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By Root 411 0

the constant refinement of its operating system, which has developed a reputation for being more stable and secure than Windows. The overall results are extraordinary, testament to perhaps the most creative industrial turnaround in the history of America. At the end of Jobs’ decade running Apple, an era during which the growth of the personal computer industry had slowed to a pedestrian pace, its sales had risen from $6 billion to $32.5 billion and the price of its stock had, at its peak, multiplied forty-fold.

During a period when so much was fictitious, when there were so many empires built on air and when frauds were uncloaked, Apple stands is an emblem for daring, ingenuity and enterprise. When so much was piled atop mountains of debt, it is reassuring to know that real earnings and tangible profits can be used to invest in the future. When weak companies scurry to Washington to bleat for Federal bailout money, it is a tonic to realize that nothing is more effective than the spirit of a restless company threatened with extinction. When so many mathematicians and scientists caught the scent of Wall Street and used their skills to construct futile risk models, it was delightful to know that some of their contemporaries had spurned the lure of Manhattan high-rises and, instead, had chosen to write code or program chips, without which Apple’s devices would never have materialized. When entry visas and work permits were being refused to the brightest from overseas, it was all the more meaningful to see that Apple’s engineering ranks were teeming with immigrants and first-generation Americans. When other companies had rushed new products into the market with scarcely a nod to design and finish, it was a relief to see a demonstration that aesthetics and attention to detail really make a difference. If ever there was a company that demonstrated an application of the exhortation “Yes we can,” it was the Apple of the last ten years.

As with all books about business, this has been a tale of yesterday and today. And, as with all stories of success, this has been a triumph of human will. Now lies tomorrow. No technology company has ever been able to consistently produce great consumer products for half a century. So for Apple there is the inevitable question, what comes next?Can it continue to produce encore performances? Will the corpus always think and act differently? At a time of fears and concerns for Steve Jobs’ health following the disclosure of his liver transplant, it’s natural to wonder who might someday succeed the man whose identity and fate is so closely tied to the company? How will Apple avoid the fate of SONY following the retirement of Akio Morita? Will Apple’s next chief possess enough of an owner’s instincts not to keep stopping in his tracks and wondering, “What would Steve do?” Finally, there is the ultimate barometer reading for any technology company—whether it can stay youthful in spirit. This means answering the most testing question of all. What will keep the scintillating twenty-three year old engineers in the world’s greatest colleges and universities yearning to hear word that they have been offered a job at the company formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc.?

INDEX

A

Advertising

Albrecht, Robert

Alcorn, Al

All One Farm

Alpert, Richard

Altair

Alto Computer

American Telephone and Telegraph, phone phreaks and

Apple computer, first: built at Jobs’ family home; conflicts over; and contract between Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne; efforts to find power supply for; first prices for; first reactions to ; first sale to Byte Shops of ; Holt and; introduced at Homebrew Club in 1976, ; modifications made to ; pricing of; and Wozniak’s early designs for microprocessor . See also Apple II; Apple IIe

Apple Computer Company: first management of; at First West Coast Computer Faire; logo for; official formation of . See also Apple Computer, Inc.

Apple Computer, Inc.: advertising meetings at ; Apple culture and ; Apple IIe and; arrogance of; attitude toward technical writers; beginnings of; Black Wednesday