Steve Jobs's approach to product design and branding was shaped by the Apple Marketing Philosophy, which was written by Mike Markkula. It had three principles: empathy, focus, and impute. Empathy meant deeply understanding customer feelings. Focus was to eliminate unimportant opportunities and excel in a few things. Impute meant that people judge a product or company by its cover. Jobs also recruited people with a passion for product, and he ruthlessly fired B players.

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Computers in the 70s were for business use and did not have screens and keyboards. Steve Wozniak and Jobs started Apple to market a personal computer that came with a keyboard and screen. Apple II was a commercial success and launched the Personal Computing revolution. In 1980 Apple was valued at $1.79 billion, and Jobs was worth $256 million at only 25. The Apple Marketing Philosophy, written by Mike Markkula, shaped Jobs's approach to product design and branding. It had three principles: empathy, focus and impute. Empathy meant to deeply understand customer feelings. Focus was to eliminate unimportant opportunities and excel in a few things. Impute meant that people judge a product or company by its cover. Jobs recruited people with a passion for product. He would show them the Macintosh prototype, and if they got excited and started to use it, he would hire them. Jobs ruthlessly fired B players. "The Macintosh experience taught me that A players like to work only with other A playe...

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Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography

What principles made Steve Jobs one of the greatest inventors and product visionaries of the 21st century? Biographer Walter Isaacson raises the curt...

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