Where did Steve Jobs live? Steve Jobs is the success story of a man who changed the world! Creation of Apple

Think differently, think differently

Steve Jobs is a legendary figure in global business. The man, thanks to whose perseverance the world learned what real personal computers are for the common user. In addition to computers, Jobs created the industry of computer animated cartoons, gave the world the legendary iPod, and finally, under his leadership, Apple introduced the iPhone communicator, which is changing the foundations of the mobile industry before our eyes. Our story today is about him. About his journey, about how this extraordinary personality was able to achieve truly phenomenal heights in business, despite all the blows of fate, which more than once forced Jobs to get up from his knees.

Birth of a rebel

Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1954 in San Francisco, California. Steve's parents, American Joan Carol Schible and Syrian Abdulfattah John Jandali abandoned the child a week after his birth. The baby was adopted by a couple from the town of Mountain View, located in Santa Clara County, California. The adoptive parents of the future founder of Apple, Paul and Clara Jobs, gave the child his first and last name.
One of the main conditions of this adoption was that the adoptive parents had to ensure that Steve received a higher education. (although neither Paul nor Clara had it, it should be noted that Steve himself ultimately did not graduate from college)

Steve was expelled from school after third grade. Moving to another school was a significant moment in Jobs life and, thanks to a wonderful teacher who found an approach to him. As a result, he pulled himself together and began to study! The approach, of course, was simple: for each completed task, Steve received money from the teacher. Not much, but quite enough for a fourth grade student. Overall, Jobs' success was great enough that he even skipped fifth grade and went straight to high school.

Jobs graduated from school in Cupertino in 1972 and tried to get higher education at Portland College, Oregon. However, Jobs was expelled after the first semester. In 1974, Jobs returned to Cupertino, where he showed increased interest in computer technology and new developments. He became an active member of the local computer club Homebrew Computer, at one of whose meetings he subsequently became friends with his future Apple partner, Steve Wozniak.

One day, Steve Jobs decided to assemble his electronic frequency counter, but during assembly he realized that he was missing a number of parts. Without thinking twice, Steve called Hewlett-Packard co-founder Bill Hewlett and told him about his problems. Jobs got the parts he needed. Moreover, in the summer he was invited to work for a couple of months at HP. Steve worked with undisguised enthusiasm and all the time tried to prove to his bosses that technology was everything to him. At one of these moments, Steve talked about his love for electronics and asked a project manager named Chris (who directly supervised Jobs) what he loved most in the world. Chris was short: “Fuck.” Soon Jobs' life began to take on new colors. However, it should be noted that before Steve became a millionaire, he wasn’t very good with women. He didn’t know at all what to talk to them about, considering all conversations with women empty.

Soon after his first sexual experience, Jobs became addicted to recreational drugs such as marijuana and LSD. (It’s interesting that even now, having abandoned this addiction, Steve does not at all regret that he used LSD. Moreover, he considers it one of the most significant events in his life, which turned his worldview upside down.)

When Steve Jobs was 16 years old, he and Woz met a then-famous hacker named Captain Crunch. He told them how, using special sounds made by a whistle from a set of Captain Crunch cereals, they could fool the switching device and make calls around the world for free. Soon Wozniak made the first device, called the “Blue Box,” which allowed ordinary people imitate the sounds of Crunch's whistle and make free calls around the world. Jobs started selling the product. The blue boxes sold for $150 each and were very popular among students. Interestingly, the cost of such a device was then $40. However, it was not possible to achieve much success. First, problems with the police, and then with some hooligan who even threatened Jobs with a gun, brought the “blue box business” to naught.

After his first unsuccessful experience in entrepreneurship, Steve Jobs retreated into his personal life. At that time, he met his first true love, who was a girl named Chris-Ann. Steve spent a lot of time with her. Including one of the most famous moments in his life, when he took LSD with her in a wheat field. Jobs claims that this moment was very important in his life and helped to “expand” his consciousness. Later, Chris-Ann will give birth to a child from Steve, whom he will not recognize for a long time, and will not even pay child support, although he will be a millionaire at that time. All this will be confirmation of his rather great emotional experiences at that time. But that will come later, but for now Steve decides to go to Reed College.

Reed College is one of the most expensive liberal arts colleges on the West Coast, but that is where Steve went, despite the lack of money. (his parents did find funds for his studies) True, young Jobs studied there for only about six months. However, even after this, he was present at the college, lived in the dormitory (sometimes he occupied the rooms of students who, for a number of reasons, were absent in this moment in college, and sometimes slept on the floor in friends' rooms). Steve actively attended various courses at Reed, including taking a course on calligraphy (this would later affect the personal computer industry, they would have really beautiful fonts)

In 1974, Steve Jobs took a job at Atari. It was there that Jobs managed to persuade management to pay for his trip to India. Jobs was already very interested in Eastern philosophy at that time, and therefore really wanted to see the guru. Atari paid for Jobs' trip, although he also had to visit Germany, where his tasks included resolving production problems. He did it.

