Wozniak's insistence on eight expansion slots for the Apple II, against Jobs's preference for two, created a third-party ecosystem that drove sales. This open architecture's success funded the company, enabling the development of Jobs's later closed-system products.

A significant motivation for Steve Jobs at NeXT was revenge against Apple. This led to poor strategic decisions, like running attack ads with no product to sell, wasting resources and focus that should have been dedicated to product development and achieving product-market fit.

Exemplifying extreme strategic foresight, Steve Jobs had Apple's team secretly prepare macOS for Intel's architecture years before the public transition. This long-term preparation de-risked a massive platform shift and demonstrated a masterclass in proactively building future options without alerting competitors.

The young Steve Jobs famously vilified IBM in the iconic "1984" ad. However, upon returning to a failing Apple, the older Jobs recognized his own operational weaknesses. He hired a wave of talent from IBM, including Tim Cook, to instill the discipline in logistics, procurement, and manufacturing that he had previously disdained.

Apple's current success, particularly with Apple Silicon, is the result of long-term strategic decisions made by Steve Jobs in the late 2000s. The company is accused of milking these past innovations for profit while failing to launch its own visionary, "skate to where the puck is going" projects.

When Apple was about to acquire a rival operating system, a mid-level NeXT manager made a cold call that led to a voicemail for Apple's CTO. That single, proactive message initiated the acquisition talks for NeXT, which brought Steve Jobs back and ultimately saved Apple from bankruptcy.

Peter Thiel argues that Steve Jobs' most significant contribution wasn't product aesthetics, but the definitive, multi-year strategic plans he designed for Apple's product creation and distribution, enabling its long-term dominance.

Contrary to the "invent it all" perception, an early iPhone engineer claims Apple's Google AI partnership is a strategy Steve Jobs would have endorsed. Jobs often integrated external technology (like touchscreens) rather than building from scratch. He would have seen foundation models as a commodity and focused Apple's efforts on the user-facing application layer.

The 'Steve Jobs' lone genius model is a myth. His initial success was short-lived, and he was fired. Apple's sustainable dominance came after he returned and balanced his visionary 'artist' style with the operational discipline of 'soldiers' like Tim Cook, proving both are necessary.