Steve Wozniak started designing personal computers as a hobby. He didn’t realize the commercial value lying behind his engineering skills.
Neither did he know that his passion would one day lead him to start a company that’s now one of the most valuable brands in the world. Besides his role in founding Apple, Steve Wozniak received recognition for being one of the key players in the personal computer revolution.
Steve Gary Wozniak
In 1976, Steve Wozniak and his two partners, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, founded Apple Computers with a mission to design small, affordable, and user-friendly computers for the ordinary man. Wozniak was the brains with computer engineering skills.
Jobs was the marketing genius, while Wayne handled other administrative tasks. Unfortunately, Wayne left Apple after only two weeks, leaving the company’s ownership to Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.
Steve Wozniak was the man behind Apple’s first and second computer models. Join us as we explore the story of this exceptional founder, inventor, engineer, and philanthropist.
Birth and Childhood
Steve Gary Wozniak, nicknamed Woz, was born on August 11, 1950, in San Jose, California. His father, Jerry Wozniak, worked as an electrical engineer at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company.
His mother, Margaret Louise Wozniak, was once the publicity director for California Wine Institute. He has two siblings, Mark and Leslie Wozniak.
Wozniak attended Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, and graduated in 1968. By this time, he had already developed an interest in computers and electronics.
Wozniak was so into his hobby that he hung posters of computers on his bedroom wall. Although the school didn’t offer computer engineering as a curriculum, he started building computers as a teenager.
Wozniak one day told his father that he would build a computer. His father responded that it would cost as much as a house, and Wozniak jokingly retaliated that he would live in an apartment. That’s how determined and motivated Wozniak was in his interest.
Early Career
After graduation, Wozniak enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder but dropped out a year later. Some say he got expelled for hacking the university’s computer system.
Wozniak then enrolled at De Anza Community College and later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley. It was here where Wozniak met Jobs through another acquaintance.
Wozniak’s and Jobs’s partnership in business began way before Apple. In 1971, Steve Wozniak designed a blue box that enabled people to hack into telephone networks and make long-distance calls at no expense.
Jobs handles the sales and marketing of their little business, selling the device to students on campus.
In 1973, when Jobs was working at Atari, an arcade game company, he was tasked with creating a circuit board with as few chips as possible. Atari offered him $100 for each chip eliminated from the machine.
Jobs didn’t know much about circuit boards, so he turned to Steve Wozniak. Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, earning them $5,000. Atari paid Jobs the entire amount, but he lied, saying he received $700 and thus gave Wozniak $350. He only came clean 10 years later.
Wozniak worked in several electronic companies in the San Francisco Bay area while still studying at the University of California, Berkeley. He later dropped out and got an engineering internship at the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP).
Founding of Apple Inc.
The road to Apple began while Wozniak was working at the Hewlett-Packard Company. Wozniak designed his first personal computer using a microprocessor he saw at the Homebrew Computer Club, of which both he and Jobs were members.
The club featured the Altair 8800 computer, designed using one of the first microprocessors ever invented by the Intel Corporation.
Wozniak designed the computer and then presented it to the Hewlett-Packard Company, but it didn’t show any interest in his new development. Jobs, however, showed a lot of enthusiasm for his computer. He requested to partner with Wozniak and start a company.
In 1976, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne partnered and established Apple Computer Inc. They chose Jobs’ home garage as their operations base.
For capital, Jobs sold his old automobile, while Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator. Wozniak was the genius behind designing the computers their new entity would sell.
Wozniak designed the software and hardware of Apple I and Apple II. By the time Apple designed Apple III, the company could hire outside staff and rent a huge office space. Apple went public in 1980, making Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs instant millionaires.
In 1981, Steve Wozniak suffered a plane crash that left him with temporary traumatic amnesia. He had to take a sabbatical from Apple.
During this time, Wozniak returned to the University of California, Berkeley, to finish his degree but later dropped out again. However, in 1987, the school awarded him an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering.