Jobs went to India not alone, but with his friend Dan Kottke. Dan Kottke was a pretty good pianist at that time, but that didn't mean he had the money to travel to India. However, Steve Jobs promised to pay all of Kottke’s expenses. Fortunately, this did not have to be done, since the latter’s parents, having learned that he was going to India, paid for a round-trip ticket and also gave him money for expenses in a foreign country.

Only after arriving in India, Steve exchanged all his belongings for the shabby clothes of a beggar. His goal was to make pilgrimages throughout India, hoping for the help of ordinary strangers. During the trip itself, Dan and Steve almost died several times due to the harsh climate of India. Communication with the guru did not bring Jobs enlightenment. However, the trip to India left an indelible mark on Jobs' soul. He saw real poverty, completely different from the one that hippies in Silicon Valley adhered to. (“pictorial”)

Returning back to Silicon Valley, Jobs continued working at Atari. Soon he was entrusted with the development of the game BreakOut (Atari at that time was making not only a game, but a full-fledged slot machine, and all the work fell on Jobs’ shoulders.). For this job, Steve was supposed to use no more than 50 parts. This was the main condition. Of course, Jobs himself would never have been able to put together BreakOut. However, he brought Wozniak on board, and everything was ready within 48 hours. Jobs' job was to run for cola and sweets. For this work, young Jobs received 1000 dollars, but he told Wozniak that he was paid 600. As a result, in the pocket of Woz, who did all the work, there were 300 dollars, and in Jobs’s pocket 700. Later, Woz learns about this act of Jobs from third parties faces, and according to eyewitnesses, tears will even appear in his eyes.

In any case, the Altair personal computer was introduced in 1975. Already at this time, both Steves understood what they wanted to do.

Creation of Apple Computer

At the time of creation Apple Computer, Inc. in 1976, Steve Jobs worked for Atari, a computer games company. At Jobs's initiative, Wozniak created the personal computer. The model turned out to be so successful that Jobs and Wozniak decided to begin serial production of computers. The beginning of the collaboration between Jobs and Wozniak is considered to be April 1, 1976 - the official founding date of Apple.

For 10 years under the leadership Jobs Apple managed to maintain a leading position in the computer market. The success of Apple's first computer model, called the Apple I (about 200 of these machines were sold, which is a very good indicator for a start-up company), was consolidated in 1977 with the release of the Apple II, which was considered the most popular personal computer for 5 years.

However, by 1985, amid the release of a number of unsuccessful computer models (the commercial failure of the Apple III), the loss of a significant market share and ongoing conflicts in management, Wozniak left Apple, and some time later Steve Jobs also left the company. Also in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT, a company specializing in hardware and workstations.

A year later, Steve Jobs co-founded the animation studio Pixar. Under Jobs' leadership, Pixar released films such as Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. In 2006, Jobs sold Pixar to Walt Disney Studios for $7.4 million in company stock. Jobs remained on the board of directors of Pixar and at the same time became the largest an individual- a Disney shareholder, receiving 7 percent of the studio's shares.

Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, when the company founded by Jobs decided to acquire NeXT. Jobs joined the company's board of directors and became the interim manager of Apple, which was experiencing a serious crisis at that moment. In 1998, on Jobs' initiative, work on Apple's frankly unsuccessful projects, including the PDA Newton, was suspended.

In 2000, the word temporary disappeared from Jobs’ job title, and the Apple founder himself was included in the Guinness Book of Records as Executive Director with the most modest salary in the world (according to official documents, Jobs’ salary at that time was $1 per year).

In 2001, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod. Within a few years, selling iPods became the company's main source of income. Under Jobs' leadership, Apple had significantly strengthened its position in the personal computer market by 2006, helped by the transition of Macintosh machines to high-performance processors manufactured by Intel.

I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we always try to make them even better. Steve Jobs

His successes and reputation help define an era and change the world. It changes the understanding of computers, offers us perfect hardware and software that changes us.

This man with boundless energy and charisma is also an expert at throwing dust, exaggeration and attention-grabbing phrases. And even when he tries to talk normally, brilliant expressions pour out of him.

Here is a selection of some of his most interesting sayings that will help you achieve success in life:

1. Steve Jobs says: “ Innovation distinguishes the leader from the catcher.»
There are no limits to new ideas. It all depends only on your imagination. The world is constantly changing. It's time to start thinking differently. If you're in a growing industry, think about ways to get more results, nicer clients, and easier customer service. If you are associated with a dying industry, quickly quit and change it before you lose your job. And remember that delay is inappropriate here. Start innovating now!

2. " Be the standard of quality. Some people were not in an environment where innovation was a major asset.»
This is not a fast track to excellence. You should definitely make excellence your priority. Use your talents, capabilities and skills to make your product the best and then you will leapfrog your competitors, add something special, something they don’t have. Live by higher standards, pay attention to details that can improve the situation. Having an advantage is not difficult - just decide right now to propose your innovative idea - in the future you will be amazed at how this merit will help you in life.

