China is very entrepreneurial but has no rule of law. Europe has rule of law but isn't entrepreneurial. Combine rule of law, entrepreneurialism and a generally pro-business policy, and you have Apple.

We have never lived in a time with the opportunity to put a computer in the pocket of 5 billion people.

The good news about building a company during times like this is that the companies that do succeed are going to be extremely strong and resilient.

An awful lot of successful technology companies ended up being in a slightly different market than they started out in. Microsoft started with programming tools, but came out with an operating system. Oracle started doing contracts for the CIA. AOL started out as an online video gaming network.

Rule 1: All rules can be broken. Many (ex-legal and ethical) should be. Most people won't.

When you're dealing with machines or anything that you build, it either works or it doesn't, no matter how good of a salesman you are.

TV and the press have always functioned according to the same sets of rules and technical standards. But the Internet is based on software. And anybody can write a new piece of software on the Internet that years later a billion people are using.