life history of steve jobs
CONTENTS
Steve Jobs was born February
24, 1955, to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for
adoption. Smart but directionless, Jobs experimented with different pursuits
before starting Apple Computers with Stephen Wozniak in the Jobs' family garage.
Apple's revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are
now seen as dictating the evolution of modern technology.
CONTENTS
·
Synopsis
·
Early Life
·
Apple Computers
·
Departure from Apple
·
Reinventing Apple
·
Pancreatic Cancer
·
Recent Innovations
·
Personal Life
·
Final Years
QUOTES
I
would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.
Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955,
to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, two University of
Wisconsin graduate students who gave their unnamed son up for adoption. His
father, Abdulfattah Jandali, was a Syrian political science professor and his
mother, Joanne Simpson, worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Steve was
placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona
Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information
on his biological parents.
As an infant, Steven was adopted by Clara and
Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant and Paul
was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist. The family lived in Mountain View
within California's Silicon Valley. As a boy, Jobs and his father would work on
electronics in the family garage. Paul would show his son how to take apart and
reconstruct electronics, a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity, and
mechanical prowess in young Jobs.
While Jobs has always been an intelligent and
innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling.
In elementary school he was a prankster whose fourth grade teacher needed to
bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to
skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined.
After he did enroll in high school, Jobs spent
his free time at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he befriended computer club
guru Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was a brilliant computer engineer, and the two
developed great respect for one another.
After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed
College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he dropped out of college after
six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes. Jobs
later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.
In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game
designer with Atari. Several months later he left Atari to find spiritual
enlightenment in India, traveling the continent and experimenting with
psychedelic drugs. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple
Computers. The duo started in the Jobs family garage, and funded their
entrepreneurial venture after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his
beloved scientific calculator.
Jobs and Wozniak are credited with
revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and
making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday
consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that
they initially marketed for $666.66 each. Their first model, the Apple I,
earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the
Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple
Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion
on the very first day of trading. Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully
of Pepsi-Cola to help fill the role of Apple's President.
However, the next several products from Apple
suffered significant design flaws resulting in recalls and consumer
disappointment. IBM suddenly surpassed Apple sales, and Apple had to compete
with an IBM/PC dominated business world. In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh,
marketing the computer as a piece of a counter culture lifestyle: romantic, youthful,
creative. But despite positive sales and performance superior to IBM's PCs, the
Macintosh was still not IBM compatible. Scully believed Jobs was hurting Apple,
and executives began to phase him out.
In 1985, Jobs resigned as
Apple's CEO to begin a new hardware and software company called NeXT, Inc. The
following year Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas, which later became Pixar
Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar's potential, Jobs initially invested $50
million of his own money into the company. Pixar Studios went on to produce
wildly popular animation films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Pixar's films have netted
$4 billion. The studio merged with Walt Disney in 2006, making Steve Jobs
Disney's largest shareholder.
Despite Pixar's success, NeXT, Inc. floundered
in its attempts to sell its specialized operating system to mainstream America.
Apple eventually bought the company in 1997 for $429 million. That same year,
Jobs returned to his post as Apple's CEO.
Much like Steve Jobs instigated Apple's success
in the 1970s, he is credited with revitalizing the company in the 1990s. With a
new management team, altered stock options, and a self-imposed annual salary of
$1 a year, Jobs put Apple back on track. His ingenious products such as the
iMac, effective branding campaigns, and stylish designs caught the attention of
consumers once again.
In 2003, Jobs discovered he had a
neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of
immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pescovegetarian diet
while weighing Eastern treatment options. For nine months Jobs postponed
surgery, making Apple's board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders
would pull their stocks if word got out that their CEO was ill. But in the end,
Job's confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure. In 2004, he
had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in
subsequent years Jobs disclosed little about his health.
Apple introduced such revolutionary products as
the Macbook Air, iPod, and iPhone, all of which have dictated the evolution of
modern technology. Almost immediately after Apple releases a new product,
competitors scramble to produce comparable technologies. In 2007, Apple's
quarterly reports were the company's most impressive statistics to date. Stocks
were worth a record-breaking $199.99 a share, and the company boasted a
staggering $1.58 billion dollar profit, an $18 billion dollar surplus in the
bank, and zero debt.
In 2008, iTunes became the second biggest music
retailer in America-second only to Wal-Mart. Half of Apple's current revenue
comes from iTunes and iPod sales, with 200 million iPods sold and six billion
songs downloaded. For these reasons, Apple has been rated No. 1 in America's
Most Admired Companies, and No. 1 amongst Fortune 500 companies for returns to
shareholders.
Early in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs' weight
loss, some predicting his health issues had returned, which included a liver
transplant. Jobs had responded to these concerns by stating he was dealing with
a hormone imbalance. After nearly a year out of the spotlight, Steve Jobs
delivered a keynote address at an invite-only Apple event September 9, 2009.
