Steve Jobs biography: life story, personal life, cause of death

Stephen (Steve) Paul Jobs is an American engineer, entrepreneur and inventor. In the 1970s, he co-founded the corporation Apple, and in the 1980s, the Pixar film studio. At the same time, today Steve Jobs is known as the man who revolutionized the field of mobile gadgets and pioneered the era of information technology. And rightly so. Why – learn from the biography of this truly unique person.

Steve Jobs story

Becoming a great entrepreneur and inventor

Steve Jobs (Steven Paul 'Steve' Jobs) was born in 1955, February 24. Steve's biological parents were unmarried migrant students. Father – Syrian Abdulfattah Jandali, and mother – German from the Catholic family Joan Schieble. Abdula was born in Homs. He was the son of a Syrian millionaire, which allowed the boy to go to study in New York. Jandali met Shible while being a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin. Joan received her master's degree there.

Joan Shible's relatives opposed her alliance with Abdulfataham Jandali. Moreover, the girl's father, who was then dying, even promised to deprive her of her inheritance if she did not listen to the pope's commandments. As a result, Joana had to give her son – newborn Steve – for adoption.

The adoptive parents of the future genius were Paul Jobs and Clara Jobs. The woman's maiden name is an American of Armenian descent – Agopyan. The couple could not have their own children and decided to adopt someone else's child. Paul and Clara named the boy Stephen.

It is noteworthy that Steve Joan's biological mother was convinced that her son should have a higher education. She was embarrassed that Paul was only behind high school, and Clara dropped out of college. The woman agreed to sign the adoption documents only after the adoptive parents gave a written commitment to pay for Steve's university tuition in full.

Stephen had considered Clara and Paul to be parents all his life and did not like to talk about adoption. However, one day he did meet with his biological mother and younger sister. This happened only 31 years after the adoption.

Stephen was not the only child in the family. When the boy was two years old, Clara and Paul took the girl Patty from the orphanage. Already the four of them moved from San Francisco to Mountain View. Clara worked in the future Silicon Valley as an accountant in one of the first high-tech companies. Paul worked for a financial holding company. To fulfill his obligations to Joana and earn Stephen's college money, the father of the family repaired old cars in the garage and sold them. It was Paul who instilled in the boy a love of electronics when he rummaged with him in cars and radios.

Steve Jobs as a child

School years and the first invention of Stephen Jobs

Stephen did not like schoolwork for formalism, but the teachers considered him a diligent student. Having passed the exams brilliantly in the fourth grade, the boy immediately 'jumped' in the sixth. Despite the fact that the director suggested that Clara and Paul transfer Steve immediately to the seventh grade, however, the parents decided not to risk so much.

In addition to school, the boy went to a research club, which was organized by one of the largest information technology companies at that time, Hewlett-Packard. Engineers were invited to the club, who told the guys what project they were working on. There, for the first time, a personal computer appeared before Steve's gaze. He already made a strong impression on the boy.

During the courses, the guys worked on their own projects. Steve managed to assemble a frequency counter – a device that allowed him to determine the frequency of periodic signals. There, in the club, the student managed to agree with the head of Hewlett-Packard about the first job. Bill Hewlett invited the 13-year-old boy to stand behind the assembly line, to which Steve, of course, agreed. Jobs would later also distribute newspapers and work in a warehouse at an electronics store. And by the age of 15, the young inventor will have acquired the first car – of course, with the financial support of his parents – and will install a new engine on it.

Steve Jobs's school years

Jobs and Wozniak's Blue Box

A “legend” studied at Jobs's school. Stephen Wozniak was a graduate who was seriously into computers. Every student knew him, and among themselves everyone was called simply “Woz”. Jobs got to know Wozniak, who was five years older. They later became best friends.

In 1971, Wozniak, a long-time student at the university, learned about a certain subculture of freaks who learned to seize telephone lines and call for free around the world. They did this using a sound simulation of a special frequency tone signal.

One such eccentric found out empirically that the sound of the necessary tonality is emitted by a whistle, which the producers of Cap'n Crunch oatmeal put inside the box. From there, a pseudonym appeared – Captain Crunch. This eccentric invented a special device for capturing a telephone line and called it the Blue Box.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak decided to create the same invention. The first attempt was unsuccessful. “Box” – an analog prototype – did not give out stable tone signals. Then they decided to make a completely digital device. The Blue Box began to reproduce the frequency signals with the desired accuracy.

