Apple, the world's second most valuable company with a market capitalization of over $3.6 trillion, turns 50 in a couple of days.
Founded on 1 April, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne to market the Apple I personal computer, the firm started operating from Jobs' parents' home in Palo Alto to becoming a multi-trillion behemoth that shaped modern consumer technology.
While Jobs work on consumer electronics was revolutionary and laid the foundation of modern technological thinking on the subject, his views on non-conformity are equally important, and carry considerable weight.
Quote of the Day by Steve Jobs “Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
What does Steve Jobs' quote mean? Steve Jobs' legacy in technology is often associated with the phrase "Think Different"—a slogan coined for Apple's famous advertising campaign—which is frequently cited to celebrate those who challenge the conventional.
While navigating the early landscape of Silicon Valley, Jobs came face to face with the rigid, bureaucratic mindset of the computing industry, especially at legacy tech giants.
Coming from a background influenced by 1960s counterculture and Zen Buddhism, Jobs was frustrated by the lack of imagination and aesthetic sensibility he saw in the industry. His observations during his early career heavily influenced his worldview, making him realize that technological stagnation was not the result of a lack of capability, but the outcome of uninspired corporate institutions run by cautious men.
In the quote above, Jobs unequivocally states that "rules" and the "status quo" cannot be defended at the expense of human progress: if society is stagnant, unimaginative, or held back because of the way our industries, educational systems, and social frameworks operate, then the "misfits" who shatter them are the ones to be celebrated.
Jobs' words here present an argument that asserts that society must place absolute value on the very rebels and troublemakers it often tries to suppress.
Who was Steve Jobs? Prior to Jobs, most people believed that computers were purely utilitarian business tools, designed exactly as they appeared then—complex and inaccessible to the average person.
Born in San Francisco in 1955, Steven Paul Jobs grew up at the epicenter of the emerging electronics boom that would eventually become Silicon Valley.
Alongside his friend Steve Wozniak, Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 from his parents' working-class garage. While Wozniak provided the engineering expertise, it was Jobs who possessed the foresight to package otherwise intimidating computers into intuitive, consumer-friendly devices, culminating in the landmark release of the Macintosh in 1984, which introduced the graphical user interface to the masses.
However, Jobs' uncompromising nature and erratic leadership style led to his infamous ouster from Apple in 1985. Free from corporate bureaucracy, Jobs spent his exile venturing into new territories, funding the computer graphics division that would become Pixar Animation Studios, and founding NeXT. His eventual return to a struggling Apple in 1997 set the stage for one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in modern history.
Over the following decade and a half, Jobs orchestrated a string of blockbuster innovations—including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad—that entirely redefined global industries, from telecommunications to digital music.