3. “There is only one way to do great work - to love it. If you haven't come to this, wait. Don't rush into action. As with everything else, your own heart will help you suggest something interesting. »
Do what you love. Look for activities that give you a sense of meaning, purpose, and satisfaction in life. Having a goal and striving for its implementation brings orderliness to life. This not only improves your situation, but also gives you a boost of vigor and optimism. You are happy to get out of bed in the morning and look forward to a new start. working week? If you answered no, then look for a new activity.

4. “You know that we eat food that other people grow. We wear clothes that other people have made. We speak languages ​​that were invented by other people. We use mathematics, but other people developed it too... I think we all say this all the time. This is a great reason to create something that could be useful to humanity. »
Try to make changes in your world first and maybe you will be able to change the world.

5. " This phrase is from Buddhism: A beginner's opinion. Great to have a newbie's opinion»
This is the kind of opinion that allows one to see things as they are, which can constantly and in an instant realize the original essence of everything. A beginner's perspective - Zen practice in action. It is an opinion that is innocent of preconception and expected outcome, evaluation and prejudice. Think of the beginner's perspective as that of a small child who views life with curiosity, wonder, and amazement.

6. “We think that we mostly watch TV to give our brains a rest and we work at the computer when we want to turn on our brains. »
Many scientific studies over the decades have clearly confirmed that television has a detrimental effect on the psyche and morals. And most people who watch TV know that their bad habit is dulling them and killing them a lot of time, but they still continue to spend a huge portion of their time watching the box. Do what makes your brain think, what develops it. Avoid passive pastime.

7. “I’m the only person who knows what it’s like to lose a quarter of a billion dollars in a year. It shapes the personality very well. »
Do not conflate the phrases “making mistakes” with “being a mistake.” There's no such thing as successful man who never stumbled or made a mistake - there are only successful people who made mistakes, but then changed their lives and their plans, based on these same mistakes made earlier (without making them in the future). They consider mistakes as lessons from which they gain valuable experience. Avoiding mistakes means doing nothing.

8. " I would trade all my technology for a meeting with Socrates.»
Over the past decade, many books featuring lessons from historical figures have appeared on bookstore shelves around the world. And Socrates, along with Leonardo Da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, is a source of inspiration for independent thinkers. But Socrates was the first. Cicero said of Socrates that “he brought philosophy down from heaven, giving it to ordinary people.” So, use Socratic principles in own life, work, study and relationships - this will bring more truth, beauty and perfection into your everyday life.

9. " We are here to make a contribution to this world. Otherwise why are we here?»
Do you know that you have good things to bring to life? And did you know that those good things were abandoned while you were pouring yourself another cup of coffee and you made the decision to just think about it instead of making it a reality? We are all born with a gift to give life to. This gift, or this thing, is your calling, your goal. And you don't need a decree to achieve this goal. Neither your boss, nor your teacher, nor your parents, no one can decide this for you. Just find that one goal.

10. “Your time is limited, don't waste it living another life. Don't get caught up in a creed that exists on other people's thinking. Don't let the views of others drown out your own inner voice. And it is very important to have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you really want to do. Everything else is secondary. »
Are you tired of living someone else's dream? Undoubtedly, this is your life and you have every right to spend it the way you want without any obstacles or barriers from others. Give yourself the opportunity to develop your creative talents in an atmosphere free from fear and pressure. Live a life that you choose and where you are the master of your own destiny.

Steven Jobs was born in the mid-50s in San Francisco, California. His Syrian father Abdulfatta Jandali was a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin, and his mother Joan Schible was a young student at the same educational institution. On his mother's side, Steve has German roots. Joan and Abdulfatta were not married; the girl’s family was categorically against the relationship between the young people. Therefore, Stephen’s mother was forced to go to give birth in a private California clinic, and then give her son up to foster parents.

Paul Jobs and his wife Clara could not have their own children and happily adopted the baby. The biological mother put forward the only requirement: the boy must receive a higher education.

Two years later, Steve had a half-sister, Patty, whom Paul and Clara also adopted. Soon the family leaves San Francisco and moves to the small town of Mountain View. Here it was easier for Paul Jones, who was an auto mechanic, to find Good work and earn funds to pay for college for children. Paul tried to instill an interest in mechanics in his son, but Steve was much more attracted to electronics. Coupled with the fact that Mountain View is a center of high technology, we can say that Steve's future was predetermined in his early childhood.

In elementary school, Steven Jobs had big problems with teachers. The education system itself seemed boring, formal and soulless to the child. Only after one of the teachers was able to find the right approach to the student did the boy begin to study diligently and even skipped 2 grades. While studying in high school, Steve attended a radio electronics club, independently assembled an electronic frequency meter, and even worked part-time on an assembly line at the famous Hewlett-Packard company.

When the guy turned 16, he began to have conflicts with his parents, primarily with his father, because of his passion for hippie culture, music and The Beatles, smoking marijuana and using LSD. At the same time, Stephen met his namesake, who was 5 years older than him. The guys become best friends, as both are interested in computers and electronics.

The first joint invention between Jobs and Wozniak was born when Stephen was still a high school student. They made a device they called a blue box, designed to hack the telephone network by selecting tone signals. At first the guys were just having fun, and then they started selling their product and made good money.

