As tech enthusiasts we pay tribute to one of the most iconic leaders in the history of our industry. Steve Jobs was a tech visionary that transcended the possibilities of his time. Here's a brief timeline of his career in and outside of Apple.
Feb 1955
Steve Jobs is born in San Francisco, adopted by the family of Paul and Clara Jobs.
1971
Attended lectures at HP during high school and earned a summer gig alongside Steve Wozniak.
1972
Steve drops out of Reed College after one semester because he "couldn't see the value in it."
1973
A frugal Jobs slept on friends' floors and collected soda bottles for money while sitting in on free courses at Reed, including one for calligraphy. A decade later, he applied this experience to the first Mac's typeface.
Fall 1974
After leaving college permanently, Jobs returned to California and scored a technician position with Atari.
Apr 1976
Jobs and Wozniak found Apple with Ronald Wayne, who shortly thereafter relinquished his 10% stake for $800 (worth billions today).
Jul 1976
The original Apple Computer goes on sale for $666,66. The Apple I only comprised of a fully assembled circuit board hand-built by Steve Wozniak. Jobs had to sell his VW van to finance production.
Apr 1977
The Apple II, an 8-bit home computer, is unveiled at the first West Coast Computer Faire.
Dec 1980
Apple's IPO launches generating more capital than any IPO since 1956 (Ford) creating more millionaires (~300) than any company in history.
Apr 1983
Jobs hires Pepsi president John Sculley to serve as CEO: "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to [...] change the world?"
Jan 1984
Jobs unveils the first Macintosh, which became the first commercially successful small computer with a mouse and GUI.
Feb 1985
Jobs and Wozniak are awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by US President Ronald Reagan.
May 1985
Sculley fires Jobs from his day-to-day role at Apple following a stretch of internal friction and disappointing sales. Jobs later claimed this was the best thing that could've happened to him.
Sep 1985
Jobs officially resigns from Apple to found NeXT Inc. with six of his colleagues.
Feb 1986
Jobs purchases The Graphics Group (now called Pixar) from Lucasfilm for $10 million. This was supposed to be a graphics hardware developer, but the venture flopped.
1990
The first NeXT computers hit the consumer market for $9,999.
Early 90s
Various pioneering applications are developed using NeXT: the 1st Web browser & server, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.
Mar 91
Steve marries Laurene Powell. The couple had three children. Jobs also had a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs from a previous relationship.
1993
NeXT exits the hardware business and becomes NeXT Software Inc. WebObjects was among its software creations and it was used for decades on Apple's iTunes Store and Apple.com
Nov 1995
Toy Story hits theaters as the first animated motion picture developed by Pixar and distributed by Disney. Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and many others followed.
Dec 1996
Apple purchases NeXT for $429 million (Jobs received 1.5 million Apple shares instead of cash).
1997
Jobs announces Microsoft partnership. The 5yr commitment included MS Office for Mac and IE would become the platform's default browser.
Jul 1997
Jobs returns to Apple as a consultant and was quickly named interim CEO.
Aug 1998
Apple introduces the iMac under Steve Jobs. The machine sold nearly 800,000 units in the first five months.
Mar 2001
Apple releases Mac OS X, an operating system based on NeXT's OPENSTEP and BSD Unix.
May 2001
Apple's first retail stores open in Virginia and California. In 2011 there were 357 stores worldwide and 245 in the US. In 2017 that number has risen to 496/270.
Oct 2001
The iPod is unveiled. The immensely successful venture helps shape many facets of the mobile computing market.
Apr 2003
Jobs is diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. He wouldn't make this public until a year later.
Apr 2003
Apple rolls out the iTunes Store with $0.99 songs and iPod integration. Apple remains the top music retailer worldwide with 25 billion songs sold as of 2013.
Jun 2005
"Stay hungry, stay foolish" Steve delivers a brilliant commencement address at Stanford University. Watched over 11 million times in YouTube as of writing, the video has no doubt inspired thousands
Jun 2005
Jobs announces that Apple would transition to Intel-based Macs.
Jan 2006
Jobs sells Pixar to Disney for $7.4 billion in stock. He becomes a board member and the company's single largest shareholder.
Jan 2006
Apple's market cap surpasses Dell's nearly a decade after CEO Michael Dell said that if he ran Apple, he would shut it down and refund shareholders' money.
Jan 2007
Jobs unveils the iPhone after revealing that Apple Computer Inc. would from then on be known as Apple Inc. marking the company's shift to mobile.
Jul 2008
Apple launches the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. Within a month it was raking in $1 million a day.
Aug 2009
Jobs is selected as the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers, having previously been named Entrepreneur of the Decade 20 years earlier in 1989 by Inc.
Jan 2010
Apple catches its competitors off guard (again!) with the iPad, which would become the undisputed leader in the tablet market.
May 2010
Apple surpasses the market cap of its long time Redmond-based rival, Microsoft.
Aug 2011
Jobs resigns as Apple CEO amid ongoing health complications, but remains the company's chairman.
Oct 2011
Steve Jobs dies at age 56, leaving a legacy that will be remembered for decades.