Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, born in San Fransisco on 1955, is well know for his original and innovative products. After attending the Cupertino Junior High School, Jobs joined Reed College, but dropped out after only one semester. He continued auditing certain classes, of which one is calligraphy. This calligraphy class soon changed his life dramatically.

After meeting Steve Wozniak while working for HP in a summer job, Jobs  joined Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games. After acquiring some experience there, Steve Jobs, together with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple in 1976. Having been friends with Steve Wozniak for several years now, Steve Jobs was able to convince Steve Wozniak to assemble and sell computers.

Steve Jobs release the Macintosh in 1984, it was the first commercially successful computer with a graphic user interface (GUI). Not long after, however, an internal power struggle caused the recently hired CEO John Sculley to relieve Steve Jobs of his duties as the head of the Macintosh division.

Around the same time, Steve Jobs founded another company, NeXT Computer. The company’s focus was to develop high-end computers, and those who could afford it developed a  strong following due to its technical strengths. Just two years later, Steve Jobs bough The Graphics Group, which is a company that is now known as Pixar.

Several years later, in 1998, Apple bought then NeXT Computer company, bringing Steve Jobs back to the company. He soon became CEO after the board of directors lost confidence in the CEO of that time. Steve Jobs straight away terminated several projects

such as the Newton project. He also assigned new project leaders and fired several employees. During this time employees developed a fear of encountering Steve

Jobs while riding in the elevator “afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened”.

Since the return of Steve Jobs, Apple has entered several new markets, under which the portable music player market with the iPod in 2001, the phone market with the iPhone in

2007, and recently the tablet market, with the iPad. Ever since, Steve Jobs has been considered one of the greatest innovators in modern history.

Fun Fact: Steve Jobs officially earns one dollar a year.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/03/24/apples_jobs_pays_295m_in_taxes_on_10m_vested_shares.html