Thank You Steve
I was speaking to a crowd of about 85 people when I heard the news that Steve Jobs had passed away. 85 die-hard Mac users, all members of the local Mac User Group I run. We stopped for a minute of silence and I spent the rest of the evening not quite as focused as I usually am but managed to get through. As though as it was, I feel like this is perhaps the way it should be. I was able to share my sadness with a lot of friends.
Like many others have, I want to take a moment to give my thoughts on Steve and today’s news.
My friends all know my attachment to Apple, but for me it goes further than a business. To say that this company has changed my life is not an overstatement. I now earn my living entirely using Apple products and have earned almost all of my money these past few years developing iOS applications.
I agree and even love most of Apple’s philosophies when it comes to building products and running a business. Steve never took any decisions because it would benefit Apple in the short time. The decisions he made, he made because it was the best for Apple in the long run. Because it was best for the users. The products he helped create were sometime revolutionary, often amazing and always passionately built. When he introduced the iPhone in 2007, he was introducing his 3rd life-changing device. From the Mac in 1984 to the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, Steve has changed the world several time. All these products had and continue to have a dramatic impact in their industries and likely will for quite some time.
When the creation of a company as revolutionary as Pixar, the most successful animation studio since Disney 60 years ago is but a side note in your biography, you know you’ve done some pretty amazing things in your life.
Steve, thanks for all you’ve done. You’ve not only changed the world of technology forever, you helped build the foundations and then moved it forward in several areas many times.