“We never expected to make any money,” said Steve Wozniak about Apple’s success, “but it was a chance to have a business once in our lives' ('Steve Wozniak'). Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were both born in California and met with great business ideas. They both had interesting backstories - Jobs was adopted and Wozniak was a great engineer working for Hewlett-Packard. In his free time, Wozniak developed a software system and a computer. Steve Jobs loved the Idea and wanted to market the computers ('Steve Wozniak'). The company developed when Steve Jobs’ father allowed them to work on computers in his garage. The company continued and develop many successful products like the iPhone. In 2018, Apple became the first U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market value (Martin). Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had an idea that started in a garage, but it changed the thought of technology as society knew it. Now, Apple has become one of the world’s most successful businesses.
On February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California Steve Jobs was given up for adoption. According to Tejvan Pettinger, Joanne Schieble and John Jandali were two unmarried college students who gave birth to Steve Jobs. Paul and Clara Jobs adopted Steve and were considered to him as his real parents. Throughout his life, Paul encouraged Steve to experiment (Pettinger). Steve Jobs’ teachers said that “he was a handful to teach.” Jobs continued his education at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He received amazing test scores but struggled with traditional teaching (Pettinger).
In 1971, when Jobs was in high school he was introduced to Steve Wozniak, a college student, by his friend Bill Fernandez. Bill told the story of their meeting in an interview and explained that he was hanging out with Jobs when they walked by Wozniak washing his car. Fernandez thought the two would be great friends because they shared common interests. The two liked working with each other on projects and had an interest in playing pranks. After a while, the two began working on professional projects (Eadicicco).
Co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, was born in San Jose, California by Margaret and Jerry Wozniak. They gave birth to Stephen Gary Wozniak on August 11, 1950. Wozniak was always before the rest of his class in school. He won a prize for the best electronics project by constructing an adding and subtracting computer in high school. Wozniak went to the University of Colorado his freshman year after completing a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. Wozniak finished his Junior year of college and received a job with an electronic company in California. Wozniak became an excellent engineer working at Hewlett-Packard where he fit well in the position ('Steve Wozniak').
The Article titled “Steve Wozniak” goes on to say that Wozniak's favorite part about the job was that the workers were allowed to make and work on their projects after hours. The first computer company Steve Jobs worked for was Atari Inc. Jobs worked with and admired Steve Wozniak while he was with the company (Pettinger). With Wozniak's extra time, he worked with Steve Jobs on a video game called Breakout. Jobs asked Wozniak for help on his project for Atari. They finished the game in four days and split a $750 bonus given by Atari ('Steve Wozniak').
Wozniak loved his job and technology. He even developed, built, and programmed his computer. When he completed the computer, he showed his friend Steve Jobs. Jobs believed that it would be a success and thought they should market it. Wozniak joined Jobs with his computer and they began creating a computer company ('Steve Wozniak').
As a result of this, in 1976, a computer was released called the Apple I. The computer went on sale in the summer and was not successful to their standards. To improve their product, Wozniak and Jobs attracted investors. Later in 1977, Apple was set to launch the second product, the Apple II. Apple expanded by adding 250 employees between 1978 and 1980. They launched an updated Apple II+ computer. The computer also was released with its first printer. They grew and established 4 locations and a main office in California (“Apple”).
In 1982, Apple's Annual sales reached one billion dollars. However, both Jobs and Wozniak both left the company after disagreeing with CEO John Sculley in 1985. Steve Jobs moved on to other things like purchasing the animation studio Pixar and founded NeXT, “a software development company”. While Jobs was being successful, Apple declined in sales and revenue (“Apple”).
In 1990, Microsoft gained popularity with its “licensing-based business model”. This made it possible for people to use their products on personal devices. By 1995 Apple would become the second licenced operating system after Microsoft. Microsoft had already gained popularity and had led the industry for a while. Apple began losing money because of struggles to keep up with Microsoft's technology and failure to figure out what the consumers wanted (“Apple”).
Apple needed something to change its products, so on Dec. 20, 1996, they decided to purchase NeXT Software. In a $400 million deal, Apple purchased NeXT and brought in owner Steve Jobs back to Apple (Reisinger). With Jobs’ ideas in the driver's seat at Apple, they developed the iMac. This product was known as “the product that started Apple’s comeback.” During the 2000s, Apple changed their product lines to include phones, music devices, and attachments like product protectors and headphones. It also became the leading company in issuing music and entertainment (“Apple”).
Steve Jobs’ business was rising successfully but he was having health issues. “In 2003, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer”. When Jobs came out of surgery to remove the cancer he looked “very gaunt and frail” and his friends and family were worried about him. “A few months later, on October 5, 2011, Jobs died at age fifty-six from complications related to pancreatic cancer” (“Steve Jobs”). Apple would continue developing and pushing new products with its digital fingerprint.
In 2007 at the Macworld convention, the first iPhone was presented. Apple had been working on the iPhone for 3 years to be Apple's first mobile phone. For its time, Apple's iPhone was very high-tech and ahead of other companies. The iPhone was so unique that they introduced it by saying it was an “iPod with a wider screen, controlled by touch instead of physical buttons. In short, it was a mobile phone and a device to communicate with the internet.” On June 29th, 2007 Apple came out with their second phone with a few minor changes. The people referred to it as the “Jesus Phone” because of all the things this phone could do (“The History of…”).
About 3 years after the first iPhone, the iPhone 4s was released. This phone was the first to have a feature called Siri. Siri is Apple’s intelligent voice assistant that will search and answer your questions when asked through the microphone. Now today, the iPhone XR has cutting-edge technology and features a 6.1-inch liquid retina display that makes the phone's pixels not visible to a human.
Apple is one of the most productive companies on the stock market. In 2018, Apple was the first U.S. company to accomplish reaching $1 trillion in market value (Martin). David Kas said that 'Apple's $1 trillion cap is equal to about 5 percent of the total gross domestic product of the United States in 2018'. Apple is one of the most accomplished and fastest-rising businesses with a high stock investment. Apple's stocks make more money for their shareholders than any other company (Heath). Early Apple investors today have made lots of money on the company. If you invested $10,000 in December of 1980, when the stock price was only $22, that Apple stock would be worth $6.3 million today (Heath).
Apple is a trend-setting company that changed the look of technology. They have become very accomplished and it started with two smart college kids. Apple has two great founders who used their skills to make great products. They found ways to compete with other companies and brought their unique ideas to the market. They also learned and continued to innovate even after Steve Jobs's death. With such a great beginning Apple promises to venture new things to make the best products for years to come.