Steve Jobs: His life and work in pictures

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)  was an Americancomputer entrepreneur and innovator. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc . Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

In the late 1970s, Jobs—along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and others—designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Macintosh.  After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000 onwards.^[9] After resigning as CEO in August 2011, Jobs was elected chairman of Apple's board of directors and held that title until his death.

 In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off asPixar Animation Studios. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006.^[12] Consequently Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7 percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. On October 5, 2011, Jobs died in California at age 56, seven years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

 

This 1977 file photo shows Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as he introduces the new Apple II in Cupertino, Calif. Apple on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 said Jobs has died. He was 56. 

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs stands beneath a photograph of him and Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak from the early days of Apple during the launch of Apple's new "iPad" tablet computing device in San Francisco, California, in this January 27, 2010 file photo.

 

In this April 24, 1984, file photo, from left, Steve Jobs, chairman of Apple Computers, John Sculley, president and CEO, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the new Apple IIc computer in San Francisco. Apple on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 said Jobs has died. He was 56.

Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 338 US patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.

 

In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained at the company as chairman of the company's board. Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares dropped 5% in after-hour trading. The relatively small drop, when considering the importance of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that Jobs' health had been in the news for several years, and he was on medical leave since January 2011. It was believed, according to Forbes, that the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt Disney Company where Jobs served as director. In after-hour trading on the day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5%.

In this April 4, 1991, file photo, Steve Jobs, of NeXT Computer Inc., poses with his NeXTstation color computer for the press at the NeXT facility in Redwood City.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is shown at a press conference at the first international NEXTWORLD Expo in San Francisco in this January 22, 1992. file photograph. Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues. 

 

Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs (L) shakes hands with Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!, after introducing the new iPhone in San Francisco, California in this January 9, 2007.

 Apple CEO Steve Jobs poses with the new iPhone 4 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, in this June 7, 2010 file photo. Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56, after a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.