Steve Jobs: The Biography

My video review of Steve Jobs’ biography

Click here to watch the video about imperfection I’m referring to: Be Imperfect… and Get Moving!

Text (literal) transcription of the “Steve Jobs” video:

Hello and welcome to this new video from the Life-changing Books (“Des Livres Pour Changer de Vie”) blog. I am currently in India, as you may have noticed, there is the Taj Mahal behind me, in a beautiful morning light.

As I am in India, I thought I would tell you about this book that is the biography of Steve Jobs. You will ask: but what is the relationship between Steve Jobs and India? Quite simply, Steve Jobs was a great admirer of India. You should know that he spent several months in India, before creating Apple, and that it was a journey that then influenced his entire life.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

There are millions of people who have read Steve Jobs’ biography, so I’m not going to dwell on it for hours just to tell you that it really is an extremely interesting book. It’s a very good biography that takes us into the life of this exceptional entrepreneur who revolutionized four different industries. He obviously revolutionized computing with the Macintosh, then cinema with Pixar, music with iTunes and iPod, and then telecommunication with the iPhone. It’s really an amazing feat, and this biography introduces us to the man behind the entrepreneur.

There is something interesting:

One of the lessons of this book is that Steve Jobs was very far from perfect; he really had many, many flaws, and not small ones! It kind of connects to what I told you in the video I also made in India in front of the Baby Taj, where I told you that you don’t have to be perfect to accomplish great things. Steve Jobs was very, very far from perfect, and he accomplished amazing things.

“Be insatiable. Be crazy.” – Steve Jobs, founder of Apple

Far too many people are ultimately waiting to achieve perfection that will never come, and I also wanted to re-emphasize that, you don’t have to be perfect to be successful at doing something. If you accomplish something, if you create a business, if you embark on a major project that is close to your heart, that you really like, in the end, when you have achieved it, you will always be as imperfect; you will simply have achieved something beautiful, something that you care about.

So, I won’t talk for hours about this book. It’s one of the lessons we learn, there are many more. Therefore, I highly recommend this biography of an exceptional entrepreneur. It’s easy to read, it’s really well written, you learn a lot, and it’s a valuable lesson for you.

Thanks for watching this video and see you soon, on the blog or elsewhere.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple

What are Steve Jobs’ 10 great accomplishments?

1. Starting the personal computer revolution

With the Apple II and the Macintosh, Steve Jobs and Apple Computer helped start the PC revolution. The Apple II, released in 1977, was one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computers. The Macintosh, introduced in 1984, was the first commercially successful PC to use a mouse and graphical user interface.

2. Introduction of mouse and graphical user interface

Jobs changed the way people interact with personal computers by replacing the text-based command line interface with a mouse-driven graphical user interface. Instead of typing commands with a keyboard, users can click onscreen icons with a mouse. Jobs got the idea for the new interface from Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (XRX), which failed to see its potential.

3. Having launched the iPod and popularized portable music players

Other competitors had introduced portable digital music players before Apple launched the iPod in 2001. However, Apple made this device a fun, easy, and fashionable way to store thousands of songs. Steve Jobs’ creation quickly dominated the market

4. Revolutionizing musicsales

Jobs turned the music market upside down with the launch of the iTunes store, providing consumers with an easy and affordable way to download songs to their computers and iPods. The iTunes store offers people an alternative to buying music CDs or illegally downloading songs from online sharing services. The very fact that the consumer could now buy one song at a time was a crushing blow and completely wiped out big record stores like HMV, whose turnover was based on the outdated business model of selling full albums.

5. Having spawned the age of computer animation

Jobs ushered in the era of computer animated feature films by funding and running Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs bought an animation studio from George Lucas in 1986 and turned it into a blockbuster movie production company, starting with “Toy Story” in 1995. Walt Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for $ 7.4 billion.

6. Opening of Apple stores

Jobs defied skeptics when he launched the Apple chain of stores in 2001. The stores have proven to be a tremendous success. Not only for the sale of products, but also to promote the Apple brand around the world. Apple now operates more than 460 stores around the world.

7. Having made the personal computer an aesthetic object

When Apple executives fired Jobs in the 1990s, Apple computers were ugly. Macs – like all computers of the time – were beige in color with no interest in or concern for design. In a panic, Jobs got back at the helm of Apple in order to save the company which was on the brink of collapse. He then hired the British designer, Jony Ive, who reinvented the look of the personal computer. Apple launched a bombshell of industrial design in 1998: the iMac Gumdrop. It was a computer with minimalist and ultra-contemporary looks in 5 colors. Since then, Apple has always charmed the market with inspiring and innovative designs.

8. Launch of the smartphone revolution

When Jobs brought Apple into the mobile phone business with the iPhone in 2007, he didn’t just add cell phone capabilities to an iPod or vice versa, as some expected. He introduced a historical device merging 3 devices. The iPhone is the fusion of the iPod, a full Internet browser and a mobile phone into a beautiful gadget with a multi-touch screen interface. The iPhone was an instant hit and led to a thousand copycats. The launch of the iPhone is an important part of Steve Jobs’ biography.

9. Changing the way software applications are distributed

Jobs changed the way software applications are distributed when he opened the App Store to download apps on the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2008. He gave developers a way to write and sell software for mobile technology to consumers. Its success has created a vibrant ecosystem that has driven demand for Apple mobile devices.

10. The kick-off of the tablet trend

Apple faced a lot of criticism when Jobs launched the iPad tablet in April 2010. But the multimedia tablet quickly became another successful product.

Note also that the iPod and the iPhone prepared the ground for the arrival of Kindle, the electronic book reader launched by Amazon, the American giant founded and directed by Jeff Bezos.