
Steve Jobs Wes Hines FYSE 1060
Steven Paul Jobs • Born in 1955 in Green Bay, Wisconsin • Adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs to live in Santa Clara, California • Graduated high school in Cupertino, California
Education • Jobs went to Reed College in Portland Oregon • He studied Poetry, Literature, and Physics • After one semester, Jobs dropped out of school, but still attended some classes
Steves • Jobs met Steve Wozniak shortly after they both left school while working for Hewlett-Packard • “Woz” was an incredibly talented engineer, especially in electronic gadgets • While developing a “blue box” device, Jobs convinced Woz to sell it to Berkeley students.
The Beginnings of Apple • After spending time in India in 1974, Jobs returned to America • He visited with Woz the homebrew computer club, but was not content with just the creation of electronics.
Jobs convinced Woz to help him create a personal computer, the Apple I • Jobs, with marketing help from a friend, had the vision of creating a computer company that would make and sell pc’s. • After showing the Apple I to in town computer stores, Jobs was able to sell 25. • After selling his Volkswagon mini-bus, and asking Woz to sell his scientific calculator, the two raised enough money to create Apple Computers.
Apple • Jobs and Woz sold the Apple I in 1976 for $666, making over $776,000 from sales • In 1977, the two released the Apple II, a single board computer with onboard ROM and a color video interface.
Positive Growth • From 1977 to 1983, Apple continued to grow exponentially. • In 1981, IBM finally entered the personal computer market, and in just two years began to outsell Apple. • After the failure of the Apple III and Lisa, Jobs needed a new computer that could compete with the IBM PC.
The Macintosh • In 1984, Apple released the Macintosh, the first personal computer with a graphical user interface. • It had 128K of memory, and was expandable. • Along with the mouse, the Macintosh was the most revolutionary computer made up to that point.
Microsoft and John Sculley • In 1985, Bill Gates convinced Jobs to license the graphical user interface in the Macintosh to create Windows, which could run on IBM PC’s. • As sales of the Macintosh took off, CEO John Sculley thought that Jobs was hurting Apple’s success, and gradually forced Jobs to leave.
NeXT • Jobs project in the late 1980’s to mid 90’s was NextStep • A new computer company based on an object oriented software platform, NeXT failed first as a hardware company, then as a software company • Apple similarly did very poorly in the early and mid 90’s, brought on by poor leadership and stagnating computer design
The Second Coming of Jobs • In 1996, Apple bought NeXT, and with it came Steve Jobs. • In 2000, Jobs became the full CEO of Apple, after the success of the iMac, the first computer mainly marketed for its looks.
Return to Profitability and Innovation • Jobs continues to innovate the computer industry, spearheading projects like the iPod, iTunes and its Music Store, and high end computer • Under Jobs’ watch, Apple has entered a new phase of growth and profitability, fueled by his imagination and quest for perfection
Sources • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs • http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/movies.html • http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Jobs.html • Apple.com • http://applemuseum.bott.org/sections/ads.html • Butcher, Lee. “Accidental millionaire : the rise and fall of Steve Jobs at Apple Computer” New York, Paragon House 1988.