‘Apple and Steve both embody the spirit of the Silicon Valley. Steve has changed the computer industry, the film industry as well as the music industry’

A company that I deeply admire is Apple and Apple is nothing without Steve Jobs. I admire both.

They both embody the spirit of the Silicon Valley. Business would never be the same after ?the valley? came into existence. The mottos were ? Break existing rules of business, Spawn new ideas, create products to ?Change the world?. It gave the term ?entrepreneurship? a new meaning. Terms like start-ups, VC funding, IPO became the buzz. And the valley CEOs never wore ties and suits. They wore T-shirts and jeans and rode bikes to work. The valley truly changed the world of business.

Steve Jobs was a cult figure in this revolution. Steve delivers annual results of Apple in a black turtleneck sweater and blue jeans to an eager audience.

It is rare that in one working life, a person can change the course of three industries ? Steve has changed the computer industry (via the Mac), the film industry (creating a market for animation films through Pixar films) and the music industry (iPod and iTunes).

Steve runs a technology business but in college he learnt calligraphy and became a student of Zen meditation. These would have a profound influence on shaping Apple.

The three key reasons why I admire Apple are:

• Apple made ?Design? its strategy: When other computers look all the same, Apple paid a lot of attention to the design aspect of the machine. Apple machines look like a work of art! Sleek, smart and clean lines. They designed the famous Graphics user interface (GUI) that allowed users to do work with a mouse and ?menus? on the screen. Microsoft copied the concept completely. Better design allows Apple to charge more for the product and attract new segments of the population to the product. Students, home-users, creative people (media, advertising, film, photographers) prefer Apple machines to anything else. The ultimate design triumph from Apple came as the iPod. Flash-based mp3 player technology was a decade old. But the way Apple designed this cool-looking, simple-to-use gadget changed the course of the music industry.

• Apple has built a fanatically loyal customer base and loyal employees: Apple and Steve Jobs have a cult following around the world. Apple customers keep buying more and they are the best advertising for the company. It is the same with Apple?s employees. Over the years, Apple has developed an aura of a ?cool? company that attracts bright, young talent and its employees are extremely loyal.

• Apple has never hesitated to swim against the tide: It only has about 5% of the PC market but it chose that position. Apple pitches PCVs the Mac. The Apple ads suggest PC personality to be a boring, average common-man to Mac person being a smart, young man. Through thick and thin (it once came close to bankruptcy once), Apple has not diluted its core values and vision for the company.

Therefore to me, Apple defines the new rules of successful global business.