Apple vs. Steve Jobs Part 1 - The Rocky Ride

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Today at a Glance:

• The First Few Dots

• Breakout - Atari and the Imposter

• Apple I - The Computer That Began It All

• The Apple II - Are Personal Computers a Thing?

• Apple III - Let’s Go in Big

• Apple Lisa - The Future?

• The Macintosh - Marketing Mania to the End of Steve Jobs

For the past six months, I’ve contemplated writing about the story of Apple and Steve Jobs. I mean, everyone knows about Apple and Steve Jobs. Why write about it?

Well, I dug into the foundations of Apple for several days and guess what?

I uncovered the not-so-talked-about ordeal of arrogance, betrayal, business strategy, marketing, and so much more that formed the foundation upon which the Apple empire rests.

If you think you know so much about Apple, get ready for some shockers.

This is the story of a rude, weird, innovative young businessman who became the genius that changed the world.

The First Few Dots

The year is 1961. Yeah, we’re going back to more than sixty years from today.

Paul and Clara Jobs, a few years after adopting baby Steve Jobs, were moving to Palo Alto, California, an area that was rapidly turning into a home for all things electronics, from computers to radios, televisions, etc.—where we now call Silicon Valley.

As Jobs grew, like his friend Wozniak, he developed a liking for electronics and joined the HP Explorers Club, where he saw his first computer at the age of 12 and also met William Hewlett, President and co-founder of HP. How many people get such opportunity in their lifetime?

With such a background, the stage was set for Steve Jobs to finish college with a computer engineering major.

However, in the mid-1970s, Jobs encountered the likes of Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, Mobi Dick, etc., igniting a love and curiosity for all things liberal arts in him. I thought this boy wanted to be a computer/tech wiz…why is he now thinking about arts?

Shockingly, when it was time for college, he could have easily joined Wozniak in Berkeley, but Jobs opted for the expensive Reed College, a liberal arts school in Portland, Oregon.

His average-living parents couldn't afford such a school. But the mind of Steve Jobs was made up. For the stubborn young man, it was either Reeds or nothing else.

In 1972, he got admitted to Reeds to study physics and philosophy, but he dropped out in no time and started sleeping in the dormitory of a few friends, occasionally exchanging coke bottles for food.

Coupled with his parents' struggle to keep up with the high fees, the traditional system of education wasn't meant for him. Or maybe the boy is a stubborn young brat who life hasn't taught a lesson yet.

Although officially out of school, Jobs sort of appreciated knowledge and continued attending classes like calligraphy that appealed to his interests. For him, he could now attend the good lectures and skip those other compulsory classes forced on him.t

But it was impossible to live in the dormitories forever. It was time to move back home.

In 1973, 18 year old Steve Jobs moved back to San Francisco with nothing. No degree, no job, nothing.

Considering his stubbornness paired with a lack of formal education, Steve Jobs was on course to fail. I mean, what corporate entity would want to have anything to do with an uneducated youth who had nothing to offer in the corporate world?

Well, you'll find out soon enough.

Breakout - Atari and the Imposter

Later in the same year, Jobs' friend Wozniak, in one of his techie adventures, designed a cost-efficient version of the hit classic arcade video game Pong, developed by gaming giant Atari.

After seeing the board, Jobs knew this could be a huge deal even though Wozniak was calm about it. He took it over to Atari to flaunt before their engineers.

Before the gates of Atari stood an unwashed, bearded college dropout who had a way of convincing one with words and was so passionate about technology.

The obvious decision would have been to call the cops on him, but upon seeing the techniques with which the board was crafted, the guys at Atari knew it would be a huge mistake to allow such a talent to escape them.

Talent? Steve Jobs wasn't even responsible for designing the video game board in the first place.

But no one at Atari knew this. They decided to hire him. Atari thought they hit the jackpot with this one. But this kid knows nothing about advanced electronics design.

And so work began for 18-year-old Jobs at Atari.

