Steve Jobs Timeline:
Steve Jobs Life Timeline from his birth to death.
24 Feb 1955
Steven Paul was born in
San Francisco, the son of Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Schieble. He is
quickly adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs
1960
The Jobs family moves
from San Francisco to Mountain View, a suburban town in Santa Clara county,
more famous under the name Silicon Valley
Summer 1968
13-year-old Steve Jobs
calls up Bill Hewlett and gets a summer job at the HP factory
1969
Steve Jobs meets Steve
Wozniak, 5 years older, through a mutual friend. Woz and Steve share a love of
electronics, Bob Dylan, and pranks
1972
Steve and Woz build and
illegally sell 'blue boxes' that allow to make phone calls for free
1973
Steve spends the fall
semester at Reed College, Oregon, then drops out. He will stay on campus and
attend the classes that interest him for a while, then move to a hippie commune
1974
Steve gets his first job
at video game maker Atari, and later makes a trip to India to 'seek
enlightenment' with his college friend Dan Kottke
Mar 1976
Woz and Steve show the
early Apple I board at the Homebrew Computer Club
1 Apr 1976
Apple Computer Inc. is
incorporated by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne
Spring 1976
Steve and Woz start
assembling Apple I computers in the Jobses' garage, and sell them to computer
hobbyists, including 50 for the Byte Shop
28 Aug 1976
Steve Jobs and Woz show
off the Apple I at the Personal Computing Festival in Atlantic City, with help
from Dan Kottke
Jan 1977
Former Intel executive
turned business angel Mike Markkula invests in Apple and hires former colleague
Mike Scott as CEO. Woz is forced to leave HP to join Apple full time
17 Apr 1977
Apple makes a huge
sensation at the West Coast Computer Faire with a prototype Apple II
1978
The Apple II becomes the
first mass-market personal computer, with impressive sales around the US. Apple
becomes a symbol of the personal computing revolution
1978
Steve's ex-girlfriend
Chris-Ann Brennan gives birth to their daugher Lisa. Steve refuses to
acknowledge he is the father
1978
At Apple, work starts on
the Apple III and the Lisa, while Jef Raskin begins The Book of
Macintosh
Dec 1979
Steve Jobs is shown the
first working graphical user interface at Xerox PARC
1979
Sales of Apple II
skyrocket after pioneer spreadsheet software Visicalc is introduced
1980
Jef Raskin’s Macintosh
project is green-lighted. Lisa evolves into a GUI-computer, in part because of
Steve Jobs' demands
May 1980
Apple launches the Apple
III, which will prove a disastrous flop
12 Dec 1980
Apple goes public,
increasing Steve Jobs' net worth from dozens of millions of dollars to over
$200 million
Early 1981
Jef Raskin is forced out
of his Macintosh project as Steve Jobs takes over
25 Feb 1981
Black Wednesday: 50 Apple employees laid off by CEO Mike Scott without notice.
The board asks him to leave shortly afterwards. Mike Markkula becomes interim
CEO
12 Aug 1981
IBM launches the IBM PC,
the biggest threat to Apple's future yet
Feb 1982
A portrait of Steve Jobs
ends up on the cover of Time Magazine, under the title 'Striking it Rich'. Steve trusts Time
correspondent Michael Moritz to follow him on the Mac team for months, hoping
to become Man of the Year
3 Jan 1983
Time instead makes The
Computer 'machine of the year' and publishes a hatchet job on Steve Jobs, who
becomes furious and suspicious of journalists for the rest of his life
Jan 1983
Launch of the Lisa
computer. The Lisa team later merges with the Mac team under Steve Jobs's
leadership
8 Apr 1983
PepsiCo CEO John Sculley
becomes Apple's CEO after having been wooed by Steve Jobs for several months
24 Jan 1984
Macintosh is launched in
great fanfare at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting
24 Feb 1985
Steve Jobs celebrates
his 30th birthday in great fanfare, with Ella Fitzgerald as guest singer for
the night
May 1985
Palace coup: Apple's
board sides with John Sculley and strips Steve off all executive duties
Summer 1985
Alan Kay first
introduces the Pixar team to Steve Jobs
17 Sep 1985
Steve Jobs resigns from
Apple and starts NeXT with five other refugees from Apple. Apple announces it
will sue NeXT
