How Apple's imperious, brilliant CEO transformed American business.

It's Steve's world, we just live in it.

How's this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.

Sound too far-fetched to be true? Perhaps. Yet it happens to be the real-life story of Steve Jobs and his outsize impact on everything he touches.

The past decade in business belongs to Jobs. What makes that simple statement even more remarkable is that barely a year ago it seemed likely that any review of his accomplishments would be valedictory. But by deeds and accounts, Jobs is back. Read the rest of the story here.

Will your cellphone soon become a proxy for your credit card? Zong and others are betting on it.

If there’s one thing online merchants want, it’s to make it quicker and easier for you to buy what they’re selling. This is the case whether you’re buying a novel from Amazon or an iPod nano. But it’s especially true for micropayment impulse buys like a new handbag for your avatar or virtual fuel for your tractor in an online world or game.

One way purveyors of such virtual goods are streamlining the process for you to pony up is by partnering with payment services that allow you to pay using your mobile phone. Instead of taking the time to get your credit card and enter the number—during which you might change your mind about that virtual cupcake—you type in your mobile number instead.

Mobile payments have been hyped for years, and although they're embraced overseas, where fewer people have credit cards, they’ve been slow to catch on in the U.S. In the past, purchases were tallied on your mobile phone bill, and you paid your carrier.

Now, one startup in the nascent world of mobile payments has moved to lower the barrier for merchants to offer mobile payments. More

And a few things we don't love about Motorola's forthcoming Google-powered phone.

Droid does (and doesn't) wow our writer.

The Droid is a fierce phone. Motorola's newest smartphone has a number of features that match and even best its biggest competitor, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone. It has a fast processor. It’s got a large display with almost double the resolution of the iPhone as well as a slide-out keyboard. And it’s got a five megapixel camera with flash and zoom and a video camera that renders your Flip camera unnecessary. Add to that a new sharp-edged form factor straight out of Star Trek. And the marketers have given their campaign a bunch of attitude with their “iDon’t” commercial that pits the Droid directly against the iPhone.

But is any of that going to be enough to woo iPhone fans to Motorola's new device? As I wrote in a September feature, the company has a lot riding on it. Thanks to a massive marketing push by Verizon Wireless (VZ), plenty of excitement is building for the Droid’s November 6 launch. But just a year ago there was a lot of similar hype around RIM's Storm, which was also going to take on the iPhone. Though initial sales were pretty good, the smartphone received lukewarm reviews.

Motorola's new offering will have to prove itself once the hype dies down. And with so many Android-powered devices coming to market in the next few months, it may be hard for the Droid, which Verizon Wireless will sell for $199 after an $100 rebate with a two-year contract, to stand out.

Fortune received a Droid to test this morning. I powered it up, and a monotone robotic voice uttered “Droid.” Here are five things I think Motorola (MOT) has done right with the Droid…and a couple features I miss.
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The largest smartphone maker you've never heard of wants to capture the hearts – and dollars – of the U.S. consumer.

Motorola's (MOT) Droid phone is getting a ton of buzz, and that’s by design. Verizon Wireless (VZ) chief Marketing Officer John Stratton has said the marketing campaign behind its iPhone competitor will be the largest in its history.

But the Google (GOOG)-powered device isn't the only smartphone the company is likely to begin selling at the start of November. Though no one has officially confirmed, the carrier is expected to announce a second device that will also run on Google's  Android operating system at half the price: the HTC Droid Eris.

Haven’t heard of HTC? You aren't alone. More

Device testing needs to drastically improve or carriers and manufacturers face big risks to their reputations.

By Abhijit Kabra, senior executive, Accenture

Kabra: How well has your mobile device been tested? Photo: Accenture

Cell phones have come a long way in the last five years: We can surf the web, listen to music, watch TV, and make payments on our phones. So why is the process of testing these devices stuck in the 1990s?

Leading mobile handset makers around the world spend millions of dollars testing these products from the onset of product development until they deliver them to market.  Yet according to a new Accenture survey of executives from the electronics and high-tech industries, 88 percent of respondents revealed that they do not do a good job of testing these handsets.

It’s disappointing and surprising that so many manufacturers are lax in their testing approaches. Testing may seem like a straightforward exercise. But without stringent testing of these phones, the entire mobile ecosystem—from manufacturers to wireless carriers to retailers—risk putting out poor quality products that dissatisfy consumers, lower sales, and damage corporate brands.

