Steve Jobs biography
QUICK FACTS
NAME: Steve Jobs
OCCUPATION:
Entrepreneur, Computer
Programmer,
Inventor
BIRTH
DATE: February 24, 1955
DEATH
DATE: October 05, 2011
EDUCATION:
Reed College
AKA: Steve
Jobs
SYNOPSIS
Steve
Jobs was born on 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's family garage. Apple's
revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are now seen
as dictating the evolution of modern technology.
EARLY LIFE
Steven Paul Jobs was born on
February 24, 1955, to Joanne Schieble (later 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 Schieble, 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.
APPLE
COMPUTERS
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
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.
DEPARTURE
FROM APPLE
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.
REINVENTING APPLE
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.
PANCREATIC CANCER
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.
RECENT INNOVATIONS
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.
PERSONAL
LIFE
Early
in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs's 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.
FINAL
YEARS
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.
