Introduction

Walter Isaacson only agreed to write Steve Jobs’ biography when he learned that Jobs was already dying of cancer. With his striking personality, Jobs approached Isaacson a couple of times since 2004 about the story of his life. It was only in year 2009 that the author agreed. At that time, Jobs was already taking his second medical leave.

Being a managing editor at Time magazine, Isaacson encountered Jobs several times since 1984.  The first time the innovator mentioned his biography to the writer, Isaacson had just successfully released his book on Benjamin Franklin and was working on another about Albert Einstein. Isaacson declined saying that it’s too early as Jobs was still on the peak of his career.

It was Jobs’ wife Laurene Powell who finally changed Isaacson’s mind and informed him of the Apple CEO’s sickness. Jobs was having his operation for cancer.Yet, he strives to keep his struggle a secret. What further inspired Isaacson to write this biography is the freedom given by Jobs in writing this book. He let the author to write his own life story as is without any intervention whatsoever.

Like Franklin and Einstein, Steve Jobs values his capabilities on both humanities and sciences. His creative talents combined with engineering genius made him the great innovator that he is. Jobs’ work not only revolutionized the world of personal computers but also that of music, digital publishing and animated movies.  His life and personality may not be perfect yet it continues to inspire people just as the company he built.

Childhood

Steve Jobs knew at an early age that he was adopted. His father Paul Jobs and mother Clara Hagopian never hid it from him. They took care of Steve right after his birth. Colleagues have remarked that this made Steve independent and strong of character. His first hero is his father who was a car mechanic.

Steve’s parents always told him that he is special. As a child, he discovered his intelligence in electronics though he was a delinquent in school. Classes often bore him and he would often engage in pranks with the help of his talents. This continued on from grade school to college.

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Wozniak

Steve Wozniak met Steve Jobs through a common friend in Homestead High. Both Steves showed talents in electronics and machines even as children. While Jobs was influenced by his father to be a businessman, Woz’ dad despised marketing and encouraged him to excel on engineering.

Though Woz is 5 years older than Jobs, he was very socially awkward and grew up to be a nerd. It was in their common friend’s garage when he first met Jobs. Not only their deep understanding of electronics bind thembut also their love of Bob Dylan’s music.

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College drop-out

While Wozniak decided to go to Berkeley University, Jobs was picky in choosing where to study college. It was a condition when Jobs was adopted that he would finish school. And so, his adoptive parents worked hard for his college fund.

Jobs chose not to go to nearby Stanford University. He wanted to go somewhere more interesting and artistic. Despite the disagreement with his parents, Jobs enrolled in Reed College, Portland Oregon. It was an expensive school with only a thousand students. Yet, it was known for its hippie culture.

Later on at Reed, Jobs thought that his course wasn’t letting him to learn stuff that he wants. He dropped out and took any class that interests him like calligraphy. Jobs fell in love with the hippie culture in Reed. He read so many books on Zen Buddhism and started to practice extreme vegetarianism. He would not cut his hair and insist on walking barefoot around campus.

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 Apple I

Wozniak and Jobs had been into various small business ventures here and there. But as Wozniak was just willing to give away his designs, Jobs wanted to have his own unique independent product and make good money out of it.

First, they had to come up with a name. They thought about tetchy terms like Matrix and boring ones like Personal Computers Inc. but it was Apple which stood out. It wasn’t only that Jobs came from a visit on a farm but the name Apple Computers is fun, unique and not intimidating.

At the time, Woz was working for HP. He tried to pitch his circuit board there first. After being rejected for rawness, Woz committed his designs 100% to Apple. Jobs thought that their team-up worked because they are opposites. While Woz is very talented but socially awkward, Jobs is good with people. He is known to communicate to anyone and manipulate them to get what he wants.

Their first client is a computer store owner named Paul Terell. He ordered 50 circuit boards for $500 per piece. After convincing the manager of Cramer Electronics to lend them $25,000, Jobs together with Woz, his sister Patty, ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Holmes and friend Daniel Kottke, began to work. Thus, the birth of Apple happened in the garage of the Jobs residence in Los Altos.

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Lisa

For 5 years, Jobs was in an on and off relationship with Chrisann Brennan. With the successful run of Apple, Jobs moved out of his parents’ house and rented a $600 ranch house in Cupertino. Soon, Brennan reunited with Jobs, moved in and got pregnant. They were both 23 years old.

Jobs was detached though and focused with the company. He and Brennan would often argue. Marriage was never discussed and Jobs denied that he was the father. Nevertheless, with the help of friends, Brennan gave birth to Lisa Nicole in Oregon on May 17, 1978.

Mother and child moved to a tiny home in Menlo Park and lived on welfare. When Lisa was one year old, Jobs underwent the fairly new DNA testing and resulted 94.41%. The California court ordered him to give monthly child support and sign admission of his paternity. Jobs was granted visitation rights though he didn’t use them.

1981

From selling 2,500 units in 1977, Apple’s sales rose to 210,000 by 1981. However, Jobs knew that this success wouldn’t last forever. He thought of a new product which is much better than Apple II. He also wanted a design that he could completely call his own.

Though he denied the connection at the time, Jobs named the new computer Lisa. The engineers had to come up with an acronym to go with his daughter’s name. Lisa stands for Local Integrated Systems Architecture.

In exchange for 100,000 shares in Apple, Xerox PARC agreed to share its latest technology to Jobs and his programmers. After several visits, the Apple engineers were able to pirate the mouse design and interface of Xerox computers. The Lisa was released with a better than ever graphics and smooth-scrolling mouse features.

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IPO

Apple finally went public on December 12, 1980. One of the banks who handled its IPO was Morgan Stanley. Overnight, the price of Apple shares increased from $22 to $29. At age 25, the hippie college dropout Steve Jobs became a multi-millionaire. Yet, he chose not to live an ostentatious lifestyle.

Jobs gave his parents $750,000 worth of Apple stocks which freed them from mortgage. He also began to do covers for magazines. His first cover story was for Inc. on October 1981. Time magazine soon followed on February 1982. It highlighted the story of a 26-year-old millionaire who started a company 6 years ago in his parents’ garage.

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