If you’re into interesting facts, few companies have as secretive, cool and intriguing histories as Apple and its leader, Steve Jobs. Anything missing? Leave a comment.
Apple didn’t have two founders. It had three. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive share the same middle name: “Paul.”
Before working at Apple, Jonathan Ive worked for a company called Tangerine.
The original Apple 1 computer sold for $666.66.
The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan (the cube) is said to be one of the most photographed landmarks in the world.
Nine U.S. states don’t have Apple stores: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Before co-founding Apple, Steve Jobs worked for Atari.
Jonathan Ive has worn the same shirt in every Apple product intro video since 2000.
Steve Jobs is a Buddhist.
Steve Jobs’ birth father was a Syrian Muslim, Abdulfattah Jandali.
Steve Jobs met Steve Wozniak when Jobs was 16 and Wozniak 21.
Steve Jobs bought Pixar from George Lucas for $10 million and sold it to Disney for $7.6 billion.
Steve Jobs has four children: one son and three daughters.
Jonathan Ive has twins.
Steve Jobs originally denied he was the father of his first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs.
Steve Jobs sold his apartment in New York City to U2 frontman Bono.
In 1998 Steve Jobs let Bill Clinton use his mansion in Woodside, California.
Steve Jobs underwent a liver transplant at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee in 2009.
Apple was established on April Fools Day.
Apple has more than 35,000 employees worldwide.
Apple once disposed of 2,700 unsold Lisas in a Utah landfill. The computer originally sold at $10,000 each.
Only 30-50 of the original Apple 1 computers still exist, with originals selling for up to $50,000.
Apple’s original logo in 1976 featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree.
Apple’s current logo was designed by Rob Janoff.
First slogan: “Byte into an Apple.”
Apple was the first company to introduce the mouse and the trackpad.
After being kicked out of Apple, Steve Jobs started an unsuccessful company called NeXT.
In 2001, Apple’s stock price was less than $8 per share. In April 2010 the price reached $272.
In January 2007, Apple Inc. dropped “Computer” from its corporate name.
Apple.com is in the top 50 websites visited worldwide and in the top 30 visited in the United States.
Apple wasn’t started in a garage, it was started in a bedroom at 11161 Crist Drive in Los Altos.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both worked together as summer employees at Hewlett-Packard.
The longest-lived Apple computer of all time was the Apple IIe, which was on sale for nearly 11 years.
Apple didn’t sell a Windows-compatible iPod until nine months after the iPod was introduced.
The time shown on all of the devices in pictures on Apple’s website is the same (9:41 a.m. for iOS devices and 10:50 a.m. for Macs). The time is coordinated with when the pictures will be shown during Steve Jobs’ keynote address.
Apple once created a stand-alone game console called the Pippin.
The famous 1984 Macintosh ad was directed by Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Gladiator.
Apple created the Dogcow in 1983. The sound she makes is “Moof!”
Steve Jobs’ largest parody Twitter account is @ceostevejobs.
Steve Jobs pays himself an annual salary of $1.
Steve Jobs’ annual income from Disney shares is $48 million.
Despite being one of the biggest companies in the world, Apple’s current board of directors (at six) is among the smallest in the Fortune 500.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is on Apple’s board of directors.
Steve Jobs was a college drop out.
Steve Jobs was awarded the National Medal of Technology from Ronald Reagan.
Steve Jobs commonly dons a black long-sleeved mock-turtleneck made by St. Croix, Levi’s 501 blue jeans (he owns more than 100), and New Balance 992 sneakers.
In 2008, Bloomberg accidentally published a 2,500 word obituary of Steve Jobs in its news service, leaving blank spaces for his age and cause of death.
Steve Jobs traveled to India looking for enlightenment in 1974.
Steve Jobs is dyslexic.
Steve Jobs said he let snakes loose in his third grade classroom and “exploded bombs.”
While Steve Jobs worked at Atari, he was moved to the night shift because he had poor personal hygiene and smelled bad.
