Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was born 70 years ago today, February 24, 1955. Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple and the company’s first computer offering was the Apple-I in kit form which was sold for $666.66. The best-selling Apple II followed, as did the Lisa (which was a flop due to being too expensive), the Macintosh (which continues to sell well to this day), and other innovative devices that defined Apple at the time. Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985 and founded NeXT, but Apple struggled without its co-founder.
In 1986, Jobs purchased the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which he spun off as Pixar. Pixar produced the first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story (1995), and became a leading computer animation studio, releasing several commercially successful and critically acclaimed films.
Happily, Jobs saved the company from the brink of extinction, when he returned to the company in 1997 after being ousted 12 years before.
Jobs worked closely with British designer Jony Ive to develop a line of products and services that included the iMac, iTunes, macOS, the Apple Store, the iPod, the iTunes Store, the iPhone, the iPad, and the App Store.
Happy Birthday, Steve, thanks for following your heart.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs
