Steve jobs con steve wozniak biography

Founding Apple Computer

With a sense of humor, Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer on “April Fools Day”, the 1st of April, 1976. For the necessary initial investment of $1,000 Wozniak sold his programmable HP 65 calculator for $500. “The guy who bought it only paid the half, though, and never paid the rest”, wrote Steve Woziak in his book “iWoz”. “I didn’t feel to bad because I knew HP’s next-generation calculator, the HP 67, was coming out in a month and would cost me only $370 with the employee discount. And Steve sold his VW van for another few hundred dollars. He figured he could ride around on his bicycle if he had to. That was it. We were in business.”

The third founder, Ron Wayne, who was an adult with experience, was to provide a proper accounting. He received a 10 percent share of the company, while the two Steves had their shares of 45 percent each. But Wayne dropped out after a few weeks because the family man was not comfortable with the unclear liability risk as he had much more to lose than the two Steves.

Later on, the millionaire Mike Markkula took over the role of the adult supervisor. He invested a quarter-million dollars in the start-up to finance the production and marketing of the Apple II.

Steve and I get a lot of credit, but Mike Markkula was probably more responsible for our early success, and you never hear about him.

— Steve Wozniak, Failure Magazine, July 2000

Breakthrough with Apple II

Steve Wozniak was the hardware genius. The driving force of the marketing was Woz’s dynamic companion, Steve Jobs. He was fascinated by Woz’s technical skills, partly because he would never have been able to construct a computer like the Apple II himself. But he viewed his friend also with a critical eye: “Woz is very bright in some areas, but he’s almost like a savant since he was so stunted when it came to dealing w

Steve Wozniak (B.S.’86 EECS) might be famous for designing Apple’s first computers, but when he started at Berkeley in 1971, he was best known for his larger-than-life escapades around campus. When not attending class, studying or using Berkeley’s top supercomputer, the future co-founder of Apple Computer was staging elaborate pranks and building gadgets, known as “blue boxes,” which allowed fellow students to make free long-distance calls.

But after his second year, Wozniak, also known as “Woz,” had to take a leave from Berkeley to earn money for school. During that hiatus — which was intended to only last a year — he worked for a few electronics companies before taking a job at Hewlett-Packard. He also designed his own microcomputer, which eventually became the Apple I. To launch the product, he and his friend Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976. The two went on to introduce the Apple II in 1977, starting the personal computing revolution and creating one of the most influential companies in history.

Wozniak eventually returned to Berkeley to finish his coursework, earning his degree in 1986. After graduating, he founded CL9, which created the first universal remote control, and later, Wheels of Zeus, which made wireless GPS technology. He also worked as a fifth-grade teacher, taught computer literacy to middle and high schools students, created two music festivals and was actively engaged in numerous business and philanthropic ventures.

For his many contributions, Wozniak has been honored with the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award and the National Medal of Technology, inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and named the Cal Alumni Association’s Alumnus of the Year. He was also selected as speaker for Berkeley’s 2013 graduation, where he told students, “My proudest moment of my life…it was my gradu

American electrical engineer and programmer (born 1950)

Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Computer with his early business partner Steve Jobs. Through his work at Apple in the 1970s and 1980s, he is widely recognized as one of the most prominent pioneers of the personal computer revolution.

In 1975, Wozniak started developing the Apple I into the computer that launched Apple when he and Jobs first began marketing it the following year. He was the primary designer of the Apple II, introduced in 1977, known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers, while Jobs oversaw the development of its foam-molded plastic case and early Apple employee Rod Holt developed its switching power supply.

With human–computer interface expert Jef Raskin, Wozniak had a major influence over the initial development of the original Macintosh concepts from 1979 to 1981, when Jobs took over the project following Wozniak's brief departure from the company due to a traumatic airplane accident. After permanently leaving Apple in 1985, Wozniak founded CL 9 and created the first programmable universal remote, released in 1987. He then pursued several other businesses and philanthropic ventures throughout his career, focusing largely on technology in K–12 schools.

As of June 2024, Wozniak has remained an employee of Apple in a ceremonial capacity since stepping down in 1985. In recent years, he has helped fund multiple entrepreneurial efforts dealing in areas such as GPS and telecommunications, flash memory, technology and pop culture conventions, technical education, ecology, satellites and more.

Early life

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1955-2011

Who Was Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs was an American inventor, designer, and entrepreneur who was the cofounder, chief executive, and chairman of Apple Inc. Born in 1955 to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption, Jobs was smart but directionless, dropping out of college and experimenting with different pursuits before cofounding Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Jobs left the company in 1985, launching Pixar Animation Studios, then returned to Apple more than a decade later. The tech giant’s revolutionary products, which include the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Jobs died in 2011 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Steven Paul Jobs
BORN: February 24, 1955
DIED: October 5, 2011
BIRTHPLACE: San Francisco, California
SPOUSE: Laurene Powell (1991-2011)
CHILDREN: Lisa, Reed, Erin, and Eve
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces

Steve Jobs’ Parents and Adoption

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco to Joanne Schieble (later Joanne Simpson) and Abdulfattah “John” Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students. The couple gave up their unnamed son for adoption. As an infant, Jobs was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant, and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist.

Jobs’ biological father, Jandali, was a Syrian political science professor. His biological mother, Schieble, worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Jobs was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

Early Life and Education

Jobs lived with his adoptive family in Mountain View, California, within the area that would later become known as Silicon Valley. He was curious from childhood, sometimes to his detriment. According to the BBC’s Science Focus