Steve Jobs and his wife are strict vegans.
Apples are Steve Jobs’ favorite food.
Steve jobs convinced the president of PepsiCo to work for Apple.
During the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Steve Jobs used the phone to call Starbucks and order 4,000 lattes to go.
Steve Jobs has big feet, at size 14.
Steve Jobs often parks in Handicap spaces at Apple headquarters.
Steve Jobs’ sister, Mona Simpson, is a novelist.
Apple is now a $50 billion company.
Apple sells 91 percent of $1,000+ PCs.
Apple’s idea for the graphical user interface actually came from Xerox.
John Hodgman, the PC in the “I’m a Mac” commercials, uses a Mac.
Apple has been in the retail store business since 2001.
Apple has had six CEOs: Michael Scott, A.C. “Mike” Markkula, John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gil Amelio and Steve Jobs.
Philip W. Schiller, senior vice president of marketing, began but didn’t complete a Ph.D. in English.
Steve Jobs was portrayed by Noah Wyle in the film “Pirates of Silicon Valley.”
Macs last an average of six years. PCs last an average of four years.
The average PC owner spends 50 hours a year troubleshooting. The average Mac owner spends 5 hours a year.
Teachers and students using Macs are found to be 44% more productive.
When it was first released Steve Jobs gave every Apple employee a free iPhone.
Apple began work on a touch-screen tablet before work began on the iPhone. The iPad wasn’t released until three years after the iPhone, however.
The iPod’s codename was “Dulcimer.”
Gonzo, Jedi, Malibu, Peter Pan, Rosebud, and Yikes! have all been codenames for Macs.
The signatures of the Macintosh hardware team were originally engraved inside the computer’s case.
Steve Jobs originally considered “Macintosh” to be a code name and wanted to rename the project.
Time Magazine considered naming Steve Jobs “Man of the Year” in 1982, even sending a reporter for interviews multiple times, but instead, the magazine named “the computer” the machine of the year.
Susan Kare once created a computer icon of Steve Jobs while she worked on the Macintosh team.
Anya Major, a discus thrower, threw the sledgehammer at the screen in the famous 1984 commercial.
The 1984 ad was originally proposed to be used as a print advertisement in the Wall Street Journal to promote the Apple II.
Apple’s Board of Directors hated the 1984 commercial when they saw it but decided to take the risk anyway.
The very first image shown on the Macintosh was of Disney character Scrooge McDuck.
In 2010 Apple’s market cap exceeded Microsoft for the first time since 1989.
Apple’s online store began on November 10, 1997.
The first Apple retail stores opened in Virginia and California.
Apple’s Cupertino campus has six buildings that total 850,000 square feet and was built in 1993.
Steve Jobs’ birthday is February 24, 1955.
When he was growing up, Steve Jobs lived on 45th Avenue in San Francisco.
In his childhood Steve Jobs swallowed a bottle of ant poison and had to go to the ER.
While in high school Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made and sold Blue Boxes to get free calls from public telephone systems.
In 1972, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak took $3 an hour jobs dressed as “Alice in Wonderland” characters at the Westgate Mall in San Jose.
At the first Apple Halloween costume party, Steve Jobs dressed up as Jesus Christ.
When the first IBM PC debuted, Apple took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal with the words “Welcome, IBM. Seriously.”
In 1982 Steve Jobs made Bill Gates and Microsoft promise never to work on any business software that would use a mouse unless it was for Apple.
Steve Jobs dated singer Joan Baez.
Steve Jobs once starred as President Roosevelt in a war-themed 1984 ad parody called 1944, where Macs start a war with IBM computers.
Paul Rand, the creator of the IBM logo, was hired to create the brand identity and logo for NeXT.
Steve Jobs and Laurene Powell were married ay the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park on March 18.
Jonathan Ive’s first piece of work at Apple was the 20th Anniversary Mac.
Steve Jobs once sold the King of Spain a NeXT computer at a party, even before it was released.
Steve Jobs once tried to get NASA to let him ride the space shuttle.
