10 Things You Didn’t Know About Steve Jobs

If you’re into interesting facts – few companies have a secretive, cool and intriguing histories as Apple and its spiritual leader, Steve Jobs. An inventor, business magnate and the founder of Apple computers. He has had an amazing life from the early years with Apple, the creation of Pixar and his second stint at Apple.

His life has been a true tale of the American dream. With news that his biography is due to be released as early as November, we’re sure many fans, Apple or not, will be itching to find out some of the secrets of Steve Jobs success.  To give you a taster we take a look back at his life and let you know 10 things you probably didn't know about the founder of Apple.

If you know of any more interesting tidbits, please do share them below in the comments.

1) Steve Jobs: A College Dropout.

Not many people know this but Steve Jobs is a college dropout. In 1972 Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino. He then enrolled at Reed College in Oregon - one semester later he dropped out.

Jobs started Apple with a fellow college dropout Steve Wozniak in his family garage in Los Altos, California in April 1976. Jobs, then 21, was the ‘sales’ guy, while Wozniak worked as an engineer.

Wozniak said about Jobs during an Intel Corp conference in August 2008, “Every time I designed something great from when we were very young, he would say, “let’s sell it.” “It was always his idea to sell it.”

2) Steve Jobs: Born To A Muslim Syrian.

Jobs was Born in February 24, 1955 in San Francisco to then unmarried Student Joanne Carole Schieble and a Syrian Father Abdulfattah Jandali. Jobs was then adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs - a middle-class American Family who he calls his Parents.

3) Steve Jobs: “The Most Inspirational Leaders I Have Ever Met” Bill Gates.

“In terms of an inspirational leader, Steve Jobs is really the best I have ever met,” said former Microsoft Chairman and Chief Architect, Bill Gates in January 1998 when asked to name the CEO he most admired.

“He’s got a belief in excellence of products. He’s able to communicate that,” said Gates.

4) Steve Jobs: Went To Find Himself In India.

Steve Job’s quest for spiritual enlightenment brought him to India in the summer of 1974. Jobs came to India with one of his best friends from Reed College, Dan Kottke.

5) Steve Jobs: Experimented with LSD.

During his trip to India Jobs took LSD and stated that it was one of the most important experiences of his life.

Deeply philosophical then, Jobs wanted to study and experience spiritualism and existentialism. In India, he wanted to visit the Neem Karoli Bab at his Kainchi Ashram. However, when they arrived they learnt that Baba has died.

6) Steve Jobs: 110^th Richest Man In The World, But His Apple Salary Is Just $1.

One of the most admired CEOs, Jobs takes home a $1 salary. His compensation came to spotlight when the company gifted him a Gulf stream airplane in 2001.

According to a regulatory filing, Jobs took a salary of $1 in 2010. However, he owns some 5.5 million shares in the company, which are worth some $1.8 billion at the current price of around $333 a share, a rise of more than 50 per cent on the year.

7) Steve Jobs:  Stabbed In The Back And Ousted From Apple In The 80's By John Scully.

John Scully joined Apple in the 1983 at, but within a three of years Jobs had been ousted by the very many that he had hired.

Steve Jobs famous said to John Scully: "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?"

The honeymoon between Jobs and Sculley, however, didn't last long as the two would soon clash on a number of heated issues, chief among declining Mac sales.

Speaking about the Sculley incident years later, Jobs said: “What can I say? I hired the wrong guy. [Sculley] destroyed everything I spent ten years working for. Starting with me but that wasn't the saddest part. I would have gladly left Apple if Apple would have turned out like I wanted it to.”

In a recent interview, Sculley noted that he and Jobs haven't spoken in over 20 years and that he doesn't expect that to change anytime soon.

8) Steve Jobs: Named Apple After His Love Of Apples and The Beatles.

According to Jim Carlton, author of ‘Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders’, Steve Jobs chose the name Apple for his company because he admired Beatles’ Apple Records. Beatles first began using an image of a Green Granny Smith apple on their recordings in the late 1960s. Apple’s logo shows an image of the fruit with a bite taken out of it.

The choice led to a legal battle with Beatle’s Apple Corp. Apple Corps is owned by Beatle band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono. The two sides settled the dispute in February 2007.

Jobs and Wozniak got a share of 45 per cent each, while the remaining 10 per cent went to Ron Wayne, an Atari engineer who had given hand to the duo.

9) Steve Jobs: Pixar Studios Creator.

In 1986, Jobs bought the computer division of film director George Lucas’ for $10 million. He named the computer animation studio Pixar, and signed a distribution deal with Walt Disney.

As the CEO of Pixar animation studios, Jobs promoted computer-generated story telling with movies including Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life and Monster Inc. The movies were a huge success and Jobs decide to take the company Public in 1995. He was back in business.

After the distribution deal finished, Jobs sold the company to Disney for $8 billion and was awarded a position on its board of directors and is their largest individual share holder with 7%.

10) Steve Jobs: A Marketing Genius.

Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist at Apple, doesn’t doubt Jobs’s marketing prowess for a second: “He convinced tens of millions of people to buy a phone that wouldn’t go a full day on a single charge. I rest my case.”

If you know of any more interesting tidbits, please do share them below in the comments.