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Steve Jobs is born
Steve Jobs is born on this day. -
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Steve Jobs Biography
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Jobs graduates from high school
Steve Jobs graduates from high school. -
Jobs and Wozniak go into business
During the 1960s, it had been discovered by phone speakers (and popularized by John Draper) that a half taped-over toy-whistle included in every box of Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal was able to reproduce the 2600 hertz supervision tone used by the AT&T long distance telephone system. After reading about it and later meeting with John Draper, Jobs and Wozniak went into business briefly in 1974 to build "blue boxes" that allowed illicit free long distance calls. -
Jobs takes a job as a technician at Atari
Atari is a manufacturer of popular video games. -
Apple Computer Co. is founded as a partnership
Apple Computer Co. is founded as a partnership. Though their initial plan was to sell just printed circuit boards, Jobs and Wozniak ended up creating a batch of completely assembled computers and thus entered the personal computer business. -
Apple becomes a publicly traded corporation
In December 1980, with a successful IPO, Apple Computer became a publicly traded corporation, makingJobs a multi-millionaire. -
Jobs lures John Schulley away from Pepsi-Cola
As Apple continued to expand, the company began looking for anexperienced executive to help manage its expansion. In 1983, Jobs lured JohnSculley away from Pepsi-Cola, to serve as Apple's CEO, challenging him, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" -
Jobs introduces the Macintosh
Two days later at Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience. The Macintosh became the first commercially successful computer with a graphical user interface but was heavily influenced by Xerox PARC. The development of the Mac was started by Jef Raskin and eventually taken over by Jobs. -
NeXT
NeXT was founded in 1985 by Steve Jobs after resigning from the then-Apple Computer. In addition to its hardware, NeXT developed the NEXTSTEP operating system. It was later turned into a programming environment capable of runningon several different operating systems, most notably Solaris. This put NEXTSTEP in direct competition with WIndows NT and the vaporware object-oriented version of Windows NT, Cairo. -
Jobs buys Pixar
In 1986, Steve Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucas film's computer graphics division for the price of US$10 million. The major cause of the low purchse price was George Lucas' need to finance his 1983 divorce without significantly reducing his stock and control of the Star Wars enterprises. -
Jobs sells all but one of his shares in Apple
In 1986, Jobs finding himself back at the company he founded, Jobs sold all but one of his shares in Apple. -
Steve Jobs gets married
Jobs married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991. -
Jobs goes back to the Apple Company as interim CEO
In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for US$429 million. The deal was finalised in late 1996, bringing Jobs back to to the company he founded.He soon became Apple's interim CEO after the directors lost confidence in and ousted then-CEO GIl Amelio. -
Jobs has a public war of words with Michael Dell
Jobs had a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, starting when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative" beige boxes." On October 6, 1997,in a Gartner Symposiium, when Micahel Dell was asked what he would do if he owned then-troubled Apple Computer, e said "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." -
Jobs terminates a number of projects
In March of 1998, in order toconcentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs immediately terminated a number of projects such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. In the coming months, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a whole company." -
Jobs becomes permanent CEO of Apple
With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Apple products, notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs guidance, the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful branding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became the permanent CEO, a job he still holds to date. -
The Pixar and Disney's contract comes to an end
In the years 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnership, and in early 2004 Jobs announced that Pixar would seek a new partner to distribute its films once its contract with Disney expired. Personal animosity between the two executives was largely blamed for the companies' failure to renew their partnership. -
Steve Jobs bans publications by John Wiley & Son
In 2005, Steve Jobs banned all books published by John Wiley & Son from the Apple retail stores in response to their publishing an unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs. -
Jobs lashes out at environmental advocates
In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the U.S. by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's Annual Meeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announced that it would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. The ComputerTakeBack Campaign responded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation at which Jobs was the commencement speaker. The banner read "Steve--Don't be a mini-player recy -
Jobs further expands Apple's recycling programs
In 2006 Jobs further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any U.S. customer who buys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendly disposal" of their old systems. -
Disney purchases Pixar
On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth US$7.4 billion. Once the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest single shareholder with approximately 7% of the company's stock. Jobs' holdings in Disney far exceed those of Eisner, who holds 1.7%, and Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who holds about 1% of the company's stock. -
Apple Computer Inc. becomes Apple Inc.
Jobs began 2007 with Macworld Expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.He began the episodic keynote address by reviewing Apple's music businessthrough iTunes music and video highlights, mentioning that rumors of thedecline in Internet music business were false. Highlights included thelong-awaited iPhone mobile device as well as the rebranding and officialintroduction of Apple TV. -
Apple Computer Inc. becomes APple Inc.
After the long-awaited introduction of these two products, Jobs announced on January 9, 2007 that "AppleComputer, Inc" would be now known as "Apple Inc."