In 1972, Steve Jobs entered the private liberal arts college Reed College, which had a rich curriculum. After studying for only six months, Jobs quit studying because he saw no point in wasting time on meaningless activities. During this period, he was much more attracted to Eastern spiritual practices, vegetarianism, veganism and Zen Buddhism.

Apple Company

Stephen begins working as a technician for a start-up computer game company called Atapi. At the same time, Wozniak was working on creating and improving boards for his own personal computer. When the idea began to take shape practically, Jobs suggested to his friend that they create a joint computer company. This is how the company Apple, which later became legendary, was born. When working on the first version of the Apple I computer, Jobs showed himself to be an authoritarian, somewhat tyrannical and aggressive, but at the same time a leader who knew how to organize.

Founders of Apple

The first computer was primitive and more like an electronic typewriter. But the new board, which Wozniak developed in 1976, was already able to work with color, sound, and could connect external media. And Steve Jobs contributed his leadership skills in the field of device promotion and was able to refocus production on creating computers for the inexperienced user.

It was his idea that the new Apple II owes its beautiful plastic case and neat appearance. Jobs also hired professional specialist according to an advertisement by Regis McCann, and everyone started talking about the new computer.

This was followed by the Apple III, Apple Lisa and Macintosh. From a commercial point of view, the company flourished, but discord and scandals reigned among the managers, largely due to the difficult character of Steven Jobs.

NeXT and Pixar

As a result, he was removed from work, and in 1984 Jobs left his own brainchild, but immediately organized new company NeXT Computer. The computers of this company offered the market exclusively advanced new products, slightly ahead of their time. But, like the latest inventions at Apple, they turn out to be too expensive for the mass consumer.

In parallel with this project, Steve Jobs, who just got carried away computer graphics, buys Pixar studio from George Lucas for $5 million. His original idea was to use animated films to advertise the capabilities of NeXT computers. But after the 1987 animated film Tin Toy won an Oscar, Jobs reconsidered. Later, this studio produced such famous full-length animated films as “Toy Story”, “Monsters Inc.”, “Finding Nemo”, “The Incredibles”, “Cars”, “Ratatouille” and others.

In 2006, Steve sells Pixar to Disney for $7.5 billion. However, he remained a shareholder.

Return to Apple

In 1996, Steve Jobs sold NeXT to his first company for almost half a billion dollars and returned to Apple as an advisor to the chairman.

Jobs's first achievement in his new capacity was the serial production of the new iMac all-in-one computer, which attracted attention with its unusual futuristic design. This device became the best-selling computer in Apple history, with about a third of copies purchased by users who were not previously owners computer equipment. Consequently, Steve Jobs was able to find a new consumer market for the company.

Second successful step became the creation Apple Store – specialty store for the sale of Apple equipment.

What made Steve Jobs unique was that he didn't just keep his finger on the pulse of the times. He himself created a new era and dictated the laws of fashion in the IT industry. Realizing that the new century was becoming fast-paced, he set up the production of miniature devices that were perfect in their capabilities: the iTunes media player, the iPod music player, the iPhone touchscreen mobile phone, and the iPad Internet tablet. Each of these devices appeared before its analogues and imposed a standard and parameters on competing companies.

Many books have been written about Jobs and a large number of documentaries and feature films have been shot. The most interesting printed publication is the authorized biography “Steve Jobs”, published in 2011. The author of the book is American journalist Walter Isaacson.

Among the films, it is worth highlighting the documentary work “iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World”, which was produced by the Discovery Channel and the feature film “Jobs: Empire of Seduction”, where the role of the legendary Jobs was played by the actor.

Personal life

In his youth, Steve was loving, as was expected in hippie culture. The first noticeable woman in his life was Chris Ann Brennan. Their relationship was difficult, the couple often quarreled and separated. In 1978, Chris gave birth to a daughter, Lisa Brennan, whom Jobs initially did not recognize. But after a DNA test he agreed to paternity.

Later he had relationships with Barbara Jasinski, who worked in advertising, with folk singer Joan Baez, with computer consultant Tina Redse, with whom he broke up after the girl refused to marry him.

The businessman’s only wife was Lauren Powell, who was a bank employee at the time they met. It is curious that, having proposed in 1990, Jobs forgot about his bride for several months, as he was immersed in another business project.

However, in March 1991, Steve and Lauren became married, and in September their first child, son Reed, was born. Four years later, daughter Erin appeared, and in 1998, little Eve. It is interesting that Steve forbade his children to use computers for a long time and limited the time they “communicated” with iPhones and iPads.

In the mid-80s, Steve Jobs found his biological mother and met his sister Mona, with whom he began to maintain friendly relations.

Illness and death

Steve Jobs made his last public appearance on June 6, 2011. Several years earlier, the businessman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He fought it different ways, including alternative ones, but the disease won. Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011 surrounded by his family.

