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Steve Jobs and Apple
1955–2011; Apple founded April 1976· Innovator or entrepreneur· Innovators & entrepreneurs
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
Co-founder of Apple, who turned personal computers, music players and phones into elegant, high-priced consumer products.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976; Wozniak's Apple II (1977) was among the first mass-market personal computers. The Macintosh (1984) popularized the mouse-and-windows interface pioneered at Xerox. Ousted in 1985, Jobs built NeXT and Pixar, returned in 1997 to a near-bankrupt Apple, and launched the iMac, iPod, iTunes Store and iPhone (2007). Apple profits by selling premium-priced hardware at high margins, tied to its own software and services.
Impact on society and the economy
Jobs made design and ease of use a business strategy; Apple became the first $1 trillion US company (2018). Critics cite harsh conditions at Chinese assembly plants and its 30% App Store fee.
Fortune, legacy and how we know
Apple's filings, keynotes and Walter Isaacson's authorized biography Steve Jobs (2011). At his 2011 death his fortune was about $8–10 billion, mostly Disney shares from selling Pixar; estimates vary.
Still debated
How much Apple's success owed to Jobs versus Wozniak, designer Jony Ive and operator Tim Cook is debated, as is how much he borrowed from Xerox's research.
Connections (3)
▸Venture capital and Silicon Valley backed Steve Jobs and AppleWell documented
The connection
Apple began in a garage, funded partly by Jobs selling his van and Wozniak his calculator. In 1977 Mike Markkula, a retired Intel manager rich from stock options, put in about $250,000 in equity and loans and joined as a partner. Venture investors including Venrock, Arthur Rock and Sequoia's Don Valentine followed. Its 1980 stock offering made about 300 millionaires.
When and how
Los Altos and Cupertino, California, 1976–1980; Markkula joined in 1977; venture firms invested around 1978; the public offering was December 12, 1980.
How we know
Apple's IPO prospectus lists its investors, and interviews with Markkula, Rock and Valentine confirm the funding.
Debates
Valentine reportedly found the young Jobs abrasive and pointed him to Markkula. Whether Apple could have scaled without Markkula's money and management is debated.
▸Sony (Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka) inspired the design ideals of Steve Jobs and AppleMostly agreed
The connection
Jobs admired Sony's sleek, simple products and its blend of engineering, design and marketing. Visiting Sony in the early 1980s, he asked Akio Morita why workers wore uniforms; the answer inspired his own black turtlenecks, made by Sony's uniform designer Issey Miyake. Apple later beat Sony at portable music when the iPod displaced the Walkman.
When and how
Tokyo and Cupertino; Jobs's visits to Sony in the early 1980s; the iPod (2001) and iTunes Store (2003) overtook Sony's Walkman line.
How sure are we?
Walter Isaacson's authorized biography records Jobs's admiration for Sony and Morita, including the uniform story; the design influence is widely noted but partly anecdotal.
Debates
How much Apple's design owed to Sony versus Braun's Dieter Rams, whom designer Jony Ive revered, or Jobs's own Bauhaus and Zen interests is debated.
▸Steve Jobs and Apple unveiled iPhone and the smartphone platform economyWell documented
The connection
After a disappointing 2005 iTunes phone made with Motorola, Jobs pushed Apple, then a Mac and iPod company, to build its own phone. A secret team worked about two and a half years under 'Project Purple.' He unveiled it as 'an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator' in one. He first resisted outside apps, then approved the App Store.
When and how
Cupertino, 2004–2007; unveiled at Macworld in San Francisco on January 9, 2007; key team members included Jony Ive, Scott Forstall and Tony Fadell.
How we know
The keynote video, Apple records and trial testimony in Apple v. Samsung, and Walter Isaacson's 2011 authorized biography.
Debates
How much credit goes to Jobs versus his team, and whether Apple would have opened to outside apps without hackers 'jailbreaking' early iPhones.