Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)
Steven P. Jobs, the visionary, co-founder and former chief executive of the technology company Apple Inc., died on Oct. 5, 2011. He was 56.
Biological parents: Joanne Simpson and possibly Abdulfattah Jandali, political sciences professor from Syria
Adoptive parents: Paul and Clara Jobs, both deceased
Siblings: adoptive sister: Patti Jobs (born 1958), biological sister: Mona Simpson (born 1957)
Spouse: Laurene Powell (born 1964), married in 1991
Children: Lisa Brennan-Jobs (born 1978), with unmarried girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan. Reed (born 1991), Erin Siena (born 1995) and Eve (born 1998) with wife Laurene.
Spirituality: Steve studied Zen Buddhism in his youth. He often said that he thought of becoming a monk up in a monastery in Japan instead of starting Apple, but his guru Kobun Chino convinced him otherwise. That same Zen master was a spiritual adviser at NeXT and married Steve and Laurene in Yosemite in 1991.
A lot of critics of Steve’s tough management style point out: “Imagine what he’d be like if he hadn’t studied buddhism...” This is one of Steve’s many paradoxes: how could a real Buddhist make a living out of selling gadgets to the masses?
Favorite music: Steve’s favorite musician is definitely Bob Dylan, whose tunes he played throughout his youth with his guitar at home. He would discuss their lyrics with his friends, such as Bill Fernandez or Woz. Some people believe he dated Joan Baez mostly because she was Dylan’s ex.
Steve also loves The Beatles and Grateful Dead, all part of the rock scene of the 1960s (thus before he came of age). He describes himself as an audiophile: after he became rich, one of the only pieces of furniture he bought was a $100,000 stereo system. It is still true today.
Favorite art: Steve loves photography. For a long time his home was only decorated with large black-and-white photographs of cultural icons such as Einstein, or the California landscape, mostly by Ansel Adams. He also had Japanese prints.
1955 Feb. 24 Steven Paul is born in San Francisco, CA, soon to be adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.
1960 The Jobs family moves to Palo Alto, heart of the growing Silicon Valley.
1969 Steve Jobs meets Steve Wozniak.
1972 Steve and Woz build and sell illegally blue boxes to Berkeley students.
1973 Fall Steve spends one semester at Reed College, Oregon, then drops out.
1974 Steve gets a job at Atari, and makes a trip to India to seek enlightenment.
1975 Steve and Woz start assembling Apple I computers in the Jobs' garage, and sell them to hobbyists.
1976 Mar. Woz and Steve show the early Apple I board at the Homebrew Computer Club.
Apr. 1 Apple Computer Inc. is incorporated by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne.
Summer Steve Jobs and Woz show off the Apple I at the Personal Computing Festival.
1977 Jan. Mike Markkula invests in Apple and hires Mike Scott as CEO. Woz is forced to leave HP.
Apr. Apple makes a huge sensation at the West Coast Computer Faire with a prototype Apple II.
1978 The Apple II becomes the first mass-market personal computer, a huge hit all around the US.
Steve Jobs' and his ex-girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan's daugher Lisa is born out of wedlock.
At Apple, work starts on Apple III and Lisa while Jef Raskin begins The Book of Macintosh.
1979Dec. Steve Jobs is shown the first working graphical user interface at Xerox PARC.
Sales of Apple II skyrocket after Visicalc, the first spreadsheet, is introduced.
1980 Jef Raskin’s Macintosh project is green-lighted. Lisa moves toward a GUI-computer.
May Apple launches the Apple III, which will prove a disastrous flop.
Dec. 12 Apple goes public, increasing Steve Jobs' net worth to over $200 million.
1981 Jef Raskin is forced out of his Macintosh project as Steve Jobs takes over.
Feb. 25Black Wednesday: 50 Apple employees laid off by CEO Mike Scott, who leaves afterward.
