three years. It also slowed down the completion of the computer,
which was not released until 1988. It was a sleek black cube
with groundbreaking multimedia capabilities such as full motion
video, animation, and the ability to record and store voice mes-
sages. However, these innovations came at a steep price. The
computer cost $6,500, much more than the average college pro-
fessor or student could afford. And, although universities were
impressed with the machine, most universities received donated
business computers for free, so they were reluctant to purchase
Jobs’s creation. The computer did not sell and the company that
Jobs thought would be his greatest triumph was losing money.
Pixar
At the same time that Jobs was starting up NeXT, he got involved
in another business venture. In 1986, he bought controlling
shares in the computer graphics division of Star Wars producer
George Lucas’s film company for $10 million. At the time, the
company, which Jobs renamed Pixar, was developing computer-
generated imagery, which they hoped would replace tradition-
al special effects and hand-drawn animated movies. They had
already created a computer and special software for this purpose.
The computer was extremely technical and expensive, costing
$135,000. When Jobs saw their work, he was awestruck.
Jobs got the idea of producing and selling the Pixar com-
puter. He imagined doctors using it to enhance MRI and X-ray
results, or to create three-dimensional images of a patient’s body.
Although such technology is now common, at the time hospi-
tals were reluctant to spend $135,000 for the machine, and the
computer failed to sell.
At the same time, Pixar’s animation division was losing money
at a rapid pace, and it all was coming out of Jobs’s pocket. Jobs
considered shutting down the animation division of the company.
But he believed that given time to develop, computer animation
would change motion pictures. He did not interfere with the
company’s creative division because he knew very little about
computer animation. Instead, he wrote check after check to keep
Down but Not Out
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