Steve Jobs was an innovator, a pure genius, and one of the most loved billionaires. Here is a list of inspiring and fascinating facts about Steve Jobs that everyone should know
Fact #1 Steve Jobs was Adopted
Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Schieble Simpson were the biological parents of Steve Jobs. His biological father was Syrian Muslim and his mother was American.
Steve Jobs was born on the 24th of Feb 1955, in San Francisco, California.
Jobs was adopted soon after his birth by Paul and Clara Jobs. His biological mother refused to sign the adoption papers before adoption as she found out that both Paul and Clara had no college education. She agreed only after Paul and Clara promised that he would attend college.
Fact #2 Education
Jobs always loved and enjoyed the unconventional ways of learning things. Even as a kid in elementary school, he used to find it very difficult to study the traditional way. He used to get bored in the class. His teacher once had to bribe him to start learning things.
After getting into Reed College, he took classes for the first semester only and then dropped out. He used to audit classes that interested him and he kept on doing this for almost 18 months after dropping off.
During this period, he used to sleep on the floor of his friend’s dorm, return Coke bottles for money, and even have free meals at the local Hare Krishna Temple.
Fact #3 Steve Jobs Cheated Wozniak
Steve Jobs was assigned the job of creating a circuit board for the arcade video game Breakout. Atari even offered $100 for each TTL chip eliminated from the machine. Jobs made a deal with Wozniak that they’ll split whatever they get. Wozniak was able to minimize the TTL count to 46 and this amazed the engineers at Atari.
Jobs got $5000 for this job, but he lied to Wozniak that he got only $700. So, Wozniak got only $350 and Jobs took $4650.
Wozniak didn’t know about it until ten years, but when he got to know he said that he would have given it to Jobs if he ever explained that he needed money.
Fact #4 Blue Box
Wozniak designed electronic equipment that could manipulate and hack telephone networks. This equipment allows you to make calls anywhere in the world free of cost. Wozniak and Jobs called it Blue Box and decided to sell it and eventually, it was a hit and they were able to make money.
Jobs said during an interview that it took them almost six months to figure out how to build blue boxes and if there were no blue boxes, Apple wouldn’t be possible.
Facts #5 Apple Third Partner – Ronald Wayne
Very few people know a very interesting fact about Apple having a third partner – Ronald Wayne. Within just two weeks of the partnership, he sold his stake and parted away from the company. He sold his 10 percent stake for only $800. Wayne must be regretting his decision for sure.
Wayne designed Apple’s logo and wrote the original partnership agreement and Apple I manual.
In 1985, Steve Jobs resigned from Apple over a dispute with Apple CEO John Sculley. Though Jobs, Sculley, and Wozniak had their own version of the reason for Jobs leaving Apple.
But Jobs considered this rebellion against himself as a blessing in disguise. This ouster from Apple gave him the chance to open NeXT Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios.
Fact #6 Steve Job’s Daughter – Lisa Brennan
Steve Jobs had a girl with Chrisann Brennan- Lisa Brennan. However, Jobs kept on denying her paternity for years. This led to a legal case and even after a DNA paternity test, he didn’t accept her.
When Jobs left Apple he accepted her and apologized for his behaviour. He apologized to Chrisann Brennan that he should have taken responsibility and felt sorry for that.
After accepting her, nine years old Lisa wanted to change her name and Jobs got it changed legally from Lisa Brennan to Lisa Brennan Jobs.
Chrisann Brennan gives credit to Mona Simpson for the Job’s change in heart.
Steve Jobs has left Lisa a multimillion-dollar inheritance, according to Fortune Magazine.
Read More: Top 12 Amazing Facts about Leonardo DA Vinci
Fact #7 Steve Jobs Biological Sister – Mona Simpson
Mona Simpson is the younger biological sister of Steve Jobs. She met Jobs when she was 25 years old. Eventually, they grew very close to each other and were very emotionally attached.
Jobs once said that he could not imagine a better sister.
Mona Simpson is a Novelist. The movie, Anywhere But Here, is based on her novel with the same name. She dedicated the novel to her mother Joanne and brother Steve.
Fact #8 Philanthropy Endeavours
Steve Jobs was an innovator, a pure genius, and one of the most loved billionaires. But he was no philanthropist. This attitude of Jobs was much talked about and whispered in the business world.
When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he cut the company’s philanthropic programs, saying he wanted to stabilize the company’s profitability. But, even Apple’s enormous success none of the charity programs were reinstated.
Job’s views on charity were not clear as he rarely talked about it. He even refused to discuss philanthropic endeavors with his biographer, Walter Isaacson. Jobs donated money for philanthropic causes which remained a mystery throughout his life.
After Jobs’s death, his wife Laurene Powell Jobs, publically revealed and talked about Steve Jobs’s charitable work and philanthropy endeavours.
Fact #9 Steve Jobs Patents
Jobs had 458 United States patents listed on his name as a primary inventor or co-inventor. Most of the patents are related to design and technology. He got his first patent in 1983 for a personal computer.
Since his death, he has been awarded 141 more patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Fact #10 America’s Toughest Bosses
Apple holds ranked No. 1 on Fortune’s 2016 list of America’s most admired companies for the ninth year in a row. Moreover, it became the first company in the world to hit more than $700 billion in market value in 2015.
In 1993, Jobs was listed as America’s Toughest Bosses by Fortune magazine.