At first, friends were just fooling around, making calls to different parts of the world. But later Jobs realized that the “box” can generate income. The young men realized that business was a risky and illegal business, but they began handicraft production of devices. Jobs and Wozniak sold about a hundred Blue Boxes each for $ 150 apiece, which cost about $ 40. Entrepreneurs divided their income equally. The police visited them several times, and it was decided to stop production in order to avoid further problems. However, it was the first business that taught young people to invent things useful for society and make serious money on this.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Steve Jobs' one and only failed attempt to graduate

In 1972, Steve leaves the parental home and enters Reed College. The young man's parents opposed this educational institution because of the cost and rather free morals. Reed College was one of the most expensive private liberal arts universities in the United States. In addition, there was a hippie atmosphere in the school. Despite the fact that the program was rich, and the training standards were high. In any case, Jobs agreed to study only there.

In college, Steve became interested in spiritual practices, became a vegetarian, became addicted to Zen Buddhism, and even experimented with fasting. At the university, Jobs met his second close friend, Daniel Kottke, and also met the president of the student council, Robert Friedlan, who had a serious influence on the young entrepreneur.

Jobs went to college for six months and then dropped out. The young man was bored with the obligatory program. Steve was expelled, but allowed to come to creative classes for free. At the same time, the young man slept on the floor with friends, and bought food by collecting and returning bottles.

25-year-old millionaire Steve Jobs

Inventions that made Jobs famous: Apple I

In 1975, Jobs and his longtime friend Wozniak began attending meetings of a group of enthusiasts who called themselves the Homemade Computer Club. The participants gathered in the famous Steve Jobs garage and thought about how to introduce new technologies that are difficult for ordinary people to understand into the life of every person.

Inspired by the ideas of the club members, Steve Wozniak began to design a car that would later be called Apple I. Within a few months the young man received a result unique for that time. Woz displayed the characters he typed on the keyboard. I showed the result to Steve. Jobs, in turn, reiterated the commercial potential of his friend's invention.

The 20-year-olds first began to create and sell printed circuit boards, later it came to assembling full-fledged computers. A year later, the inventors hired an assistant, a draftsman Ronald Wayne. In addition to direct responsibilities, the new employee was used as a third voice in cases when the other two argued. The three of them formed a company on April 1, 1976 – Apple Computer Co. For the start-up capital, Jobs had to sell his minibus and switch to a bicycle, while Wozniak said goodbye to the most precious thing to his heart – a programmable calculator.

Soon the guys were waiting for the first large order. The local electronics store asked for 50 computers. However, the entrepreneurs did not have money for parts for such a number of machines. Friends had to take out a loan, but after ten days the computers were ready and arrived at the store. Jobs, Wayne, and Wozniak each sold for just over $ 666.

Fifty cars were also sold to the Homemade Computer Club. Later, several hundred computers were sold through shops and among business acquaintances.

One of the most popular questions is why Apple? It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. Some say that the whole thing is in the designer Rob Yanov, who was then working with the guys. The man allegedly brought apples from the store, began to draw them, took a bite of one and realized that this was the perfect drawing for advertising computers. Others argue that Jobs' colleagues did not come up with a name for a long time, then Steve delivered an ultimatum: if there are no other options, let's call the computer “apple”. Believe it or not in these versions is up to you. It is only known for certain that initially there was also Newton on the logo, on which a fruit falls from a tree. Then a multi-colored apple appeared, and only by 1998 – a one-color one, due to the monochrome of which the ripples in the eyes did not appear, as in the first two cases.

Steve Jobs garage

Inventions that made Jobs famous: Apple II

Stephen Wozniak argued that his creation – Apple I – had no electronic innovations other than “dynamic” memory compared to the simplest models. He decided to implement all new ideas already in a new car – Apple II. The platform was ready in August 1976. Using the device, we worked with sound and color, and also connected game controllers. Compared to previous models, the features were unique.

Apple II became the world's first mainstream computer. Jobs this time for the first time took care of conducting an advertising campaign and creating a design with which it would be possible to bypass competitors.

The new model was sold in different parts of the world with a circulation of five million copies. Thanks to this, Steve Jobs became a millionaire at the age of 25.
After the second model, the third followed, and then the Lisa and Macintosh. Jobs' firm flourished, but a serious conflict was brewing among the company's leaders. Mostly because of Steve's nasty personality.

Steve Jobs and Apple II

Lisa, Macintosh and Steve Jobs sacking

In 1979, entrepreneurs were already working on a new model called the Lisa. The computers were named after Jobs' daughter. Then the employees Apple were invited to the Xerox Research Center, where IT specialists first saw Alto computers.

After a visit to the center, Steve decided by all means to develop an interface that would allow you to give commands to the car using the cursor. Jobs decided to apply new developments in a new model – Lisa. I wanted to become the head of the innovative computer project alone. Such daring ideas were not to the liking of other employees of the company.

In addition, the firm started having problems with the implementation of another Macintosh model. Jobs was convinced that the reason for the overpriced computers, and began to blame colleagues for this. Stephen decided to emulate a less popular model on the Lisa machines and sell the computers under a new brand, the Macintosh XL. The idea had an effect, but the leading experts did not like it Apple because in fact it was a hoax.

