Fortune the Legacy of Steve Jobs 1955-2011: A Tribute from the Pages of Fortune Magazine [ハードカバー]

'Fortune' named Jobs CEO of the decade in 2009; this book contains a number of articles about Jobs/Apple from prior issues over a three decade period. His innovations began with the Apple II, and also included his insistence from the beginning that computers could be sold to consumers, Macintosh's GUI (copied from Xerox's PARC) changing the way people interacted with computers, opening the first Apple store (Gateway's failed - but it lacked Apple's range of innovative and popular products), creating the iPod and iTunes, and convincing recording studios to sell music by the song through iTunes, the iPhone that battered RIM and Nokia, the iPad (others said consumers would not carry more than one device), and Apple's recent provision of iCloud services. En route, Jobs co-founded a 34,000 employee company and then took it from near bankruptcy in 1997 after a 12-year hiatus to world-leading $350 billion valuation in 2011 - after first replacing most of Apple's Board of Directors and some of its management team, Apple's then outdated operating system, eliminating most of its then product line, and implementing drastic cost-cutting. Jobs also eschewed focus groups ("If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'A faster horse.'" - Henry Ford), and championed vertical integration - hardware, software, operating system, and retail stores all under Apple's control, micromanagement, simple, stylish design, and high hiring standards. Failure was quickly 'rewarded' - eg. 'MobileMe' project leaders were immediately replaced after Jobs became aware of its problems.

Reality, however, is that Jobs invented nothing, despite a number of patents - his real contribution was creating an environment in which carefully targeted creativity succeeded. Another Jobs' contribution to Apple and its followers was his ability to maximize interest in new product introductions and to also deliver masterful presentations at those introductions. Obviously Apple's track record in introducing stylish and innovative products was a key component. In addition, all public statements by Apple workers had to be approved by its P.R. department - which reported directly to Jobs. Further, Apple never commented ahead of time on plans or new products in its pipeline. The result - one Harvard professor estimated Apple obtained $400 million in free iPhone advertising in 2007 as part of the frenzied speculation over what it would be like.

Jobs also initiated 'Apple University,' with HBS-type case studies that covered past major Apple management decisions. The intent was to help train future managers in how Apple, under Jobs' leadership, had functioned. Also includes lessons such as 'The Difference Between the Janitor and the V.P.'

The book, as well as others, asserts that Apple was structured around products instead of functions, with only a single bottom-line, no matrix or dotted-line organization characteristics, and no responsibilities assigned to committees. On the other hand, this book and others clearly contradicts some of those statements with their examples - eg. its retail chief doesn't control store inventory - that responsibility belonged to COO Tim Cook, its supply-chain expert. Another example - the photographs used on its on-line store site are not managed by the executive in charge of the on-line stores; instead those are the purview of the central graphic arts department. Clearly, there is more to the story - ; regardless of how it was accomplished, Apple also became known for fast decision-making.

After Jobs 1997 return, the company's focus evolved from computers to Internet access devices. Probably the first step in this evolution was recognizing that Apple was not going to become a major PC producer, given the widespread dissemination of IBM-clone design and construction, standardization around Microsoft, and near commoditization of the market. Jobs adds that at one point he was seriously thinking of Apple becoming an ISP, but dropped that after they realized greater opportunities awaited through providing devices accessing the Internet that took advantage of Apple's existing competitive advantage - its OS X.

The iPod was an early new device following that logic. Universal and Sony had created a joint venture called Pressplay, while AOL/TimeWarner, EMI, RealNetworks, and Bertelsmann launched MusicNet - both to market their music over the Internet. Instead of cooperating by licensing each other to sell their separate products, thereby attracting more customers (especially if they'd merged), they each withheld their songs from each other. Users were also unable to 'own' songs, and to continue accessing those songs had to continuing 'renting' them by paying a monthly subscription fee. Further, songs could only be downloaded to one computer - the intent was to protect the music companies from piracy. Cross-licensing eventually occurred, but downloading restrictions continued. Profit margins fell from 15 - 20% in the late 1980s when CDs first came out, to 5%. Meanwhile, the entire environment became increasingly poisoned by wide-scale downloading (copies frequently were poor quality and rife with viruses), lawsuits over piracy, storage devices with capacity mostly limited to eg. 2 - 3 dozen songs and having clunky software that made finding a song difficult and slow for those with greater capacity, and short battery lives.

Apple attacked these problems with an eight-month crash development effort that involved only about 50 people at any point in time. It bought exclusive rights to Toshiba's tiny new 5 GB drive, added its fast 'Fireware' transfer technology (could download a single CD in 5 - 10 seconds, vs. 3 - 5 minutes using USB, provided 32 MB of 'flash memory' so the power hungry drive could transfer a play-list to them and be shut down during most music-playing time. The 'frosting' for users was provided by its innovative wheel and software that quickly allowed locating songs and building a play-list; for music providers, the 'frosting' came in the form of simpler and more reliable piracy protection.

Jobs pitched his iTunes concept to the music firms before iPods were introduced - thus, the music providers saw this as an experiment involving only the small number of iMacs (single-digit market share in 2002). After iTunes became compatible with Windows, iTunes became a destructive paradigm shift for the music industry. Meanwhile, Apple made almost as much operating profit per iPod as it did on each iMac in the more competitive computer market.

The iPhone arose out of frustration with cellphone hardware and software - the first step in its development was shoehorning Apple's sophisticated OS X inside.

What did the 'i' stand for in 'Apple talk'? "Internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire," per Jobs.

Mondays brought a review of every existing product, as well as those under development - with the Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) in attendance.

Reading "Fortune the Legacy of Steve Jobs 1955-2011" is one of the most fascinating stories I've ever read in my life. The unconventional life he has led seems to be one of a kind. He has connected the best of the east and the west. In my opinion, he has contributed more to the world than any of the religions currently on this earth. Steve, I wish you were here longer, because you would have created more sophisticated and beneficial gadgets for mankind. You tapped the best in the people you selected, and THANK YOU for making our lives better!!! Hope your kids will start from where you left...:o)!!! You have made full use of your 56 years on this earth; and thanks for setting such a great example!!! One of your grateful fans wishing you a world of happiness wherever you are... :o)

Wonderful pictures with the commentary..I thoroughly enjoyed it....it is a must read for all and to have on the bookshelf...