In respect to his personal life, Steve Jobs
remained a private man who rarely discloses information about his family. What
is known is Jobs fathered a daughter with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan when he
was 23. Jobs denied paternity of his daughter Lisa in court documents, claiming
he was sterile. Jobs did not initiate a relationship with his daughter until
she was 7 but, when she was a teenager, she came to live with her father.
In the early 1990s, Jobs met Laurene Powell at
Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They married on
March 18, 1991, and lived together in Palo Alto, California, with their three
children.
On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that
co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old at the time of his death.
SAN FRANCISCO: Steve Jobs, in pain and too weak to climb stairs a few
weeks before his death, wanted his children to understand why he wasn't always
there for them, according to the author of his highly anticipated biography.
"I wanted my kids to know me," Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc co-founder why he authorized a tell-all biography after living a private, almost ascetic life.
"I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did," Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs' home in Palo Alto, California.
Isaacson said he visited Jobs for the last time a few weeks ago and found him curled up in some pain in a downstairs bedroom. Jobs had moved there because he was too weak to go up and down stairs, "but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant," Isaacson wrote in an essay on Time.com that will be published in the magazine's Oct. 17 edition.
Meanwhile, the release date for a Steve Jobs biography has been pushed up to Oct. 24 in the wake of the Apple co-founder's death on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for publishing house Simon & Schuster.
The book was originally planned for release on Nov. 21. The authorized biography "Steve Jobs", written by Walter Isaacson, is currently the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon's customer purchase list.
Meanwhile, Bluewater Productions said it was rushing out a a special edition e-book of its forthcoming comic book on Jobs. The 32-page comic titled "Steve Jobs: Founder of Apple" can be purchased on the NOOK and Kindle reading devices from Thursday. The print edition comic-book is due for release at the end of October, with a portion of the profits from both issues going to the American Cancer Society.
Jobs died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a long battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.
Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid respect to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Jobs had struggled with health issues but said very little about his battle with cancer since an operation in 2004. When he stepped down in August, handing the CEO reins to long-time operations chief Tim Cook, Jobs said simply that he could no longer fulfill his duties as chief executive.
Apple has been similarly guarded about the circumstances of his death, saying only that their chairman was surrounded by his wife Laurene and immediate family. Jobs had four children from two relationships.
Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed and it is uncertain when the company will hold a planned "celebration" of Jobs' life. Officials in Sacramento said there will be no state or public funeral.
From Tokyo and Paris to San Francisco and New York, mourners created impromptu memorials outside Apple stores, from flowers and candles to a dozen green and red apples on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.
At corporate headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley on Thursday, employees -- current and former -- gathered with their families under an overcast sky to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial on a driveway leading up to the entrance.
"He was a very private person, but he's everywhere in the products he created," said Glenn Harada, a 22-year-old former Apple employee. "He didn't work alone but none of this could have happened without him."
Employees said they went on with business, but with an undercurrent of sadness. Grief counselors on the payroll had reached out to Apple workers, a spokesman said.
"Deep down there's sadness," said Cory Moll, a part-time Apple employee who had tried to organize a union. "We have lost someone who touched us all."
With his passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for Apple to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say.
But Apple still faces challenges in the absence of the man who was its chief product designer, marketing guru and salesman nonpareil. Phones running Google's Android software are gaining share in the smartphone market, and there are questions about what Apple's next big product will be.
The launch of the iPhone 4S -- at the kind of gala event that became Jobs' trademark -- was a letdown to many fans earlier this week, underscoring how Jobs' showmanship and uncanny instincts will be missed.
But Wall Street analysts said Cook's new team-based approach and operational savvy will keep the company on track -- at least for now.
Apple shares ended down just 0.23 percent at $377.37, though that underperformed the broader U.S. market.
"It didn't come as a shock," said Terry Donoghue, an Apple technical writer, whose department boss called an hour-long meeting to reminisce about Jobs. "It's still hard for a lot of people."
Jobs, in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America. With an estimated net worth of $7 billion -- including a 7 percent stake in Walt Disney Co -- it was not known how Jobs' estate would be handled.
The entrepreneur had sometimes been criticized for not wielding his enormous influence and wealth for philanthropy like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. His death revived speculation that some of his estate might be donated to cancer research groups or hospitals.
California law requires a will to be filed in probate court within 30 days of death.
Jobs and his wife placed at least three properties into trusts in 2009, which legal experts say is a sign he may have been preparing his assets to remain confidential upon his death.
Placing stock and real estate into trusts can both minimize estate taxes upon a person's death, and keep them from being publicly disclosed in probate court, said John O'Grady, a trusts and estates attorney in San Francisco.
Jobs was given up for adoption soon after his birth in San Francisco to an American mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, and a Syrian-born father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali.
A college dropout, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parents' garage in 1976.
