Steve Jobs
Who was Steve Jobs?
American entrepreneur; co-founder of Apple Inc. (1955–2011)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Steve Jobs (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor. He co-founded Apple Inc. and changed several industries during his career. Born in San Francisco and adopted shortly after birth, he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and went to Homestead High School. He briefly attended Reed College in 1972 but dropped out after one semester. Despite this, he continued to attend classes that interested him, including a calligraphy course, which he later said influenced the typography of the original Macintosh computer. In 1974, he traveled to India seeking spiritual enlightenment and later studied Zen Buddhism, which influenced his style and approach throughout his career.
In 1976, Jobs and his childhood friend Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer Company in the Jobs family garage in Los Cupertino, California. Their first major product, the Apple II, became one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers, making Apple a key player in the new personal computer market. After visiting Xerox PARC in 1979 and seeing its Alto computer, Jobs saw the potential for a graphical user interface and mouse-driven navigation. This led to the creation of the Apple Lisa in 1983 and, more importantly, the Macintosh 128K in 1984, the first mass-produced personal computer with a graphical user interface. The Macintosh release also launched the desktop publishing industry by pairing with the Apple LaserWriter printer.
After a long power struggle with Apple's board and CEO John Sculley, Jobs was forced out of his role at Apple in 1985. That same year, he founded NeXT, a computer platform company for higher education and business markets, and in 1986, he bought the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm for around $10 million, turning it into Pixar Animation Studios. With his leadership and financial support, Pixar created Toy Story in 1995, the first fully computer-animated feature film, and became one of the most successful animation studios ever. Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for around $7.4 billion in stock, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder.
Apple bought NeXT in 1997 for $429 million, and Jobs returned to Apple as interim CEO before taking on the role permanently. In the following decade, he oversaw a series of products that changed their industries: the iMac, the iPod and iTunes ecosystem, the iPhone, and the iPad. The iTunes Store, launched in 2003, changed the music distribution business. The iPhone, released in 2007, started the modern smartphone market. Jobs stepped down as CEO in August 2011 due to health issues, and Tim Cook took over. Jobs died on October 5, 2011, in Palo Alto, California, from complications of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, which he had been diagnosed with in 2003.
Before Fame
Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali, and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs shortly after birth. He grew up in Mountain View and later Cupertino, California, areas that soon became known as Silicon Valley. His adoptive father, a machinist, got him interested in electronics and working with his hands from an early age. Jobs attended Homestead High School in Cupertino, where he met Steve Wozniak through a mutual friend, and briefly attended De Anza College before moving to Reed College in Oregon in 1972.
His journey before gaining fame was unconventional. After dropping out of Reed College, he worked at video game company Atari as a technician, using the job to fund his trip to India in 1974. Returning to California, he reconnected with Wozniak, who was designing a personal computer for hobbyists. Jobs quickly saw the business potential in Wozniak's technical work, and his mix of aesthetics, sales skills, and strategic thinking paired with Wozniak's engineering talent to make Apple possible.
Key Achievements
- Co-founded Apple Inc. in 1976 and shepherded the development of the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, each of which significantly altered its respective market.
- Acquired and built Pixar Animation Studios, which produced the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, in 1995, and was later sold to Disney for approximately $7.4 billion.
- Returned to Apple in 1997 and led one of the most successful corporate turnarounds in business history, transforming the company from near-bankruptcy into the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
- Launched the iTunes Store in 2003 and the iPhone in 2007, fundamentally restructuring the music industry and creating the modern smartphone market.
- Founded NeXT in 1985, whose software platform became the foundation for Apple's macOS and iOS operating systems following Apple's acquisition of NeXT in 1997.
Did You Know?
- 01.Jobs audited a calligraphy class at Reed College after dropping out, and he directly credited this experience with inspiring the multiple typefaces and proportional spacing that distinguished the original Macintosh from other personal computers.
- 02.He purchased the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm in 1986 for around $10 million, renamed it Pixar, and kept it alive largely through personal financial investment before Toy Story made it profitable; Disney eventually bought Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion.
- 03.Jobs was a pescatarian with pronounced and sometimes extreme dietary habits, reportedly going through extended periods of eating only one or two foods, such as carrots or apples, which he believed eliminated the need for regular bathing.
- 04.The launch event for the original Macintosh in January 1984 featured a television commercial directed by Ridley Scott, aired during Super Bowl XVIII, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential advertisements in television history.
- 05.Jobs received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 1985, the same year he was ousted from Apple, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, more than a decade after his death.
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| National Medal of Technology and Innovation | 1985 | — |
| Grammy Trustees Award | 2012 | — |
| California Hall of Fame | 2007 | — |
| National Inventors Hall of Fame | 2012 | — |
| Disney Legends | 2013 | — |
| Financial Times Person of the Year | 2010 | — |
| Presidential Medal of Freedom | 2022 | — |