Wozniak returned from his sabbatical in 1982. He worked at Apple for another three years and then retired from the company in 1985.
During his short period at Apple, he played a role in designing the Macintosh, which Apple released in 1984.
Late Career
After leaving Apple, Wozniak founded UNUSON and CL 9. CL 9 developed CORE, the first programmable remote control. Wozniak also pursued his other lifelong interest, teaching.
He taught computer classes to students in the fifth to ninth grades. Wozniak has also served as an advisor and chief scientist in many companies, including Fusion-io and Primary Data. He also published his autobiography iWoz in 2006.
Personal Life
Steve Wozniak is not one to talk about his personal life. He has been married four times, the first to Alice Robertson from 1976 to 1980; the second to Candice Clark from 1981 to 1987; the third was Suzanne Mulkern from 1990 to 2004.
The fourth marriage was in August 2008 to Janet Hill. Steve Wozniak has three children but is also a stepfather to Suzanne’s children.
Facts and Anecdotes
- Steve Wozniak has received multiple awards, including the National Medal of Technology, which he and Jobs received from the 40th United States president, Ronald Reagan.
- Wozniak has appeared in several films and TV shows, including The Big Bang Theory and Vanishing Point.
- Wozniak’s company CL 9 designed the first universal remote control.
1950
Steve Wozniak is born.
1968
Steve Wozniak graduates from Homestead High School and joins the University of Colorado at Boulder.
1969
Steve Wozniak drops out from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
1971
Steve Wozniak meets Steve Jobs for the first time at the University of California, Berkeley.
1976
Wozniak partners with Jobs and Ronald Wayne to establish Apple. He also designs Apple I for the company and marries Alice Robertson.
1977
Wozniak develops Apple II for the company.
1980
Wozniak divorces Alice Robertson.
1981
Steve Wozniak suffers a plane crash and goes on sabbatical leave. He also marries Candice Clark.
1983
Steve Wozniak returns to Apple
1985
Steve Wozniak retires as an active employee at Apple. He also establishes CL 9.
1987
Steve Wozniak divorces Candice Clark.
1990
Steve Wozniak marries his third wife, Susanne Mulkern.
2004
Wozniak and Mulkern get divorced.
2006
Steve Wozniak publishes his autobiography iWoz.
2008
Steve Wozniak marries Janet Hill.
2009
Steve Wozniak becomes chief scientist at Fusion-io.
2014
Steve Wozniak becomes chief scientist at Primary Data.
Successes & Lifetime Achievements
It is a huge achievement to be the co-founder of Apple for most of us. But Steve Wozniak wanted to do more than be a part of Apple. He is also known for his philanthropy, belief in education, and doing things to create and improve the quality of life.
Character Traits
Steve was known as an easygoing person. He wasn’t comfortable in social situations, but he was brilliant when it came to electronics. Steve was the electronic genius in the early stages of creating computers.
Steve Jobs was the visionary, and Steve Wozniak was the man that took Job’s vision to make it a reality.
Management Style
Although Steve Wozniak was in the background when it came to the strategic management of apple, he did have theories and principles, such as:
- It is not money that measures success
- The importance of relationships
- Keeping yourself informed is important
- Make sure unwanted opinions are weeded out
Lessons Learned
There are many lessons Woskniak learned through his life experience, and there are many lessons we can learn from him; some lessons spoke of during a talk with university students include the following:
- Motivation is Most Important
- The Most Successful Students Pursue Excellence
- Stick to Your Convictions
- Kindness Counts
- Be a Constructive Thinker
Quotes
- “If you love what you do and are willing to do what it takes, it’s within your reach.”
- “Artists work best alone. Work alone.”
- “I learned not to worry so much about the outcome, but to concentrate on the step I was on and to try to do it as perfectly as I could when I was doing it.”
- “My primary phone is the iPhone. I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do.”
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