APPLE POLISHER COMPANY Apple Computer Inc.; Pixar Animation Studios, Co-founder and interim CEO; chairman and CEO NET WORTH $1.5 billion AGE 44 ADDRESSwww.apple.com BIO Steve Jobs has been back at the core of Apple for more than two years, despite
his continuing official role as "interim" CEO. After delivering last year's
knockout punch to the PC world by introducing the iMac, he has brought out its
seductively cute sibling, the portable iBook. Meanwhile, he's still hanging on to
the top job at his award-winning animation studio, Pixar. Job titles aside, Jobs
has done more for his old company--and for the sheer coolness of the way
computers look--than any "permanent" executive in the Valley.
Jobs has always been one to think different, as the Apple ad slogan goes. His
transformation from a shaggy-haired hippie making machines in his parents' garage
to a controlling high-tech visionary was glorified this spring when Noah Wyle
played young Jobs on TV in Pirates of Silicon Valley. Whatever he does, he always
inspires--whether he's pushing a bubble-shaped tangerine machine or Toy Story's
sequel. BEST LINE "It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led
and how much you get it." FORWARD TILT If sales of the iBook come anywhere close to those of last year's
groundbreaking iMac, Jobs will have a winner on his hands. Sounds as if Apple
isn't doomed after all.
