Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was an adopted son living in Mountain View,California.He was a Machinist, and was much inclined towards Electronics and Gadgetry.

Impressed by his charismatic attitude,he was offered internship at Hewlett­Packard in High School, where he befriended Steve Wozniak a senior techie with excellent skills. 

Sometime later Wozniak had been trying to build a small computer.Jobs saw the business opportunity of making commercial computers. In 1975, the 20­year­old Jobs and Wozniak set up shop in Jobs' parents' garage, dubbed the venture Apple, and began working on the prototype of the Apple I. To generate the $1,350 in capital they used to start Apple, Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen microbus.

 Apple I generated enough cash to enable Jobs and Wozniak to improve and refine their design. In 1977, they introduced the Apple II ­­ the first personal computer with color graphics and a keyboard. Designed for beginners the user­friendly Apple II was a tremendous success, ushering in the era of the personal computer. First­year sales topped $3 million. Two years later, sales ballooned to $200 million.

 But by 1980, Apple's sales began to drop due to increased competition and failure of Apple III and LISA. Consequently, Jobs introduced the Apple Macintosh in 1984. The first personal computer to feature a graphical­user interface controlled by a mouse, the Macintosh was a true breakthrough in terms of ease­of­use. But the marketing behind it was flawed. At $2,495, it was too expensive for the consumer market. When consumer sales failed to reach projections, Jobs tried pitching the Mac as a business computer. But with little memory, no hard drive and no networking capabilities, the Mac had almost none of the features corporate America wanted. 

For Steve, this turn of events was troublesome. He clashed with Apple's board of directors and, in 1983, was ousted from the board by CEO John Sculley, whom Jobs had handpicked to help him run Apple. Deprived of all power and control, Jobs eventually sold his shares of Apple stock and resigned in 1985. 

Later that year, using a portion of the money from the stock sale, Jobs launched NeXT Computer Co., with the goal of building a breakthrough computer that would revolutionize research and higher education. Introduced in 1988, the NeXT computer boasted a host of innovations, including notably fast processing speeds, exceptional graphics and an optical disk drive. But priced at $9,950, the NeXT was too expensive to attract enough sales to keep the company afloat. Undeterred, Jobs switched the company's focus from hardware to software. He also began paying more attention to his other business, Pixar Animation Studios, which he had purchased from George Lucas in 1986.

 After making a deal with Disney for 3 Animated Feature films, "Toy Story" was a certified smash hit when it was released in November 1995. Fueled by this success, Jobs took Pixar public in 1996, and by the end of the first day of trading, his 80 percent share of the company was worth $1 billion.

 Desperate to regain the lost control over the market, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million and re­appointed Jobs to Apple's board of directors as an advisor to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert F. Amelio. At the end of March 1997, Apple announced a quarterly loss of $708 million.

 Three months later, Amelio resigned and Jobs took over as interim CEO. Once again in charge of Apple, Jobs struck a $150 million deal for minority stake in their stocks with Microsoft to help ensure Apple's survival. Next, Jobs installed the G3 PowerPC microprocessor in all Apple computers, making them faster than competing Pentium PCs. He also spearheaded the development of the iMac, a new line of affordable home desktops, which debuted in August 1998 to instant hit. Under Jobs' guidance, Apple quickly returned to profitability, and by the end of 1998, boasted sales of $5.9 billion. 

But Apple's innovations were just getting started. Over the next decade, the company rolled out a series of revolutionary products, including the iPod portable digital audio player in 2001, an online marketplace called the Apple iTunes Store in 2003, the iPhone handset in 2007 and the iPad tablet computer in 2010. The design and functionality of these devices resonated with users worldwide. Apple products soon became the most ‘lovable' commodity.

 Despite his professional successes, Jobs struggled with health issues. In mid­2004, he had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. In January 2011, following a liver transplant, Jobs took up medical leave for treatment.

 Eight months later, on August 24, Apple’s board of directors announced that Jobs had resigned as CEO and that he would be replaced by COO Tim Cook. Jobs said he would remain with the company as chairman. Unfortunately in October 2011, Jobs passed away at the age of 56 due to complications related to pancreatic cancer. The whole world mourned the loss of the most genuine Entrepreneur ­ Steve Jobs. 

Against all odds, Steve Jobs was successful in crafting and nurturing the brand ­ Apple ­ a name synonymous with prestige and innovation.


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