Steve Jobs: The Life, Time and Vision

Author Walter Isaacson first met Steve Jobs in 1984. Isaacson interviewed him more than 3 dozen times, including the final years of his life. He also interviewed Jobs' friends, family and colleagues in order to write his biography. Here is a brief history of Steve Jobs:

Steve Jobs, one of the brightest minds of our time, dropped out of college. Instead he went to India and returned unrecognizable with a shaved head, Buddhist beliefs and fervently searching for enlightenment. Jobs and his friends frequented a commune on an apple orchard

As Jobs' home state of California emerged as a tech capital, Jobs teamed up with longtime friend Steve Wozniak to hack a device that would allow people to make free calls using AT&T's worldwide network. They had lots of college-age clients, but dreamed of a bigger impact product.

Intel had just released a microprocessor and Wozniak had the idea of miniaturizing it to create a desktop version of a supercomputer. That idea became the framework for the Apple I .

Wozniak showed Jobs a prototype and they created a partnership called Apple Computer. Jobs had to sell his car to fund the initial run, but they managed to order 50 machines. Sales were immediately strong. The company would be worth a billion dollars and go public in 4 years.

IBM was alarmed by the quick success of their new competitor, and they launched a personal computer of their own. This primed Jobs to portray Apple as the rebel raging against the large machine. He told this story with A-list Director Ridley Scott directing an Apple commercial.

Eventually Jobs' fiery temper and intensity got him ousted from his own company. He wandered throughout Europe for a while until ending up back in CA alongside filmmaker George Lucas. Lucasfilm developed an imaging computer and company which Jobs bought and named Pixar.

Pixar required Jobs to invest over $50 mil to keep the company afloat. They eventually partnered with Disney to make Toy Story, and Jobs then took the company public. It was the biggest IPO of the year and Jobs' shares were worth $1.2 bil.

While building Pixar, Jobs also built an innovative computer company called NeXT. Apple was failing after Jobs' departure, so they bought NeXT, which allowed Jobs to infiltrate the company, eventually replacing the entire Apple Board of Directors and being named CEO.

This begins the modern era of Apple where Jobs spearheaded creation of the iPod, iPhone and more. Ultimately Jobs' story ends with his developing pancreatic cancer and passing away in 2011 but his products, companies and legacy lives on.

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