Aug. 12 IBM launches the IBM PC, the biggest threat to Apple's future.
1982 Feb. Steve ends up on the cover of Time Magazine.
1983 Jan. Launch of the Lisa computer. The Lisa team merges with the Mac team.
Apr. 8 PepsiCo CEO John Sculley becomes Apple's CEO.
1984 Jan. 24 Macintosh is launched in great fanfare at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting.
1985 May Palace coup: Apple's board sides with John Sculley and strips Steve off all executive duties.
Summer Alan Kay first introduces the Pixar team to Steve Jobs.
Sep. 17 Steve Jobs resigns from Apple. Apple announces it will sue Steve's future company, NeXT.
1986 Jan. 30 Jobs buys a division of George Lucas' ILM for $10 million and incorporates it as Pixar.
Aug. Pixar unveils John Lasseter’s short film Luxo Jr. at SIGGRAPH.
Steve discovers his biological mother and sister, novelist Mona Simpson.
1987 Feb. Ross Perot invests $20 million in NeXT, valuing it at $125 million.
1988 Winter Pixar launches the Pixar Image Computer II and starts working on the RenderMan language.
Sep. NeXT and IBM form a partnership to have NeXT’s system run on IBM machines.
Oct. 12 Steve Jobs introduces the NeXT Cube in San Francisco.
Dec. At SIGGRAPH, Pixar releases Tin Toy (1988's Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film).
1989 Mar. NeXT partners with distribution network Businessland to sell to corporate America.
Jun. Canon invests $100 million in NeXT, now worth $600 million.
1990 Apr. 30 Steve shuts down all of Pixar’s hardware operations.
Sep. 13 Steve introduces the cheaper NeXT Station in San Francisco.
1991 Mar. Steve Jobs fires almost half of Pixar’s staff and takes back all of the employees’ stock.
Mar. 18 Steve Jobs marries Laurene Powell.
May Pixar signs a deal with Disney to make a computer-animated feature film.
Fall Laurene gives birth to Steve’s first son, Reed Paul.
Ross Perot leaves NeXT.
1992 Jan. NeXT licenses its operating system, NeXTSTEP.
NeXT COO Peter Van Cuylenburg betrays Steve Jobs by trying to have the company bought by Sun.
1993 Feb. 11 NeXT fires 300 employees as it discontinues hardware and becomes NeXT Software Inc.
Nov. Jeffrey Katzenberg puts a halt to the development of Toy Story.
1994 Nov. Pixar resumes work on Toy Story.
1995 Feb. Steve becomes President & CEO of Pixar Animation Studios.
Nov. 29 One week after Toy Story is out, Pixar goes public. Steve Jobs worth $1.5 billion.
1996 Steve Jobs negotiaties a breakthrough deal between Pixar and Disney with Michael Eisner.
Dec. Apple buys NeXT for $400 million. Steve Jobs is named "informal adviser" to CEO Gil Amelio.
1997 Jul. Gil Amelio is ousted by the Apple Board. Steve Jobs is named interim CEO.
Aug. 6 Steve Jobs introduces Apple's new Board and a peace treaty with Microsoft at Macworld.
1998 Jan. 8 Apple is profitable again.
May 6 Steve Jobs introduces Apple's revolutionary iMac.
1999 Jan. 5 Steve Jobs introduces the new Power Mac G3 and the color iMacs at Macworld San Francisco.
Jul. 21 The original iBook is unveiled at Macworld New York with the tagline "iMac to go".
Oct. 5 Introduction of iMovie, Apple's first Digital Hub app.
2000 Jan. 5 Steve Jobs officially becomes Apple’s CEO and demoes Mac OS X at Macworld.
Jul. 19 The Power Mac G4 Cube is unveiled at Macworld NY. It will be discontinued one year later.
2001 Jan. 9 Steve Jobs unveils Apple’s Digital Hub Strategy at Macworld.
Mar. 24 Mac OS X 10.0 ships.