Jobs always had strange ideas, a strong body odour, and often insulted fellow employees. Nevertheless, the Atari guys thought he was a talented engineering genius. As a result, they created a night shift in the engineering department just to keep him away from others.

Shortly after, Atari was facing a key challenge in designing new video games.

While Jobs may not be truly great with engineering, he had a flare for designing great things.

To turn the tide, Steve Jobs, Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell, and Steve Bristow (then vice president of Atari) collaborated on designing a new video game for the company, Breakout.

And guess who was assigned to create a circuit board for the game? Steve Jobs.

Atari was willing to pay about $100 for each transistor-transistor logic (TTL) chip eliminated from the machine; a lower TTL chip count meant a lesser manufacturing cost for Atari.

But Job's technical ability was nowhere near the level required to pull this off. I mean, he may have nice ideas on design and the like, but no way in the world can he design a circuit board—much more eliminate chips.

Time was running out for Jobs to prove himself that he wasn't a fake. As a result, he called on his longtime friend, the man whose invention was responsible for landing him the role at Atari, Steve Wozniak.

They had only four days to design the board, or Steve was out of the company. Everyone will finally know the truth behind the young, rude, and insulting kid. But maybe you can keep the ball rolling when you have a friend who's crazy about electronics and engineering like Wozniak.

After four days of sleepless nights on the factory floor, the duo pulled off magic. Wozniak was able to reduce the TTL chip count from 96 to 46. The design was so beautifully advanced that ATARI's engineers couldn't understand it.

Two college dropouts just bested the expert engineers of a top-level company. What do you think went through the minds of both Steves upon this discovery? 

With this event, Jobs became more confident. His arrogance and brash ideas knew no bounds.

Apple I - The Computer That Began It All

In 1975, together with Wozniak, Jobs started attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club, an early computer hobbyist group that met at Menlo Park, Los Altos, California.

During one of these meetings, Wozniak saw the Altair 8800 microcomputer for the first time. Coupled with his experience from designing the Breakout game circuit board for Atari, the Altair 8800 inspired Wozinak to create a simple personal computer.

But computers weren't meant for personal use at the time. The idea was absurd to a non-technical creative mind. However, where others saw impossible, the mind of Wozniak saw a personal computer.

In March 1976, Wozniak designed the first personal computer that had a typewriter-like keyboard and could outsource video to a TV screen. It also featured a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, 8KB of RAM, and a minimised number of chips.

At the time, he was working at HP and offered the design to them, but they turned him down not once or twice but on five separate occasions.

"Boy, there's no such thing as personal computers. Get over this nonsense and focus on your work."

Wozniak wasn't even pained.

I mean, he wasn't trying to revolutionise computing or anything of sorts. Rather, he derived joy from the adventure and fun that came with building and demonstrating these weird computing devices.

As a result, he displayed the computer at the Homebrew Computer Club, intending to share the design for free with everyone.

But you aren't permitted to make such terrible business errors when you've got a friend like Steve Jobs.

Just like the redesigned pong circuit board, Jobs saw the potential for Wozniak's creation to spin off into something large. But not to get a job this time. Rather, something they could sell to make a whole lot of money.

Jobs tried to convince Wozniak that they could start a business selling the bare circuit board. But Wozniak wasn't doing this for business. It was all about making stuff for fun.

Besides, he was quite okay working at HP. But Jobs wasn't ready to settle for fun. After a series of convincing attempts, he gave in. And the Apple story begins.

On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company, launching their first flagship product, the Apple I.

Shortly after, Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte Shop, a computer retail store, who had earlier witnessed the presentation by Wozniak, told Jobs he would order 50 units of the Apple I for $500 each and pay cash on delivery...only if they came fully assembled. This wasn't part of the plan.

Jobs' original business model was selling the circuit board itself without the hassle of assembling several other components like a case or monitor. But when you see such a rare opportunity to make a large amount of sales as a young upstart, you grab it with both hands.

Although there's a small problem here.

Terrell requested 50 computers. Where do they get the money to buy all the needed parts to meet this demand? It's a real head-scratcher—they're a small company with a fancy name and zero operating capital.

