Steve Jobs, a timeline.

Ever since the passing of Steve Jobs, I’ve wanted to do a timeline of his life, his achievements and low-points. I’ve learnt a lot about him over the last couple of weeks so this, to me, will be my tribute to his life.

1955 – Steve is born on February 24 in San Francisco, USA. He was adopted at birth by Paul and Clara Jobs.

1955-72: Steve attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in California. Throughout his years at school, his father was a huge influence on him, teaching him everything he knew. He taught Steve basic electronics and how to work with his hands, teaching him how to build and assemble things.

Steve on his graduation day at Cupertino High.

Steve once said in an interview, that if there was one thing he wanted to pass on to his children it would be –

“Just to try and to be as good a father to them as my father was to me. I think about that everyday of my life.”

Also, during those years he met Steve Wozniak (Apple founder) while working at Hewlett-Packard during a summer job.

1972 – Steve enrols at Reed College in Portland, Oregon to study Calligraphy as an undergraduate. Despite Jobs being renowned for his innovation, he was a great artist, in many ways.

Steve at Reed College, Portland. He dropped out after only 1 semester.

1974 – Steve is hired by Atari, the video game developer. He was employee #40, working as a technician, fixing circuit boards, he worked on a few minor games, but nothing major. His colleagues described him as a “real scuzzy kid” and his boss actually made him work night shifts, because he smelled terrible and never wore shoes, it was distracting his colleagues. He later left Atari to work on his own ideas.

1976 – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started attending the Homebrew Computer Club. The club was situated in Silicon Valley, it has produced some very well known IT entrepreneurs and high-profile hackers. In the same year, Jobs, Wozniak and another colleague Ron Wayne founded Apple computers, just after creating a new circuit board in Jobs grandparents garage. Wayne left Apple only 2 weeks after, the Apple 1 was then released that summer for $666.66.

Apple I, the first Apple computer.

Woz and Jobs working on the Apple I.

1977 – Apple then releases the Apple II, the first computer to produce colour graphics. Apple’s revenue reaches $1 million.

Apple II, first colour computer.

1978 – Jobs first daughter Lisa is born to girlfriend Chrisann Brennan.

Jobs and his daughter Lisa.

1979 – Apple II PLUS is released, using the Applesoft BASIC programming language. Jobs also visits Xerox Palo Alto research centre, where he gets insipration from a graphical user interface (GUI) that he sees.

1980 – Apple goes public, raising $110 million. Apple III is also released that year, primarily aimed at business customers.

The Apple III.

1982 – Apple’s revenue climbs to $1 billion, that same year, Jobs is featured on the front cover of Time magazine.

Jobs on the cover of Time, 1982.

1983 – Steve manages to convince John Sculley to become Apple’s new CEO.

Steve Jobs and John Sculley.

1984 – Apple releases the Macintosh computer and the iconic advert directed by Ridley Scott is aired at the superbowl.

The Apple Macintosh.

1985 – After some disagreement within Apple, Jobs is removed as head of the Macintosh division, five months later he resigns from Apple, along with Wozniak. Jobs founds NeXT computers, bringing five Apple employees with him. In the same year he buys Pixar, the computer division of Lucas Film.

1986 – The first computer from NeXT is released – the NeXTcube. It cost a hefty $6500 and didn’t do too well in the marketplace.

The NeXTcube (pictured right)

1991 – Apple and IBM corporation announce a partnership to create a new line of processors and software. Also in that year, Apple release the Powerbook laptop range.

Powerbook 100, the first of the Powerbook range.

1993 –  Apple unveils the Newton, a handheld computer. They also report a quarterly loss od $188 million. John Scully is replaced as CEO by Michael Spindler, they restructure their company, causing Scully to resign. Meanwhile at NeXT, Jobs focusses more on software rather than hardware.

1994 – Apple introduces the Power Macintosh computers, using the Power PC chip they developed with IBM.

1996 – Apple shows interest in buying NeXT for $430 million, because of the software Jobs’ team developed. Jobs is then appointed as an adviser for Apple.

1997 – Jobs is promoted to interim CEO after the previous one is forced out. He foreshadows a new product line and gives himself the title “iCEO”.

1998 – Apple is now back to being profitable, they announce a new vibrant all-in-one desktop, the iMac. The Newton is also discontinued and the Powerbook G3 released.

The first of the iMac product range.

Powerbook G3.

1999 – iBook is released.

iBook range.

2000 – Apple removes the interim prefix from Jobs’ CEO title, making him officially CEO of Apple. The Powerbook G4 is also released that year.

Powerbook G4.

2001 – The very first iPod goes on sale, the iTunes software is also released that year. The first computers with OSX are also released, the software initially developed at NeXT.

The very first iPod.

2002 – The iMac G4 is released.

iMac G4.

2003 – Apple launches the iTunes store, with 1 million downloads reached in the first week and 25 million by the end of the year.

2004 – Jobs undergoes surgery for Pancreatic Cancer, Apple releases this information shortly after the operation. That same year, the iMac G5 and iPod Mini are released.

iPod Mini range.

2005 – iTunes reaches a staggering 500 million downloads, the iPod Nano is also released. Steve also does a speech about death at Stanford University. Apple also announce that all Macs from then on will be Intel chip based.

2nd generation iPod Nano range.

2006 – Jobs becomes Disney largest shareholder, generating much of his wealth from the sale of Pixar to Disney. The Macbook Pro and Apple TV are also released that year.

Macbook Pro.

2007 – The iPhone is released, it creates huge interest – and was also the first phone to not have a physical keyboard.

Original iPhone.

2008 – The iPhone 3G and Macbook Air are released, speculation also rises about Jobs’ deteriorating health.

Jobs pictured with the Macbook Air.

2009 – The iPhone 3GS is released, Steve then comes out and explains his weight loss is due to a hormone imbalance, he then takes medical leave and word gets out of him having a liver transplant.

iPhone 3GS.

2010 – Apple announces it’s newest innovation, the iPad. The iPhone 4 and updated Apple TV are also released that year. 15 million iPad’s are sold that year.

Steve with the iPad, at WWDC.

2011 – Apple release the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. The video below is of Jobs’ last ever keynote as Apple CEO.

January 17, 2011 – Steve takes another medical leave, passing on his duties temporarily to Tim Cook. His title still remains and he’s still involved in major decisions.

August 24, 2011 – Apple announces the resignation of Jobs. Tim Cook takes over as CEO and Jobs is announced Chairman of Apple.

October 5, 2011 – Steve Jobs, aged 56, dies of Pancreatic Cancer, just days before the release of the iPhone 4S.

Writing this has been an extremely interesting experience for me, I learnt a lot about Apple and especially about Steve himself, he was an innovator, inspirational and his legacy will not be forgotten. Rest in peace Steve Jobs, February 24th 1955 – October 5th 2011.