Steve Jobs Biography: The Magic of a Visionary

Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California (USA). He was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. Paul Jobs was a mechanic and repaired cars as a hobby. Jobs remembers that his father was very skilled at working with his hands.

In 1961 the family moved to Mountain View, California. This area, just south of Palo Alto, California, was becoming an electronics hub, forming the basic elements of devices such as radios, televisions, sound equipment and computers.

As a child, Jobs preferred to do things for himself. He swam competitively, but was not interested in team sports or other group activities. He showed an initial interest in electronics and gadgets. He spent a lot of time working in a neighbor's garage workshop working for Hewlett-Packard, an electronics manufacturer. In the Hewlett-Packard Explorer Club he saw engineers show new products and for the first time he could see his first computer. He was twelve years old. He was very impressed and knew immediately that he wanted to work with computers.

While in high school, Jobs attended lectures at the Hewlett-Packard plant. He once boldly asked President William Hewlett for the parts he needed to complete a class project. Hewlett was so impressed that she gave Jobs everything he needed and offered him a summer internship at Hewlett-Packard.

 

 

University period

After graduating from high school in 1972, Jobs attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, for two years. He dropped out after a semester to visit India and study Eastern religions in the summer of 1974. In 1975, Jobs joined a group known as the Homebrew Computer Club. One of them, a technical genius named Steve Wozniak, was trying to build a small computer. Jobs was fascinated by the marketing potential of such an idea. In 1976, he and Wozniak formed their own company. They called it Apple Computer Company, in memory of a happy summer Jobs had spent picking apples. They initially raised $1,300 in cash. At first they sold circuit boards while working on the prototype of their computer.

 

Apple

 

Jobs realized that there was a big gap in the computer market. At that time, virtually all computers were so large that they filled a room, and so expensive that no individual could afford it. However, advances in electronics caused computer components to shrink and machine power to increase.

Jobs and Wozniak redesigned their computer, with the idea of selling it to individual users. The Apple II hit the market in 1977, with impressive sales in the first year: $2.7 million. The company's sales grew to $200 million in three years. This was one of the most fabulous cases of corporate growth in U.S. history. Jobs and Wozniak had opened up a whole new market: personal computers.

By 1980, the era of personal computers was underway. Apple was forced to continually improve its products to move forward as more competitors entered the market. Apple introduced the Apple III, but the new model suffered technical and marketing problems. It was withdrawn from the market and later reworked and reintroduced.

Jobs continued to be the marketing force behind Apple. In early 1983 he introduced Lisa. It was designed for people with minimal computing experience. However, it did not sell well because it was more expensive than personal computers sold by competitors. Apple's main competitor was International Business Machines (IBM). In 1983, Apple was estimated to have lost half of its market share.

In 1985, differences of opinion between him and the company's CEO, John Sculley, led Jobs to resign. In the same year, he founded NeXT Inc. which was especially recognized for its object-oriented software development system.

In 1986, he bought Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) and 'Toy Story' was the first animation film to be released after the acquisition.

In 1996, Jobs returned to Apple as head of the company. Under his guidance, a number of projects were dissolved; he introduced a new range of products that significantly increased the company's sales, becoming one of the world's electronic giants.

In 1998, Apple iMac was launched worldwide.

In 2000, he became Apple's permanent CEO, adopting the title, iCEO.

In 2001, the company entered the music world with the introduction of the iPod, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store. The device was an instant success and improved sales and the company's reputation by leaps and bounds. The first generation iPod gave way to consumer modified devices such as iPod classic, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and iPod shuffle.

 

In 2003, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer, but nine months later, the surgery successfully removed the tumor.

In 2005, with Disney's purchase of Pixar, he became the largest shareholder in the Walt Disney Company with approximately 7% of the company's shares.

In 2007, he entered the mobile phone business with the launch of the iPhone and the rest, as they say, is history. With its multi-touch screen, its own mobile browser, integrated iPod, the iPhone revolutionized the way the world looked at mobile devices.

In 2008, iPhone 3G was launched with three main features: support for GPS, 3G data and UMTS / HSDPA triple-band; in 2009, iPhone 3GS was launched. Apple was ranked by Fortune magazine as the number one most admired company in the United States.

However, in 2009 the public began speculating about Jobs' potential health problems because he had lost quite a bit of weight. This year he underwent a liver transplant operation.

In 2010, he launched the iPhone 4, which was a more elegant model than his successors and included enhanced features, such as a five-megapixel camera, a 4G-capable secondary front camera.

In 2011, iPhone 4S was launched that included Siri, a virtual assistant capable of voice recognition. In the same year, Steve Jobs resigned as Apple's president, but continued as chairman of the company's board.

Six weeks later, after resigning as president of the company on October 5, 2011, Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died of pancreatic cancer.

 

Awards and recognitions

During his lifetime, Jobs received several awards, including the National Technology Medal and the Jefferson Public Service Award.

He was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2007. That same year, Fortune magazine named him the world's most powerful person in business.

In 2009, Fortune magazine named him CEO of the Decade. The following year, he appeared on Forbes' 17th list of the world's most powerful people.

In 2010, he was named Person of the Year by the Financial Times.

Steve Jobs lived from 1955 to 2011. He died of cancer at age 56, and today Apple continues to operate and innovate revolutionary technologies for future generations as inspired by Jobs.

 

Continue reading

#}