5 CHAPTER ONE The audience cheered as Steve Jobs took the stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco California It was March 2 2011 Many people in the audience were surprised to see him Jobs had been battling pancreatic cancer for several years He was on sick leave from his position as the chief executive officer CEO of Apple Inc He had founded the company in 1976 Now Jobs looked Jobs was famous for his onstage product announcements THE YEAR OF THE IPAD 2
What’s in a Name The computer company Jobs founded in 1976 needed a name Jobs was on an all-fruit diet at the time He had just returned from an apple orchard near Portland Oregon He decided Apple would be a fun name for a computer company Personal computers were a new technology Some consumers felt they would be too complicated to use Jobs thought connecting the word apple with computer would make the machines feel friendlier 6 frail but also excited He stood onstage wearing his usual black shirt jeans and running shoes He had come to launch Apple’s newest product the iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet Tablets are flat rectangular computers People interact with them using large touchscreens The devices can run games play music browse the Internet and run all kinds of programs Before talking about the iPad 2 Jobs updated the audience on its predecessor The first iPad had been hugely successful More than 15 million were sold Jobs called it the most successful consumer product in history
The iPad 2 was released on March 11 nine days after J o b s s p r e s e n t a t i o n Jobs predicted the new device would be just as successful He said 2011 would be remembered as the year of the iPad 2 As it turned out Jobs did not live to see the end of the year He died of cancer on October 5 2011 He was 56 years old 7