Read More: Things Apple is doing right now, Steve Jobs never wanted
Fact #11 Apple’s Packaging
Those who have used Apple products must have experienced that Apple’s packaging is impeccable. It always increases the excitement while unboxing their products. There is a reason for this; Steve Jobs employed a dedicated team that used to study the experience of opening a box and to learn how to achieve excitement and emotional response.
Steve Jobs didn’t like the idea of white Apple products and opposed it. Jony Ive Apple’s head of design convinced him to use white for Apple products.
He gave his nod for white when Apple designers showed him a different shade called moon grey.
Fact #12 Steve Never Put License Plate on His Car
Steve Jobs had a bizarre habit of packing his car in spots reserved for the handicapped. Moreover, he never put a license plate on his car. He used to drive a silver Mercedes SL55 AMG.
How did he manage to do this?
Jobs found a loophole in California license plate laws. If anybody has a new car, he or she can drive the car without a license plate for six months.
Jobs had an agreement with the leasing company and he used to change cars every six months, exchanging the old car with another identical model. This way he used to drive a car without a license plate.
Fact #13 Apple vs Google
In 2001 Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were looking out for a new CEO and they wanted Steve Jobs to join, but he declined their offer.
Jobs saw the potential of Google and agreed to be their mentor.
The relationship between both companies became sour and Jobs became furious when Google launched the Andriod operating system.
Jobs felt that Google co-founders have betrayed him and said that “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them. This “don’t be evil” mantra is bullshit.”
Fact #14 Diagnosed with Rare Cancer
In October 2003 Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a rare but less aggressive type of cancer.
However, he refused to undergo surgery for his cancer and started alternative medication and diet. He started a vegan diet, herbal remedies, acupuncture, and other such treatments. He even consulted a psychic. All this led to a decline in his health.
After nine months, he gave up and underwent surgery and his tumor was successfully removed. He didn’t receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Fact #15 Travel to India
Steve Jobs traveled to India in search of spiritual enlightenment along with his Reed College friend Daniel Kottke.
In India, he was supposed to visit Neen Karoli Baba at his Kainchi ashram. But, when they reached the ashram they came to know, that Neem Karoli Baba had died some months back. Then they visited Haidakhan Baba.
Jobs stayed in India for seven months and traveled a lot in buses from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
Steve adopted Zen Buddhism when he came back to the United States; he shaved his head and wore traditional Indian clothes.
During this time, Jobs experimented with LSD and explained his experience as “one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life.”
Fact #16 Steve’s Affairs
Steve Jobs dated Joan Baez in the early 1980s and even asked her for marriage. Baez always spoke highly of Jobs. She visited Jobs before his death and said, “Steve had a very sweet side, even if he was as . . . erratic as he was famous for being”
Steve Jobs had a romantic relationship with Diane Keaton also.
Jobs married Laurene Powell on 18 March 1991 in a Buddhist ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Jobs and Powell had three kids – Reeds, Erin, and Eve.
Fact #17 iPad Story
Apple engineers completed the iPad prototype and showed it to Steve Jobs for his approval. He weighed the iPad with his hands, played with it, and then rejected it saying make it small it’s too big.
To this Apple engineers said it’s impossible to make it further small.
Jobs threw the prototype in the aquarium and bubbles floated on the top. He said there is space, make it smaller. He proved his point in a very creative way.
Fact #18 Steve’s Last Words
On 5 Oct 2011, Steve Jobs died at his Palo Alto, California home around 3 pm. His final words were: “OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.”
Apple and Microsoft flew their flags half-mast at their Headquarters and campuses.
Bob Iger ordered all Disney properties to fly their flags half-mast from October 6 to 13, 2011.
For two weeks after Steve Jobs’s death, Apple’s corporate website displayed a simple page, showing Job’s name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait.
Jerry Brown, governor of California declared October 16, 2011, to be “Steve Jobs Day”. On the same day, a memorial was held at Stanford University.
Many close friends, politicians, media persons, celebrities, and family members attended the memorial. Joan Baez, Bono, Yo Yo Ma performed at the memorial.
A small brown box was given to each attendee as a farewell gift from Jobs. It contained a copy of the “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Hindu guru Paramahansa Yogananda
Jobs is buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park
Some More Bizarre and Random Facts about Steve Jobs
- Jobs rarely used to take shower and used to move around barefoot in the Atari offices. He was shifted to the night shift because of complaints about his hygiene.
- Jobs never learned how to code and never wrote even a single line of code.
- Jobs disliked PCs and said to one friend, “I’d rather sell dog shit than PCs.”
- Steve Jobs found that the yellow gradient of the second ‘O’ in the Google logo on the iPhone wasn’t right and Jobs called Google to correct it.
- Tim Cook and Steve Jobs share a rare blood type and Cook offered a portion of his liver to Jobs. But, Jobs declined the offer and yelled, “I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never do that.”
- Bill Gates wrote a letter to Steve Jobs while he was dying and Jobs kept it by his bed.
- When Steve Jobs joined back Apple in 1997, he kept his salary at $1. In 2007 he joked about his salary “I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.”
- Steve Jobs met Steve Wozniak when he was only 13 years old and in high school. Steve Wozniak was 18 years old at that time. Job and Wozniak both admired and liked Bob Dylan a lot and shared many common interests.
- Jobs asked William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard for some parts to complete a school project and eventually got an internship at Hewlett-Packard.
