For a company that changed the world — no exaggeration — it is surprisingly hard to pin down a date for when NeXT Computer began. However, the very first time Steve Jobs announced the company in any official way was on September 12, 1985.

It would be at least days before it had a name, weeks before it had premises other than Jobs's home and months before it was incorporated. However, September 12, 1985 was the day Jobs told Apple's board of directors about it. He specifically told them that he was going to take a few employees and start a firm to make computers for higher education. According to the book Apple Confidential 2.0, he played it all down and even described those Apple employees as "low level" ones.