Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple Computer, English name: Steve Paul Jobs, one of the founders of Apple Computer, 1985 was awarded the National Technical Medal by President Reagan; 1997 became the cover of Time magazine; In the same year, he was named the most successful manager and the famous "computer madman". Enterprise type: computer industry. Growth record: He is an American hero, who has gone through ups and downs, but still stands. As Hemingway said in The Old Man and the Sea, a man can be destroyed, but he can't be defeated. He and Steve Watts created "Apple", which set off a wave of personal computers and changed an era. But it was banned at the peak and fell from a high building to the bottom. But 12 years later, he made a comeback and opened the second "Jobs" era. The company experienced 1977 1 month, and Apple was formally incorporated. 1980 65438+February 12, the stock is listed on Wall Street. From 65438 to 0983, Jobs focused on new personal computers. 1984, the first Mac went on the market 1985, Sculley swept the floor and founded NeXT 1986. Jobs bought Pixar 1989, and NeXT 1993 failed. Jobs shut down the hardware part of NeXT. 1995 Toy Story became famous in one fell swoop. 1996, Apple acquired NeXT Jobs 1997 as a consultant, Jobs became CEO of Apple again1998, iMac became the best-selling personal computer in the United States 1999, and Apple introduced iBook, G4 and iMacDV 2000. In 2000, Apple suffered another quarterly loss, and its share price plummeted by 2,006,544. [Edit this paragraph] "Apple" was born on1February 24th, 955. Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco, USA. Shortly after his birth, he was mercilessly abandoned by the father of a university professor and the mother of a decadent artist. Fortunately, a kind couple took the poor guy in. Although he is an adopted son, his adoptive parents are very kind to him, just like his parents. As a student, Jobs was clever, naughty and unscrupulous, and often liked to play some ridiculous pranks. However, his academic performance is outstanding. At that time, Jobs lived near the famous Silicon Valley, and his neighbors were employees of Hewlett-Packard Company, a veteran of Silicon Valley. Under the influence of these people, Jobs was obsessed with electronics since he was a child. An HP engineer saw him so obsessed that he recommended him to join HP's "Discoverer Club". This is a party specially held for young engineers, which is held in the company restaurant every Tuesday night. Jobs first saw computers at a party, and he began to have a hazy understanding of computers. In junior high school, Jobs met Woz, who was five years older than him, at a class reunion. Woz is the president of the school electronic club, and he is also interested in electronics. The two hit it off and founded Apple Computer Company eight years later. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, the freshman Jobs had a whim and dropped out of school to become an employee of Atari Video Game Company. Not long after, he became interested in Buddhism again, and even gave up his job and traveled across the ocean to India to practice with exorcists. The result can be imagined. Not only did you not learn Buddhism, but you also suffered a lot on the way. He had to return to Atari to become an engineer. After settling down, Jobs continued his interest in his youth and often pondered computers in his garage with Woz. They dreamed of owning a computer of their own, but at that time all the products on the market were commercialized, bulky and extremely expensive, so they planned to develop them themselves. It was necessary to make a personal computer with a microprocessor, but the retail price of the 8080 chip was $270 at that time, and it was not sold to people from unregistered companies. Fearless, they kept searching and finally bought Motorola's 6502 chip at the Wisconsin Computer Products Expo in San Francisco at 1976. Its function is almost the same as Intel's 8080, but the price is only $20. With the 6502 chip, two ecstatic young people returned to Jobs' garage and started their great innovation. They designed a circuit board, on which 6502 microprocessor, interface and other components were installed, and the microprocessor was connected with keyboard and video display through the interface. In just a few weeks, the computer was installed. Jobs's friends were shocked, but they didn't realize that this ugly thing was the world's first personal computer, and how much influence it would bring to the future world. But the shrewd Jobs immediately estimated the market value of this homemade computer. In order to raise funds for mass production, he sold his Volkswagen and persuaded Woz to sell his precious HP 65 calculator. In this way, they have 1300 dollars, laying the foundation for their great ambitions. /kloc-On April Fool's Day in 0/976, Jobs, Woz and his friend Long Wayne did something that influenced future generations: they signed a contract and decided to set up a computer company. The name of the company was decided by Jobs, who preferred Apple-called Apple. Then came the famous trademark-the bitten apple. And their homemade computers are naturally considered as "Apple I" computers. I left Apple sadly, but at first, Apple's business was very slow. After all, this is a brand-new thing. Except those who are interested in electronics, who knows what it will do? Friends who were originally interested in Apple I are now holding a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for the launch of a better Apple II. An accidental opportunity brought a turning point for Apple. 1One day in July, 976, retailer Paul Trail came to Jobs' garage. After watching Jobs skillfully demonstrate the computer, he thought that the "Apple" machine had great prospects and decided to take a risk-order 50 complete machines, but require delivery within one month. Jobs was overjoyed and signed the contract immediately, which was the first "big business" made. Time is too hasty and the task is heavy. Jobs and Woz braved the heat and worked day and night. They are desperate for the survival of the company. They sweat like rain almost every day and work hard for 66 hours a week. Finally, on the 29th day, they miraculously completed the task and handed over all 50 "Apple" computers to the businessman Terrell. 50 complete machines were quickly sold out in Terrell's hands, which made a good start and "Apple" became famous in one fell swoop. Start small batch production. Jobs and Woz began to realize that their small capital was simply not enough to cope with this rapid development. Jobs later recalled: "In the autumn of 1976, I found that the market grew faster than we thought, and we needed more money." To this end, they went to seek financial support, including Hewlett-Packard, the company Woz worked for, but unfortunately, these companies did not realize the business opportunities and markets involved. Opportunities tend to favor hard-working people. 1976 10, millionaire Markkula came to visit Woz and their garage workshop. Markkula is a trained electrical engineer. He is very good at selling, so he is called a sales wizard. He chose to retire early because he made a fortune in the stock business. But seeing the new products of these two young people, Markkula decided to return to his old job and help them set up a company with great fanfare. He took the initiative to help them make a business plan and gave them a loan of $690,000, linking his fate with two young people. With the guidance of experts like Markkula and this huge sum of money, the development speed of "Apple" company has been greatly accelerated.