Jobs came up with an idea.

He took the PO to Cramer Electronics, a local computer parts shop, and ordered the components they needed on credit.

When questioned about how he intended to pay for the parts, Jobs convinced the credit manager that the PO from Terrell was cash-on-delivery and that he would pay immediately after delivering the computers.

After a few days of coupling and assembling the components, they delivered 50 computers, each half assembled as a motherboard—without the other agreed PC components—to the Byte Shop.

Who does that? Terrell was shocked. But for some unknown reasons - call it luck if you want - he went ahead to pay the agreed-upon money for the computers. With this cash, business was set for Apple Computers.

In July 1976, they began a national sale of the Apple I for $666.66.

Of the 200 units manufactured, they managed to sell only 25, and soon the company needed cash again. At this point, Wayne, who thought the company may fold up, had already dropped off, selling his 10% share to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. 10% for $800. What a wise choice.. is it?

It was time for the boys to show faith in what they were building.

To keep the company alive, Jobs sold his Volkswagen Van, while Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator. But such little cash can't grow a hardware-intensive business.

The Apple II - Are Personal Computers a Thing?

While Wozniak was busy crafting designs for their next computer launch, Jobs went looking for cash, selling the idea of a 'personal computer' to banks. But the brash idea of computers meant for home use still didn't make any sense to many at the time. It's like producing rockets for home usage.

No one would want to waste money on such a bound-to-fail venture, especially one run by two young dropouts. No one except one wealthy Intel retiree and investor, Mike Markkula.

Where others saw failure, he saw genius. And so the story goes.

Markkula invested $91k of his own money and helped the company secure a bank loan of $250k. (Remember, these figures are quite large when adjusted for inflation)

As a result, Apple Computers was incorporated as a company on January 3, 1977, with Jobs, Wozniak, and Markulla having equal ownership of shares.

With his money also came professional business expertise to turn the business from a small upstart into a professionally profitable company.

Sales for the Apple 1 began to increase, and with all this money, Apple launched their next creation, the Apple II.

Unlike any other computer before it, the Apple II was the first colour graphics computer. It featured a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, an audio cassette interface for storing data, two game paddles, 4KB of RAM (expandable to 48KB), and an integer BASIC programming language. It sold for around $1300.

To show they were ready for business, Jobs recruited product designer Jerry Manock to work on the casing for the Apple II.

In April 1977, Jobs and Wozniak presented the Apple II at the first West Coast Computer Faire. And when customers witnessed the computer's sophisticated design, it sent the company's revenue through the roof.

Sales of both Apple I and II soared, and by the end of 1977, the once small upstart boasted a revenue of about $775,000.

The launch of the Apple II surfaced the personal computer consumer market. It ushered a shift from computers being seen as machines to home appliances. Jobs and Wozniak were about to change the world.

Apple kept improving the computer, upgrading existing components, and introducing new programs. While Apple thought its market was just hobbyists and home users, VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program that was one of the first killer computer applications for the business world, launched primarily on the Apple II in 1979. Yeah, years before Microsoft Excel.

And boom, boom, boom! Sales skyrocketed, expanding Apple's market into the business/professional space.

As the Apple II continued smashing records, the management at Apple realised that business folks were responsible for 90% of sales it made, especially because of VisiCalc and Disk II - a faster expandable floppy disk designed by Wozniak.

However, the underlying principles with which Wozniak designed the Apple II's architecture prevented some other business functions from running on it.

Apple's management decided to launch a new computer line targeted at this large 90% of business customers.

As a result, in May 1980, Apple announced it would be launching the Apple III.

Apple III - Let's Go In Big

The management at Apple envisioned the III to be the product that would usher Apple into the league of the big players in the computing market. It was the first computer Apple was designing and building as a full-fledged company—not from the homes of Jobs and Wozniak.

During this period, all attention was dedicated to the launch that would make history for Apple. While Wozniak still had a soft spot for the Apple II, this wasn't a time to live in the past. They were now becoming a powerhouse in the personal computing industry.

