Steve Jobs

Can ONE person change the world?

Steve Jobs is a testament that it’s not only possible… he made it happen. There’s no mistaking, he was one of the most inventive and energetic minds in worldwide technology.

After dropping out of college to pursue other interests, Steve Jobs joined Steve Wozniak as a member of the upstart Homebrew Computer Club in 1975. While Wozniak was enamored by the technology, Steve Jobs seemed more fanatical about the marketing potential of a personal computer. The two formed their own company, calling it Apple in memory of a happy summer Jobs had spent picking apples.

In 1977, The Apple II was born — a personalized home-ready computer that dwarfed the behemoth mainframes. Steve Jobs and company not only built a computer the public wanted, they created a whole new industry. Within three years, Apple’s sales grew to $200 million. In 1984, Apple introduced a revolutionary new model, the Macintosh. This computer introduced the world to the mouse, icons, and quality fonts. Though the Macintosh sold well in homes, businesses were slow to adopt this innovative computer. This marked the beginning of Steve Jobs’ downfall at Apple, and just a year later, Jobs resigned.

A couple things happened when Steve Jobs left Apple. Apple began to struggle and Steve began changing the world in other ways. He was hired by a new computer company called NeXT. Though NeXT did not build a computer the likes of Macintosh, its software was years ahead of the industry. In 1986, Steve Jobs purchased a small company called Pixar which went on to become among the largest computer animation studios with blockbusters such as Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., A Bug’s Life, and more.

In 1997, Steve Jobs was named CEO of Apple. At that time, Apple’s share of the computer market was declining, but Jobs had a plan to right the ship. From a near-bankrupt business to one of the most profitable businesses worldwide, Apple was re-born with Steve Jobs at the helm.

On August 15, 1998, Apple introduced the iMac — an all-in-one computer that sold almost 800,000 units in its first five months. In 2001, not only did Apple open the first Apple Retail Store, they introduced the world to the iPod portable audio player. Within six years, they sold 100 million of these devices. Over the next few years, Steve Jobs would empower Apple to launch iTunes, the MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad products.

On January 17, 2011, Steve Jobs announced that he would take a medical leave of absence from Apple to fight his progressing pancreatic cancer. On October 5th of that same year, Steve Jobs succumbed to his disease. That date marked the end of an era — not only at Apple — but for everyone who has had a dream as well as the determination and drive to make it a reality.