"I do feel like I did when John Lennon was killed. Also JFK and Martin Luther King. Like Steve Jobs, they gave us hope," Wozniak said on his Facebook page.
Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today.
The rebel streak that was central to his persona got him tossed out of Apple in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the roll-out of a troika of products -- the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad -- that again upended the established order in major industries.www.learninhub.in
"I wanted my kids to know me," Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc co-founder why he authorized a tell-all biography after living a private, almost ascetic life.
"I wasn't always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did," Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs' home in Palo Alto, California.
Isaacson said he visited Jobs for the last time a few weeks ago and found him curled up in some pain in a downstairs bedroom. Jobs had moved there because he was too weak to go up and down stairs, "but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant," Isaacson wrote in an essay on Time.com that will be published in the magazine's Oct. 17 edition.
Meanwhile, the release date for a Steve Jobs biography has been pushed up to Oct. 24 in the wake of the Apple co-founder's death on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for publishing house Simon & Schuster.
The book was originally planned for release on Nov. 21. The authorized biography "Steve Jobs", written by Walter Isaacson, is currently the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon's customer purchase list.
Meanwhile, Bluewater Productions said it was rushing out a a special edition e-book of its forthcoming comic book on Jobs. The 32-page comic titled "Steve Jobs: Founder of Apple" can be purchased on the NOOK and Kindle reading devices from Thursday. The print edition comic-book is due for release at the end of October, with a portion of the profits from both issues going to the American Cancer Society.
Jobs died on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a long battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.
Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid respect to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Jobs had struggled with health issues but said very little about his battle with cancer since an operation in 2004. When he stepped down in August, handing the CEO reins to long-time operations chief Tim Cook, Jobs said simply that he could no longer fulfill his duties as chief executive.
Apple has been similarly guarded about the circumstances of his death, saying only that their chairman was surrounded by his wife Laurene and immediate family. Jobs had four children from two relationships.
Funeral arrangements have not been disclosed and it is uncertain when the company will hold a planned "celebration" of Jobs' life. Officials in Sacramento said there will be no state or public funeral.
From Tokyo and Paris to San Francisco and New York, mourners created impromptu memorials outside Apple stores, from flowers and candles to a dozen green and red apples on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue.
At corporate headquarters in the heart of Silicon Valley on Thursday, employees -- current and former -- gathered with their families under an overcast sky to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial on a driveway leading up to the entrance.
"He was a very private person, but he's everywhere in the products he created," said Glenn Harada, a 22-year-old former Apple employee. "He didn't work alone but none of this could have happened without him."
Employees said they went on with business, but with an undercurrent of sadness. Grief counselors on the payroll had reached out to Apple workers, a spokesman said.
"Deep down there's sadness," said Cory Moll, a part-time Apple employee who had tried to organize a union. "We have lost someone who touched us all."
With his passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for Apple to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say.
But Apple still faces challenges in the absence of the man who was its chief product designer, marketing guru and salesman nonpareil. Phones running Google's Android software are gaining share in the smartphone market, and there are questions about what Apple's next big product will be.
The launch of the iPhone 4S -- at the kind of gala event that became Jobs' trademark -- was a letdown to many fans earlier this week, underscoring how Jobs' showmanship and uncanny instincts will be missed.
But Wall Street analysts said Cook's new team-based approach and operational savvy will keep the company on track -- at least for now.
Apple shares ended down just 0.23 percent at $377.37, though that underperformed the broader U.S. market.
"It didn't come as a shock," said Terry Donoghue, an Apple technical writer, whose department boss called an hour-long meeting to reminisce about Jobs. "It's still hard for a lot of people."
Jobs, in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America. With an estimated net worth of $7 billion -- including a 7 percent stake in Walt Disney Co -- it was not known how Jobs' estate would be handled.
The entrepreneur had sometimes been criticized for not wielding his enormous influence and wealth for philanthropy like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. His death revived speculation that some of his estate might be donated to cancer research groups or hospitals.
California law requires a will to be filed in probate court within 30 days of death.
Jobs and his wife placed at least three properties into trusts in 2009, which legal experts say is a sign he may have been preparing his assets to remain confidential upon his death.
Placing stock and real estate into trusts can both minimize estate taxes upon a person's death, and keep them from being publicly disclosed in probate court, said John O'Grady, a trusts and estates attorney in San Francisco.
Jobs was given up for adoption soon after his birth in San Francisco to an American mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, and a Syrian-born father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali.
A college dropout, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parents' garage in 1976.
"I do feel like I did when John Lennon was killed. Also JFK and Martin Luther King. Like Steve Jobs, they gave us hope," Wozniak said on his Facebook page.
Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today.
The rebel streak that was central to his persona got him tossed out of Apple in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the roll-out of a troika of products -- the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad -- that again upended the established order in major industries.www.learninhub.in
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