Every year since Steve Jobs’ death, Apple CEO Tim Cook has shared a tweet on October 5 celebrating his predecessor’s life and accomplishments. This year is no different. Cook chose a famous Jobs quotation to commemorate his friend’s passing five years ago today. Many other celebrities, journalists, and fans tweeted about Jobs and shared his words on social media.
"Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." Remembering Steve and the many ways he changed our world. pic.twitter.com/ONAuEoq3uU
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 5, 2016
Jobs died in 2011 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He founded Apple in 1977 with Steve Wozniak, but the pair built the Apple I a year prior. It was superseded by the successful Apple II, of which millions were sold.
In 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple after his role was minimized by Apple’s board of directors. The reason? The Macintosh was failing to compete with the personal computer. Jobs also had different ideas about how to develop the architecture of the Macintosh, which contrasted with CEO John Sculley.
Jobs left to create NeXT Inc., a computer company that was later acquired by Apple, marking the return of Jobs as CEO.
Jobs is credited with the success of Apple in the decades after he returned in the 1990s. From the iMac, Mac OS X, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and the iPad, Apple revolutionized several tech markets and has remained in the top ranks of the market.
In August of 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple and lost his life to cancer two months later.
https://twitter.com/waltmossberg/status/783661757608910848
Ever since Cook took the reins, the company has played it safe with only one new product: the Apple Watch. The company is investing in several new services and products to come in the next few years, though, such as self-driving technology, virtual reality, and a smart home voice assistant.
From focusing on the consumer enterprise space with Jobs, the company is now shifting gears to provide more Apple products and services in the education sector.
My favorite things in life don't cost any money. The most precious resource we all have is time. — Steve Jobs pic.twitter.com/U2WNPEbzZ9
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) October 1, 2016
Apple has also sold more under Cook than compared to any other time in its history. It’s the only company with the highest overall cash on hand, coming out to about $233 billion when counting long-term securities, according to Investor’s Business Daily.
We’ll never know what Jobs would have thought about the changes in Apple and the tech industry, but today is a day to wonder what he might’ve said and to remember the magic he brought to the tech world.
