10 Things You Didn’t Know about Apple and Steve Jobs

1. Apple made a game console called pippin
Back when Apple was floundering under Gil Amelio and trying to survive their identify crisis, they created a game console called the Pippin. Sales were terrible though (it’s reported less than 50,000 units were sold) and the system was quickly discontinued after launch

2. Apple now makes more money from iPhones that Microsoft’s entire business
It’s amazing that a product that didn’t exist barely over 5 years ago makes more money that all of Microsoft. That includes Windows for PC’s, Windows phones, the Xbox and game sales, Office sales… all of those combined are still less than Apple’s iPhone sales.

Cooler still: remove the iPhone and Apple’s remaining sales are still bigger than all of Microsoft.

3. Steve Jobs didn’t want to run iTunes on Windows
Originally Steve wanted to increase Mac sales by forcing new customers to buy a Mac to run iTunes. Thankfully his lieutenants were able to convince him otherwise, and iTunes for Windows was created. Steve later fully embraced the idea, calling the software “ice water for people in [Windows] hell.”

4. Apple has more sales per square foot than any other retailer, including double the 2nd place company, Tiffiny’s.

5. Steve Jobs was adopted by people who barely graduated high school

6. Steve Jobs paid George Lucas $5 million for Pixar
Steve said later if he knew how long it’d take Pixar to turn a profit he wouldn’t have invested. In addition to the $5 million to Lucas, Steve also gave Pixar a $5 million capital infusion to operate the company. He later sold it to Disney for $7.4 billion, making Jobs Disney’s largest shareholder.

7. Al Gore is on the Board of Directors for Apple.

8. Apple Considered shipping the original iPhone with a physical keyboard

9. Steve asked to be paid a salary of $1 per year, and he got it.

10. Apple had three founders, not two.
Ron Wayne sold his stake in the company for $2,300 on April 12, 1976. Unlike Woz and Jobs, he had capital on the line to lose, and later said given the information he had at the time, was the right decision to make.

11. BONUS: Steve said one of the proudest things they did at Apple was to not make a PDA.