| "We started out to get a computer in the hands of | | | | networking capabilities, not to mention only a small |
| everyday people, and we succeeded beyond our | | | | capacity for memory, corporations were not |
| wildest dreams." | | | | interested. In 1985, without any power in his own |
| - Steve Jobs, Co-Founder of Apple Computer Inc., | | | | company, Jobs sold his stock in Apple and resigned. |
| 1976. | | | | Later in 1985, Jobs began NeXT Computer Co. with |
| Steve Jobs was adopted to a family in Mountain | | | | the money he'd made from the sale of his stock in |
| View, California. While still in high school, Jobs interest | | | | Apple. He planned to build a computer to change the |
| in electronics prompted him to call William Hewlett of | | | | way research was done. The NeXT computer, |
| Hewlett-Packard to ask for some parts for a school | | | | though complete with processing speeds previously |
| project. Hewlett provided the parts and then made | | | | unseen, unmatched graphics, and an optical disk drive, |
| an offer to Jobs to intern at Hewlett-Packard for a | | | | at $9,950 each, sold poorly. |
| summer. There, Jobs met Steve Wozniak, a talented | | | | Persistent after the failures of the NeXT venture, |
| and knowledgeable engineer five years older than the | | | | Jobs began toying with software and started to |
| high school student. Their friendship would eventually | | | | focus his attention on a company he'd bought from |
| be the foundation on which Apple was built. | | | | George Lucas in 1986, Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs |
| Jobs dropped out of Reed College after one | | | | signed a three-picture deal with Disney, and began |
| semester and went to work for Atari designing | | | | working on the first computer-animated feature. |
| games. He carefully saved the money he earned | | | | Released in the fall of 1995, it had taken "Toy Story" |
| while working at Atari so that he could take a trip to | | | | four years to be made. But the work had been well |
| India and sate his bourgeoning interest in the | | | | worth it, the film was an incredible success. Pixar |
| spiritualism of the East. | | | | went public in 1996, and in one day of trading, Jobs |
| After returning home from India, Jobs and Wozniak | | | | 80% share had become worth $1 billion. |
| renewed their friendship. Jobs was shown a small | | | | Apple was struggling, having failed to design a new |
| computer that Wozniak had been working on as a | | | | Macintosh operating system, and the company only |
| hobby, but Jobs saw its potential immediately and | | | | held 5% of the PC market. Days after Pixar went |
| persuaded Wozniak to go into business with him. In | | | | public, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million and |
| 1975, at the age of 20, Jobs went to work in his | | | | renamed Jobs to the board of directors to advise |
| parents' garage with Wozniak working on the Apple I | | | | Gilbert F. Amelio, the chairman and CEO. However, in |
| prototype. | | | | March of 1997, Apple recorded a quarterly loss of |
| The Apple I sold modestly, but well enough to be | | | | $708 million, and Amelio resigned a few months later. |
| able to go to work on the Apple II. In 1977, the new | | | | Jobs was left in charge as interim CEO and it was up |
| model was put on sale. With a keyboard, colour | | | | to him to keep the same company he had started |
| monitors and user-friendly software, Apple became a | | | | and which had ousted him alive. So he made a deal |
| success. The company made $3 million in their first | | | | with Microsoft. With an investment $150 million for a |
| year and had surpassed $200 million in their third. | | | | small stake in Apple, Apple and Microsoft would |
| However, in addition to the Apple III and its | | | | "cooperate on several sales and technology fronts", |
| successor the LISA not selling as well as had been | | | | and Apple would be assured their continuation in the |
| hoped and a marked increase in competition in the | | | | PC market. |
| sale of PCs, 1980 saw Apple lose almost half of its | | | | Jobs also went to work improving the quality of the |
| sales to IBM. Things got worse for Jobs in 1983 | | | | Apple computers. The introduction of the G3 Power |
| when a fight with the directors got him kicked off | | | | PC microprocessor made the Apple faster than those |
| the board by the CEO, John Sculley, whom Jobs | | | | computers operating on Pentium processors. Apple |
| himself had hired. | | | | also turned its energies toward producing an |
| In 1984, as a response to the sharp decline in sales, | | | | inexpensive desktop, the iMac, that was another hit |
| Jobs released the Apple Macintosh which introduced | | | | for the company. With Jobs once again in control, |
| the world to the point-and-click simplicity of the | | | | Apple was able to quickly turn itself around, and by |
| mouse. The marketing for the Mac was handled | | | | the end of 1998, was bringing in $5.9 billion in sales. |
| poorly and with a price tag of $2,500, it was not | | | | Jobs had returned to his first love, a little older and a |
| finding its way into the homes for which it had been | | | | little wiser. He had made Apple healthy again and |
| designed. Jobs tried to repackage the Mac as a | | | | returned it to a place where it was contributing new |
| business computer, but without a hard-drive or | | | | and innovative technologies to the computer world. |