Given this predicament, manufacturers are under mounting pressure to revamp their testing methods. And they should, particularly during these tough economic times when cost savings and process improvements are so crucial.

The goal to revamp should be systemic, aimed at creating a new, well-coordinated and compre­hensive testing strategy—the opposite of a piecemeal and incomplete approach. This new, more consistent and industrialized method, will reduce product development costs, deliver expected quality levels faster, and defend brand reputations. More

The trouble with being number one in any industry is that you have nowhere to move but down. Few companies know this better than Nokia (NOK), the Finnish telecommunications giant that has dominated cell phones for so long that in some parts of the globe the brand itself has become synonymous with the device. More

Barnes & Noble eReader, the Nook

If you're the type of early Christmas shopper who bought a Kindle last week, I hope you kept the receipt, because a newer, equally affordable option is about to hit shelves.

Barnes & Noble (BKS) CEO Steve Riggio on Tuesday took the stage before hundreds of authors, agents, publishers and pundits to debut the company's electronic reader, the Nook.

The Nook will sell for just $259, a steep discount from competitors like the Sony (SNE) Reader and the iRex DR800SG , which both retail for $399. The price suggests Barnes & Noble is going straight for Amazon (AMZN), which recently lowered the Kindle's price to $259.

The Nook uses the same screen technology that powers Amazon's Kindle, but adds an iPhone-like color touchscreen below for easy navigation. Readers have access to 3G wireless on AT&T's broadband network.  The reader holds up to 1,500 books (like its major competitor), but an expandable memory slot allows readers to add up to 17,500 more. "You're getting a lot of eReader for the money," says Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Another novel experiment: lending. Barnes & Noble lets readers share titles with friends on any platform in the Barnes & Noble ecosystem. So you like the "Tipping Point?" Buy it for your Nook and lend it to your sister to read on her Barnes & Noble iPhone application. (She'd better not procrastinate; she has 14 days before it disappears.)

Barnes & Noble will turn its massive retail presence into a competitive advantage. Over the next few weeks, the bookstore chain will roll out Nook displays in its 700 stores and 600 college bookstores. Through complimentary Wi-Fi connections in all the stores, readers will be able to browse eBooks on their readers just as they might have always browsed the shelves.

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Company wants to make its Flash technology available everywhere — and that means penetrating mobile devices.

Flash is coming to most mobile phones - except the one that starts with "i." Image: Adobe

Flash is finally coming to your smartphone—and so is Adobe (ADBE). With today's launch of the newest version its software, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the San Jose-based company is making an aggressive push to get its product onto any gadget that allows for web browsing–Blackberry devices, netbooks, increasingly even TVs.

Crucially, Adobe has signed on a number of key launch partners for the product including Google (GOOG) and Research in Motion (RIMM). By the first half of next year, consumers can expect Flash on nearly every smartphone operating system including Google’s Android, Nokia’s (NOK) Symbian, Palm’s (PALM) webOS and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile.

This is great for developers, who have long had to use different software to make their applications work on different devices. And it’s even better for consumers, for whom web browsing will get faster and more consistent regardless of the device. More

A new tech wizard is fighting to return the ailing cellphone maker to relevance with a slate of new phones–and help from Google.

It’s been more than a year Sanjay Jha left wireless chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM) to come to Motorola (MOT). As co-CEO of Motorola (along with Greg Brown), he took on a task even the private equity firms had passed on: saving the iconic handset division. Just as he began to realize the severity of the company’s situation, the market crashed—and everything got even harder. Jha stripped $1.4 billion from the budget and doubled down on a new strategy to hitch the company's wagon to Google (GOOG), building a series of smartphones powered by the Android operating system. (For more on the top operating systems, check out System Overload.)

This fall, as the first of the smartphones hit the market, Jha sat down with Fortune to reflect on his first year on the job, his plan for saving the company, and the enormity of the challenges yet to come. Read the whole story on here.

Our correspondent goes to a geekfest and reports back on five new tools you need now.

Catch that mouse. Logitech's Performance Mouse MX is one to love. Photo: Logitech

I was in gadgetry heaven.

The Pepcom Holiday Spectacular in New York Thursday night was buzzing — and it wasn't just the sensation of mobile devices on vibrate mode.

With 80 companies — from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)  to Samsung — showing off their goods for the holiday season, the room pulsated with enthusiasm, competitiveness and innovation. It was like the recession didn't exist!

I can't go through everything I saw, but here are my top five picks of the most interesting, unique technology solutions for business (and then some honorable mentions). More