THE LIFE OF STEVE JOBS

FEB 24TH, 1955: Steve Jobs is born. He is adopted by parents Paul and Clara Jobs.

1965: 10-year-old Jobs gets a bad shock when jamming a bobby pin into a wall socket. He moves with his family to Palo Alto.

blue Boxes

1970-71: Jobs begins working as an intern at HP and meets Steve Wozniak. They bond over electronics, pranks, Bob Dylan and the Beatles. They create and sell “blue boxes” to rig public telephone systems to allow them to make free calls.
 
Jobs attends Reed College1972: Jobs attends Reed College and drops out after one semester. Jobs and Wozniak take $3 an hour jobs at the Westgate Mall in San Jose, dressing up as characters from Alice in Wonderland.
 
1973: Jobs drops in on random calligraphy classes, which would later influence the typography on Macs.

Breakout

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1974: 19-year-old Jobs shows up at Atari and refuses to leave until they hire him. Atari puts him to work on the game Breakout. Steve experiments with acid and marijuana, travels to India and comes back a Buddhist.

Jobs and Wozniak

1975: Jobs and Wozniak start Apple. To raise capital, Jobs sells his VW bus for $1500, but only half gets paid because the engine blows out soon after the sale.
 
1976: Mike Markkula becomes Apple’s first investor. He believes they’ll be in the Fortune 500 within 5 years.

apple_rainbow_logo

1977: Jobs is shown a demo of a window and mouse user interface at Xerox PARC and jumps around shouting "Why aren’t you doing anything with this? This is the greatest thing! This is revolutionary!"
 

Lisa

1978: Jobs’ ex-girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan gives birth to his daughter, Lisa Nicole, but Jobs denies paternity. Apple works on a new personal computer named Lisa.
 
1979: Jobs is shown a demo of a window and mouse user interface at Xerox PARC and jumps around shouting "Why aren’t you doing anything with this? This is the greatest thing! This is revolutionary!"
 

steve-jobs-1984-macintosh

1980: Apple stock goes public and Jobs is worth $217 million by the end of the day. He cuts his hair and vows to become more business savvy. He occasionally wears suits.

Welcome IBM

1981: Apple takes out a brash ad in the Wall Street Journal welcoming IBM to the “exciting and important marketplace” of personal computers. By the late 90s IBM controls of 90% of the market.
 
1982: Bill Gates works on software for the Macintosh, and Jobs makes Microsoft promise not to build mouse-driven software for anyone else. Since Jobs didn’t mention anything about a competing operating system, Gates and Microsoft develop Windows at the same time. The Apple Lisa flops due to its high price.
 
1983: Jobs brings John Scully from Pepsi to be Apple’s CEO with the line “Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”
 
1984: Ridley Scott directs Apple’s “1984” super-bowl commercial, and the board hates it and tries to sell back their ad space. It becomes one of the most memorable commercials of all time.

1986_next_logo

1985: Jobs tries unsuccessfully to oust John Scully, but the board sides with Scully and strips Jobs of all managerial duties. He resigns from Apple and retains 1 share. He starts NeXT Computer later that year.
 
1986: Jobs purchases the Graphics Group from George Lucas. They rename it Pixar.
 
Mona Simpson
1987: Jobs meets his birth sister, Mona Simpson. She is a famous novelist.
 
1988: Jobs sells King Juan Carlos I of Spain a NeXT computer at a party. The NeXT computer was yet to be released.
 
1989: Jobs blows off a business dinner to have dinner with Laurene Powell, a woman he met earlier in the day.
 
steve-and-laurene
1990: Jobs and Powell get married, and Jobs’s daughter Lisa starts living with him.
 
1993: Apple struggles. NeXT exits the hardware market and starts focusing only on software.
 
Toy Story
1995 Jobs and best friend Larry Ellison, of Oracle, talk about orchestrating a hostile takeover of Apple. Jobs decides against it. Toy Story is a huge success, and Job’s 80% ownership of Pixar is worth $600 million.
 
1996: Apple stock hits a 12-year low. Jobs comes back to Apple when they purchase NeXT.
 
1997: Steve Jobs becomes Interim CEO and says “The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”
 
iMac
1998: Apple releases the first iMac.
 
2000: Jobs drops the “Interim” from his title. Apple releases the PowerMac Cube. Despite its innovative design, sales are sluggish.
 

iPod

2001: First Apple retail store opens in McLean, Virginia. Apple releases the iPod and Jobs says it’s like having “One thousand songs in your pocket.”
 
2003: Jobs uncovers a rare form of pancreatic cancer and unsuccessfully tries alternative medicine for 9 months. Al Gore joins Apple’s board.
 
2004: In a letter to Apple employees, Jobs says, “I have some personal news that I need to share with you…this weekend I underwent a successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from my pancreas." Tim Cook takes over day-to-day operations for one month while Jobs recovers.
 

grad_jobswalks

2005: Apple releases the iPod Nano, a Video iPod, and the iPod Shuffle. Jobs gives the commencement speech at Stanford and shares personal life details for the first time in public.
 

Steve Jobs Introduces the iPhone 1

2007: Jobs introduces the iPhone in January to an excited crowd.
 

Reports of my Death greatly exagerated

2008: Bloomberg accidentally publishes an obituary of Steve Jobs. Jobs responds in a keynote by joking, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
 
2009: Steve Jobs takes a health-related leave of absence from January until June. He receives a liver transplant in Tennessee.
 
2010: Jobs debuts the rumored Apple tablet, called iPad. The industry is unsure about it. He also announces the iPhone 4 in June, and offers free bumper cases to users who are having reception problems when blocking the iPhone’s antenna with their hands. The whole ordeal is dubbed “Antenna-gate.”
 
2011: Jobs takes another medical leave early in the year, but retains the title of CEO.
In August he resigns as CEO and becomes Chairman of the Board saying “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”
 
OCT 4TH, 2011 Tim Cook takes the stage to introduce the iPhone 4S. A journalist notices an empty reserved seat in the front row next to all the other Apple executives.
 
OCT 5TH, 2011: Jobs passes away peacefully, surrounded by family. Tributes and wishes begin to pour from every corner of the globe. Many create impromptu shrines at Apple stores around the country.

 

Issue: 
January-February 2012
Department/Section: 
People
TOC Weight: 
14