotional personality, the men are two sides of the same coin, said Mike Janes, who used to run Apple’s online store. Both are demanding leaders with an attention to detail.
“Despite their style differences, their intensity is basically equal,” Janes, now the CEO of tickets search engine FanSnap.com, said in an interview earlier this year. “They are both perfectionists.”
Different approach
Jobs’s absence was palpable throughout the 90-minute introduction of the iPhone 4S this week at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.
“This is my first product launch since being named CEO,” Cook said, the only Jobs reference, if veiled, at the entire event. “I’m sure you didn’t know that.”
Jobs was renowned for stirring, meticulously rehearsed pitches. Cook delivered his remarks more slowly and methodically, and he let other executives do much of the presentation.
“There’s no way to replace Steve Jobs — and there were times during the performance that you felt that,” said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos.
Still, Cook is the right man to carry on the vision, Munster said.
“Jobs’s final act as CEO was another of his many great accomplishments,” Munster said yesterday in a report. He reiterated his endorsement of Apple’s stock. “Cook is capable of running Apple, but his rare combination of extreme humility and insatiable motivation make him uniquely suited to continue Jobs’s work as CEO and carry on his vision with a peerless executive team.”
Long hours
Cook is typically found working long hours at the company’s headquarters or traveling around the world to meet with suppliers and manufacturers, Janes said. Cook led the company’s negotiations with Verizon Wireless to bring the iPhone to that carrier in the US this year.
During his 13 years at Apple, Cook has mastered an expanding list of operational roles, including manufacturing, distribution, sales and customer service.
“We have great confidence in Tim Cook, who is a partner of high quality,” Stephane Richard, CEO of France Telecom SA, said in an interview the day Jobs stepped down. Richard’s company provides carrier service for the iPhone.
Google threat
While Cook was Jobs’s choice for successor, he hasn’t had much time to demonstrate whether he can rally the company’s roughly 50,000 employees as effectively as Jobs, who steered Apple into industries as varied as mobile phones, music downloads and retailing.
Cook also faces mounting competition, in part because of Apple’s foray into new markets. Google Inc’s Android has emerged as the biggest smartphone operating system, bolstered byHTC Corp, Samsung Electronics Co and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. adopting the software. Google said Aug. 15 it planned to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
Investors, meanwhile, may be more likely to pressure Cook to use some of Apple’s cash — now more than $75 billion, including long-term holdings — for a dividend or stock buyback.
“He’s a very competent corporate manager,” said Apple investor Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, which oversees $14.8 billion in assets. “People are going to be looking for that crack of weakness, and they’ll be looking at him a lot closer than they look at Steve.”
In German trading today, the stock dropped as much as 5.3 percent to the equivalent of $357.14 and was down 3.7 per cent as of 9:31 a.m. in Frankfurt.
iCloud Service
In addition to overhauling the company’s supply chain, Cook also has led the company into new markets. Sales in China reached $3.8 billion in the last reported quarter, up sixfold from a year ago. The company is looking to fuel more growth with its new iCloud service, which stores files online.
To maintain its streak of innovations, Cook will have to lean on a corps of executives. Jonathan Ive oversees a staff of product designers that is considered among the best in the world. Scott Forstall leads development of Apple’s mobile software. Bob Mansfield runs hardware engineering, and Peter Oppenheimer is chief financial officer. The executive team, which often meets on Monday mornings to receive sales updates and discuss strategy, has been together for years.
“The team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company,” Cook said in January. “Excellence has become a habit.”
Companies such as Nike Inc and International Business Machines Corp have thrived without their iconic leaders, said John Connors, a venture capitalist at Ignition Partners and former finance chief at Microsoft Corp. He and Cook sit on Nike’s board, which oversaw the retirement of CEO Phil Knight.
“The good Lord created one Steve Jobs, but he only created one Phil Knight and Nike is still an enormous success,” Connors said. “I am sure the world will see in the next several years that Tim is a very uniquely gifted guy and Apple will be wildly successful under his leadership.”
SOURCE:THE TIMES OF INDIA
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