Apple's management knew without a doubt that the launch of the III would crumble the sales of the II. It was time to make the big move.

Though he hadn't played any major role in designing the Apple I and II, Steve Jobs decided it was time to unleash his ideas from liberal arts into the Apple III. They needed all the ideas they could get to make this work.

Jobs didn't want the Apple III to have a fan or air vent to prevent the noises computers made. Instead, they used heavy-cast aluminium on the chassis to act as a heat sink. So much for aesthetics.

Apple also integrated several other components into the design. Everyone wanted to contribute to what could become the next big thing. I mean, who doesn't want to be part of history? 

In the midst of all this, Mike Markkula was steering Apple Computers towards becoming a publicly traded company. Hence, they had to ensure the Apple III launched on time before the planned IPO date.

However, on the scheduled release date of July 1980, the product wasn't ready.

Around this time, rumours of the computing giant, IBM, entering the personal computer market started flying around. IBM was the Big Brother of the computing industry. And if Apple gives them a chance, it's almost certainly game over.

Apple sped up operations.

Finally, in November 1980, the Apple III debuted with a fresh Apple SOS operating system, 128KB on-board RAM, a built-in 5.25-inch floppy drive, and speed 2x faster than the Apple II. The computer of the future has arrived.

Although expensive, Apple sold over 10,000 units of the Apple III in its first month. Shortly after, the company went public.

On December 12, 1980, Apple Computers Inc. went public in a public offering that accumulated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956. Apple raised over $100 million by selling 8% of its stock with each share valued at $22.

It's stated that Apple's IPO created more millionaires—about 300—than any other company in history. And yes, Wozniak and Jobs became very rich as a result.

While Apple's shareholders were enjoying the festivities of becoming millionaires, some big news was about to hit them. The big launch of the Apple III, the computer of the future, may prove to be one of the greatest disasters in the company's short history.

The Apple III had a few software programmes and limited backward compatibility as Apple wanted to force users and developers to port over from the Apple II.

However, customers railed in complaints that the computer was overheating, causing its integrated circuits to disconnect from the motherboard. Job's idea for no cooling fan failed.

And coupled with all these issues, it was selling for a whopping $4,350–$7,800—almost 5x the price of an Apple II. A huge price point for a gigantic disaster. What was supposed to be Apple's big thing was turning out to be its biggest failure.

Apple had to call back all 14,000 units it had sold for replacement. And after several corrections, they introduced the Apple III revised edition in the fall of 1981.

It came with several improved features, including 256 KB of RAM, lower power supply requirements, and twice as much memory at a cheaper price of $3,495.

With so many improved features, the Apple III was set to fulfil its purpose. But not so fast.

You see, there's a thing with customer perception. Although the Apple III revised edition was great, its bad reputation from the first launch preceded it. No one wanted anything to do with it.

Sales were slow, and, on top of that, the computing giant, IBM, had entered the personal computer market. Yeah, the rumours earlier were true.

IBM's PC launched in August 1981, and to the shock of everyone, Apple wasn't even scared one bit. How can you not be scared of Big Brother? 

I mean, even though IBM was a giant, they were new to the micro-computing space. Whereas, Apple was one of the three largest micro-computing companies. It had 5x as many PC dealers in the U.S. as IBM and an established distribution network.

Plus, IBM's PC didn't seem impressive to Apple's engineers. After examining the PC, Apple published a full page in the Wall Street Journal with the words, "Welcome IBM, seriously."

What Apple didn't realise was that Big Brother had enough resources to flip the script in the twinkling of an eye. They had stronger brand recognition and an existing line of millions of customers.

You can't out-compete a giant by crossing your legs and doing nothing.

On top of this, key engineering talent and Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak took a break after suffering injuries from a plane crash.

In 1982, IBM's PC was on track to smash the Apple II's record, becoming the best-selling computer. Customers were buying over 200,000 units per month.

Panicky time, panicky time.

Apple needed to act fast or the company could become a thing of the past. But no need to panic. Apple had a revolutionary machine in the pipeline—one that was five years in the making.