1986-1996 NeXT Pixar and wilderness
30 Jan 1986
Jobs buys the computer
division of George Lucas' ILM for $10 million and incorporates it as Pixar
Aug 1986
Pixar unveils John
Lasseter’s short film Luxo Jr. at SIGGRAPH. It is praised by the expert audience as one of the
first computer-animated work of art
1986
Steve's mother Clara
dies. A couple months later, Steve discovers his biological mother Joanne and
his sister, novelist Mona Simpson. They will become close friends
Feb 1987
Ross Perot invests $20
million in NeXT, based on a $125 million valuation. The startup has still to
release a product
Sep 1988
NeXT and IBM form a
partnership to have NeXT’s system run on IBM machines
12 Oct 1988
Steve Jobs introduces
the NeXT Cube in San Francisco to great critical acclaim, pitching it as a
workstation for higher education
Winter 1988
Pixar launches its new
computer graphics workstation, the Pixar Image Computer II, and starts working
on the RenderMan computer animation software
Dec 1988
At SIGGRAPH, Pixar
releases its new short Tin Toy. It will win 1988's Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Mar 1989
NeXT partners with
retailer Businessland to sell to corporate America in addition to higher ed
Apr 1989
Steve Jobs is named
'Entrepreneur of the decade' by Inc. magazine
Jun 1989
Canon invests $100
million in NeXT, now valued at $600 million
30 Apr 1989
Steve shuts down all of
Pixar’s hardware operations
13 Sep 1989
Steve introduces the
cheaper NeXT Station in San Francisco, to boost the modest sales of NeXT
hardware
Mar 1991
Steve Jobs fires almost
half of Pixar’s staff and takes back all of the employees' stock in an effort
to cut costs, as the company is still in the red 5 years after its launch
18 Mar 1991
Steve Jobs marries
Laurene Powell in Yosemite under the blessing of Steve's old zen guru Kobin
Chino. Laurene is already pregnant
May 1991
Pixar signs a deal with
Disney to make a computer-animated feature film
Fall 1991
Laurene gives birth to
Steve’s first son, Reed Paul Jobs
Late 1991
Ross Perot leaves NeXT
as his investment is still not paying off
Jan 1992
NeXT licenses its
operating system, NeXTSTEP, to run on x86 machines
1992
NeXT COO Peter Van
Cuylenburg betrays Steve Jobs by trying to have the company bought by its giant
competitor Sun. Sun CEO Scott McNealy warns Steve Jobs instead
11 Feb 1993
NeXT fires 300 employees
as it discontinues all its hardware operations and becomes NeXT Software Inc.
This is the nadir of Steve's career
Mar 1993
Steve's father, Paul
Jobs, dies
Nov 1993
Jeffrey Katzenberg puts
a halt to the development of Toy Story because of creative disagreements
Nov 1994
Pixar resumes work on Toy Story
Feb 1995
Steve starts focusing
less on NeXT and more on Pixar before Toy Story is released. He becomes President & CEO of
Pixar Animation Studios
29 Nov 1995
One week after Toy Story is out, Pixar goes public. Steve Jobs's worth
rises to $1.5 billion, more than it ever was during his first tenure at Apple
Late 1995
Laurene gives birth to
Erin Siena Jobs, her second child with Steve
Early 1996
Steve Jobs negotiaties a
breakthrough deal between Pixar and Disney with its CEO Michael Eisner. The
deal includes landmark rights for a studio, such as equal billing
1996
Steve's biological
sister Mona Simpson publishes her third novel, A Regular Guy, whose main character Tom Owens is largely
based on her brother
Dec 1996
Apple, which was
desperately looking for a modern operating system to buy, eventually buys NeXT
for $400 million. Steve Jobs is named "informal adviser" to Apple CEO Gil Amelio
1997-2004 Rebuilding Apple
Jul 1997
Gil Amelio is ousted by
the Apple Board of directors after a disastrous quarter. Steve Jobs is named
interim CEO in his place and installs his NeXT executive team at the top of
Apple
6 Aug 1997
Steve Jobs introduces
Apple's new board of directors and a truce with Microsoft at Macworld Boston
Fall 1997
Apple starts its 'Think
Different' campaign to restore its damaged brand image. The new slogan will
quickly enter popular culture and define the company for the next five years
8 Jan 1998
At Macworld San
Francisco, Steve Jobs announces that Apple is profitable again, thanks to sales
of the new Power Macintosh computers
6 May 1998
