Steven Jobs

February 24, 1955 – October 5 2011

The power that Jobs has is power from the hard work and effort that he put into creating and developing some of the biggest companies in the world with power over everyone invested in his products. His outcomes where intended for the good of humanity and development of technology. Jobs never showed signs of being corrupt or ill minded with his power. Overall he was a good influence on society.

Jobs was adopted and raised by Paul and Clara Jobs when he was 5 and lived in California. Paul was a machinist for a company who produced lasers and taught Steve some basic electronics. Steve went to Homestead high school in Cupertino, California. In 1972 Jobs went to Reed College but after only one semester he dropped out. He later said, “If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.”

In 1976 Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple, and in 1978 they lured Mike Scott away from Pepsi to serve as CEO. In 1980 Apple produced the Apple Lisa and one year later the Macintosh. Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985 and founded NeXT Inc. NeXT computers where first released in 1990 at $9,999, and was technologically advanced marketed at financial, scientific and academic communities. In 1994 the reported their first profit of $1.03 million and in 1996 released ‘WebObjects’, developed for web application. In 1997 when NeXT was acquired by Apple, WebObjects was used to build and run the Apple Store and the iTunes Store.

In 1986 Jobs bought Pixar for $10 million. After a few years of no profit from the Pixar Image Computer, They joined with Disney to produce animated films. Jobs was credited as executive producer for the release of Toy story in 1995.
In 1996 Apple bought NeXT for $429 million and Jobs was formally named interim chief. With his guidance the company’s sales increased with the introduction of the iMac and other products. In 2000 Jobs was named permanent CEO. Then Apple exploded in popularity with the introductions of the iPod, iTunes and in 2007 the iPhone.

In August 2011 Jobs resigned as CEO of apple but remained as chairman of the companies board. Jobs only earned $1 a year as CEO of Apple but held 5.426 million in shares as well as 138 million in Disney.

Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who aimed to position his businesses and products at the forefront of their industry. He based his management style around a quote by hockey player Wayne Gretzkey, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Jobs has been listed as inventor or co-inventor in 342 US patents or patent applications and technologies ranging from computer devices, speakers, keyboards, power adapters, lanyards and packages.

Jobs died at 3 pm on October 5, 2011 due to a rare form of pancreatic cancer resulting in respiratory arrest.

– by Brod Jewson, 11ENG