October 12, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Steve Jobs: Man with the Midas touch
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, October 12, Graphic News:  During a college appearance earlier this year, Steve Jobs urged students to ÒStay Hungry, Stay Foolish!Ó if they wanted success. While foolish is hardly the first word that springs to mind to describe the driven computer billionaire who has kept Apple at the top of its game, the courage to follow his dreams and a faith in the future have certainly helped.

If that sounds a bit ÒHollywoodÓ, it might not be out of place. Jobs is a quintessential Californian who grew up when the state was the epicentre of the technological revolution and the psychedelic music scene. He built up the Pixar animation studio which has produced several hit movies, and his Apple has never rolled too far from the tree.

Today, thanks to the iconic iPod, Apple dominates the market in downloading music, and now plans to launch portable video players -- a logical step for the company that has stolen the march in developing ÒlifestyleÓ electronics. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to presume that the climb to technologyÕs top branches has been easy.

Born to an Egyptian Arab father and American mother in Wisconsin in 1955, Jobs was adopted soon after birth by a Californian couple who promised his single mother that they would send him to college. Jobs did enrol in Reed College, Oregon, but dropped out when he realised that his future lay with computers. At that time he was a regular at the now legendary Homebrew Computer Club with friend Steve Wozniak.

Jobs was just 21 when he and Wozniak launched the Apple Computer Company -- based in the family garage and named after his favourite fruit -- in 1976. The first affordable personal computer and Apple II were an instant success, and by 25 Jobs was worth $165 million. In 1985, however, he was ousted from Apple in a power struggle amid reports that his volatile style made him impossible to work with.

In developments that have been hailed as his ÒSecond ComingÓ, Jobs bought a digital animation studio in 1986 and set up Pixar, which has released hits including Toy Story, A BugÕs Life and Finding Nemo. The studio made Jobs a billionaire, but his return to Apple signalled a fresh injection of passion and an upturn in profits for the computer company too. He was reinstated as chief executive in 1997 when Apple took the over his project, the NeXT Computer, incorporating much of its breakthrough technology.

But his genius lay in tackling the problem of internet music piracy head on with the introduction of first the iPod portable music player, followed by iTunes digital music software and the iTunes Music Store. Since it was launched in 2001, 28 million iPods have been sold, boosting AppleÕs image as the cool choice for fashionable users.

A lifelong music fan -- Bob Dylan is a favourite -- Jobs is rarely seen out of the black sweater and jeans combination of a Californian intellectual and appears to encourage Ò fansÓ to remember AppleÕs west coast roots. Speaking of arch-rival Bill Gates, he is reported as having told an interviewer that the Microsoft chief would be Òa broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.Ó

In such a manner, Jobs, whose charismatic but mercurial personality has been much documented by his critics, has helped to portray the company as the Òfriendly guyÓ in a ruthless market dominated by hostile Microsoft.

Jobs, who in 2004 was treated successfully for pancreatic cancer, has been married to Laurene Powell since 1991. The couple have four children.
/ENDS