Steve Jobs

Birthday: 24 February 1955, San Francisco, California, USA

Birth Name: Steven Paul Jobs

Height: 188 cm

Steven Paul Jobs was born on 24 February 1955 in San Francisco, California, to students Abdul Fattah Jandali and Joanne Carole Schieble who were unmarried at the time and gave him up for adoption. He was taken in by a working class couple, Paul and Clara Jobs, and grew up with them in Mountain View, California.He attended Homestead High School in Cupertino California and went to Reed College in Portland Oregon in 1972 but dropped out after only one semester, staying on to "drop in" on courses that interested him.He took a job with video game manufacturer Atari to raise enough money for a trip to India and returned from there a Buddhist.Back in Cupertino he returned to Atari where his old friend Steve Wozniak was still working. Wozniak was building his own computer and in 1976 Jobs pre-sold 50 of the as-yet unmade computers to a local store and managed to buy the components on credit solely on the strength of the order, enabling them to build the Apple I without any funding at all.The Apple II followed in 1977 and the company Apple Computer was formed shortly afterwards. The Apple II was credited with starting the personal computer boom, its popularity prompting IBM to hurriedly develop their own PC. By the time production of the Apple II ended in 1993 it had sold over 6 million units.Inspired by a trip to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), engineers from Apple began working on a commercial application for the graphical interface ideas they had seen there. The resulting machine, Lisa, was expensive and never achieved any level of commercial success, but in 1984 another Apple computer, using the same WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) interface concept, was launched. An advert during the 1984 Super Bowl, directed by Ridley Scott introduced the Macintosh computer to the world (in fact, the advert had been shown on a local TV channel in Idaho on 31 December 1983 and in movie theaters during January 1984 before its famous "premiere" on 22 January during the Super Bowl).In 1985 Jobs was fired from Apple and immediately founded another computer company, NeXT. Its machines were not a commercial success but some of the technology was later used by Apple when Jobs eventually returned there.In the meantime, in 1986, Jobs bought The Computer Graphics Group from Lucasfilm. The group was responsible for making high-end computer graphics hardware but under its new name, Pixar, it began to produce innovative computer animations. Their first title under the Pixar name, Luxo Jr. (1986) won critical and popular acclaim and in 1991 Pixar signed an agreement with Disney, with whom it already had a relationship, to produce a series of feature films, beginning with Toy Story (1995).In 1996 Apple bought NeXT and Jobs returned to Apple, becoming its CEO. With the help of British-born industrial designer Jonathan Ive, Jobs brought his own aesthetic philosophy back to the ailing company and began to turn its fortunes around with the release of the iMac in 1998. The company's MP3 player, the iPod, followed in 2001, with the iPhone launching in 2007 and the iPad in 2010. The company's software music player, iTunes, evolved into an online music (and eventually also movie and software application) store, helping to popularize the idea of "legally" downloading entertainment content.In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent surgery in 2004. Despite the success of this operation he became increasingly ill and received a liver transplant in 2009. He returned to work after a six month break but eventually resigned his position in August 2011 after another period of medical leave which began in January 2011. He died on 5 October 2011. Hide

The unions are the worst thing that happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns i Show more The unions are the worst thing that happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what happened. The teachers can't teach, and administrators run the place, and nobody can be fired. It's terrible. Hide

[1998] A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them. [1998] A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.

[1985] I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the t Show more [1985] I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the thread of my life and then the thread of Apple weave in and out, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back. Hide

[1993] I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, w Show more [1993] I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time. Hide

You know, everybody has a cell phone, but I don't know one person who likes their cell phone. I want Show more You know, everybody has a cell phone, but I don't know one person who likes their cell phone. I want to make a phone that people love. Hide

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel Show more Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. Hide

Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simpl Show more Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains. Hide

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could Show more I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. Hide

[about how he and partner Steve Wozniak tried to get major computer companies interested in their pe Show more [about how he and partner Steve Wozniak tried to get major computer companies interested in their personal computer, which turned out to be the Apple] So we went to Atari and said, "Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you". And they said, "No". So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, "Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet". Hide

[on the difference between billionaires and regular people] Everything around you that you call life Show more [on the difference between billionaires and regular people] Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Hide

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make Show more Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Hide

In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the Show more In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. Hide

[February 1985, interview in "Playboy" magazine] I don't think I've ever worked so hard on something Show more [February 1985, interview in "Playboy" magazine] I don't think I've ever worked so hard on something, but working on Macintosh was the neatest experience of my life. Almost everyone who worked on it will say that. None of us wanted to release it at the end. It was as though we knew that once it was out of our hands, it wouldn't be ours anymore. When we finally presented it at the shareholders' meeting, everyone in the auditorium gave it a five-minute ovation. What was incredible to me was that I could see the Mac team in the first few rows. It was as though none of us could believe we'd actually finished it. Everyone started crying. Hide

My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative ten Show more My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Hide

[2003] There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most Show more [2003] There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television--but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent. Hide

All the work I have done in my life will be obsolete by the time I'm 50. All the work I have done in my life will be obsolete by the time I'm 50.

I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on t Show more I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this. Hide

It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy. It's more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.

[May 1998, interview in "Business Week" magazine] That's been one of my mantras--focus and simplicit Show more [May 1998, interview in "Business Week" magazine] That's been one of my mantras--focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains. Hide

Steve Jobs's FILMOGRAPHY

All as Actor (7)

Coded Bias

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

Steve Jobs: One Last Thing

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project

The 84th Annual Academy Awards

Mr Robot - Season 1

Ancient Aliens - Season 22