Apple iThink

I didn't want to write this last night as I was still trying to process the magnitude of the man the world lost.

Let me also preface this by saying I am not, nor was I ever, an Apple fanboy. The only Apple product I own is a 4GB 2nd gen iPod Nano. However, the impact and reach of Steve Jobs goes beyond mere technology. I see words thrown around like entrepreneur, business person, and inventor, but none of those seem grand enough for a man who had a major hand in reshaping the world and how we all think and see things.

Steve Jobs was more than just an inventor. He was a visionary. Simply put, he knew what almost everyone wanted before they even knew they wanted it. He, along with Bill Gates, have revolutionized the technology industry. They made the computer personal, and with Apple, Jobs made the computer chic, almost a status symbol in an age where the computer was a commodity.

With the iPod he brought about another revolution. Portable music shrunk down to a device that could fit in your pocket. I thought last night about runners and what they used to do for music before the iPod was invented, and I'm at a loss because I simply don't remember. CD players seemed too bulky to carry, and walkmen/radios went out of style decades ago. What did people do before iPods came about?

Next came the iPhone, a genuine marvel of technology. Before, smartphones were nearly non-existent. You'd have the occasional Palm device, and Windows had a failing mobile division, but nothing could challenge RIM and its Blackberry devices when it came down to functionality and usability. Business people everywhere could be seen scrolling through their emails on the giant black or blue devices. No one thought they could ever be tumbled. Then in 2007 came the iPhone, and in the past 4 years, no single phone has come even close to matching the volume of sales that the Apple device has put out. Not to be denied, growing technology company, Google, came out with its own Android devices that have shown to compete well in the market. But this isn't an Android vs iOS debate, this just shows what Steve Jobs was able to do for the industry. He created a device in a market that no one had been able to tap, and he created a need. Bring the smartphone into the home. Make it something usable and wanted by everyone. And in doing so, he also spurred on the development of other platforms to try and keep up. He blew up the industry and allowed it to flourish (unless you're RIM).

I could go on and on about the technological advances that Steve Jobs and Apple have figured out, but it won't show how well he's able to predict human needs. Pixar was a small graphics group started in 1979 as part of Lucasfilm. In 1986 Steve Jobs bought it and acquired it for Apple. From there he grew it and created a new genre of animated film. No one knew they wanted to see more realistically drawn figures and more realistic animation, but then it came out, and everyone fell in love. Now, I'm not saying that Jobs was solely responsible for Pixar being successful, but he was the man with the vision to allow it grow and become what it was, and he was also credited in Pixar's first major hit, Toy Story, as an executive producer. In the end, who knows, maybe it was just his vision.

Look around you in the world, and it's nearly impossible to not see the effect of Steve Jobs and his companies. Whether it's an effective and usable touchscreen device, a shiny and sleek designed tech item, or even a rival company's product. Steve Jobs, his inventions, his vision, helped remake this world, and we're so much better off having had him in our lifetimes regardless of whether or not we knew him personally. He did his best to touch everyone that he could through what he saw and what he created.