Steve Jobs, born in San Francisco in 1955, co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Wozniak in 1976, creating transformative products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. After a brief resignation and work at Pixar, he returned to Apple and guided it to become the wealthiest company in America. Jobs was known for his focus on design and user experience until his death from pancreatic cancer in 2011.

1. Who is Steve Jobs?
Do you have an iPad, iPod, iPhone, a smartwatch or a Mac computer? If
you don’t, you probably know someone who has one (or wants one)! Steve Jobs
made the company – Apple – that created these things that are now such an
important part of the lives of millions of people.
Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco, California in 1955. His biological parents were
two University of Wisconsin graduate students, Joanne Carole Schieble and Syrian-born Abdulfattah
Jandali. He was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs and Clara Jobs. Paul Jobs was a machinist and
fixed cars as a hobby.
In 1961 the family moved to Mountain View, California. This area, just south of Palo Alto,
California, was becoming a center for electronics. Electronics form the basic elements of devices such
as radios, televisions, stereos, and computers. At that time people started to refer to the area as
"Silicon Valley" because a substance called silicon is used in the manufacturing of electronic parts.
Silicon Valley is the home of Google, Facebook and Apple and many other technology companies.
Jobs learned to read from his mother before he entered school, and his father taught him basic
electronics. The father showed Jobs how to work on electronics in the family garage, demonstrating to
his son how to take apart and rebuild electronics such as radios and televisions. He became interested
in computers when he was a teenager and attended lectures after school at Hewlett Packard. He
graduated from high school in 1972 and attended college in Oregon, Portland for one semester
before dropping out.
In 1974, Jobs got a job as a technician at the video game maker Atari. He saved enough money
to backpack around India to find his spiritual purpose. When he returned to Atari, he met Apple co-
founder Steve Wozniak. In 1976, when Jobs was only 21 years old, he and Steve Wozniak founded
their company, Apple Computer. Jobs persuaded Wozniak to make a computer and sell it. They
worked and made 50 computers in the garage of Job’s parents’ house. Together, they developed the
first small computer with a user-friendly interface to be commercially successful. Jobs also built the
computer on which the World Wide Web was created. He developed a passion for style and functional
perfection, which became Apple trademarks.
After resigning from Apple in 1985, Jobs started a computer company called NeXT and later
bought Pixar, a new film company. With Pixar, he created Oscar-winning movies such as ‘Toy Story’
and ‘Finding Nemo’.
Jobs agreed to sell NeXT to Apple in 1997, and within a few months he was back in charge of
Apple. He guided the company as it developed hugely popular technology like the iPod, iPhone and
iPad, and set up the Apple Stores and online seller iTunes. New Apple products created worldwide
excitement. Everything that Apple produced looked beautiful and was simple and pleasurable to use.
Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but continued working until just before his
death. He died in October 2011, aged 56. Apple was declared as the wealthiest company in America in
the same year. One notable advice from Jobs about success is, “You’ve got to find what you love".

2. Complete the sentences
1. Steve Jobs was born in _________________________, California in 1955.
2. He was given up for adoption to ______________________ and ______________________.
3. He traveled to ___________________ to gain his spiritual and meaning of life.
4. Steve Jobs and ________________ started Apple in ___________________.
5. They made their first computer in a ________________________ in California.
6. Companies like Google, Facebook and Apple are located in an area called ________________.
7. After resigning from Apple in 1985, Jobs started a computer company called ________________
and later bought ________________, a new film company.
8. ________________ and ________________ are blockbusters movies that were created by Jobs
when he was at Pixar.
9. In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with _______________________________ and in 2011 he passed
away at the age of ________________.
10. One of Jobs’ famous sayings is _______________________________________________.
Match the words below with their suitable descriptions.
Biological
When you do this, another person’s child becomes part
of your family.
Resign
Something related to or concerned with religion, the
spirit or the soul.
Silicon Related through birth.
Adopt To voluntarily quit a job.
Spiritual A building for keeping cars in.
Founder
Chemical element that is used especially in computers
and electronics.
Garage A person who starts a company or an organization.