Steve Jobs introduces
Apple's revolutionary iMac at the Flint Center auditorium in Cupertino, 14
years after he had introduced the Macintosh at that same place
May 1998
Eve Jobs, Laurene and
Steve's youngest daughter, is born
5 Jan 1999
Steve Jobs introduces
the new Power Mac G3 and the color iMacs at Macworld San Francisco
April 1999
Pirates of Silicon Valley, a TV movie starring Noah Wyle as young Steve Jobs, airs
21 Jul 1999
The original iBook is
unveiled at Macworld New York with the tagline iMac to go. Steve Jobs invites Noah Wyle on stage to
impersonate him again
5 Oct 1999
Introduction of the iMac
DVs and of iMovie, the first of Apple's first Digital Hub app
5 Jan 2000
At Macworld San
Francisco, Steve Jobs drops the 'interim' in his title and officially becomes
Apple’s CEO. He also demoes Mac OS X's revolutionary Aqua interface to a
bewildered audience
19 Jul 2000
The Power Mac G4 Cube is
unveiled at Macworld NY. It will be discontinued one year later because of
disappointing sales
9 Jan 2001
Steve Jobs unveils
Apple’s Digital Hub Strategy at Macworld: the Mac is to become the center of
consumers' emerging digital lifestyles
24 Mar 2001
After four years of hard
work, Mac OS X 10.0, the new incarnation of NeXTSTEP, ships
19 May 2001
Apple opens its first
Retail Stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California
23 Oct 2001
After an 8-month crash
development program, Steve Jobs unveils iPod at a small media event on the
company's campus. He has no idea how it will tranform Apple
7 Jan 2002
Steve unveils the iMac
G4 and the fourth iApp, iPhoto, at Macworld San Francisco
Mid 2002
Apple starts its popular
'Switch' campaign with ads picturing PC users that switched to the Mac
17 Jul 2002
Steve Jobs introduces
the first Windows-compatible iPods at Macworld NY
28 Apr 2003
Apple opens the
revolutionary online iTunes Music Store in the US, after negotiating landmark
deals with all major music labels
30 May 2003
Opening day of Finding Nemo, Pixar’s first Best Animated Feature Academy
Award winner
Spring 2003
Following increasing
tension with Michael Eisner, Steve Jobs announces that Pixar is seeking a new
distributor to replace Disney after its contract expires
23 Jun 2003
Steve Jobs unveils the
Power Mac G5, the world’s fastest computer, at WWDC
16 Oct 2003
"The day hell froze over": Steve Jobs introduces iTunes for Windows and
further demonstrates Apple's growing lead over its competitors in the digital
music business
Fall 2003
Steve Jobs is diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer, but stubbornly refuses any modern medical treatment for
months. He tries alternative diets instead
6 Jan 2004
Steve unveils the iPod
mini and the iLife suite at Macworld. The iPod mini will soon become the world's
best-selling MP3 player and truly establish Apple as a consumer electronics
powerhouse
Aug 2004
Steve Jobs finally has
his pancreatic tumor removed by surgery
2005-2011 The Big Apple
11 Jan 2005
At Macworld San
Francisco, Steve Jobs unveils Apple's productivity suite iWork, the new Mac
mini, and the iPod shuffle, the cheapest iPod ever at $49
29 Apr 2005
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is
released. A stable, fast release, it is immensely popular and marks the end of
the four-year transition from the old Mac OS to UNIX-based Mac OS X
6 Jun 2005
At WWDC 2005, Steve Jobs
announces that Apple is going to switch away from Motorola's and IBM's PowerPC
architectures, and use Intel processors in its future Macs instead. This move
will further help the growing adoption of the Mac
12 Jun 2005
Steve Jobs makes a
memorable commencement speech at Stanford University. History will remember its
closing remarks, Steve's advice to the young students: 'Stay hungry, stay
foolish', a quote from the last
page of the Whole Earth Catalogue from his youth
7 Sep 2005
Steve introduces the
Motorola ROCKR, an iTunes-compatible cell phone, and the iPod nano
12 Oct 2005
Steve Jobs invites
Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger on stage at an Apple Music Event where he also
introduces the new iPod videos and the iTunes movie store
10 Jan 2006
Steve Jobs unveils the
first two Intel Macs at Macworld, the iMac and the new MacBook Pro
24 Jan 2006
