Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is dead at 56 Steve Jobs, Apple's cofounder and former CEO, has died. He was 56 years old. His death was reported late Wednesday in a brief statement on Apple's website. Apple's homepage featured a black-and-white photo of Jobs with a closely trimmed beard bearing his name and the years 1955-2011. "Apple has lost a visionary and creative …
The world is full of successful business leaders who got lucky, and led a company to greatness by being in the right place at the right time. Afterwards they move on and live overpaid lives where they achieve little more.
Apple, Pixar, NeXT (aka the tech that took Apple from their shares being suspended to biggest in the world)... To lead THREE companies from obscurity to household names. That's not luck - that's the stuff of legend.
Even if you hate Apple you can't deny he's turned the company into a giant and he did it after being told he wasn't needed.
And for those that don't like the products, think of the millions of people who do who have had a smile on their face when they get it as a gift. The man has put smiles on the faces of many.
Finally, my thoughts are with his family and friends at what must be a very difficult time.
I make no bones about my opinions of Apple and Steve Jobs. Both ruthless to the core (pardon the pun), plus their products are always hyped up out of all proportion to what they actually are - basic items with a bit of style. However, my sympathies to Jobs' family. 56 is no age at all and he's certainly been very unlucky with his health, and I certainly would have not wished those related problems on him.
RIP Steve, I'm sorry to see you go.
Many complaints here re: Steve, not being a real innovator, being a jerk with colleagues, being too controlling, etc.
I think all of the complaints disappear if you view the man as an artist. He wanted to make beautiful pieces of hardware and software:
- Innovation: most painters don't 'innovate' their own canvas, paints, or even genre of painting, but they can still produce beautiful, innovative paintings.
- Being a controlling jerk: like any artist would, he clearly wanted his "art" to be made in a very specific way (by his employees) and for the public to appreciate it in a certain way. Just like Leonardo wouldn't want the Mona Lisa printed on novelty toilet paper, Jobs didn't want customers to dirty their iPhones with "swype keyboards" and sideloaded apps.
It just so happened that his art intersected with the business/commercial world in a unique way that many unfortunately found offensive.
I remember seeing him holding that first ipad when it was released and thinking, “thats nuts he's totally lost it, it's a big iphone and it'll never take off”. big time egg on face for me! He was an exceptional visionary like gates who somehow could see what the next ‘missing’ device or product was .
Apple products are generally not the best in the class and don’t offer great value for money either which is why I normally stay away but a number of the devices I carry today are based on apple products. Where apple/jobs excelled by far was making him (self confessed geek) cool and making electronic devices appear cool too. He had a massive effect on the whole tech industry and he’ll be missed but it even his competitors as well of course by those twits that queue up at midnight to get the latest ipad and then clap each other on the way out if they need a new leader I am available
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