Wow, I didn't think I would be writing this entry today...
So yesterday R and I were walking down the street after having seen the movie Moneyball. We passed a couple: a woman and a man who was looking down at his cell phone (was it an iPhone?, I now wonder), a familiar sight nowadays. Suddenly, the man blurted out, "Apparently Steve Jobs died." I was jarred. R and I turned around and I practically shouted, "WHAT!? Really!?" The man said, "Yeah...my mother just texted me with the news."
I have to say, even though it had been some time coming, hearing the news was still shocking and made me rather sad. Just on Tuesday, not long after the iPhone announcement, I thought to myself how, in spite of all the gossip and mud slung all over the Internet and all the trolling, not many articulated what was on most people's minds when it was announced that Jobs was resigning as CEO of Apple: that he wasn't doing well and that he probably didn't have long to live. But little did I know that he would die so soon! I find it uncanny how he died the very next day after the latest iPhone announcement. They say some people who are dying "hold on" just long enough to reach a birthday or for someone to arrive to see them one last time. I'd like to think that Jobs, in his failing health, "held on" for that one last iPhone event.
Now, as I've said before, I don't own any Apple products and don't plan to do so in the future, but I will say this: Steve Jobs was a very charismatic man and he was a marketing wizard. He (or at least his image) became part of the Apple brand so people have come to identify the brand with Jobs. He gave a human face to the brand. I have to admit that I'm impressed with how he managed to garner a HUGE following for the Apple brand. I would almost recommend to those who haven't to find videos of Job's keynote speeches at Apple's launch events, if only to see him work his "magic". He would make simple updates on products or the launch of a device such as an MP3 player or iPhone seem like the most amazing thing to have happened. As JPM (someone with whom I correspond online) said, his speeches made people want products that they didn't know they needed. It was obvious that Mark Zuckerberg's keynote speech at the last F8 event tried to imitate Job's style...he might have come close, but he's no Steve Jobs. Loved him or hated him, you have to admit, he was good, no, excellent at what he did.
But in the end, all the fame, money, and power was not enough to stop the fallibility of his health...
I have to say, even though it had been some time coming, hearing the news was still shocking and made me rather sad. Just on Tuesday, not long after the iPhone announcement, I thought to myself how, in spite of all the gossip and mud slung all over the Internet and all the trolling, not many articulated what was on most people's minds when it was announced that Jobs was resigning as CEO of Apple: that he wasn't doing well and that he probably didn't have long to live. But little did I know that he would die so soon! I find it uncanny how he died the very next day after the latest iPhone announcement. They say some people who are dying "hold on" just long enough to reach a birthday or for someone to arrive to see them one last time. I'd like to think that Jobs, in his failing health, "held on" for that one last iPhone event.
Now, as I've said before, I don't own any Apple products and don't plan to do so in the future, but I will say this: Steve Jobs was a very charismatic man and he was a marketing wizard. He (or at least his image) became part of the Apple brand so people have come to identify the brand with Jobs. He gave a human face to the brand. I have to admit that I'm impressed with how he managed to garner a HUGE following for the Apple brand. I would almost recommend to those who haven't to find videos of Job's keynote speeches at Apple's launch events, if only to see him work his "magic". He would make simple updates on products or the launch of a device such as an MP3 player or iPhone seem like the most amazing thing to have happened. As JPM (someone with whom I correspond online) said, his speeches made people want products that they didn't know they needed. It was obvious that Mark Zuckerberg's keynote speech at the last F8 event tried to imitate Job's style...he might have come close, but he's no Steve Jobs. Loved him or hated him, you have to admit, he was good, no, excellent at what he did.
But in the end, all the fame, money, and power was not enough to stop the fallibility of his health...