Steve Jobs and the Rise of Apple

In today's society, many Americans use their iPhones so much that they have become an integral part of our lives, taking up much of our free time and allowing social media platforms to overtake face-to-face communication. While most understand that the iPhone and various other successful products such as the iPad and the iMac were created by Apple (a company that is today world famous for its success), few know about the origins of the company and how Steve Jobs brought it into competition with other massive companies such as Microsoft. More importantly, few know about the struggles and initial failures that Jobs had to push through in order to achieve his and ultimately out Apple into the high position that it is today.


When Jobs first began to grow Apple in the 1970's and 80's the company was initially slow to gain ground and sales were mediocre at best. Most days, Jobs would spend his hours locked in his garage in his home in Los Altos, often planning out prototypes for new pieces of technology or making improvements to existing ones. In 1976, he and his partner Steve Wozniak invented the first Apple computer and followed this up with the Apple II computer in 1977, but neither of these sold popularly and the two were left to continue making improvements to the computer in hope of its eventual large scale sale. Over time, the two began to consistently add improvements to their technology and sales went up, leading Apple to a position of greater success. However, after the development of the expensive Macintosh computer in 1984, sales dropped massively and Microsoft (which had partnered with Apple at that point) threatened to pull the plug on the product's development. This sent Apple into a downward spiral and almost put the company out of business as money ran low and Jobs began arguing with his coworkers and left the company for a period of years. There was however, a light of success that would present itself in Apple's near future.


Upon his return to Apple in 1997, Jobs jumped on to the scene with a new sense of optimism and charisma, immediately bringing up the tempo of Apple's company mindset. The company then invented the iMac that same year which was a product of massive success throughout the nation due the simplicity of its aesthetic appearance and ease of placement within a household. Beyond this, the massive purchase rate of the iMac made the internet a much bigger part of the average American's life, improving communication and entertainment as well. After this success, Apple continued to grow exponentially as a company into the 21st century, improving the value of its stocks, growing its advertising, and improving its technology. This led to the eventually development of the iPod music player and the iPhone which most Americans now use on an hour-to-hour basis, showing that while Steve Jobs and Apple started out small, it was the determination and the character behind the company the brought it to the success it has today.

Sources:

http://www.biography.com/people/steve-jobs-9354805

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/history-of-apple-steve-jobs-mac-3606104/

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1873486_1873491_1873530,00.html

bvaopenmind.com/en/5-inventions-steve-jobs/