10 Unusual and Shocking Facts About Steve Jobs

1. Steve jobs never used bullet points. Ever. 

2. He was obsessed with type fonts and calligraphy – he Claims that the reason why Apple had different fonts was probably because he dropped into a calligraphy class in college.

3. He kept his salary at $1 since 1997 – “I get 50 cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.” But don’t worry, his personal assets are estimated at 1.84 billion.

4. His signature was inside every original Macintosh – he would sign a piece of paper that later became the model for a medal plate that went inside.

5. He made the game “Breakout” on the first-generation Atari. He got Mr. Wozniak to help create it and offered to split the profit, but lied about how much he made. Mr Wozniak writes “The game (Breakout) was not software in those days. It was hardware. A 6-man month job done in 4 days and nights with no sleep. I had a job as an engineer at HP and Steve would have been welcome to all the money (to buy into that orchard up in Oregon). “

6. Jobs was known for his extreme diets. He was primarily a pescaterarian, however, he went as far as fruitarianism at one point.

7. His religion is Zen Buddhism. His guru, a Zen monk, married him and his wife. 

8. He never used license plates for his cars. In fact, Jobs was infamous for parking in the handicapped slot in the parking lot and for driving a silver Mercedes SL55 AMG with a blank license plate. But how?

Turns out, Steve spotted a loophole in the California vehicle laws. Anyone with a brand new car had a maximum of six months to affix the issued number plate to the vehicle. So, Jobs made an arrangement with the leasing company that he would always change cars during the sixth month of the lease. He would exchange one silver Mercedes SL55 AMG for another identical one. Jobs would never be driving a car older than six months, thus, never had to have a license plate. 

9. He called a Google Engineer in a panic on a Sunday night because “the gradient on their O was slightly off”:

“So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve.

Vics response? “But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I’ll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.”

 10. He delivered Stanford University’s commencement address in 2005. If you haven’t seen his speech, watch it here — some have deemed it life-changing. 

 

Related posts