Steve Jobs- American businessman, talented leader, co-founder, ideological inspirer, director and chairman of the board of directors. Until 2006, he was the director (CEO) of an animation studio. Pixar(Pixar), it was Steve Jobs who gave it this name.

short biography

Steve Jobs (full name: Stephen Paul Jobs) was born February 24, 1955 in San Francisco, USA, California. His biological mother is Joan Schible. Biological father - Abdulfattah Jandali.

Stephen was born to unmarried students. Joan's father was against their relationship and threatened to disinherit his daughter if she did not end it. That is why Steve's future mother went to San Francisco to give birth and gave her son up for adoption.

Adoptive parents

Joan set the conditions for adoption: Stephen's adoptive parents had to be wealthy and have a higher education. However, the Jobs family, which could not have their own children, did not have the second criterion. Therefore, the future adoptive parents gave a written commitment pay for a boy's college education.

The boy was adopted Paul Jobs And Clara Jobs, née Agopian (American of Armenian descent). They were the ones who gave him his name Stephen Paul.

Jobs always considered Paul and Clara to be his father and mother; he was very irritated if someone called them adoptive parents:

“They are my real parents 100%.”

According to the rules of official adoption, the biological parents knew nothing about the whereabouts of their son, and Stephen Paul met with his birth mother and younger sister only after 31 years.

Schooling

School activities disappointed Steve with their formalism. Primary school teachers Mona Loma characterized him as a prankster, and only one teacher, Mrs Hill, was able to see extraordinary abilities in her student and find an approach to him.

When Steve was in fourth grade, Mrs. Hill gave him "bribes" in the form of sweets, money, and DIY kits for doing well, thereby encouraging his learning.

This quickly bore fruit: soon Steve Paul began to study diligently without any reinforcement, and at the end of the school year he passed the exams so brilliantly that the director suggested transfer him from fourth grade straight to seventh. As a result, by decision of his parents, Jobs was enrolled in the sixth grade, that is, in high school.

Further training

After graduating from school, Steve Jobs decided to apply to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Studying at such a prestigious college specializing in humanities, was insanely expensive. But once upon a time, Stephen's parents promised the young woman who gave birth to their son that the child would receive a good education.

His parents agreed to pay for his studies, but Stephen’s desire to join student life lasted exactly one semester. The guy left college and went deep in search of his destiny. This stage of Jobs' life was influenced by the free ideas of hippies and the mystical teachings of the East.

Birth of Apple

Stephen Paul became friends with his classmate Bill Fernandez, who was also interested in electronics. Fernandez introduced Jobs to a graduate who was interested in computers, Stephen Wozniak (“Woz”), his senior by five years.

Two Stephens - two friends

In 1969 Woz and Fernandez began assembling a small computer, which they nicknamed "cream soda" and showed it to Jobs. This is how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak became best friends.

“We sat with him on the sidewalk in front of Bill's house for a long time and shared stories - we told each other about our pranks and about the devices we developed. I felt that we had a lot in common. I usually have a hard time explaining to people the ins and outs of the electrical devices I assembled, but Steve picked it up on the fly. I liked him immediately.”

From the memoirs of Steve Jobs

Apple Computer

Steve began working with Woz on circuit boards for computers. Wozniak was a member of a circle of amateur computer scientists at the time. Homebrew Computer Club. It was there that the idea of ​​​​creating his own computer came to him. To implement the idea, he needed only one board.

Jobs quickly realized that his friend's development was a tasty morsel for buyers. A company was born Apple Computer. Apple began its ascent in Jobs' garage.

Apple II

Computer Apple II became the first mass product of Apple, created on the initiative of Steve Jobs. This happened in the late 1970s. Jobs later saw the commercial potential of mouse-controlled graphical interfaces, which led to the advent of computers Apple Lisa and, a year later, Macintosh (Mac).

Leaving Apple is a new round of success

Losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT- a company that developed a computer platform for universities and businesses. In 1986, he acquired the division computer graphics film company Lucasfilm, turning it into .

He remained Pixar's CEO and major shareholder until the studio was acquired in 2006, making Steven Paul largest private shareholder and a member of the Disney board of directors.

"Resuscitation" Apple

In 1996 the companyApple boughtNeXT. This was made to use the OS NeXTSTEP as the basis for Mac OS X. As part of the deal, Steve Jobs received the position of advisor to Apple. By 1997 Jobs regained control of Apple, heading the corporation.

Rapid development

Under the leadership of Steve Paul Jobs, the company was saved from bankruptcy and became profitable within a year. Over the next decade, Jobs led the development iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone And iPad, as well as the development Apple Store, iTunes Store, App Store And iBookstore.

The success of these products and services, which provided several years of stable financial profits, allowed Apple to become the most valuable publicly traded company in the world in 2011.

Many call Apple's resurgence one of the greatest accomplishments in business history. At the same time, Jobs was criticized for his tough management style, aggressive actions towards competitors, and the desire for total control over products even after they were sold to the buyer.

Merits of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has received public recognition and a number of awards for his impact on the technology and music industries. He is often called a "visionary" and even "father of the digital revolution". Jobs was a brilliant speaker and took innovative product presentations to the next level, turning them into exciting shows. His easily recognizable figure in a black turtleneck, faded jeans and sneakers is surrounded by a kind of cult.

