Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American business magnate and inventor. He is well known for being the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.
In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula,and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see thecommercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985,Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997.
In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off asPixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder until its acquisition by the Walt Disney company in 2006. Jobs is currently a member of Disney's Board of Directors.
Jobs' history in business has contributed much to the symbolic image of the idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward the development of products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a devoted following.
Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in over 230 both awarded patents and patent applications related to a range from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.
Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is an American computer engineer who co-founded Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing significantly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak created the Apple I andApple II computers in the mid-1970s.
Wozniak has several nicknames, including "The Woz", "Wonderful Wizard of Woz" and "iWoz" (a reference to the ubiquitous naming scheme for Apple products). "WoZ" (short for "Wheels of Zeus") is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. He is sometimes known as the "Other Steve" of Apple Computer, the better known Steve being co-founder Steve Jobs.
Ronald Gerald Wayne (born 17 May 1934) founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs andSteve Wozniak, but soon gave up his share of the new company for a total of $2,300.
Wayne was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.[citation needed] He worked with Jobs at Ataribefore the two men and Wozniak founded Apple Computer on April 1, 1976. Serving as the venture's "adult supervision", Wayne drew the first Apple logo, wrote the three men's originalpartnership agreement, and wrote the Apple I manual.
Wayne received a 10% stake in Apple but relinquished his stock for US$800 less than two weeks later, on 12 April 1976. Legally all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any partner; unlike Jobs and Wozniak, 21 and 25, Wayne had personal assets that potential creditors could seize. The failure of a slot machine company he had started five years earlier also contributed to his decision to exit the partnership.
Later that year, venture capitalist Mike Markkula helped develop a business plan and convert the partnership to a corporation. Wayne received another check, for $1,500, for his agreement to forfeit any claims against the new company. In its first year of operations (1976), Apple's sales reached US$174,000. In 1977, sales rose to US$2.7 million, in 1978 to US$7.8 million, and in 1980 to US$117 million. By 1982 Apple had a billion dollars in annual sales. He claimed that he did not regret selling the stock as he had made the "best decision with the information available to me at the time." Wayne also stated that he felt the Apple enterprise
would be successful, but at the same time there would be bumps along the way and I couldn't risk it. I had already had a rather unfortunate business experience before. I was getting too old and those two were whirlwinds. It was like having a tiger by the tail and I couldn't keep up with these guys.
After Apple, Wayne resisted Jobs' attempts to recruit him back to Apple, remaining at Atari until 1978 when he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and later a Salinas, California electronics company. He is retired and sells stamps, rare coins, and gold from hisPahrump, Nevada home, and has never owned an Apple product.
He also holds a dozen patents, but has never had enough capital to make money off any of them.
