People die every day. Celebrities and notable public figures die on a regular basis. I cannot recall a time when I have mourned the death of a public figure. I’m not insensitive, I just don’t generally know those people and I move on with my life.
Last night’s news that Steve Jobs passed away hit me, and it hit me unexpectedly and profoundly. I was actually very sad to hear that he passed away. He was a visionary leader of a company, he was iconic and his death leaves a gaping hole in the tech world and beyond. No matter how ill he got, just knowing he was alive gave me the feeling that he was still impacting the company, even if it was from his bed.
Tim Cook has been left an incredible company and I hope he and the rest of Apple can take inspiration from Jobs’ way of thinking and carry Apple to new heights.
My History with Apple
I remember being about 18 or 19 when I first switched to Mac. At the time, I was a film student. My PC had virtually exploded due to something called the Tiny Kennedy virus. I’ll never forget it. I turned my computer on, screen went blue, message came up said, “you’ve caught the tiny kennedy virus, good bye.” My computer would not turn on again. It was completely shot!
I was very Pro-Windows/Pro-PC, but I was also a poor college student. My dad offered to buy me a new computer, but he offered to buy me a Mac. He had recently bought himself a Mac because my step mother was doing Graphic Design. I thought it was a toy. It made a quacking noise when you made an error. But I reluctantly accepted. 2 weeks after cracking open my new computer, the G4 Cube, I was Pro-Mac. OSX had just come out and I was floored by the simplicity and the stability. It was clean, elegant and beautifully intuitive.
Next, I got an iPod, and as a music-lover, it changed my world.
At the time, Apple stock was $6. I remember thinking “man, I wish I had the money to buy stock in this company, I think they’re going places.” Fast forward to now and I could’ve been a multi-millionaire.
I’ve been on Mac since I was 18, and I have NEVER looked back. Call me what you will, but I’m not the only one out there like this. Ask yourself how many people are THAT loyal to Dell, or Toshiba or HP. Apple is part of the reason I am as tech savvy as I am today. I wanted the next gadget, I wanted to be an early adopter, I was excited about progress. How many of you reading this are on a Windows box running Windows XP?
I waited patiently for the iPhone, I waited patiently for the iPad and I am glad that I have been this loyal all along.
For all of those innovations and for my exceptional computing experience over the last 13 years, I thank you Steve Jobs.
Ups, Downs and the Power of Simplicity
Apple wasn’t always on the up and up. There was a time (1997) when Michael Dell said this of Apple:
“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” (said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.)
We’re all still waiting for him to admit he was wrong.
Jobs was ousted back in the day and later returned to resurrect the company he and Woz started in a garage. He became the face of the company, turning product launches into something bigger, something every other company tried to imitate but never could.
They were always “different.” Apple always had a certain something about the way the products were designed in hardware, user experience and marketing. It was just so: Simple.
I often think of the story of iDVD:
In an interview printed by Pioneer Press, Evangelist and a group of Astarte developers described pitching the simplified app concept to Steve Jobs. “Jobs never glanced at their presentation,” the article noted. “Instead, he walked up to a whiteboard and drew a square. This is the program, he said. Users will drag their movies here to create DVD menus. Then they’ll click ‘burn.’ That’s it. ‘I don’t want to hear anything about drawers or pop-out’ windows, he said.”
There were other MP3 players before the iPod, but none of them became the iPod. There were other touchscreen devices, but how is it that none of them ever became the iPhone? Why are people willing to pay more for a laptop computer made by Apple than one made by Dell? Why is every tablet trying to compete with the iPad, yet they all wind up competing with each other? It’s because of a specific user experience that does not exist outside the walled garden of Apple products. It’s refreshingly simple and intuitive. There’s a brand, and Steve Jobs was the heart of that brand for nearly 14 years.
CEO of the [________]
Steve Jobs had a way of shaping the future of Apple in a way that, I believe, no one else in the world was capable of. He thought about things differently, he didn’t envision products, he envisioned experiences.
No matter where you stand on Apple products, please respect the memory of a man who changed the world of technology. You can debate the origins of any individual technology or how innovative it really was, but those are bullshit fights to have today. Look at the reality and appreciate this man’s impact.
Steve Jobs founded a company, got kicked out and came back to become the most valuable technology company in the world. The products released during his time at Apple were groundbreaking and served as the motivation for the subsequent products that competitors released.
Thousands upon thousands of scumbag CEOs and business leaders live long into their 90’s screwing people on their way to the “top.” Jobs took a $1 yearly salary and made his money based on the success of the company. It is a sin to lose someone so talented at such a young age.
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Steve Jobs you will be missed.
