Four Things Steve Jobs Did Wrong

Steve Jobs, rest his soul, was one of the most incredible minds of our time. As the CEO of the revolutionary company Apple, his name became a household one synonymous with tech success and innovation. Jobs became a billionaire by doing so many things right – but that doesn’t mean he never did anything seriously wrong along the way. Here’s a look at four major things Steve Jobs did wrong.

Stock Mistakes

When Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in the 1980’s, he decided to dump all of his stock out of bitterness and resentment. It was a foolish move considering how successful Apple became. Jobs knew the potential that the company had, yet he let his emotions get in the way of smart investing. When Jobs became CEO of Apple later, he was accused of backdating stock options, a move that could have landed him a prison term. As wealthy as Jobs became even after his first mistake of not holding onto his Apple stock, you’d think he’d have been a little more careful and a little less greedy the second time.

Early Exclusivity with AT&T

In the beginning days of the iPhone, Steve Jobs and Apple partnered exclusively with AT&T. He did not allow the iPhone to be offered on other networks like Verizon. Because Jobs wasn’t willing to work with the company, Verizon had to find another way to offer its customers the smartphone they desired. Verizon came out with the DROID phone, and now Google has a large share of the smartphone market. By not welcoming other networks from the beginning, Jobs lost out on a smartphone monopoly and allowed Google to achieve more success than it might have otherwise with Android phones. 

Public Reputation

Steve Jobs had a reputation as being an incredible visionary in the world of technology, but he also had the reputation of being kind of an asshole. Jobs was known as a perfectionist who was hard to get along with, aggressive, and even mean. He didn’t seem to care too much about this image, and frankly, he didn’t need to – Apple was going to remain incredibly successful regardless of his personality. His total lack of philanthropy for a long time didn’t bode well for his legacy. He is a respected legend, but he will always be known for his lackluster efforts to do any charitable work with his fortune. 

Keeping Eric Schmidt on Apple’s Board 

The Chief of Google Eric Schmidt was on Apple’s Board of Directors from 2006-2009. Steve Jobs thought this was a mutually beneficial decision that would allow the two super companies to collaborate, and that it would bode even better for Apple. It worked for a while, but eventually Schmidt was dismissed from the board as the competition between Apple and Google increased. Jobs accused Schmidt of stealing ideas from Apple, especially for the Android phone. The trust Jobs had in Schmidt eventually resulted in Google becoming a legitimate competitor to Apple in all major areas of technology. 

About the Author:
Charlie Adams is a tech guru and massive fan of Steve Jobs who loves to write about his interests. To ensure all his writing is clean and free of grammatical errors he proofs it using a grammar checker. The software helps his maintain professional work that abides by all the grammar rules.