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Jobs' questionable actions prompted the departure of several employees. Steve said goodbye to them too easily, which only frightened his colleagues. He became overly demanding and irritable with failed projects. Relations between Steven and another leader, John Scully, deteriorated. The inventor decided to get rid of him, but other employees did not support the decision. On the contrary, they thought to remove Jobs himself from the affairs, which was later done. For some time, he formally still managed the affairs, but realizing that no one noticed the absence of the company's founder and his colleagues turned away from him, he created a new company.

Firing Steve Jobs from Apple

“I freed myself and entered one of the most creative periods of my life.”

Later, this is exactly what Steve Jobs would say about this period of his life. Even before his dismissal – in 1985 – he met the Nobel Prize laureate, biochemist Paul Berg. He shared his ideas with a like-minded person. Jobs decided to implement them in a new computer model. In Apple, the entrepreneur launched the Big Mac project, but after the researcher left the firm, it was closed. Then Steve had the opportunity to develop new machines already in another – his – company.

To develop the model, Jobs recruited several people from the Macintosh team and founded a new company called NeXT Inc. From the outside, accusations of the former employee's bad faith followed immediately. The founder of the company laughed it off, saying that a company with four thousand employees and a turnover of two billion dollars was frightened by six ordinary guys.

Jobs used the most advanced technology to create the NeXT computers. However, the cars were too expensive for mass consumers. Computing was generating income, but not enough for Stephen.

The millionaire begins to get involved in computer graphics and follows the activities of Pixar (then called The Graphics Group). This corporation was founded in 1979 to create animation. Seven years later, Jobs buys it from founder George Lucas for $ 5 million: the seller needed money.

Stephen originally wanted to use Pixar animated films as advertisements for NeXT computers. However, due to the extraordinary popularity of cartoons, he reconsidered his plans. Later – in 2006 – Disney buys Pixar for 7.5 million (1000 times more!), And such popular films as Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters Inc. are released at the film studio. At the same time, Jobs remains a shareholder in the company.

Return to your brainchild: Think Different

So, it was 1996. At this time, Steve Jobs is the owner of two enterprises at once. We are talking about the computer company NeXT and the Pixar film studio. However, the computer firm hasn't been making machines for three years – just various tools for developers.

And then, unexpectedly, on December 20 Apple – Jobs's first company – announced its intention to buy NeXT. And this is despite the fact that they have already received offers to buy the company. This time, new opportunities have opened up. Apple's management wanted to use the NeXTStep operating system instead of the outdated Mac OS. Apple acquired for $ 427.5 million: 426 million paid to NeXT investors and another 1.5 million to Steve personally.

Jobs soon – after 11 years in exile – returned to Apple as an advisor to the chairman, and later became CEO of the company for life. It should be noted that after the return of the guru to Apple, many projects were closed and more than 3 thousand employees were fired. It got to the point that people were afraid to intersect with the director in the elevator, so as not to lose their jobs. Steve banned the use of software Apple from other manufacturers and reduced the entire range to four computer models.

Nevertheless, such measures have borne fruit. Low-profit production declined, expenses Apple fell sharply, and revenues increased. What did Jobs do for the company after his return?

New developments of Steve Jobs

For his brainchild, Steve comes up with a new slogan Think Different and releases a unique iMac computer. The candy bar immediately attracted computer enthusiasts with its futuristic design and became the best-selling car in history Apple. With the help of the iMac, Jobs was able to capture a new consumer market: a third of all-in-ones were bought by people who had never used a computer before.

Stephen's second step was to set up specialized hardware stores Apple. The first Apple Stores were opened in two American cities at once in May 2001. The founder of the company personally chose the location for the opening and approved each element of the design of the premises. And it paid off. As a result, over three years, the network managed to reach an indicator of almost 5.6 thousand visitors per week.

Largely thanks to Jobs Apple, it regained its leading position in the IT Olympus. This allowed Stephen to carry out his plan to introduce the NeXTStep operating system into personal computers. Its interface has been redesigned in Mac style and we now know it as Mac OS X, which has become a bestseller.

Then Jobs decided to create an MP3 player, and in 2001 the first iPod was released. A well-thought-out interface, unique design, small dimensions and convenient control – this is all about a new invention from Apple. Five years later, 75% of the purchased players were on the iPod, and in terms of sales this gadget was equal to the computer.

But Jobs does not stand still and a year later gives birth to a new hit. He creates the first gadget that functions as a computer, mobile phone and music player. In this case, the device can be controlled using the touch interface. It was, of course, iPhone.

But the phone wasn't the last device Jobs created. The crown of his creations is the tablet. It was he who broke the domination of personal computers. The first model was presented by Stephen himself at a presentation in San Francisco in 2010.

