Steve Jobs: No Retrospective Can Put His Genius in Perspective

While big-ego computer tycoons aimed at world domination, Steve Jobs said, "I want to make a dent in the universe."

A newspaper headline from southern Germany:

"The Death of a Magician. Steve Jobs created magical products, his presentations were magical, and so was his confidence."

Steve Jobs’s first TV interview in 1978:

During the sound check, a very nervous Steve Jobs said, "You need to tell me where the restroom is, because I am definitely ill. Actually, I am ready to throw up at any moment."

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg:

"Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life."

A documentary on memory and imagination:

"A computer is to me the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."

President Calderon of Mexico:

"The world has lost one of the most visionary minds of our time. Steve Jobs left us an example of struggle, inspiration, and creativity."

President Barack Obama:

"By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity."

Steve Jobs speaks at Stanford University in 2005:

For the first time, Steven Jobs spoke about his private life and told the audience that he was adopted and dropped out of college.

"College was not that romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposit to buy food with, and I would walk seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

"It was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very clear looking backward ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will connect somehow in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference."

Steve Jobs, the rock-star salesman, married science with art.

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak said during an Intel Corp conference in August 2008, "Every time I designed something great from when we were very young, he would say, 'Let's sell it.' It was always his idea to sell it."

Steve Jobs introduced the first Apple store in 2001.

Steve Jobs and his presentation magic – a must-view for any salesperson:

He always took the long view in legal disputes.

The Beatles introduced Apple Records in 1978. There were a number of trademark disputes between Apple Corps Ltd. (owned by The Beatles) and Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) over competing trademark rights. The courts handed down a judgment in favor of Apple Computer. The legal dispute dragged on for 28 years.

After his biggest failure, he walked on the path of innovation.

After being ousted by Apple, Jobs bought a production company from George Lucas in 1986 for $10 million. He named the computer-animation studio Pixar and signed a distribution deal with Walt Disney.

Pixar created computer-animated movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, and Monsters, Inc. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar for $8 billion.

To Steve Jobs, money was fairly meaningless:

"When I was 23, I had a million dollars; at 24, I had 10 million; and at 25, I had over $100 million. But this wasn't important, because I never did this for the money." In 2010, his salary at Apple was $1 a year. In 2010, Forbes estimated his wealth at $8.3 billion.

Apple is like a bank with $80 billion in the vault.

Douglas Kass, founder and president of Seabreeze Capital, said yesterday, "His legacy is that Apple is built to last with almost $80 billion in cash. It is an insurance policy for the company to maintain its future market-share leadership." Kass added, "No other competitor is anywhere close to being as well positioned over the next decade."

Steve Jobs quietly enjoyed the luxuries that came with success.