Farewell to an iCon
When I opened my Facebook page after hours of working on a paper, I saw a post from Digg, “We will miss you, RIP!” followed by Steve’s name.
Initially, I felt like it was one of 4Chan’s usual “Goodnight Sweet Prince” jokes. Quickly typing “Steve Jobs” into Google taught me otherwise.
While I had figured his cancer was back when he resigned from his post as CEO in August, just like with Jack, I failed to recognize the possible gravity of situation.
I think what first drew me to Steve Jobs years ago was his ability to think, quite literally, outside the box. Being a bit of a futurist, I admired his ability to look to the future and push the boundaries in thinking of what technology can do.
This was the guy who took the MP3 player, which was largely a niche and relatively new device, and perfected it through a unique design and clean interface. If you take the bus, get on an airplane, or go to the gym, chances are you’ll see over 50% of those people with earphones in their ear and an ‘iDevice’ attached to the other end.
This is a guy who had the tenacity to think, “One day, everyone will have a computer in their household”. This was at a time when computers were reserved for universities and big business, often because they were too large and cumbersome to fit into one’s home. Taking on the big players in the industry, Apple was able to force them to compete through innovation in order to survive.
Most recently, we have seen this after the creation of the iPhone. Beforehand, there really wasn’t a phone that “just worked”. Cellphones were clunky, tedious devices that often were more trouble than they were worth. The Motorola RAZR was considered one of the most unique on the market, simply because it was thin. Since the introduction of the iPhone, you’ve seen a boom in competition in the smart-phone market, many of which have begun to offer features that even exceed the current hardware of the current iPhone devices.
Similarly, you’ve seen this happen in the tablet market after the introduction of the iPad. Say what you will about the device, but it’s remarkably similar to something you would have seen in Star Trek back in the 1960’s, a show based hundreds of years from now. All of this is an example of how the man with the vision was able to push the envelope of technological innovation forward, not just through his own products, but by forcing those in the industry to innovate as well.
I remember back in high school in my Entrepreneurship class, we were asked to make a poster or visual medium about an entrepreneur. I chose Steve - But instead of doing a poster, I decided to take it a step up and make a 13 minute video (which you can find below). I suppose this was a means of making a visual record of all of the information I already knew about him.
Saying that one misses Steve because, “Oh no, now he won’t be able to make more things for me to buy” sounds disgustingly consumerist. When “famous” individuals die, we often see social media websites go into a sort of ‘circle-jerk’-mode where everyone is trying to be the first to tell someone else. Less caring about the actual passing of the individual, but more excited that something significant happened in the world that they’re able to talk about for the next two days.
What I’m sad over is that there is one less person out there willing to push the envelope of what is possible; one less person out there willing to “Think Different”. I’m an optimist when it comes to the future of mankind, I believe that people who are able to think outside the box will be the ones who help further push this race forward.
Without a doubt, the vision that Steve had when it came to technology was remarkable, making him one of the most notable individuals from the ‘Computer-age’ of the 20th century.
It’s sad to think that we’ll no longer hear “One more thing…” and proceed to see the the boundaries of technological innovation be further extended.
Farewell Mr. Jobs.
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