creating more innovative devices that Jobs believed the public
would love. One of the most inventive was the iPhone, which
debuted in 2007. It was a stylish, simple to use cellular phone,
which also served as a handheld mini-computer. With it, Jobs
reinvented the telephone. It was the first device of its kind.
Jobs got the idea for the phone because he did not like his cell
phone. He wanted a phone with more power and versatility. If,
he reasoned, Apple could install the same operating system on
a cell phone as they used on their computers, the phone would
have much the same capabilities of a computer. And, since Apple
had already worked with miniaturizing technology with the iPod,
creating such a device did not seem like an impossible task. He
explains:
We all had cell phones. We just hated them, they were awful
to use. The software was terrible. The hardware wasn’t very
good. We talked to our friends and they all hated their cell
phones too. Everybody seemed to hate their phone. And
we saw that these things really could become much more
powerful and interesting to license. . . . It was a great chal-
lenge. Let’s make a great phone that we fall in love with. And
we’ve got the technology. We’ve got the miniaturization from
the iPod. We’ve got the sophisticated operating system from
Mac. Nobody had ever thought about putting an operating
system as sophisticated as OS X inside a phone, so that was
a real question. We had a big debate inside the company
whether we could do that or not. And that was one where I
had to adjudicate it and just say, “We’re going to do it. Let’s
try.” The smartest software guys were saying they can do it,
so let’s give them a shot. And they did. 59
The iPhone was a huge success. And, although Jobs was deeply
involved with Apple, he had not forgotten about Pixar. Under
Jobs’s leadership, the company was producing one blockbuster
hit after another. By 2001, Pixar had earned $2.5 billion, making
it one of the most successful movie studios of all time.
In 2003, Disney’s contract with Pixar ran out. It took years for
Jobs to negotiate another contract to his liking. He knew that
80 Steve Jobs