Monday, February 23, 2004

Fortune.com - Technology - What Does Steve Jobs Want?

Fortune.com - Technology - What Does Steve Jobs Want? "Machiavellian minds see the recent Pixar-Disney brouhaha—when Steve Jobs abruptly abandoned talks to extend the animation boutique's partnership with the venerable Hollywood studio—as much more than a soap opera. In light of Jobs' stunning success with Apple Computer's iTunes music-download service and iPod player, they view Pixar and Apple as Trojan horses that Jobs can ride into the executive suite of some bigger, more storied company.
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s not that Jobs isn't one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs the world has ever seen. He is. But he is most effective when he is in his own sandbox. And despite his reputation for being impulsive, Steve can be as patient as they come. It would have been easy simply to have shut down Pixar during those first difficult 12 years. Or never to have returned to Apple after he quit in a huff in 1985. Apple and Pixar are the brands he cares about, not Disney or Sony. So it's far more likely that Jobs will continue to operate the way he always has, with a stubborn independence and unique creativity that give him a special kind of clout he would lose if he were a captain of the establishment. Like George Lucas, the independent filmmaker from whom he purchased Pixar, Steve wants to write his own script."

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