October 5, 2011 After an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs died in Pal Alto at the age of 56 years old.

Perhaps, today the majority of people, when it comes to an apple, will first of all think not about the fruit, but about the largest corporation, famous brand, the technology giant, about Apple Corporation.

Yes, indeed, it is true; people who do not know about the existence of the products of this American company and do not dream of a laptop, tablet or smartphone made by Apple probably no longer exist today.

But the history of the modern giant began with an ordinary garage and with founder of Apple, a simple guy Steve Jobs.

Steve's childhood and adolescence

Steve was born in 1955, and his parents were students who were not even married. Considering life's difficulties, problems with parents and many other factors, the biological parents were forced to give the boy up for adoption. This is how the future billionaire ended up in the family of Paul and Carla Jobs, people whom in the future he called his real parents.

It was Paul who introduced his son to the basics of electronics as a child, which greatly attracted the boy and gave him his main hobby and passion for his entire subsequent life.

Jobs almost missed it primary school due to the possession of extraordinary knowledge. And thanks to an offer from the director, I skipped several grades, going straight to high school.

Friendship with Steve Wozniak

At the age of fifteen, Steve developed a friendship with one of his classmates at new school, whose name was Bill Fernandez. He, like Steve, was interested in electronics, but that was not why this meeting became such a significant moment. Bill had a friend who was almost more passionate about technology and innovation than Jobs himself. And it was Steve Wozniak. Over time, Bill introduced the two namesakes and this subsequently made them best friends.

iOS from Apple is

Cool!Sucks

Crucial moment

In 1971, a turning point occurred in Jobs' life, which made him understand that electronics could bring in quite serious money without simply being a kind of hobby, a hobby.

All this happened due to very interesting story, which, by the way, became the first business project of the two Steves. Then the guys were able to invent the so-called “Blue Box”, which imitated the sounds of payphone dial tone. Thanks to the use of the product, it was possible to make completely free calls from payphones anywhere in the world.

The guys very quickly realized that they could make good money with such a device and soon began selling them to their peers for $150.

A year later, Jobs entered Reed College, where he met Daniel Kotke. The Apple founder dropped out of college six months later, but Daniel remained his best friend along with Wozniak.

Apple I

In 1975, Wozniak created the “Homemade Computers” club, where meetings were held for everyone. Soon Steve joined in. Over time, such meetings resulted in the creation of the first Apple computer of its kind.

The presentation of this computer was carried out already when the club was significantly expanded, and even moved its meetings to university premises. After the presentation, the person interested in purchasing the computer was Paul Terrell, who offered Jobs one of the main and first deals in his life: he immediately requested 50 of these fully equipped computers, for which the entrepreneur was ready to pay $500.

Work on computers was carried out in the garage of the Jobs family, and all available forces and acquaintances were involved in it. Daniel and the two Steves worked around the clock to build the computers to complete the order within a month.

The completed order was successfully delivered, and with the money saved, the guys assembled a new batch of computers. It was a success that eventually led to the creation of the Apple Corporation.

Thus began the story of such an influential person who will forever remain in the history of not only the industry of innovation and technology, but also of all humanity.

Steven Paul Jobs (1955-2011) - American engineer and entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. He is considered one of the key figures in the computer industry, a person who largely determined its development.

Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. It cannot be said that he was a welcome child. Just a week after the birth, his unmarried mother, graduate student Joanna Schieble, gave the child up for adoption. The child's adoptive parents were Paul and Clara Jobs from Mountain View, California. They named him Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked for an accounting firm, and Paul Jobs was a mechanic for a laser company.

Childhood

When Steve Jobs was 12 years old, on a childish whim and some early teenage brashness, he called William Hewlett, then president of Hewlett-Packard, at his home phone number. Then Jobs was assembling some kind of electrical device, and he needed some parts. Hewlett chatted with Jobs for 20 minutes, agreed to send the necessary parts and offered him summer job at Hewlett-Packard, the company within whose walls the entire Silicon Valley industry was born. It was at work at Hewlett-Packard that Steve Jobs met a man whose acquaintance largely determined his future fate - Stephen Wozniak. He got a job at Hewlett-Packard, leaving boring classes at the University of California, Berkeley. Working for the company was much more interesting for him due to his passion for radio engineering.

Studies

In 1972, Steve Jobs graduated from high school and entered Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but he dropped out after the first semester. Steve Jobs explains his decision to drop out: “I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all my parents' savings went towards college. Six months later, I didn't see the point. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with my life, and I didn't understand how college would help me figure it out. I was pretty scared at the time, but looking back, I realize it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.”

After dropping out of school, Jobs concentrated on what was truly interesting to him. However, remaining a free student at the university was no longer easy. “Not everything was so romantic,” Jobs recalls. – I didn’t have a dorm room, so I had to sleep on the floor in my friends’ rooms. I traded Coke bottles for five cents apiece to buy food, and every Sunday night I walked seven miles across town to eat at the Hare Krishna temple once a week.”

