A Glance Into The Steve Jobs Empire

This past year has been a good one for technology giant Apple Inc (AAPL), which saw consumers scrambling for iPhones, iPods, MacBooks and all the trendy accessories that hipsters couldn’t do without. Another growing factor into the company’s success is now its physical retail stores devoted to everything Apple, from which 20 percent of revenues are derived. The physical design and details of the stores combined with the unique approach to customer service is said to be what draws first-time customers in and brings them back time and again (see article by Katie Hafner in The New York Times).

In analyzing the mass appeal and success of Apple, we must look directly to the company’s Co-Founder and CEO, Steven P Jobs. NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the notable past and present connections of Jobs, who likely had no idea more than three decades ago when he co-founded Apple, the global presence the company would eventually achieve.

Though Jobs is most commonly associated with Apple, the IntellectSpace Knowledge Map reveals other notable companies that he has had a large hand in forming. He is the Co-Founder of NeXT Inc, a software company now owned by Apple, and also Co-Founder of Pixar Animation, which has seen huge success over the last decade thanks to the growth of CG technology.

Other noteworthy connections illustrated on the Knowledge Map are his ties as a Director to The Walt Disney Company and Gap, as well as to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where Jobs was enrolled for only one semester.

Given Jobs’ roles in forming and leading some of the most successful companies of today, it’s not unlikely that we’ll be seeing his name in headlines for years to come.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Comments

[JohnBlackburn]

The idea of mapping Job's empire is intriguing. But this article offers nothing new and includes spurious connections like Reeds College. If one college semester 30 years ago constitutes a "connection"... Jobs has any number of more powerful connections than that. Like, say, his connection to Al Gore, which connects him also to Current TV and the entire Democratic party. You read more about Jobs and Apple at watchingapple.com.

[Brewer]

That's true. Also, the connection to Larry Elison and also to Google though interlocking directorates bears mention.

Somebody needs to take Sociology 101...

[Webster]

The "connection" is more valid if you include things like product sand software ideas "iNOvations" that Stevie STOLE from other companies and people, which then Stevie Gods claimed as his epiphanies. True ideas (products) like the RIO MP3 player, Psion handheld PDA, Konfabulator (blatant theft in the creation of OS X widgets), BSD, the Xerox mouse and GUI, one piece computers like the Osborne - Kaypro - Compaq that predate the Korean made iMac, Lucents WiFi AP (that's what's inside the first Airport), all those Sony designed and manufactured PowerBooks, etc. etc. etc.

The truly BEST Connection is any circus sideshow con-artist and Stevie Gods, er, Jobs. But Stevie sure can make illegal Stock Options Fraud disappear real quick, can't he?

[Brewer]

Webster, you need to get professional help.

RIO player? That is a joke, right? No firewire on that one, so how long would it take to load an album? Although the newer models use USB II (got to bring along the PC users somehow) firewire is what really made the iPod shine in the beginning. And that was a TOTAL Apple invention, in fact, USB was 'stolen' (to use your language, it was an open standard as is most all Apple's stuff from that time on) from Apple. And the RIO looked like what? Did it even fit in your pocket? Hardly.

It's not all about who did it first, but if you look at the facts, Apple did it first more than any other company, especially loser companies like RIO, Sony, Kaypro, etc... And Apple partnered with Lucent. In any case, Apple had wireless (and wireless that was not obsolete in a year or two, such as the 802.11a that was touted by nearly EVERY PC company) before ANY other computer manufacturer. What's more, Apple is one of the few that, to this day, offer a truly built in approach to wireless (and do not rely on clunky PC (PCMCIA) cards.