In his honour, I've reposted what I said about him just a few weeks ago.
Louis Armstrong did that for jazz. Newton and Einstein did it for physics. And Steve Jobs of Apple? Virtually single-handedly he revolutionised telecommunications, personal computing, the music business, publishing and Hollywood. Not to mention what he did to the computer itself.
Most geniuses only revolutionise one field. Jobs has revolutionised at least three.
But it’s not enough for some folk that his genius has improved the lives of millions. That he’s a genius who’s earned his money. He’ll only get respect at places like the New York Times if he gives it all away.
Never mind that the focus of his wealth and productive genius on production does more for every single person on the planet than if he spent his time and energy giving his money away. He understands this:
Mr. Jobs [told friends] he could do more good focusing his energy on continuing to expand Apple than on philanthropy, especially since his illness. “He has been focused on two things — building the team at Apple and his family,” another friend said. “That’s his legacy. Everything else is a distraction.”
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 1993 , Jobs said, “Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.”
Good for him.
20 comments:
I am genuinely saddened.
Entrepreneur, visionary, leader, strategist, innovator - and a virtual mentor to me for many years -> "what would Steve do here?"
He left this world a richer place.
One of the truly Greats. Will be missed.
Correction:
Jobs was born in 1955 (not 1959).
Brilliant 15 minute Steve Jobs clip: http://tinyurl.com/3w2zwdj
As a software developer, Apple scares the crap out of me with its practices.
As a tech addict, I can't ignore the contribution he's made to the industry. My thoughts are with his family
Not even Bill Gates and Warren Buffett understand what Jobs knew - that his products and services would do far more for mankind than any philanthropy.
It is paradoxical that so much praise for this wonderful industrialist comes at the same time as the political left wing and media villify his kind.
Well done Steve.
A sad occasion.
Jobs had an interesting story - an enterprising, visionary 'man of action' genius forms a company in his early 20s, he quickly turns that into a major international business; as he puts his genius into action he receives an avalanche of criticism and disgusting personal abuse from stupid ignorant pathetic "little people" he foolishly surrounded himself with; the company goes from strength to strength, the stupid ignorant pathetic little people eventually force him out of his own company, he shrugs his shoulders and leaves them to it and they quickly run the place into the ground (surprise, surprise).
He has a revelation about anyone who criticises him - that they are ALL stupid ignorant pathetic little people (and he is right 100% of the time)
He takes over another company and quickly puts his genius into practise, quickly earns a quid, and turns that into a major international company; the stupid ignorant pathetic little people eventually beg him to come back (being unable to survive on their own for 5 minutes without their Master); he returns and almost overnight the company returns to profitability and success; the stupid ignorant pathetic little people leave the company and are immediately and inexplicably somehow or other viewed as 'role models' by moronic people.
After his death the media and so called experts engage in wide eyed wonderment tributes all wondering how the hell he did it...
One sympathises, Steve hahahahaha!!! *wink*
R iPad
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.”
Steve Jobs
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Steady on. You have obviously not heard of Irwin Jacobs. Or Andrew Viterbi. Or Rich Kerr who was in charge of development of the pdQ [the precursor of the iPhone].
What I haven't seen anyone say and I think what motivates most of the comment is that he created what became the biggest company ever by market capitalisation [maybe some state-owned "companies" in China are bigger, or oil-based found wealth "companies" but they don't count].
More interesting still is that 100 years ago when Standard Oil and Andrew Carnegie were the giants, they were creating material objects to replace muscle. What is happening now is the replacement of the brain. Google knows more than anybody already. Has better recall. Is faster. Does associative thinking. Has input from everywhere.
The industrial revolution was impressive. The Cyberspace revolution is just getting started and will make the industrial revolution look like the invention of the rock to hit something.
Think stone age Maori tribes in a pa, compared with the USA and all it encompasses. We are at the fortified pa stage. Here comes Cyberspace.
Hi Siri.
"Virtually single-handedly he revolutionised telecommunications"
That is what I was referring to by "steady on"... The quote dropped from my post for some reason.
The award went to Irwin Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi long ago. Steve Jobs showed up late, long after the revolution was a done deal.
What he did was greatly improve the clunky efforts of others at just the right time for the mobile Cyberspace revolution's lift-off. He had great timing and the right product to sell umpty millions.
Steve Jobs overdose...
A new IPhone 4 Steve
Someone suggested this guy was not so much an innovator but a great salesman.
@Maurice: You deride Jobs because he wasn't an inventor.
So what.
The entrepreneur is not an inventor. The job (pun intended) of the entrepreneur is "to select from the multitude of technologically feasible projects those which will satisfy the most urgent of the not yet satisfied needs of the public."
The genius entrepreneur will go further: to select from the multitude of technologically feasible projects those which even their projenitors failed to push forward, to satisfy needs the public didn't even know they had.
Jobs was a genius entrepreneur. What's more, he lived.
@Dinther: What's wrong with great salesmen?
There are two sides to marketing. Knowing what product to build, and then selling it.
Steve did the former so well, the latter was barely necessary.
@PC Absolutely nothing wrong with Salesmen. In fact, given the choice I hire a good salesman over a good inventor anyday.
I am just getting irritated that so many comments are made how SJ invented this that and the other.
Some now even claim he invented the mouse!
He was good and finding the right people and technologies and glue them together into products people wanted.
Personally I dislike the whole Apple cult and never purchased anything Apple.
Since when has Apple been a cult?
I purchased shares back in 2001 when they were USD14, and they were the best investment I ever made, even though I sold way too early. They are still a good investment -- Jobs ensured they were, and still are, cash rich.
Jobs has made many folk multi-millionaires, and I salute him, and indeed owe him.
He was a 'prime mover'.
Steve's legacy and contribution will live on. Hopefully, Apple creates stunning products despite the passing of the genius behind it. Find out why you need a depuy lawyer.
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