Steve Jobs Biography

Steven Paul Jobs (Feb 24, 1955 October 5, 2011)

Steve
Jobs
was
an
American businessman and inventor who played a key role in the success
of Apple computers and the development of revolutionary new
technology such as the iPod, iPad and MacBook.
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesnt matter to me Going to
bed at night saying weve done something wonderful thats what
matters to me.
Steve Jobs as quoted in The Wall Street Journal (Summer 1993).
Early Life
Steven Jobs was born in San Francisco, 1955, to two university students
Joanne Schieble and Syrian born John Jandali. They were both unmarried
at the time, and Steven was given up for adoption.
Steven was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, whom he always considered
to be his real parents. Stevens father Paul encouraged him to
experiment with electronics in their garage. This led to a life long interest
in electronics and design.
Steve Jobs attended a local school in California and later enrolled at Reed
College, Portland, Oregon. His education was characterised by excellent
test results and potential. But, he struggled with formal education and
his teachers reported he was a handful to teach.
At Reed College he attended a calligraphy course which fascinated him.
He later said this course was instrumental in Apples multiple typefaces
and proportionally spaced fonts.

Steve Jobs in India

In 1974, Jobs travelled with Daniel Kottke to India in search of spiritual
enlightenment. They travelled to the Ashram of Neem Karoli Baba in
Kainchi. During his several months in India he became aware of Buddhist
and Eastern spiritual philosophy. At this time he also experimented with
psychedelic drugs; he later commented that these counter-culture
experiences were instrumental in giving him a wider perspective on life
and business.
Bill Gatesd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once
or gone off to an ashram when he was younger. Steve
Jobs, The New York Times, Creating Jobs, 1997
Jobs first real computer job came working for Atari computers. During his
time at Atari, Jobs came to know Steve Wozniak well. Jobs greatly
admired this computer technician, whom he had first met in 1971.
Steve Jobs and Apple
In 1976, Wozniak invented the first Apple I computer. Jobs, Wozniak and
Ronald Wayne then set up Apple computers. In the very beginning Apple
computers were sold from Jobs parents garage.
Over the next few years, Apple computers expanded rapidly as the
market for home computers began to become increasingly significant.
In 1984, Jobs designed the first Macintosh. It was the first commercially
successful home computer to use a graphical user interface (based on
Xerox Parcs mouse driver interface.) This was an important milestone in
home computing and the principle has become key in later home
computers.
Despite the many innovative sucesses of Jobs at Apple, there was
increased friction between Jobs and other workers at Apple. In 1985,
removed from his managerial duties, Jobs resigned and left Apple. He
later looked back on this incident and said that getting fired from Apple
was one of the best things that happened to him it helped him regain a
sense of innovation and freedom, he couldnt find working in big
company.
Life After Apple
On leaving Apple, Jobs founded NeXT computers. This was never

particularly successful, failing to gain mass sales. However, in the 1990s,

NeXT software was used as a framework in WebObjects used in Apple
Store and iTunes store. In 1996, Apple bought NeXT for $429 million.
Much more successful was Jobs foray into Pixar a computer graphic
film production company. Disney contracted Pixar to create films such as
Toy Story, A Bugs Life and Finding Nemo. These animation movies were
highly successful and profitable. This earn jobs significant respect and
success.
In 1996, the purchase of NeXT bought Jobs back into Apple. He was given
post of chief executive. At the time, Apple had fallen way behind rivals
such as Microsoft. Apple were struggling to even make profits.
Return to Apple
Jobs launched Apple on a new direction. With a certain degree of
ruthlessness, some projects were summarily ended. Instead, Jobs
promoted the development of a new wave of products which focused on
accessibility, appealing design and innovate features.
The iPod was a revolutionary product in that it built on existing portable
music devices and set the standard for portable digital music played. In
2008, iTunes became the second biggest music retailer in US, with over 6
billion song downloads and over 200 million iPods sold.
In 2007, Apple successfully entered the mobile phone market, with the
iPhone. This used features of the iPod to offer a multi-functional and
touch screen device to become one of best selling electronic products.
Apple has been rated No.1 in Americas most admired companies. Jobs
management has been described as inspirational, although c-workers
also state, Jobs could be a hard task master and was temperamental.
NeXT Cofounder Danl Lewin was quoted in Fortune as saying of that
period, The highs were unbelievable But the lows were unimaginable
My job is not to be easy on people. My jobs is to take these great people
we have and to push them and make them even better. All About
Steve Jobs [link]
Under Jobs, Apple managed to overtake Microsoft in terms of share
capitalisation. Apple also gained a pre-eminent reputation for the
development and introduction of ground breaking technology. Interview

in 2007, Jobs said

Theres an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. I skate to where the
puck is going to be, not where it has been. And weve always tried to do
that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will.
Despite, growing ill-health, Jobs continued working at Apple until August
2011, when he resigned.
Wealth
I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over
$10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I
was 25, and it wasnt that important because I never did it
for the money.
Steve Jobs
Jobs earned only $1million as CEO of Apple. But, share options from
Apple and Disney gave him an estimated fortune of $8.3billion
In 1991, he married Laurenne Powell, together they had three children
and lived in Palo Alto, California.
Steve Jobs died in 2011 at the age of 56.