Creator: Mike Markkula was an investor and for a short time the third partner in Apple with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
Purpose: Markkula wrote this three point call to action as a basic philosophy for the fledgling Apple computer.
Manifesto
Point No. 1: Empathy
Apple should strive for an “intimate” connection with customers’ feelings. “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company,” Markkula wrote.
Point No. 2: Focus
To be successful, Apple should center its efforts on accomplishing its main goals, and eliminate all the “unimportant opportunities.”
Point No. 3: Impute
Apple should be constantly aware that companies and their products will be judged by the signals they convey. “People DO judge a book by its cover,” Markkula wrote. “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.”
Source
Found here: Blog Post by Jason Fell, technology editor of Entrepreneur.com
Original source: Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Book cover used as image on this page.