Jobs, Steven Paul

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JOBS, STEVEN PAUL

Computer designer and corporate executive Steven Jobs (1955–) was the co-founder of Apple Computers. He helped create one of the first affordable personal computers for home use and launched one of the largest industries in the United States. Jobs, with his friend, Steve Wozniak (1950–), pioneered the design and development of desktop computers.

Born in 1955 and adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountainview, California, Steven Jobs grew up in the comfortable environment his adoptive parents provided. His father was a machinist, and his mother an accountant. Steve attended high school in Los Gatos, California, where his family had moved. While in high school he became involved with electronics projects and worked a summer job at a nearby computer firm, Hewlett Packard. After graduating in 1972 Jobs attended Reed College for two years before dropping out. He worked for the Atari computer company part time where he earned enough money to visit India to study Eastern spiritualism. While in India he practiced meditation and studied Eastern culture, but he became ill with dysentery after three months and was forced to return to the United States for adequate medical treatment.

In 1975 Jobs began associating with a group of computer aficionados known as the Homebrew Computer Club. There he met a technical whiz named Steve Wozniak, who was working on building a small computer. Jobs and Wozniak teamed up and formed Apple Computer Corporation in 1976. Wozniak finished the design of his small computer and, working out of Steve Jobs' parents' garage, the two men worked at refining and marketing their product.

Jobs saw a huge gap in the existing computer market at that time because no computer was yet targeted for home use. While Wozniak improved his initial computer, Jobs lined up investors and bank financing.

The redesigned computer, called the "Apple II," hit the marketplace in 1977. The first year sales reached $2.7 million and within three years had grown to $200 million. Jobs and Wozniak successfully and importantly opened an entirely new market—the home, or personal, computer. They brought the computational speed of business systems into people's homes and started a new era in information processing.

By 1980 the personal computer era was well underway and Apple had plenty of competition from Radio Shack, Commodore, and IBM. Fierce competition proved a good thing for the consumer public, but the Apple corporation stumbled in its efforts to stay ahead of the competition. When the Apple III was introduced to the public in 1980 it suffered from technical and marketing problems. In 1983 Jobs' introduction of the new computer Lisa failed in the marketplace because of its high price and stiff competition from IBM. Apple lost half of its market share in 1983. The Macintosh was introduced in 1984 and continued Apple's trend of poor marketplace performance. By 1985, following internal conflicts at Apple Corporation, Steve Jobs resigned from the company he had founded, retaining only his title as chairman of the board of directors.

That same year, Jobs sold his shares of Apple stock to launch another business in Redwood City, California, called "NEXT." The goal of NEXT was simple: to build a breakthrough computer that would revolutionize research and higher education. Jobs used $100 million of his own assets from Apple shares to start NEXT, and other entrepreneurs, like Texas billionaire Ross Perot (1930—), invested an additional $20 million in the project. Canon Corporation also invested heavily, $100 million in 1989, and an additional $15 million extended in credit to NEXT in 1992. The NEXT did not live up to its goals and Jobs was criticized by the business media as being more of a business huckster than a consistently productive business entrepreneur. However, lightning did strike twice for Jobs.

In 1986 Jobs had purchased a small firm from filmmaker, George Lucas (1945–), called PIXAR, a business specializing in computer animation. During the next six years Jobs put $40 million into PIXAR and set out to make the first-ever completely computer animated film. In 1996 the film "Toy Story" was released. Produced completely with PIXAR computer animation, it was an enormous success. PIXAR's market value for Steve Jobs, who owned 90 percent of the company, climbed suddenly to $1 billion.

Within a short time after PIXAR's success Jobs made headlines again. In 1995 Apple bought Jobs' NEXT company for $400 million and rehired Jobs as advisor to G.F. Amelio, the Apple chief executive officer (CEO). Jobs was also officially re-appointed to Apple's board of directors. Apple understood that it could not hope for a better salesman than Jobs. His genius for infecting others with his enthusiasm was recognized by critics and admirers alike.

By 1997 lightning struck Jobs a third time. Jobs and Bill Gates (1955–), CEO of Microsoft Corporation, announced that their companies were joining forces. Microsoft would invest $150 million for a nonvoting minority stake in Apple and the two companies would cooperate in several marketing and technology fronts. This alliance made Microsoft and Apple the two largest players in the still growing computer industry. Steve Jobs regained his former position as one of the richest and most successful people in the revolutionary marketplace of home and business computers.

See also: Computer Industry, Stephen Wozniak