Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
Apple Co-Founder and Chairman Steve Jobs was one of the world’s most innovative technology leaders. Over the course of Jobs’s tenure as CEO, Apple rose from the brink of its demise to become, by some measurements, the most valuable company in the world. We take a look back at the accomplishments of one of tech’s most visionary voices. Jobs stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. on August 24th of this year, after 14 years at the helm of the company. He died October 5.
Steve Meets Woz (1971)
Steve Jobs meets Steve Wozniak when working as a summer employee for Hewlett-Packard in high school. The two would later go on to found Apple together.
Photo: West Bear
Homebrew Computer Club (1975)
Steve Jobs starts attending meetings of the “Homebrew Computer Club,” for computer enthusiasts along with Steve Wozniak. In addition to the Apple founders, the group counted several high-profile hackers among its members and would go on to play an important role in the development of the personal computer.
Photo: West Bear
The First Apple Computer (1976)
Jobs and Wozniak raise $1750 to build their first marketable tabletop computer, the Apple I, which they sell for $666.66. It’s the first single-board computer with a video interface and on-board ROM (Read-Only Memory), which instructs the machine on how to load programs from an external source.
Photo: Computer History Museum
The First Personal Computer (1977)
Apple incorporates, and the new company buys out the original partnership. The Apple II–the world’s first widely used personal computer–launches that same year.
Photo: DigiBarn
Apple III (1980)
The Apple III launches, and the company goes public in the same year–the share price jumps from $22 to $29 on the first day of trading.
Photo: Old Computers
Hello, Lisa (1983)
Apple announces the Lisa, the first mouse-controlled computer, but it fails in the marketplace. In 1983 Apple also recruits John Sculley as president and chief executive officer.
Photo: The Mac Geek
The First Macintosh (1984)
What’s Next? (1985)
Jobs is ousted from Apple after a boardroom struggle with John Sculley. He resigns, takes five Apple employees with him, and founds Next, Inc. to develop computer hardware and software. The company is later renamed Next Computer, Inc.
Photo: Waybeta
Pixar Acquisition (1986)
Steve Jobs purchases Pixar from George Lucas for less than $10 million. Twenty years later, Disney would buy the company for $7.4 billion dollars. To date, Pixar has won 26 Academy Awards for its groundbreaking computer animated films.
Photo: Pixar
Expensive Gear (1988)
Next unveils the $6500 NeXT Computer, also known as The Cube, which comes with a monochrome monitor. It flops in the marketplace.
Photo: CED Magic
Apple Buys Next (1996)
Apple acquires Next Computer for $427 million in 1996, and Jobs becomes adviser to Apple chairman Gilbert F. Amelio. A year later, Jobs becomes interim CEO and chairman of Apple Computer after Amelio is ousted. Jobs accepts a largely ceremonial salary of $1.
Photo: Skuggen.com
The First iMac (1998)
Apple releases the all-in-one iMac, which sells millions of units, financially reviving the company and boosting its share price by 400 percent. The iMac wins the Gold Award from British Design and Art Direction, Vogue calls it “one of spring’s hottest fashion statements,” and Business Week declares that it is “one of the century’s lasting images.”
Photo: Info Galaxy
The First iPod (2001)
Apple makes its first foray into consumer electronics, with the launch of the iPod portable music player. In fiscal 2004, the company sells more than 4.4 million iPods. The iPod is still the most popular music player in the world with over 300 million devices sold to date.
Photo: Newsweek (cover)
iTunes Gets a Music Store (2003)
The iTunes Music Store, which sells encoded songs and albums, opens. The store sells its first million songs in less than a week. To date, Apple has sold over 14 billion songs on the iTunes Music Store. That makes it, by far, the most popular online music store in the world. The following year, Jobs is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and undergoes surgery. He recovers and returns to work in September.
Photo: BBspot
Burying the Hatchet (2007)
Jobs sits down with Bill Gates–long-time rival and founder of Microsoft–at the All Things Digital 5 conference, appearing together in public for the first time in more than twenty years. The two have a wide ranging discussion about the past and future of their careers and the technology industry in general.
The First iPhone (2007)
The first iPhone arrives, a breath of fresh air among the stodgy BlackBerry, Palm, and Windows Mobile handsets.
Frail Health (2009)
In January 2009 Jobs says that his dramatic weight loss is caused by a hormone imbalance. Around a week later Jobs announces that he will take a leave of absence from Apple until June, because his medical condition has changed. Jobs undergoes a liver transplant in June 2009, and returns to work at the end of the month.
Photo: Walk Like Steve Jobs
The Post-PC Era (2010)
In January 2010, Apple announces the iPad tablet, which becomes an instant success and spawns a new category of mobile computing devices.
Photo: Macworld
Back for More (2011)
Taking a break from his medical leave announced in January 2011, Jobs makes an appearance at a March event in San Francisco to introduce the iPad 2.
Photo: Macworld
Encore (2011)
Steve Jobs returns to the WWDC stage in June 2011 to introduce iCloud, Apple’s new wireless data syncing service for iOS devices and computers. A few days later, Jobs appears in front of the Cupertino City Council with a proposal to build a spaceshiplike campus in the city.
Photo: Macworld
Resignation (2011)
On August 24, Jobs steps down as Apple’s chief executive, saying he can “no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO.” Chief operating officer Tim Cook (left) assumes the CEO title, while Jobs remains chairman of the company.
Photo: Dan Farber
We Remember Steve Jobs
