From college dropout to heading over $350 billion empire -- Steve Jobs

From a college dropout to heading an over $350 billion Apple empire, Steve Jobs dramatically transformed the worlds of personal computing, music and mobile phones, ushering in a new digital era. Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56 after a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer, was also the man behind the stupendous success of the computer animation firm Pixar (makers of Toy Story and Finding Nemo). Though he himself never designed a computer in his life, it was because of him that the Apple products, while largely providing the same services as those from other companies, are perceived to be different.

Born on February 24, 1955 to Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali, Steven Paul Jobs was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. From an early age, Steve Jobs was interested in electronics. As an eighth grader, after discovering that a crucial part was missing from a frequency counter he was assembling, he telephoned William Hewlett, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.

Hewlett spoke with the boy for 20 minutes, prepared a bag of parts for him to pick up and offered him a job as a summer intern. Jobs met Stephan Wozniak, with whom he co-founded Apple in 1976, while attending Homestead High School in neighbouring Cupertino.

Personal computing had been pioneered at research laboratories close to Stanford and was spreading. Wozniak designed the original Apple I computer simply to show it off to his friends. It was Jobs who had the inspiration that it could be a commercial product. In early 1976, he and Wozniak, using their own money, began Apple in the Jobs family garage in Los Altos with an initial investment of $1,300 before securing the backing of former Intel executive A C Markkula, who lent them $250,000. Wozniak would be the technical half and Jobs, the marketing half of the original Apple I Computer. In April 1977, Jobs and Wozniak introduced Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco, creating a sensation. The company went public in 1981, when its sales touched $600 million from $2 million in 1977.

Jobs was ousted in a bitter boardroom battle in 1985, a move that he later claimed was the best thing that could have happened to him. Jobs went on to buy Pixar, the company behind some of the biggest animated hits in Hollywood cinematic history including Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo.

The purchase, though a significant gamble as there was little market then for computer-animated movies, proved profitable. When Pixar went public in a record-breaking offering, Jobs became a billionaire.

Jobs returned to Apple in 2000 when it was being written off by rivals. What followed was one of the most remarkable comebacks in business history. Starting with his brightly coloured iMacs, Jobs went on to launch hit after hit and transformed personal computing. Then came the phenomenal success of the iPod, which revolutionised the music industry, leading to a collapse in CD sales and making Jobs one of the most powerful voices in an industry he loved.

His firm was named in homage to the Beatles' record label, Apple. But the borrowing was permitted on the basis that the computing firm would stay out of music. After the success of the iPod, the two Apples became engaged in a lengthy legal battle which finally ended last year when the Beatles allowed iTunes to start selling their back catalogue.

Jobs' remarkable capacity to spot what people wanted next, came without the aid of market research or focus groups. In 2006, the Walt Disney Company agreed to purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion, making Jobs its largest single shareholder, with about 7 per cent of the firm's stock.

Jobs stepped down in August, 2009 as chief executive of the company he helped set up in 1976, citing illness. Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

Jobs initially hid his illness but his startling weight loss started to unnerve his investors. He took a six-month medical leave of absence in 2009, during which he received a liver transplant, and another medical leave of absence in mid-January before stepping down as chief executive in August. Jobs leaves behind an estimated $8.3bn, but he often dismissed others' interest in his wealth. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful … that's what matters to me.”

Bill Gates said in a statement that he was “truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' death”. He added: “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. He is survived by his wife, Laurene, and four children. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

And President Obama said: “There may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” Indeed, Jobs truly made technology relevant to everyone.

-Siddhi Sarang and Onkar Patwardhan
SE (CMPN 1), VIT