Jealous of Steve Jobs, Inc.
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 by Mark | Posted in Business, Entrepreneur, Management, Small Business, Unconventional Thinking | Comments
There is a thriving industry in this country that mass-produces jealousy of Steve Jobs. You hear “commercials” for the “product” every day. Jobs is a bastard. Jobs is imperious. Jobs never created anything. Jobs demeans everyone he meets. Jobs told Martha to sell on inside information. Jobs made Paris Hilton drive with Grey Goose on the brain.
Do you know how much Jobs cares about this water cooler crap? Put the smallest possible living organism under a microscope and what you see amounts to a googleplex more than Jobs cares about the anti-Jobs bile. Which is precisely the amount of attention it deserves. Now this blog is not really about Jobs, because I couldn’t care less about him. But I am highly impressed with highly successful people and Jobs fills that bill cubed.
Jobs set out in life to join the elite– the top 25. Millions do the same; 25 make it. How do they do it?
- They never listen to petty chatter
- They have no time for losers
- They never play by the rules…they write them
- They dream and innovate. Dream and innovate!
- They are self-made kings and queens
And what do they get for all of this drive and guts and determination and originality? Just all the fun, all the money, and all the power in the world.
And the knowledge that they make a difference.
Mark Stevens
CEO
CEO
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June 21st, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Hi Mark,
My husband and I were discussing this issue. Here’s what I’m thinking. There’s no way that Bill Gates would put up that kind of money to bail a company out and not be getting a hefty piece of the pie. So, I’m thinking, he can’t really be too upset about the whole thing. After all, he’s profiting handsomely from the spike in sales and from all the hoopla, right?
I’d like to know what you think.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Hi Mark,
Great blog – I love your straight forward talking.
Apple have always marketed using a “them and us” strategy. First it was IBM in the 80’s and then it became Microsoft in the 90’s. It’s part of what makes Apple so appealing and ‘cool’ “The little guys beating the big guys” the David and Goliath.
I am sure, as Dianna and her husband say, Bill doesn’t mind. It’s entertaining and fun anf makes the industry so much more interesting.
June 24th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
In 1997, Microsoft agreed to buy and hold $150 million in non-voting stock for several years. For 1997, Apple reported over $1.2 billion in cash and $3.4 billion in current assets. Apple didn’t need an another $0.15 billion investment from Microsoft in order to survive.
There’s various theories regarding this Microsoft investment, including Apple foregoing a suit against Microsoft for stolen code, and Microsoft trying to influence its anti-trust trial that started in 1998.
Anyway, Microsoft no longer holds these stocks.
June 24th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Microsoft never bailed Apple out. When they made a US$150 million investment in non-voting Apple stock in 1997, Apple had over US$1 billion in cash and cash equivalents according to their 10-Q statement (see http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?FilingID=251804&Type=HTML).
That Microsoft investment was spare change, for both Apple and Microsoft.
Microsoft has since sold that stock (at a good profit), so they’re no longer profiting in any way from Apple’s fortunes now.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Hello Mark
I totally agree. Recently I have been assessing my own attitude to change and extrapolating it to the world. If we let naysayers and scoffers discourage us then we have already failed.
later
June 25th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Dianna Hobs lives under the misconception that Bill Gates “put up that kind of money to bail” Apple. She needs to do a simple Google seach using ‘Canyon Software Intel Microsoft lawsuit’. The results will show that Apple forced Microsoft into a large (reportedly multi-billion dollar) out of court settlement over theft of code that occurred in 1994. The $150M “investment” by Microsoft the media reported as “saving” Apple from collapse was in fact part of the settlement. Steve Jobs allowed Bill Gates to save face by publicly announcing the stock purchase.
June 25th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I guess I’ve been taken to school, huh? Whatever actually took place, I’m inclined to agree with Carl Pullein. It’s pretty interesting to watch as the events unfold. I’m interested to see who will emerge as “King of the Hill” five years from now. With new technologies popping up everywhere and the internet so rapidly evolving, the most innovative will survive.