A man living on a dollar a year salary

As mentioned above, Steve Jobs became a millionaire at the age of 25. Then his fortune was estimated at $ 256 million. At the end of his life, the creator of the most technologically advanced phones – predictably – was already a billionaire.

And in his last position – CEO Apple – Steve received an annual salary of just one dollar. He joked, “I get 50 cents for my appearance at work and the same for efficiency.” But he no longer needed wages. Jobs owned nearly 5.5 million shares of his company, worth more than $ 2 billion. In addition, he owned 138 million Disney shares, worth $ 4.4 billion. The inventor received them in exchange for the sale of the Pixar studio.

In 2011, Forbes magazine ranked Steve Jobs in 39th place on the list of the richest Americans. Researchers have estimated the entrepreneur's net worth at $ 7 billion.

Steve Jobs's wife

Steve Jobs' wife and children

The founder's only wife Apple was Lauren Powell. They met in 1989 at Stanford Business School, where Jobs was giving a lecture. Their romance developed rapidly. According to Stephen, Lauren turned his head.

Steve Jobs's wife was eight years younger than him. Lauren worked at a bank. They got married in 1991, and six months later they had their first child, their son Reed. By 1998, Stephen had become a father of many children. By that time, he had two more daughters: Erin and Eve.

However, in reality, Jobs had four children. He was the father of another girl – Lisa Brennan. Her mother, Chris, is Stephen's first girlfriend. They started dating back in 1972, before leaving school. Four years later, Chris goes with their mutual friend to India, and upon arrival realizes that she is pregnant.

Stephen denied paternity on the pretext that Chris had other men. The girl made scandals, accusing Jobs of wanting to portray her as a walking woman. At the same time, the young genius took part in Lisa's life and did not allow Chris to give the newborn to strangers, as they once did to him.

Stephen passed the paternity test a year later. He showed that Jobs is almost 95% likely to be Lisa's father. However, the founder Apple did not recognize his daughter for a long time, inventing fables, allegedly 25% of US men could be the girl's fathers. The court ordered him to pay alimony Chris. Later, Steve still bought his first girlfriend and daughter a house and even paid for Lisa's education. In the future, Jobs, both morally and financially, rarely helped Chris with the girl.

Lisa's mother made several attempts at various times to get compensation for the years of poverty from Jobs. But all requests were refused. “I don't respond well to blackmail,” Steve replied. However, he left several million dollars to his first daughter. Lisa used a significant part of the money to help her sick mother.

Steve Jobs's children

Steve Jobs' last presentation and cause of death

Probably the founder Apple could have done a lot more for his company, but his health prevented him from doing it. Since 2003, Jobs has been battling a terrible disease – pancreatic cancer. In June 2011, the 56-year-old genius makes his last presentation. It introduces the new iOs 5 smartphone operating system and the iCloud service. But three months later, Stephen had to leave the post of CEO of the company, leaving the post of chairman of the board of directors. As a result, stocks Apple and Wall Disney Co. instantly fell by a few percent. Everyone understood that Jobs would no longer be able to create old masterpieces.

Steve Jobs cause of death

The last days of a genius

Despite feeling terrible, Stephen tried to delve into the affairs Apple until his death. He advised Tim Cook, whom he left as his successor.

On October 5, 2011, companies Microsoft and Apple lowered flags on their buildings: Steve Jobs passed away at three in the afternoon. He died surrounded by the closest people: children, wife and sister.

From what Steve Jobs died – it is known for certain. It was pancreatic cancer that he had been battling for eight years. The doctor later stated that the initial choice of alternative treatment led to such an early death.

What Steve Jobs died of

Public recognition of Steve Jobs

The founder Apple managed to keep his finger on the pulse of the times all his life, creating fantastic devices. He himself created this time and dictated his own laws to him in the IT sphere. Jobs has created and launched a variety of miniature but sophisticated devices: iPhone, iPad, iPods, as well as the Apple Store and iTunes media player. Each of them appeared much earlier than analogs, offering competitors quality standards. And that's not to mention that Steve created one of the first personal computers to have incredible commercial success.

It's not a secret for anyone, but Jobs is still the symbol of at least one company – Apple. In 2010, Forbes compiled a list of the most influential people in the world, placing Stephen in 17th place. A month later, the Financial Times named him Person of the Year.

A year later, the world's first bronze statue of Steve Jobs appeared in Budapest. The founder Apple was posthumously awarded a Grammy. Disney made a film dedicated to him – “John Carter”, and Pixar – the cartoon “Brave”. In addition, there are about a dozen films about the genius of the XX-XXI centuries. Publicists and coaches rank Jobs on a par with such outstanding inventors and entrepreneurs as Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.