Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was the Chairman and CEO of NeXT.

NeXT corporate biography

 * (modified to past tense)

Jobs was born in San Francisco, California and grew up in the apricot orchards which later became the region now known as Silicon Valley. He co-founded three companies by the age of 40: Apple Computer, NeXT and Pixar.

Jobs co-founded Apple when he was 21 years old, co-developed the Apple II personal computer, led the development, manufacturing and marketing of the Macintosh personal computer, and oversaw the explosive growth of Apple into a two billion dollar company before he left in 1985.

Jobs then co-founded NeXT, which developed and marketed software development products and operating environments for the Internet and enterprise. NeXT's development software provided value to businesses by shortening the development cycle, working with organization's existing technology, supporting current and emerging standards, and enabling organizations to grow and change with ease.

Also the Chairman and CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, Jobs co-founded the Academy Award winning company, which released the world's first computer animated feature film"Toy Story."

Jobs received many awards, including the National Medal of Technology presented by President Ronald Reagan, the Entrepreneur of the Decade presented by Inc. Magazine, and the Jefferson Award for Public Service.

Jobs lived in Silicon Valley with his wife and children.

After NeXT
In 1997, Apple Computer was in financial distress and acquired NeXT for its technology. Jobs became an advisor at Apple and soon became the interim CEO, launching products such as the iMac and Mac OS X, the successor to Apple's original Macintosh operating system. After becoming permament CEO in 2000, he then launched other highly successful consumer products, such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. To reflect the change in Apple Computer's market reach, Jobs renamed the company to Apple Inc.

Illness and death
Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in 2003. On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation as Apple's CEO, writing to the board, "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." Jobs continued to work for Apple until the day before his death on October 5, 2011.

Articles

 * Steve Jobs: From Garage to World's Most Valuable Company by Dag Spicer at the Computer History Museum (2011-12-02)