Apple Lisa - The Future? 

Named after his daughter, Steve Jobs was hell-bent on making Apple Lisa the PC of the century.

He negotiated a deal with Xerox PARC, a computing research company, that allowed the Lisa team to witness the demo of its mouse-driven graphical user interface. After the event, Jobs made so many high demands from them to make the computer fit perfectly with the demo they saw at Xerox PARC.

For Jobs, Project Lisa was his baby, and he wanted it to make the headlines.

Overwhelmed with so many ideas of what a computer should be and do, he continued pressing the Lisa team to do more. But his arrogance, overconfidence, and willingness to risk it all soon got the better of him, and the Apple board forced him out of Project Lisa.

You may think the board was too harsh, but if you had met young Steve Jobs, you would understand why. He was fierce with his outrageous product demands and would never take no for an answer.

To contain the excesses of Jobs, Apple's board decided to bring in a CEO with more business experience, one that would provide him with adult supervision.

Apple's board shortlisted 22 candidates with computing and electronic experience for Jobs, but there's no way he would go with their decisions.

I mean, the same guys that ousted him from Project LISA now want to choose a CEO for his dear company. Not a chance. Steve Jobs had someone else in mind.

There was this guy, John Sculley, the CEO of PepsiCo, who was responsible for the "Pepsi Generation" marketing campaign that sparked the Cola Wars. (Check out our episode on PepsiCo - Battle for the Soda Market)

Jobs went over to Sculley and immediately lured him to Apple with a great question:

Sculley joined Apple as CEO. Finally, Jobs had won. A man with whom he can work together to achieve his great computing vision now steers the wheels. Or so he thought. Would this be his biggest mistake? 

Earlier, while the Lisa was being developed, a veteran of the Apple II team, Jef Raskin, began working on another computer project codenamed the Macintosh.

It was a low-cost computer meant to target average consumers with a text-based interface and keyboard that allowed special command keys like every other PC in the market.

However, under the directive of one team member, Bud Tribble, Burrel Smith, the lead technician of the project, integrated Lisa's processor into the Macintosh board. Smith designed the board with fewer RAM chips than the Lisa to maintain Raskin's vision of a low-cost computer.

News of the Macintosh's latest design reached Steve Jobs, and seeing how he could implement all of his earlier ideas for the Lisa into this new computer, he jumped right in.

As Jobs would always be Jobs, he came along with several ideas and product demand for the Macintosh, and soon he clashed with Raskin. But Jobs wasn't going to leave anything for anyone this time.

As a result, Raskin left Apple, leaving Jobs as the new leader of Team Macintosh. The board didn't feel the need to intervene, as the Macintosh was like a side project at the time. The Apple Lisa was the main thing.

As a result, the Macintosh team—a group of young people with big ideas—was far from all the bureaucratic processes of the corporate world. They didn't report to several managers who reported to other managers who treated innovation with scepticism.

They were a small team of closely knitted A players (as Jobs would call them), working in an apartment different from Apple's offices. And all they had was a high-minded 28-year-old Steve Jobs who was trying to prove himself to the Apple board.

Nevertheless, Jobs lobbied his way to get all the necessary funding the team needed to build the Macintosh. But let's get back to Project Lisa

On January 19, 1983, the Apple Lisa launched as the first personal computer with a graphical user interface, featuring far more advanced graphics than those of the text-based interfaces used by competitors, 2MB of RAM, hard disk drive support, etc.

For the first time, a PC would feature windows, icons, menus, and pointers (WIMP), all controlled by a mouse.

With this image, you could see what Apple was pioneering.

Heck, I doubt if I would ever have used a PC if computer interfaces were still text-based.

It was the Apple Lisa that introduced words like mouse, icon, and desktop to the vocabulary of the computing world. (I know you've used these words like 20 times today, but it all began right here with the Apple Lisa. Such words were strange in the early 1980's.)

With these features, the Lisa was meant to take the computing world by storm. However, Apple struck failure for the second time in a row.