May 19 Apple opens its first Retail Stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California.
Oct. 23 Steve Jobs unveils the first iPod.
2002 Jan. 7 Steve unveils the iMac G4 and the fourth iApp, iPhoto, at Macworld San Francisco.
Jul. 17 Steve Jobs introduces the first Windows-compatible iPods at Macworld NY.
2003 Apr. 28 Apple opens the online iTunes Music Store in the US.
May 30 Opening day of Finding Nemo, Pixar’s first Best Animated Feature Academy Award winner.
Spring Steve Jobs announces that Pixar is seeking a new distributor to replace Disney.
Jun. 23 Steve Jobs unveils the Power Mac G5, the world’s fastest computer, at WWDC.
Oct. 16"The day hell froze over": Steve Jobs introduces iTunes for Windows.
Fall Steve Jobs is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
2004 Jan. 6 Steve unveils the iPod mini and the iLife suite at Macworld.
Aug. Steve Jobs has his pancreatic tumor removed by surgery.
2005 Jan. 11 At Macworld San Francisco, Steve Jobs unveils iWork, the Mac mini, and the iPod shuffle.
Apr. 29 Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is released. It marks the end of the transition from the Mac OS to OS X.
Jun. 6 Steve Jobs announces that Apple is going to use Intel processors in the future Macs at WWDC.
Jun. 12 Steve Jobs's commencement speech at Stanford University.
Sep. 7 Steve introduces the iPod nano and the Motorola ROCKR, an iTunes-compatible cell phone.
Oct. 12 Steve Jobs invites Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger on stage at an Apple Music Event.
2006Jan. 10 Steve Jobs introduces the first two Intel Macs at Macworld, the iMac and the MacBook Pro.
Jan. 24 The Walt Disney Company acquires Pixar for $7.4 billion, and Steve joins the board.
Feb. 28 Apple releases its first living-room product, the iPod hi-fi.
Apr. 18 Steve Jobs announces Apple’s intention to erect a second campus in Cupertino.
Aug. 7 Apple completes the transition of its entire product line to the Intel platform with Mac Pro.
2007Jan. 9 Steve Jobs introduces Apple TV and iPhone at Macworld. Apple Computer becomes Apple Inc.
Apr. The SEC files charges against Apple’s Nancy Heinen and Fred Anderson for options backdating.
Jun. 29 iPhone is released in the US, the same day as Pixar’s Ratatouille.
Dec. 5 Steve Jobs is inducted in the California Hall of Fame by Gov. Schwartzenegger.
2008Jan. 15 Steve Jobs introduces the world’s thinnest notebook, the MacBook Air, at Macworld.
Mar. 6 Apple announces it will open the iPhone platform to outside developers with the App Store.
Aug. The SEC clears Steve Jobs of any responsibilities in the options backdating scandal.
2009Jan. 5 Steve Jobs takes a medical leave of absence for six months.
Apr. Steve has surgery for a liver transplant.
Aug. 3 Google CEO Eric Schmidt leaves Apple's board because of conflicting interests due to Android.
Aug. 28 Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, stripped off any code from the original Mac OS.
Sep. 9 Steve Jobs makes his first public appearance of the year at an Apple Music Event.
2010 Jan. 27 Steve Jobs unveils iPad, the much-anticipated Apple tablet. Let’s take a quick look back at some of the top inventions from the mind of Steve Jobs.
The First Apple
The first Apple computer came along in 1976. Steve Wozniak, working at the time for HP, had been designing computers for a while, but had never actually gone so far as to make one. As he watched others bring their devices to market, he decided to go ahead and do it. His friend, Steve Jobs, had some ideas for improving the device, and the two scraped together some cash for printed circuit boards. The Steves planned to sell the machine as a kit for $666.66, and approached a store called the Byte Shop about selling their machine. The shop ordered 50 fully assembled devices, and sold them all. The Apple Computer Company was