Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is the most detailed and accurate account of the life of the man who created Apple, the most valuable technology company in the world.

The skill that allowed Steve Jobs to create this huge vision for Apple out of nothing was not his obsession for detail, nor his sense for design, simplicity, or aesthetics.

It was his reality distortion field, or RDF in short. The phrase was originally coined by Bud Tribble, part of Steve’s Macintosh team, who borrowed the term from Star Trek.

Talking about Steve’s RDF became a thing, and what it meant, was this:

Once Steve decided that something should happen, he would bend reality to his will until it came true.

This extended to everyone around him. His RDF is how he could convince a sleepless team of engineers to work another 10 hours on Macintosh fonts, because it would be the greatest computer in the world.

He also used it to make sure anyone who left an official Apple keynote was convinced the product they just saw was the best in its industry.

By using charisma, hyperbole, marketing and persistence, Steve would pull impossible feats into the realm of the possible for himself and his audience, allowing him to create what has become the most valuable technology company in the world.

The first thing anyone wonders about upon learning about Apple and its products is where the hell it got that name. They’re not selling smoothie makers, after all.

Of course there are several reasons for the name, one being that Steve was often experimenting with fruitarian diets, and, since he really liked apples, had been on an apple farm the same day the name had to be decided for official filing to the government.

Another reason is that “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”, a quote by Leonardo DaVinci, was the slogan for Apple’s first brochure, and Steve felt the apple symbolized this quote really well.

But the one major reason for Apple’s name has nothing to do with personal preferences and symbolism, it’s a simple, clear-cut business decision: Apple comes before Atari in the phonebook.

Steve had worked at Atari before, and didn’t want people to see his competitor first, when looking for a computer company.

I’m not sure if “Phaser Beam Computers” was ever in play (Matrix Electronics definitely was), but the discussion about the name is also one of the funniest scenes of the 2013 Jobs movie.

Have you ever wondered who Steve Jobs became a billionaire? Everyone assumes all of his money came from Apple, but his bank account actually made the biggest jump on a whole other project. After being fired from Apple in 1985, Steve really sunk…