Steve Jobs

Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955, adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs, and raised in Mountain View, learning tool use from his father.⁠[4]

He entered Reed College in 1972, left after about six months and continued auditing classes for roughly eighteen months. In his 2005 Stanford address, he connected calligraphy classes with Macintosh typography. He did not earn a college degree.⁠[4][5]

Before Apple, Jobs worked at Atari and traveled to India in 1974 seeking spiritual insight.⁠[4]

Apple was founded on April 1, 1976. Jobs and Steve Wozniak marketed the Apple I, designed by Wozniak; Ronald WayneRonald WayneRonald Wayne is an engineer who co-founded Apple Computer Company with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in April 1976, holding a 10% stake; he drafted the company’s partnership agreement and drew its first logo, but withdrew less than two weeks after the company was founded and is often called Apple’s “forgotten founder.”Open the full entry was also an original founder. An order for assembled machines from a local shop helped turn a hobbyist project into a business.⁠[6][7][8]

The following year’s Apple II, also designed by Wozniak, combined color graphics, a keyboard and a case into a more accessible product. Jobs’s commercial work complemented the engineering behind the young company.⁠[7][4]

Jobs took over Macintosh in 1981; it debuted in January 1984. Mouse-driven windows and icons he had seen at Xerox PARC provided a research foundation.⁠[8]

The 1985 National Medal of Technology recognized Jobs and Wozniak for developing and introducing personal computing and extending computing power to individual users.⁠[9]

After a power struggle with CEO John Sculley, Jobs left Apple in September 1985 and founded NeXT.⁠[8]

In 1986 Jobs bought George Lucas’s Computer Division and established it as the independent Pixar. Work by Ed CatmullEd CatmullEd Catmull is an American computer scientist, a pioneer of computer graphics, and a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. He devised foundational methods including the display of curved surfaces, texture mapping, and Z-buffering, and took part in developing the rendering software RenderMan; Pixar released the first fully computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, in 1995. After Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, he led both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios until stepping down at the end of 2018, and he received the 2019 Turing Award.Open the full entry, Alvy Ray Smith, John Lasseter and others predated the transaction; Jobs contributed investment and corporate leadership.⁠[10][3]

NeXT unveiled its computer in October 1988, but weak sales led to a software focus in 1993. Tim Berners-Lee used a NeXT to develop the web.⁠[8]

Pixar released Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature, on November 22, 1995, and held its IPO on November 28. The film brought its long-running technology and animation work into the feature market; Jobs was an executive producer.⁠[10][4]

Apple’s fiscal 1997 report records the acquisition of all NeXT shares on February 4 for a total purchase price of $427 million, including cash, shares, options, debt payments and related costs. Jobs returned through the deal, and NeXT technology became central to rebuilding Apple’s operating system.⁠[11][5]

On May 6, 1998, Apple announced iMac, emphasizing its integrated design and simple internet access. The release identified Jobs as interim CEO; iMac represented the company’s renewed consumer-product focus after his return.⁠[12]

Jobs became Apple’s permanent CEO in 2000 and subsequently led both Apple and Pixar.⁠[4][5]

Apple introduced iPod on October 23, 2001. Its 5GB hard drive and FireWire synchronization with iTunes on a Mac connected portable hardware with desktop music management; the advertised capacity was about 1,000 songs.⁠[13]

Launched on April 28, 2003, the iTunes Music Store sold downloads for 99 cents per song without a subscription. Its initial catalog exceeded 200,000 songs and initially required a Mac and U.S. billing address. Jobs presented it as balancing customer convenience with artists’ interests.⁠[14]

On June 12, 2005, Jobs addressed Stanford graduates about education, career setbacks and mortality, including his illness. He closed with “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” from The Whole Earth Catalog.⁠[5]

Disney announced its all-stock Pixar acquisition on January 24, 2006, valuing the transaction at $7.4 billion with 2.3 Disney shares per Pixar share. It closed on May 5, when Jobs joined Disney’s board and Catmull and Lasseter assumed combined animation leadership roles.⁠[15][3]

On October 4, 2006, Apple’s special committee reported that some option dates preceded approval. It said Jobs knew favorable dates had been selected in a few cases, but had not benefited from those grants and did not understand the accounting implications. Apple reported no misconduct by current management; Jobs apologized. These were the company investigation’s findings.⁠[16]

On January 9, 2007, Apple under Jobs announced iPhone, combining telephony, music and internet communication through a finger-operated multitouch interface. The launch announcement scheduled U.S. sales for June and named Cingular as its exclusive U.S. carrier partner.⁠[17]

On April 24, 2007, the SEC charged former general counsel Nancy Heinen and settled with former CFO Fred Anderson. Allegations included backdating and false board records concerning 7.5 million options granted to Jobs. In August 2008, Heinen agreed, without admitting or denying the allegations, to pay $2.2 million and accept professional restrictions. Jobs was not a defendant in these proceedings.⁠[18][19]

Apple opened the App Store through iTunes on July 10, 2008, bringing it to phones with iPhone 2.0 the following day. More than 500 native apps were offered at launch, giving third-party developers a common distribution channel for iPhone and iPod touch software.⁠[20]

On January 27, 2010, Apple introduced the 9.7-inch, A4-powered iPad for reading, web browsing, media and applications. Jobs positioned it as a new device category, a statement of the company’s product ambition at the time.⁠[21]

D8’s June 1 liveblog records Jobs telling Walt MossbergWalt MossbergAmerican technology journalist, columnist and conference interviewer who created The Wall Street Journal’s Personal Technology column and co-founded AllThingsD, Recode, and the D and Code conferences with Kara Swisher. He retired in 2017 and later became vice chair of the News Literacy Project board.Open the full entry that Siri concerned artificial intelligence rather than search and that Apple did not plan to enter search. The organizer explicitly identified the report as nonverbatim.⁠[22]

On August 24, 2011, Jobs resigned as Apple CEO and recommended Tim Cook under the succession plan. The board appointed Cook CEO and elected Jobs chairman, effective immediately.⁠[2]

Apple’s board announced that Jobs died on October 5, 2011. He was 56. The company’s memorial page subsequently collected public remembrances.⁠[23][4][24]

Jobs was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend for animation in 2013.⁠[4]

In 2022 Laurene Powell JobsLaurene Powell JobsLaurene Powell Jobs is an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, and the founder and president of Emerson Collective. She cofounded College Track and XQ Institute and established the Waverley Street Foundation to support climate action. She is also lead investor and board chair of The Atlantic and became an independent Skydance director in October 2026.Open the full entry announced the Steve Jobs Archive, organizing private archival material, publications and exhibits while supporting new creators. Established after his death, it preserves his work, words and history.⁠[1]

As of October 2026, the archive continued offering publications, creator programs and historical recordings. Its homepage featured Letters to a Young Creator, a 1996 Pixar interview and the 2025 fellows. Apple’s fiftieth-anniversary account likewise emphasized the continuing connection between technology and the liberal arts.⁠[25][6]

Apple: Official website: https://www.apple.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[6]

Pixar: Official website: https://www.pixar.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[10]

Disney: Official website: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]