Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs: Trivia

In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in Jobs's parents' garage. In 1977, Apple II, one of the first widely successful personal computers, was released. In 1978, Jobs was worth over $1 million and became one of the youngest people to make the Forbes list of the nation's richest people. In 1980, Apple went public, making Jobs a millionaire. In 1981, Jobs took over development of the Macintosh from Jef Raskin. In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment on the top two floors of The San Remo, a Manhattan building with a politically progressive reputation. In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO. In 1984, Apple aired the "1984" Super Bowl commercial and introduced the Macintosh, which was widely acclaimed by the media but had limited sales due to its low performance and limited software availability. In 1985, Jobs's vision for Apple clashed with Sculley's, leading to Jobs's resignation from Apple. In 1985, Jobs founded NeXT Inc. with $7 million. In 1990, NeXT workstations were released, but were largely dismissed as cost prohibitive. In 1993, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel.

In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects, a framework for Web application development. In 1996, Jobs's former company Apple was struggling and its survival depended on completing its next operating system. In 1997, Apple purchased NeXT for $400 million, bringing Jobs back to the company he had cofounded. In 1997, Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted. In 1998, Jobs terminated several projects to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability. In 1998, Jobs changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines. In 2000, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO. In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. In 2001, Jobs introduced the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store, making forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the US by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's annual meeting in Cupertino. In 2006, Jobs further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any US customer who buys a new Mac. In 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. In 2008, a $7 billion class action suit was filed against several members of the Apple board of directors for revenue lost because of alleged securities fraud. In 2011, Jobs met with US President Barack Obama and complained about the nation's shortage of software engineers.