The Walt Disney Company
acquires Pixar for $7.4 billion. Pixar's largest shareholder Steve Jobs joins
the Disney board while Ed Catmull becomes president of the Walt Disney
Animation Studios, and John Lasseter its chief creative officer
28 Feb 2006
Apple releases its first
living-room product, the iPod hi-fi, discontinued a year and a half later
18 Apr 2006
Steve Jobs announces
Apple’s intention to erect a second campus in Cupertino
Mid 2006
Apple starts its famous
'Mac vs PC' campaign, a series of TV commercials featuring Justin Long as Mac
and John Hodgman as PC. The campaign will last for three years and mark popular
culture
7 Aug 2006
Apple completes the
transition of its entire product line to the Intel platform with the new Mac
Pro
9 Jan 2007
In his most memorable
keynote presentation ever, at Macworld 2007, Steve Jobs introduces iPhone and
its revolutionary touch-screen interface. He also introduces Apple TV and
announces the company's name change from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. to better reflect its new nature
Apr 2007
The SEC files charges
against Apple’s Nancy Heinen and Fred Anderson for options backdating
29 Jun 2007
iPhone is released in
the US, the same day as Pixar’s 8th feature film, Ratatouille
5 Dec 2007
Steve Jobs is inducted
in the California Hall of Fame by Gov. Schwartzenegger
15 Jan 2008
At Macworld 2008, Steve
Jobs introduces MacBook Air, with the tagline 'the world's thinnest notebook'.
Three years later, it will come to redefine all of Apple's notebook product
line
6 Mar 2008
Apple announces it will
open the iPhone platform to outside developers with the App Store. VC fund KPCB
starts iFund to invest in the new mobile app economy that they (rightly)
believe will sprout from it
9 May 2008
The press starts
speculating about Steve Jobs's health as he appears very thin to unveil the
iPhone 3G with an entry price of $199 on stage at WWDC
Aug 2008
The SEC clears Steve
Jobs of any responsibilities in the options backdating scandal
Late 2008
Apple starts its popular
'There's
an app for that' campaign to illustrate
the growing popularity of the App Store and the thousands of iPhone apps it
offers
5 Jan 2009
Steve Jobs announces he
will not speak at Macworld 2009 because of his health, and takes a six-month
medical leave of absence
Apr 2009
Steve receives a liver transplant
at the Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He was weeks away
from dying when he got the surgery
3 Aug 2009
Google CEO Eric Schmidt
leaves Apple's board because of conflicting interests due to Android
28 Aug 2009
Apple releases Mac OS X
10.6 Snow Leopard, stripped off any code from the original Mac OS
9 Sep 2009
Back at Apple, Steve
Jobs makes the first public appearance after his transplant to introduce new
iPods at the 'It's Only Rock'N'Roll' event
27 Jan 2010
After months of wild
rumors, Steve Jobs unveils iPad, 'the biggest thing Apple's ever done'. The tablet runs the same operating system as
iPhone
16 July 2010
One month after the
release of the new iPhone 4, Steve Jobs holds a press conference to address the
smartphone's supposed reception issues, the so-called 'Antennagate'
17 Jan 2011
Jobs surprises the world
by announcing his new medical leave of absence, without any end date
2 Mar 2011
Despite his medical
leave, Steve Jobs takes the stage to unveil the new iPad 2
6 Jun 2011
At his last keynote at
WWDC 2011, a freil Steve Jobs unveils Apple's cloud offering, iCloud, the
foundation for the next decade of Apple products
7 Jun 2011
Steve Jobs appears at
the Cupertino City Council to unveil Apple's plans for its new 'Spaceship'
campus. This is his last public appearance
24 Aug 2011
Steve Jobs resigns as
CEO of Apple, with the words 'I have always said if there ever came a day when
I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be
the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.' Tim Cook becomes Apple CEO
5 Oct 2011
Steve Jobs dies at home,
surrounded by his family
24 Oct 2011
After two years of work,
and forty interviews with Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson publishes his authorized
biography of the Apple and Pixar co-founder, simply named Steve Jobs
Sources: www.allaboutstevejobs.com