The online excerpts from Fortune’s interview with Apple CEO Steve Jobs are well worth reading.

Apple is a mature company who has retained its innovative outlook, passion and hunger. They know what they do best and stick to that. If they don’t love a potential product, it doesn’t get made. If they’re making a product but it’s not quite right yet, they don’t ship it anyway – they stop the project and get it right. They’re experienced enough to anticipate what customers don’t yet know they want to create something that they can’t live without. They’re totally committed to extraordinary design, stunning aesthetics, simplicity and usability. They didn’t plan to redefine the music industry with iTunes, but they did it so well that they did.

How could you not love Apple?

Do you want to build a universally-admired large company like Apple? Don’t make compromises at the start – how you begin & build your company is how you will end it.