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Steve Jobs, Was He An Inventor, Entrepreneur, Visionary, Genius, or Just a Nasty Person?

General

Superlatives used to describe Steve Jobs:

Visionary

Hippie

Artist

Assaholic

Innovator

Technophile

Imaginative

Narcissist

Enlightened

Dishonest

Emotional

Unfiltered

Minimalist

Intuitive

Adopted

Inventor

Buddhist

Impatient

Iconoclast

Unhygienic

Simplified

Creative

Perfectionist

Controlling

Genius

Obsessive

Intense

Nasty

Focused

Steve Jobs took a startup from the garage of his family house to build the first trillion dollar company in the world.

The design strategy of Steve Jobs was to start from scratch, beginning a new product in completely original ways based on a notion of creating something people will want to use rather than merely improving an existing product. He did not do market testing or surveys, believing the purpose of an innovative company was to create its’ own markets by first creating a product people want. Steve Jobs likened himself to the conductor of an orchestra, not a specialist instrumentalist.

Steve Jobs was an innovator in 6 separate areas technology.

  1. personal computer with the Macintosh pioneered the effective use of the mouse and graphic user interface

2. tablet with the iPad used the touch screen to replace the mouse or stylus

3. smart phone merged the iPod, cellular phone, GPS. alarm clock, calendar, camera, and internet with a touch screen on a single device describes as the “most impactful tech product over the last decade.”

4. digital publishing with digital subscriptions and iBook

5. digital music with iPod, iTunes

6. digital computer animation with Pixar, a company with Jobs as CEO

source: Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson, 2011.