Steve Jobs was an American businessman who co-founded Apple Inc. in 1976 with Steve Wozniak. He was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California, and died on October 5, 2011, at age 56. He also founded NeXT and built Pixar into a major animation studio.
Who Was Steve Jobs?
Steve Jobs, born Steven Paul Jobs, was an American businessman and a pioneer of the personal computer era. His career included 4 major roles. Examples include co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple, founder of NeXT, majority shareholder of Pixar, and member of the Walt Disney Company board of directors.
What Are the Key Facts About Steve Jobs?
The table below lists 10 biographical facts about Steve Jobs. The left column names each attribute. The right column gives its value, based on Encyclopaedia Britannica.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name | Steven Paul Jobs |
| Date of birth | February 24, 1955 |
| Place of birth | San Francisco, California |
| Date of death | October 5, 2011 |
| Place of death | Palo Alto, California |
| Age at death | 56 |
| Cause of death | Complications from pancreatic cancer |
| Companies founded | Apple Inc. (1976, with Steve Wozniak) and NeXT Inc. |
| Education | Attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and dropped out |
| Posthumous honor | Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022) |
What Are the 6 Main Milestones in Steve Jobs’s Career?
Steve Jobs’s career includes 6 main milestones between 1976 and 2007. They cover the founding of Apple, the Macintosh, a forced exit, Pixar’s first feature film, a return to Apple, and the iPhone.
- 1976: Co-founding of Apple with Steve Wozniak
- 1984: Introduction of the Macintosh
- 1985: Removal from Apple and founding of NeXT
- 1995: Release of Toy Story by Pixar
- 1997: Return to Apple
- 2007: Introduction of the iPhone
Where Did Steve Jobs Grow Up and Study?
Steve Jobs grew up in Cupertino, California, in what is now Silicon Valley. His adoptive parents, Paul and Clara Jobs, raised him. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and dropped out.
He took a job as a video game designer at Atari in early 1974. He then saved enough money to travel to India to experience Buddhism, according to Britannica.
How Did Steve Jobs Co-Found Apple?
Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 after reconnecting with Steve Wozniak in the autumn of 1974. Wozniak was working at Hewlett-Packard and was designing his own computer logic board. Jobs suggested they start a business together after Hewlett-Packard declined Wozniak’s design.
Key early events include:
- 1976: Built the Apple I in the Jobs family garage, funded by selling Jobs’s Volkswagen minibus and Wozniak’s programmable calculator
- 1977: Incorporated Apple Computer and completed the Apple II
- 1981: Completed a record-setting public stock offering
- 1983: Entered the Fortune 500 and recruited John Sculley as CEO
How Did Steve Jobs Develop the Macintosh?
Steve Jobs developed the Macintosh after a 1979 visit to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where he saw a graphical user interface demonstration. He led a small team building a lower-cost computer and introduced the Macintosh on January 24, 1984.
The first Macs had disappointing sales because they were underpowered, expensive, and had few software applications. In 1985, John Sculley convinced Apple’s board of directors to remove Jobs from the company.
What Did Steve Jobs Do at NeXT and Pixar?
Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985 and acquired a controlling interest in Pixar in 1986. NeXT built workstation computers for the education market and later focused on its software system, NEXTSTEP. Its funding partners included Ross Perot and Canon Inc.
Pixar began as a division of Lucasfilm. Under Jobs, it produced Toy Story in 1995, the first full-length feature film that was completely computer-animated. Pixar’s public stock offering that year made Jobs a billionaire for the first time. He sold the studio to Disney in 2006.
How Did Steve Jobs Return to Apple?
Steve Jobs returned to Apple after the company acquired NeXT. Britannica states that Apple bought NeXT in 1996 for more than $400 million and that Jobs came back as a consultant. He announced an agreement between Apple and Microsoft to support Apple’s survival. He became CEO in 1997.
What Products Did Steve Jobs Introduce After Returning to Apple?
Steve Jobs introduced 4 major product lines after 1997. The table below lists each product and the year it was introduced. The left column names the product. The right column gives the year.
| Product | Year introduced |
|---|---|
| iMac | 1998 |
| iPod | 2001 |
| iPhone | 2007 |
| iPad | 2010 |
What Caused Steve Jobs’s Death?
Steve Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011, in Palo Alto, California. Doctors diagnosed a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2003. He announced in 2004 that he had undergone surgery to remove a tumor. He received a liver transplant in 2009 and resigned as Apple CEO in August 2011.
What Awards Has Steve Jobs Received?
Steve Jobs received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, according to Britannica. He also received the National Medal of Technology in 1985 with Steve Wozniak.
People Also Ask
Who Was Steve Jobs?
Steve Jobs was the co-founder of Apple Inc. and a pioneer of the personal computer era.
When Did Steve Jobs Die?
Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, in Palo Alto, California, at age 56.
What Companies Did Steve Jobs Found?
Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 and founded NeXT in 1985, and he acquired a controlling interest in Pixar in 1986.
Why Was Steve Jobs Removed From Apple?
Apple’s board removed Steve Jobs in 1985 after disappointing Macintosh sales caused tensions in the company.
How Did Steve Jobs Become a Billionaire?
Steve Jobs became a billionaire in 1995 when Pixar’s public stock offering raised the value of his Pixar shares.
What Was Steve Jobs’s Cause of Death?
Steve Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer.
Who Was Steve Jobs in Technology History?
Steve Jobs was an American businessman recognized for co-founding Apple and for developing the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. He was born in San Francisco in 1955 and died in Palo Alto in 2011.
His career included Apple, NeXT, and Pixar. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Steve Jobs (Steven Levy, updated September 29, 2026)
- Britannica Kids: Steve Jobs
- Wikipedia: Steve Jobs
- New World Encyclopedia: Steve Jobs