Steve Jobs: Five Facts That Reveal the Man Behind the Myth

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Steve Jobs: Five Facts That Reveal the Man Behind the Myth.

On Monday, October 5, marks the 15th anniversary of Steve Jobs' death. The Apple co-founder, who died on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56, continues to shape the tech world with inventions such as the Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone to this day. But behind the visionary in his signature black turtleneck lie quirky and personal stories waiting to be discovered.

You know the Steve Jobs of the keynotes, who walked onto the stage as if he owned it – and most of the time, he did. You know the man in the black turtleneck and Levi's jeans who wrote Apple history with a 'One more thing…' But did you also know the young Steve who sat at Atari at night and allegedly withheld part of the pay from his later co-founder Steve Wozniak (76) for the work on 'Breakout'?

According to RTL, one of the five stories that Promiflash is highlighting on the occasion of the death anniversary takes us back to his time before Apple: Steve Jobs worked for video game pioneer Atari and was involved, alongside his later co-founder, in the arcade classic 'Breakout.' What has come to light about it still casts an unflattering light on the future Apple chief – and tells us a great deal about the man behind the myth.

Steve Jobs at Atari: Night Shift as a One-Man Operation

At the time, Wozniak was actually employed at Hewlett-Packard, but he joined in for the Atari project. According to Atari, however, Steve Jobs did not lead a classic development team, but rather a one-man team – on the night shift. Back then, by all accounts, Jobs was regarded as a rather gruff colleague. Thanks to his abilities, however, he was allowed to stay.

The Bonus Dispute over 'Breakout'

There are still varying accounts about the payment for 'Breakout.' Steve Jobs allegedly told his collaborator Steve Wozniak a sum of $700 (€616) and passed on about $350 (€308) of it to him. The bulk of the supposed bonus of roughly $5,000 (€4,403), however, is said to have been kept for himself. Whether the rumored bonus payments actually flowed this way can hardly be conclusively determined from the distance of time – but the story persists.

What Remains of the Man Behind the Myth?

The 'Breakout' anecdote shows above all one thing: Steve Jobs was, early in his career, a businessman who spotted opportunities – and seized them. The night-shift worker at Atari went on to become one of the most influential tech entrepreneurs of the 20th century. The 15th anniversary of his death is a reminder that even geniuses had small beginnings – and sometimes very human flaws.