Steve Jobs was out to change the world. He said so on more than one occasion, and yelled it on others. He irrevocably altered the worlds of computers, communication, cinema and creative arts: His products sent tremors through the markets they entered and created new landscapes for others to build upon. These 10 products represent Steve Jobs’ most iconic creations –perfect blends of groundbreaking tech, sleek design, keen marketing, and most importantly, Steve himself.
Apple II (1977)
The Apple II was Apple’s first major success. It was the first computer to come in a plastic case, which helped the personal computer progress from hobbyist obsession to consumer product. The computer brought IT power into small and medium businesses, and its success drove Jobs’ belief that design could help bridge the gap between computers and ordinary people.
Macintosh (1984)
“The computer for the rest of us” introduced the mouse and graphical user interfaces to a mainstream audience; two revolutionary innovations that contributed to make a computer so simple, so intuitive, that a child could understand it. The Macintosh created a consumer expectation that computers could be sleek, simple and user-friendly.
Pixar (1986)
Jobs left Apple in 1985, and the year following, bought a small animation studio from Lucasfilm for $5 million. In 1995, folowing the release of Toy Story, he finally saw the fruits of Pixar’s labors. For the next decade and a half, the studio produced blockbuster after blockbuster, changing the landscape of the entertainment business. In 2006, Jobs sold Pixar to Disney for $7.4 billion; to date, the studio has taken home 10 Oscars and been nominated for 30 more.
Mac OS X (2001)
The tenth edition of Apple’s core operating system didn’t start its life at Apple. Its origins lie in work that Jobs and his team did on NeXTSTEP, an operating system built at NeXT, the company he founded after leaving Apple in 1985. Apple bought NeXT in 1997; soon after Jobs resumed his CEO duties, and the OS was adopted for future release. OS X has proven so successful and versatile that it was adapted as iOS for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
iTunes (2001) / iTunes Store (2001)
The iTunes media player software allowed users to organize their digital music collection; paired with the iTunes Store, it revolutionized the music business and changed the way we consume our media. After a court-ordered injunction brought down the music-sharing service Napster, industry insiders were still trying to figure out how to retrain consumers to pay for music: Jobs’ answer was ease of use and convenience. iTunes now sells millions of tracks a day, yielding billions in revenue.
iPod (2001)
The iPod didn’t just change how we store our music: It changed how we listen to it. No longer limited to a CD at a time, users could listen to single after single, making the track significantly more important than the album it was released on. With its signature click wheel, the iPod became an icon of Apple’s unmatched capacity for simplicity in design and insight into pure usability.
iPhone (2007)
The iPhone struck the telecommunications world like a lightning bolt, and changed mobile computing profoundly. It wasn’t the first phone with a touch screen, but it was the first that felt intuitive and fun. For the first time a phone boasted software and hardware that were perfectly in sync.
iOS App Store (2008)
The App Store took a revolutionary product –the iPhone– and took it to another level, where suddenly the user experience could change near-instantly. Need a piece of software to finish a job, or a game to entertain you for a few minutes? The App store put a world of software at your fingertips. It also created a massive infrastructure for independent developers, allowing them to easily distribute their work and make money from every sale. As of January 2011, more than 10 billion apps had been downloaded from the store.
iPad (2010)
Critics laughed when the name of Apple’s tablet was released, but nobody’s laughing now. The iPad made mobile computing easy, accessible and fun –and brought publishers of print media clamoring to make tablet editions. It wasn’t the first tablet on the scene, but it was the first without a stylus or a keyboard: By the end of 2010 it had 75 percent of the tablet computer market share.
The Apple Image
It’s not a product per se, but Steve Jobs’ ability to make technology cool may be his greatest achievement. From the 1984 ad positioning the Macintosh as liberator in a dystopian world dominated by the PC; to the mid-90s campaign where Albert Einstein and Jim Henson encouraged consumers to “Think Different”; to Steve’s iconic product launches, clad in black mock turtleneck and white New Balance sneakers… Steve Jobs made computers hip, sexy and personable.
[Forbes]
