Yes, Steve Jobs passed away. I just found out about this mere minutes ago. I’m truly saddened. Here’s the statement from Apple.
I couldn’t believe it at first. Sure, we saw the thinner and thinner Steve that looked really frail, but it’s still a shock. To be honest, I’m still shocked to this minute typing this post.
Steve Jobs is truly a visionary. Watch his keynote in Macworld 2003 and you see his vision for the things we do today.
I was mainly PC user back then, since at that time Apple computers are above the prices of Windows PCs, and using power PC. So how did I get into the Apple ecosystem? Answer, the 5th gen iPod. The 5th gen iPod is my first exposure to an Apple product, and boy it changed the way I listen and organize my music. iTunes is a phenomenal music database/jukebox software. Added to that gapless playback being introduced to the 5th gen iPod. After realizing how Apple products are so intuitive to use, I started to want more. iTunes on Windows was great, but it’s dog slow. Later on, I switched to Mac after they transitioned to intel. The switch happened in 2007 when I bought the Black Macbook. And I never turn back. Sure, I still have Windows PCs to do miscellaneous stuff like gaming, but my primary computer is now an iMac. iLife, especially iMovie, exposed me to the ease of making personal videos to be shared with friends and families. You don’t find this intricate seamlessness between software and hardware on any other platform.
Then there’s the iPhone. I still feel the excitement every time I watch Steve’s keynote announcing the first iPhone. It has truly revolutionized the way we think of smartphones, especially multi-touch and the app ecosystem. I used to carry a dumbphone, an MP3 player, and a PDA. The MP3 player evolved from CD player to MD player to MP3 player/iPods, and finally the iPod Touch. Ever since Apple opened up iOS for apps, I ditched my Palm PDA and my iPod Touch becomes my PDA too. The iPhone 3GS, my first iPhone, consolidated everything into one. The constant internet connectivity changes the way I do email, social networking, etc. Sure, smartphone with internet was not new, but at that time, nothing beat the ease of use, intuitiveness, and responsiveness of the iPhone/iOS. Now, I have the iPhone 4, and the rest is history. At the same time, competitions rose from Android to Windows Phone. None of them would’ve come up without iOS (Microsoft was comfortable with their aging Windows Mobile, and Google’s Android was imitating RIM’s Blackberry).
Here’s a mashup video I did quite a while back, featuring multi-touch and Steve Jobs’ first iPhone announcement.
Even if you don’t care much about tech, simply download the Apple keynotes from iTunes, and watch Steve Jobs doing his presentation. His style has become defacto standard on anybody’s presentation/product announcements (just look at the recent Facebook and Amazon Kindle announcements). Steve Jobs is not only a visionary, he’s a a genius and master in presentation. I mean really, he turned all the Apple followers from hating intel (during powerPC) into loving intel (during the intel switch) in one swoop. Just watch his keynote in 2005, masterfully performed.
For closing, here’s another video clip from 1997, how Steve Jobs talked about the customer experience being the focus, something that is commonly forgotten in almost every business out there today.
R.I.P Steve Jobs, a true visionary.
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