A Chief Executive’s Attention to Detail, Noted in 313 Patents

By MIGUEL HELFT
NYT

When people in the technology industry speak of Steven P. Jobs’s knack for design, they often have Apple’s iconic products in mind: the early all-in-one Macintosh computers, the first iMacs with their brightly colored and translucent cases, and more recently, the various iPods, iPhones and iPads.

But what about the striking glass staircases in many of Apple’s stores? Mr. Jobs led their design — and has his name on two patents Apple received for that design.

The white plastic power adapters in newer-model Macintosh computers? Mr. Jobs helped to design them too, according to patent filings.

And he also had a hand in the final look of a startling number of products, including the seemingly insignificant and those that have proved central to Apple’s success: the lanyard for some iPod headsets, the plastic clasps that hold cords in place, the cardboard packaging for scores of iPods, and model after model of desktop and laptop computers, monitors, mice, keyboards, mobile devices and media players.

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