Yet this apparently disastrous turn of events proved to be a blessing: “the best thing that could have ever happened to me”, Mr Jobs later called it. He co-founded a new firm, Pixar, which specialised in computer graphics. It eventually went on to produce a string of hugely successful movies, including “Toy Story” and “Cars”. Mr Jobs also established NeXT, another computer-maker, which produced sophisticated workstations. Its products were admired for their elegant software, but the company struggled to make money and changed direction repeatedly.
然而这个似乎是灾难性的转折点最终成为了他人生中的一个福祉。乔布斯后来将其成为“可能发生的最佳情况”。他与别人共同创立了皮克斯，这家新公司专攻电脑制图。后来皮克斯生产了包括《玩具总动员》和《汽车总动员》在内的一连串获得巨大成功的影片。乔布斯还创建了另一家电脑制造公司NeXT，这家公司制造高端复杂的工作站电脑。它的产品由于精良的软件而深受喜爱，但这家公司疲于赚钱，而且频繁改变发展方向。
Mr Jobs’s remarkable second act began in 1996 when Apple, having lost its way, acquired NeXT, and Mr Jobs returned to put its software at the heart of anew range of Apple products. And the rest is history: Apple launched the iMac,the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, and (briefly, in August) became the world’s most valuable listed company. “I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple,” Mr Jobs said in 2005. When his failing health forced him to step down as Apple’s boss in August, he was hailed by some as the greatest chief executive in history.
乔布斯出类拔萃的第二乐章开始于1996年。那一年，迷失了前行方向的苹果公司收购了NeXT。乔布斯重返苹果，将一系列新的苹果产品的核心软件换上了他的设计。接下来的历史有目共睹：苹果发布了iMac、iPod、iPhone，以及iPad，并在不久前的8月成为世界最有价值的上市公司。“我非常确信假如我不被苹果解雇的话，这一切将不可能发生”，乔布斯在2005年说道。当他由于每况愈下的健康状况而不得不从苹果老板的席位上退下来的时候，他已成为一些人口中的有史以来最伟大的首席执行官。
Three-way marriage 三位一体，让心灵歌唱
In retrospect, Mr Jobs was a man ahead of his time during his first stint at Apple. Computing’s early years were dominated by technical types. But his emphasis on design and ease of use gave him the edge later on.Elegance, simplicity and an understanding of other fields came to matter in a world in which computers have become fashion items, carried by everyone, that can do almost anything. “Technology alone is not enough,” said Mr Jobs at the end of his speech introducing the iPad 2, in March 2011. “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing.” It was an unusual statement for the head of a technology firm.
回溯既往，乔布斯在苹果的第一段时期是一个超越其时代的人。计算机技术早期是为技术指标所主导的。但他对设计与使用舒适度的强调成为他后来所具有的优势。在这个计算机逐渐变为人人拥有而无所不能的时尚潮物的世界，优雅的设计、简便的操作，以及对其他领域的理解开始产生重要作用。“仅有科技已经不够”，乔布斯在2011年3月iPad 2发布会致闭幕辞时说道，“只有科技与文艺、与人性相结合的结晶才能让我们的心灵放声歌唱。”作为一位科技公司总裁，这样的一番话是很不寻常的。
