iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
posted in Nonfiction |
Steve Jobs is one of early pioneers and a cult personality who played a significant part in shaping the computing industry. He dropped out off college to start Apple computers, making it a successful business venture only to be thrown out of the company he co-founded.
This book tells the story of Steve Jobs, his early days, his creation of Apple computers, his meteoric rise to become one of most popular personalities of the computing industry, his devastating fall from the top and from his own company, his fight back, acquisition of Pixar animation studios, how he again became the chairman of Apple computers and how he took it from success to success by continuously inventing, innovating and always staying miles ahead of his competition.
Drawing on a wide range of sources in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, Jeffrey Young, author of the first-ever Jobs biography, and coauthor William Simon provide new perspectives on the legendary creation of Apple in a Silicon Valley garage and detail Jobs’s meteoric rise as the prototypical digital wunderkind and the devastating plunge that left him not only out of Apple, but out of the computer-making business entirely.
Steve Jobs rose from an outcast high school electronics nerd and college dropout to become the driving force behind Apple and avatar of the computer revolution, only to be driven from the company in failure and disgrace. Then, having endured repeated personal and professional disasters, he went on to make an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, reclaim the throne at Apple, and, with the extraordinary success of the iPod, regain his reputation as arguably the greatest innovator of the digital age.
This book tells how Jobs negotiated with George Lucas for the purchase of his computer animation business (at one-third of the asking price) and outmaneuvered his partners into settling for a modest percentage of what would become Pixar animation studios, keeping the remainder for himself. The book also involves how Pixar became an exceptional company with a string of his including Toy Story. This newly updated edition includes the details of the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
The most dramatic, and, no doubt, most satisfying of Jobs’s achievements during the second act was his recapture of Apple, ten years after being booted out of the company, in a brilliant planned and execyted takeover. The authors examine the takeover and Jobs’s reinvention of the company with the very popular iMac and his transformation of the industry, and again the culture, with the revolutionary iPod series of products.
iCon is must reading for anyone who wants to understand how the modern digital age has been formed, shaped, and refined by a person not once but many times. The greatness of the person is fully understood when one realizes how he fought multiple setbacks—being ousted from his own company and fighting and coming out of a life threatening disease. This is the success story of a person who have beat all the odds and came out winning to become one of the most distinguished and respected expert in three crucial segments of our lives—computers, music, and movies.
Book Details:
- Author: Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon
- Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Year: 2005
- ISBN: 0471787841
- Cover & Page Count: Paperback, 359 Pages
You can order online at Amazon.