Thursday October 6, 2011
We are going to miss you, Steve Jobs
ONE OF A KIND: A tribute message to Steve Jobs written in lipstick is seen on the window of the Apple Store in Santa Monica, California. - Reuters
By TAN KIT HOONG
bytz@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: There are very few people in the tech industry that are synonymous with the company they created, and fewer yet that are known outside of tech circles.
So while many of us in the tech industry know, say, Larry Ellison, ask a non-techie on the street who he is and not many would know.
Of these, perhaps only Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are so well known that any man or woman on the street would likely immediately know which company their names are inextricably tied to.
With the passing of Jobs, we have lost a man that has literally helped to change the world.
Whether you're an Android smartphone user or a Windows Phone user, or any modern smartphone for that matter, it's hard to deny that any of these products would have existed without the iPhone, which was released just four years ago.
Today even cars from BMW to Kia come equipped with connectors specially made to hook the iPhone up to the car sound system.
Of course, Jobs alone can't take the credit for creating products at Apple, but he certainly is perhaps the best salesman for these products that the world has ever known.
Sounds like hyperbole I know, but if you've ever sat down and watched any Steve Jobs presentation at Apple events, I daresay you too would be caught up by Jobs's enthusiasm for his products and his ability to convince you that it's the next best thing since sliced bread.
There are many events in our lives which we view as milestones, marking monumental changes in the world that we are direct or indirect parties to - switching from black and white to colour TV is one for me, the passing of John Lennon is another, and 9/11.
One day, I will turn to my kids (or someone else's kids) playing the latest iPhone or whatever Apple product, and I'll say, "You know, I remember Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, when he gave speeches at Apple events. He was so good at selling you the product, people would call it the Reality Distortion Field."
My kids would probably turn to me, and in a disbelieving tone, say, "Sure or not? Was he THAT good?
And I'd say, "Yes... yes he really was." (Editor's note: Tan Kit Hoong typed this up this morning on his iPad from his bed. Seems quite fitting.)
Thursday October 6, 2011
Apple's Steve Jobs dies
GOODBYE: The iconic founder of Apple is dead. - Reuters
CUPERTINO (California): Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, 56, - counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation - has died.
He fought a years-long and highly public battle with cancer and other health issues.
Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday (early Thursday, Malaysian time).
The Silicon Valley icon who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the reins to current chief executive Tim Cook.
Jobs, who fought a rare form of pancreatic cancer, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America. - Reuters
"One more thing ..."
Quotes from late Apple founder Steve Jobs
Thursday October 6, 2011
Quotes from late Apple founder Steve Jobs
IN PROFILE: Steve Jobs previewing the Mac OS X operating system called Tiger in San Francisco on June 28, 2004. - Reuters
CUPERTINO (California): Here are some key quotes from Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple Inc, who has died.
1.Commencement speech at Stanford University, 2005
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."
2. Allthingsd conference, 2010
"There's nothing that makes my day more than getting an e-mail from some random person in the universe who just bought an iPad over in the UK and tells me the story about how it's the coolest product they've ever brought home in their lives. That's what keeps me going. It's what kept me five years ago, it's what kept me going 10 years ago when the doors were almost closed. And it's what will keep me going five years from now whatever happens."
THE PIONEERS: Jobs stands beneath a photograph of him and Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak from the early days of Apple during the launch of the iPad tablet computing device in San Francisco in this January 27, 2010 file photo. - Reuters
3. Interview with Playboy magazine, 1985
"I don't think I've ever worked so hard on something, but working on Macintosh was the neatest experience of my life. Almost everyone who worked on it will say that. None of us wanted to release it at the end. It was as though we knew that once it was out of our hands, it wouldn't be ours anymore. When we finally presented it at the shareholders' meeting, everyone in the auditorium stood up and gave it a five-minute ovation. What was incredible to me was that I could see the Mac team in the first few rows. It was as though none of us could believe that we'd actually finished it. Everyone started crying."
4. Apple product launch, June 2011
"One more thing ..."
5. Interview with Business Week, 2004
"Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10.30 at night with a new idea, or because they realised something that shoots holes in how we've been thinking about a problem. It's ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea."
"And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."
6. Interview with Fortune magazine, 2000
"In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service."
"My position coming back to Apple was that our industry was in a coma. It reminded me of Detroit in the '70s, when American cars were boats on wheels."
7. Comment to New York Times reporter who asked about jobs' health, 2008
"You think I'm an arrogant who thinks he's above the law, and I think you're a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong."
8. Interview with Wired, 1996
"These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I'm not downplaying that. But it's a disservice to constantly put things in this radical new light - that it's going to change everything. Things don't have to change the world to be important." - Reuters
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