REUTERS / Kimberly White - stock.adobe.com
A History of American Entrepreneurship: Steve Jobs and Apple Inc.
Steve Jobs often tops the list when anyone is asked to name great entrepreneurs. His innovation and willingness to take risks positioned him for great achievements. As a co-founder of Apple, he was the revolutionary mind behind many technological advances that have become a huge part of everyday life as it's known today. Looking back over his life and career, it's easy to see that Steve Jobs made conscious decisions to follow his heart and push past obstacles to change the world.
"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
1955: Steven Paul Jobs was born on Feb. 24 in San Francisco to parents Joanne Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali. Jobs was given up for adoption and adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.
1961: The Jobs family moved to Mountain View, California.
1968: Steve Jobs reached out to Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, to ask for spare parts he needed to build a frequency counter. Jobs got both the parts and an internship with Hewlett-Packard.
1970: Jobs met Steve Wozniak through a mutual friend, and the two men connected immediately.
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become."
1972: Jobs graduated from Homestead High School and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He dropped out of college one semester later.
1974: Jobs worked briefly as an engineer for Atari. He left shortly thereafter to travel through India.
"What is Apple, after all? Apple is about people who think 'outside the box,' people who want to use computers to help them change the world, to help them create things that make a difference and not just to get a job done."
1976: Jobs and Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer. The company released the Apple I as a kit.
1977: Apple Computer incorporated on Jan. 3. The Apple II was released later that year to consumers, and it would become the company's first successful computer.
1980: Apple Computer went public. Jobs's net worth was $200 million.
1984: Apple introduced the Macintosh during a shareholder meeting. In his speech, Jobs said, "Never trust a computer you can't lift."
"Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."
1985: Apple CEO John Sculley orchestrated Jobs's removal from Apple. Jobs ended up resigning, going on to start NeXT Computer.
1986: Jobs bought the Graphics Group from Lucasfilm; it would go on to become Pixar Animation Studios.
1988: NeXT Computer released its first computer.
1993: NeXT stopped producing computer hardware, instead focusing on software. The company was renamed NeXT Software Inc.
1995: Jobs became the president and interim CEO of Pixar. Later in 1995, Pixar went public and then released Toy Story.
1996: Jobs returned to Apple as an adviser after Apple bought NeXT.
1997: Jobs became Apple's CEO. Later that year, Apple announced an investment in Microsoft and a partnership on both Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer for Mac. The Apple Store was also introduced during this year.
1998: Apple introduced the iMac.
2000: Jobs became permanent CEO of Apple, taking a $1 annual salary.
2001: Apple introduced iTunes and the iPod.
2002: Apple introduced iPods that were Windows-compatible.
2003: The first iTunes Music Store was opened in the United States. ITunes also became compatible with Windows.
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
2004: Jobs had surgery to remove cancer from his pancreas.
2005: Apple introduced the iPod Shuffle, which was smaller, lighter, and less expensive. Later that year, the iPod Nano and iPod with video were introduced.
2006: Apple surpassed Dell in market capitalization. Disney bought Pixar, and Jobs joined Disney as a top shareholder.
2007: Apple simply became "Apple," without the "Computer." Apple introduced the iPod Touch.
2008: Apple introduced "MobileMe," its first cloud product.
2009: Jobs took a leave of absence due to his health. During this time, he had a liver transplant.
2010: Apple introduced the iPad.
2011: Jobs took another leave of absence. In August, Jobs resigned as CEO. Steve Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011.