You see, the Lisa's multi-task sophisticated operating system and advanced graphics overworked its CPU and storage system, impeding its speed. In addition, fewer computer programs and an outrageous price tag of about $10,000 stamped its doom.

Even though the computer was innovative, IBM’s leading text-based PC was selling for about $1600.

Apple was done. It was as though a curse was placed on them not to do anything better than the Apple II. For stats, in the year of its launch (1983), the Apple LISA sold barely 10,000 units, whereas the Apple II sold over 1 million units.

I guess Apple made the wrong move, thinking customers would sacrifice speed for newer advanced graphics.

With the Apple LISA turning out to be a failure, Apple had one final card to save its name - the Macintosh. Yeah, the same side project that was left for Jobs to demonstrate his folly.

The Macintosh - Marketing Mania to the End of Steve Jobs 

In October 1984, barely 10 months after the LISA's launch, Apple announced the Macintosh (or Macintosh 128K as it would later be called).

For the first time, Apple followed Steve Jobs' "risk it all" approach and went all in to market the Macintosh, spending over $30 million on several unique campaigns.

With John Sculley's wealth of marketing experience and a few other shortlisted agencies, the Macintosh's launch introduced several marketing techniques still employed by tech companies today. (see here)

The killer was the $1.5 million Super Bowl XVIII TV commercial, "1984" directed by Ridley Scott. You have to see this for yourself.

It was the first time a technology company was running a marketing campaign without all the techie buzzwords describing the computer. The 1984 ad didn't even showcase the product it was advertising.

It referenced the dystopian future painted by George Orwell in his popular novel 1984, Big Brother controlling humanity, and a soft jibe at IBM.

Apple's board rejected the idea and asked the team to sell off the Super Bowl ad slot, but Chiat/Day, the ad agency Apple hired, and Steve Jobs persisted. Steve Wozniak even so much loved the ad that he offered to pay for it out of his own pocket.

Regarded as one of the most influential TV ads of all time, "1984" sent shock waves through the PC market. Everyone wanted to lay their hands on a Macintosh.  The New York Times described it as “the ad that helped to establish the Super Bowl as TV's biggest commercial showcase.”

Continue the story online. Emails kinda limit the length.

It was so amazing that many news channels replayed it several times for free. Everybody, not just techies, wanted to know what this new mysterious Apple Computer could do.

The main ad below:

Another one here describing the Mac:

Two days after the ad, Steve Jobs, in his first keynote launch speech, unveiled the Macintosh to a widely enthusiastic audience.

It was an all-in-one desktop (first of its kind) featuring a keyboard, mouse, graphical user interface, 128 KB of RAM, QuickDraw picture language and interpreter in 64 KB of ROM, no cooling fan (Steve Jobs wouldn't stop 😁), a 512×342 pixel one-colour display, and System 1 OS.

The launch of the Macintosh set the standard for every computer after it. We're still living in a Macintosh-induced world today.

This was an epitome of Jobs' interdisciplinary knowledge of technology and liberal arts. He even stated in a quote later in the future how the Calligraphy class influenced the Macintosh's design

Apple finally struck gold with the MacIntosh. Perhaps the Apple II's limitation had been broken. They finally did something revolutionary.

What a happy ending right? Far from it. The main drama's barely started.

While the Macintosh made initial waves, sales started to taper off upon the realisation that most existing text-based and command applications wouldn't work on its GUI-based system.

Developers would have to rewrite their code specifically for just the Macintosh. A daunting task they all shied from. As a result, the Macintosh lacked many popularly needed computer software, especially for the business world.

And as with all platform-esque businesses, when there are not enough incentives to attract creators - developers in this case - you'll never get customers regardless of the magnitude of your innovation.

As sales for the Macintosh declined further, John Sculley and Steve Jobs' relationship took a hit.

Fueled by a clash of vision, the very man Jobs brought to Apple was becoming his main opposition in the company.

