Maybe this is the least important thing that can be said about Steve Jobs right now. But it’s true. He was a good capitalist, and that means he was a good loser.
Not a graceful one. The tirade he unleashed on employees in 2008 after the botched launch of MobileMe is proof of that. Jobs, however, didn’t blame customers or competitors for Apple’s failures. Jobs didn’t ask the government for bailout when Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy fifteen years ago (he went to Microsoft’s Bill Gates).
Apple’s co-founder may never have respected focus groups — or the mob of reporters who followed his company’s every move — but he respected the verdicts of the market, and of individual critics who were willing to call out Apple when it stumbled. The result was a better product.
It’s hard to hate a man, no matter how rich, who brings you things that are so useful, and delightful, and asks for only a few dollars in return. Nicole Gelinas, at libertarian-leaning City Journal teases out something interesting about the left-leaning protesters who have camped out on Wall Street. They may not understand capitalism, but they love a good capitalist.
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