Steve Jobs was 30 years old at the time.. Just at the moment when the board of directors of the company he had founded asked him to leave the position. A turning point that, as he himself later recognized, was a blessing, as it allowed him to explore other perspectives before returning to an Apple ready to place it where he is right now.
What would have become of Apple?
The year was 1985 when Steve Jobs was forced to leave his company. But not only his company, also his approach. Steve Jobs’s project was to bring a computer to each one of us, to simplify computing and bring technology closer to all audiences. When he saw himself outside of Apple his enthusiasm and innovative nature had to take another approach.
One of the ones he took was sign up to fly on the Space Shuttle as a civilian astronaut. An astronaut classification that does not come from the air force or the military, but who goes through the same training and education to be part of the crew. As we are reminded at INC.com, Steve Jobs was not accepted for the assignment.
Nor did he carry out the idea of open a computer company in the Soviet Union, what he did do was get excited about an animation studio that had a curious film proposal in hand. The one that was later released as Toy Story was one of Steve Jobs’ projects at Pixar, which he later sold to Disney.
Also, as we already know, he founded NeXT, the company that brought him back to Apple with an operating system which laid the foundation for the current macOS. Fortunately, Steve Jobs was able to focus his creativity in the best possible way, one that, as he himself admits, allowed him to explore other possibilities before his return to Apple.
Who knows what could have become of Apple if the man who was driving without a license plate in his Mercedes had entered as part of the crew of the Space Shuttle. We can only imagine it. But it seems clear that Apple’s position today is, in part, thanks to Steve Jobs, Although he wanted to be an astronaut, he remained dedicated to his passion for computers and technology..
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DISCLAIMER | The cover photo is a montage to illustrate this article.