To compete with the growing influence of IBM over the PC market, Sculley, as a veteran businessman, wanted Apple to focus on simple open architecture computers like the Apple II which had proven to be the company's major lifeline all through these series of failed launches.

Jobs, on the other hand, preferred systems like the Macintosh which is proving to revolutionise the computing world. He had this vision that computers were meant to be bicycles for the human mind and would do anything to achieve it.

As a result, the Apple II and Macintosh divisions operated like separate companies with different services, cultures, and visions. Jobs had lost any respect he had for Sculley and the Apple II team. The rumours are that he referred to them as a bunch of C players.

With all the drama unfolding at Apple, Wozniak decided he'd had enough. He left Apple, selling most of his huge shareholdings in the process.

However, the Macintosh's failure to defeat IBM's PC strengthened the position of Sculley. And Apple's board did exactly what experienced business executives sitting on a company's board usually do.

Apple was now a big company. They would no longer tolerate the startup-like risk-it-all visionary thinking of an inexperienced Steve Jobs.

They asked Sculley to keep Jobs and his Macintosh division under tight control. But I doubt Sculley would do that. Even though they have their differences, he can't possibly rein in the young man who made him CEO, right?

Oh, yes he can.

In March 1985, about two years after joining the company as CEO, John Sculley ripped Jobs off his position as leader of the Macintosh team. What? Steve Jobs couldn't believe it. His vision of changing the world of computers is at stake here.

But when you encounter someone like Jobs, you know he's never going down without a fight. It’s payback time.

In May 1985, Sculley was leaving the country for business, and on the same day, Apple's board was converging for a meeting. Jobs planned to oust Sculley as CEO in his absence. But what's a good plan without confidants?

Jobs informed his loyalists at Apple of his intentions, including his team member, John Lewis Gasse. With their help, everything was set.

On the D-day of Project takeover, Steve Jobs was shocked to his wits when he saw Sculley at the board meeting.

Unknown to Jobs, Sculley was lining up Gasse to replace him as head of the Macintosh team. And you know what someone like that would do, right? I guess maybe we can't call it snitching in this case.

Gasse revealed the whole plan to Sculley and he cancelled his trip just to make it to the board meeting. He demanded the board choose between him and Jobs. And I believe you already know who they went with.

Within the same month, John Sculley reorganised the whole company, making John Lewis Gasse head of the computer division and Steve Jobs as Apple's chairman. That's a bigger position. One that takes you away from the day-to-day operations of the company.

With such a less active role and lack of support from the board, Jobs' hands were tied. There was no way he was going to change the world now.

He funded his end by ushering in John Sculley as CEO of the company he co-founded.

Steve Jobs resigned from Apple Computers on September 17, 1985, alongside five senior employees.

It is game over for one of America's most innovative persons of the early 1980s. We had such high hopes for him. I guess being radically visionary doesn't pay all the time. Or does it?

Would Apple need this radically visionary risk-it-all attitude to survive what's coming? Will Apple come back begging?

What happens NeXT for young Steve Jobs?

Find out in Part II.

My Two Cents

• We often underrate our ability to make a mighty industry impact because we think we are small or don't have enough resources. If two young college dropouts without little resources could create an invention that changed the world, what’s stopping us?

• Big visions and great ideas aren’t enough. You have to make the customer want to use the product, always.

• I'll leave a question for this last one: How do you find a balance between being radically visionary and the reality of running the business?
  

Some Interesting Finds I Came Across

Framing the Future of the Internet by Packy McCormick of Not Boring

The Practice of Value Investing by Li Lu

Michael's 3 Lessons From Reading Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders Letters Year 1978

Sources

History of Steve Jobs (Full Documentary)

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Old Computers Timeline

A Big Brother?

Apple Lisa Changed the World

Designing the First Apple Macintosh

The Lisa Was Apple’s Best Failure

Apple Inc. (Wikipedia)

Apple I (Wikipedia)

Apple II (Wikipedia)

Apple III (Wikipedia)

Apple Lisa (Wikipedia)

Apple Macintouch (Wikipedia)

and a ton of other resources I can’t recall or find their links

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