Steve Jobs' adventures on the college campus after dropping out continued for another 18 months, after which he returned to California in the fall of 1974. There he met up with old friend and technical genius Stephen Wozniak. On the advice of his friend, Jobs got a job as a technician at Atari, which produced popular video games. Steve Jobs did not have any ambitious plans then. He just wanted to earn money to travel to India.

But in addition to the then fashionable interest in India and the hippie subculture, Steve Jobs had an interest in electronics, which became stronger every day. Together with Wozniak, Jobs came to computer Club Homebrew in Palo Alto, which at that time brought together many young people with a keen interest in computers and electronics. The club gave a lot to the future founders of Apple. In particular, thanks to the club, they began their “collaboration” with the telephone giant AT&T (T), although not in the way this company would like. Steve Jobs read about an interesting discovery by American radio amateurs that allowed them to illegally connect to the AT&T telephone network and make free calls over long distances, and he became interested in a new and promising business. Having met with John Draper, who then actively popularized this discovery, Jobs and Wozniak decided to start manufacturing the so-called “blue boxes,” special devices that made it possible to make free calls over long distances. So Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak began tinkering with electronics together in Jobs's parents' garage.

First business

However, they did not deal with “blue boxes” for long. Jobs was already packing for a philosophy tour of India, as planned. Jobs returned from India with rich impressions, a shaved head and in traditional Indian clothes. At this time, a curious incident occurred with the founders of Apple, especially vividly describing the technical talent of Stephen Wozniak and the business acumen of Steve Jobs. At Atari, Jobs was given the task of creating electronic circuit for the video game Breakout. According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, the company offered Jobs to minimize the number of chips on the board and pay $100 for each chip he could remove from the circuit. Steve Jobs was not very well versed in the construction of electronic circuit boards, so he offered Wozniak to split the bonus in half if he took on this matter. Atari was quite surprised when Jobs presented them with a board from which 50 chips had been removed. Wozniak created such a dense scheme that it was impossible to recreate it with mass production. Jobs then told Wozniak that Atari only paid $700 (not $5,000, as it actually was), and he received his share - $350.

However, from the very first meeting, Jobs admired Stephen Wozniak. “He was the only person who understood computers better than me,” Steve Jobs admitted a few years later. There is no doubt that Wozniak played important role in the life of his friend, without his engineering genius there would have been neither Apple nor the triumph of Steve Jobs, who solemnly presented New Product companies.

Apple

Steve Jobs was only 20 years old when he saw the computer that Wozniak had built for his own use. The idea of ​​having a personal computer struck Jobs, and he convinced Wozniak to start creating computers to sell. Initially, both planned to engage only in the production of printed circuits - the basis of a computer, but in the end they came to assembling finished computers.
In early 1976, Jobs asked draftsman Ronald Wayne, with whom he had once worked at Atari, to join their business. Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne founded Apple Computer Co. April 1, 1976 in the form of a partnership. It must be said that only young people who had not yet emerged from the rebellious age could have come up with the idea of ​​calling a computer company “Yabloko” (Apple means “apple” in English).

The newly formed company needed start-up capital, and Steve Jobs sold his minivan, and Wozniak sold his beloved programmable calculator to Hewlett Packard. They ended up earning about $1,300. Jobs convinced Wozniak to leave Hewlett Packard to become vice president and head of development at the new company.

Soon they also received their first large order from a local electronics store - 50 pieces. However, the young company did not then have the money to purchase parts to assemble such a large number of computers. Then Steve Jobs convinced component suppliers to provide materials on credit for 30 days. Having received the parts, Jobs, Wozniak and Wayne assembled the cars in the evenings, and within 10 days they delivered the entire batch to the store. The company's first computer was called the Apple I. The store that ordered the machines sold it for $666.66 because Wozniak liked numbers with like digits. But despite this large order, Wayne lost faith in the success of the endeavor and left the company, taking $800.

Already in the fall of the same year, Wozniak completed work on the Apple II prototype, which became the first mass-produced personal computer in the world. It had a plastic case, a floppy disk reader, and support for color graphics. To provide successful sales computer Jobs ordered the launch advertising campaign and developing a beautiful and standard computer packaging, on which the new logo company - a rainbow bitten apple. According to Jobs, the colors of the rainbow should emphasize the fact that the Apple II is capable of supporting color graphics. Since release model range Apple II, more than 5 million computers were sold, for which programmers created about 16,000 applications. In late 1980, Apple had a successful initial public offering, making Steve Jobs a millionaire at age 25.

In December 1979, Steve Jobs and several other Apple employees gained access to the Xerox (XRX) research center in Palo Alto. There, Jobs first saw the company's experimental development - the Alto computer, which used a graphical interface that allowed the user to set commands by hovering the cursor over a graphic object on the monitor. As colleagues recall, this invention amazed Jobs, and he immediately began confidently saying that all future computers would use this innovation. And it’s not surprising, because it contained three things through which the path to the consumer’s heart lies. Steve Jobs already understood then that it was simplicity, ease of use and aesthetics. He immediately became interested in the idea of ​​​​creating such a computer.

