Jobs helped to create products that are sexy as hell, easy to use and extremely durable.

I was a late arrival to the world of Apple.  While I grew up learning on Apple IIe’s during the ’80s, it wasn’t until recently that I started using Macbooks and iPhones.  Though my personal laptop is a Dell, I grew to admire Apple products as works or art and marvels of technology.

When I found out the other day that Apple’s Steve Jobs had passed away, I was truly saddened.  I look at how much computers have evolved in the 27 years that I’ve used them.  For crying out loud, the computer that I used in kindergarten had a TV with knobs as its monitor.  Now, we have touchscreen technology (à la iPad).

My wife told me that she heard how many people found out about Jobs’ passing on a device that he helped to create.  Think about it, we’re talking about either a digital music player (iPod), laptop (Macbook), tablet (iPad) or cell phone (iPhone).  In our digital age, information, people and all sorts of information are just a keystroke, mouse click or finger tap away.  Our world grew smaller and Steve Jobs played a role in that.

No matter what you might think about Jobs as a person or as a businessman, he was a true innovator.  In the way that Henry Ford helped to make personal transportation available to the masses, Jobs helped to create products that are sexy as hell, easy to use and extremely durable.  If you are like me, then Apple has made a tremendous impact on your life.

It’s hard to tell what will happen with Apple.  From what I understand, current Apple CEO Tim Cook has had this position before and would do well at it.  While he doesn’t have Jobs’ domineering leadership style, he still has the quiet strength to lead Apple and, hopefully, take it to the next level.

Cancer is never an easy battle, especially if it is a prolonged one.  On a personal level, I hope that Steve Jobs can now find peace.  Jobs did a tremendous job in elevating Apple.  He is not a person that will be easily forgotten.

“Be different.  Think different.  Better to be a pirate than to join the navy.” (businessbrief.com, paraphrased or quoted from “Young Guns: The Fearless Entrepreneur’s Guide to Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own” (2009) by Robert Tuchman)—Steve Jobs

Author: José A. Rodríguez
Image: Paula Anderanin