This article was taken from the July 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
I first met Steve Jobs about six months before the launch of the first UK iPhone. I was trying to explain the European mobile market and consumer. When you listen to Steve talk about a market or product area, you get an amazing insight into why Apple is the extraordinary business it is. One comment stuck in my mind: Jobs said he believed that Apple had a good chance of succeeding in the mobile market, because Apple is a software company and the people they would compete with were all hardware companies.
It sounded prescient at the time, but it is the most succinct way of describing their incredible success. The products are beautiful, the brand amazing, but fundamentally the user experience is the difference. That is why, after many years of trying, the entire mobile industry was given a masterclass by a completely new entrant in how to get customers to consume data on the move.
Jobs is the greatest business genius of our generation. He has differentiated brilliantly in a commoditised sector and brought the wonders of modern technology into our lives in a reliable, accessible and inspirational form. He has the ability to conceive of the things we will want before we have thought of them. He then meticulously plans the journeys we'll take in his world and ensures that, every step of the way, he has anticipated what we will want to do and makes it logical and easy to complete any task. People say they want to make their product "Applelike", yet no one else understands what that means or has the vision or bandwidth to make it happen. That's why Jobs is a genius.
Charles Dunstone is CEO and cofounder of Carphone Warehouse
More from the Steve Jobs MBA [
Unit 101: Future thinking](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-101) [
Unit 102: People pay more if it's worth it](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-102) [
Unit 103: Connect your people](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-103) [
Unit 104: Master the entire business](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-104)
Unit 105: Build from the bottom up
Unit 106: Interpret, don't impersonate
Unit 107: It's all about design [
Unit 108: Dazzle your audience](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-108) [
Unit 109: Steve Jobs: in his own words](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-109)
Unit 110: Challenge the expectations of others Unit 112: Reboot, reboot, reboot [
Unit 113: The big reveal is the best advertising](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-113) [
Unit 114: Stay hungry, stay foolish](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/unit-114)
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