Then the company spent several months developing a new Lisa computer, named after Jobs’ daughter. In 1980, Steve tried to lead this project, in which he hoped to implement a revolutionary innovation that he saw in the Xerox laboratories. However, Apple President Michael Scott refused Jobs. The project was headed by another person. A few months later, Jobs begged Scott to appoint him as head of another project for a less powerful mainstream computer, the Macintosh. Largely at the instigation of Jobs, a competition broke out between the Lisa and Macintosh development teams.

Jobs ultimately lost the race when the Lisa came out in 1983, becoming the first mainstream computer with a graphical interface. However, this project was a commercial failure, mainly due to the high price ($9995) and the limited set of software applications for this computer. Therefore, the second round was for Jobs and his Macintosh. Like the Lisa, the Macintosh used an innovation discovered in the Xerox laboratories - a graphical interface and a mouse. But unlike the Lisa, the Macintosh was a commercially successful computer that revolutionized the industry. The interface of the Macintosh operating system became a standard, its principle was used in all operating systems, which were created from this moment.

When Jobs convinced John Sculley to leave Pepsi-Cola to become Apple's chief executive in 1983, he made the point that Apple employees were writing new pages of history: “Do you really want to sell sugary water for the rest of your life, or do you want to try to change the world?” This time Jobs' ability to persuade did not fail him, and Sculley became director of Apple. However, over time it became clear that his vision computer business strongly diverges from the vision of Jobs, who was then still too impatient for a different point of view. The conflict between Sculley and Jobs grew, and eventually led to Jobs being forced to leave Apple, being removed from project management.

In 1985, amid the release of a number of unsuccessful computer models (the commercial failure of the Apple III), the loss of a significant market share and ongoing conflicts in management, Wozniak left Apple, and some time later Steve Jobs also left the company. Also in 1985, Jobs founded NeXT, a company specializing in hardware and workstations.

In 1986, Steve Jobs co-founded the animation studio Pixar. Under Jobs' leadership, Pixar released films such as Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. In 2006, Jobs sold Pixar to Walt Disney Studios for $7.4 million in company stock. Jobs remained on the board of directors of Pixar and at the same time became the largest individual shareholder of Disney, receiving 7 percent of the studio's shares.

Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, when the company founded by Jobs decided to acquire NeXT. Jobs joined the company's board of directors and became the interim manager of Apple, which was experiencing a serious crisis at that moment.

In 2000, the word “temporary” disappeared from Jobs’ job title, and the Apple founder himself was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the executive director with the most modest salary in the world (according to official documents, Jobs’ salary at that time was $1 per year; subsequently a similar salary scheme used by other corporate executives).

In 2001, Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod. Within a few years, selling iPods became the company's main source of income.
In 2006, the company introduced the Apple TV network multimedia player.
Sales began in 2007 mobile phone iPhone.
In 2008, Steve demonstrated the thinnest laptop in the world, called the MacBook Air.

While doing business that completely took over his life, he barely noticed that his daughter was born. As Jobs himself admits, since 1977, when Lisa was born (that was the name of his daughter), he devoted “150%” of his time and effort to work. Lisa lived with her mother, who never became Steve Jobs' wife. He began to recognize his daughter and communicate with her only years later.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

Jobs always had ambiguous relationships with competitors in his market. He shamelessly stole ideas from some, and maliciously sneered at others. One of them is.

These two legendary people have a lot in common, but they are completely different. Born in the same year, with similar life stories, they worked hard to achieve success and break through to the top of the computer industry. But, while Jobs was not afraid to take risks and relied on innovation, Gates moved to the top according to the standard business multiplication scheme. Having taken a monopoly in software by licensing Microsoft, he practically simply began to receive money from sales, developing very slowly and without making any revolutionary innovations.

But, despite their different attitudes to doing business, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates will forever go down in history modern development personal computers and software.

Lost interview:

Ever since its inception Apple Steve en Jobs firmly knew that he had a special mission on Earth, and he could change the world. “He always believed,” recalls Stephen Wozniak, “that he would lead all of humanity.” The attitude towards the “messiah in jeans” is by no means unambiguous and, as a rule, very far from colorless indifference. In addition to friends and fans who call him the best manager, there are those who openly dislike him, finding him overly self-confident and self-centered. Jobs's abrasive nature is legendary. When entering into business or personal relationships with Jobs, intelligent and well-mannered businessmen, accustomed to conducting polite business dialogue, find themselves in an extremely uncomfortable environment. It must be said that the public loves scandals, and people like Jobs have the unique ability to generate them around them with regular frequency, bringing spice and novelty to life.

Death of Steve Jobs

Undoubtedly, he was a brilliant man in his field. His death was a great loss not only for his family, friends and employees. The world has lost this enterprising man who changed society's understanding of the personal computer. The cause of Steve Jobs' death was pancreatic cancer. He struggled with the disease for eight long years, remaining active until the last. The date of death of Steve Jobs is October 5, 2011.