I learned of Steve Jobs passing while on a bus in San Francisco via my iPhone. I heard my AP News app alert from my purse.
When I looked at my phone, I was saddened to see that Apple announced Steve Jobs had died.
I paused for a moment, told my husband and then quickly got off my stop.
We have been traveling around San Francisco this week. I did my best to keep my MacBook Pro shutdown throughout the week. Without my iPhone, I probably wouldn’t have known for hours.
Steve Jobs was an a amazing, innovative man who impacted the lives of us all, whether we realize it or not.
I am an Apple girl. I met my husband freshman year of college at Syracuse University while trying to set up my Mac Performa 636. It was my first computer. For some reason, it didn’t quite work and I had to get a new one. But my relationship with my now husband and Apple was just beginning.
Yes. There were the lean years at Apple where they just couldn’t compete with the PC. Those were the years that Steve Jobs was not part of Apple. (Still amazed that he could be fired by the company he started.)
But, he came back and resurrected his company. I was part of a group presentation on Apple for a business leadership course I took a short time back. We learned quickly that Steve Jobs was Apple. (We wore black shirts, jeans and white sneakers as a homage to him for our presentation.)
He made products that were innovative, functional, simple and beautiful.
You don’t buy Apple products, you experience them. It’s a lifestyle choice more than a product choice.
Steve Jobs was inspiring, and he gave hope to us crazy creatives that we really could make a difference in this world. Though I never knew him, I will miss him. We can only hope he groomed enough people to continue the work that he did, because he certainly can’t be replaced.
I leave you with advertising copy from Apple’s “Think Different” campaign. A campaign that made me love and want to do the creative work that I do even more. It’s also a pretty good description of Steve Jobs.
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
And one more thing…
Steve Jobs was a lefty.
