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billbenson
10-06-2011, 11:57 PM
I don't and never have owned an apple product. Having said that, the passing of Steve Jobs is sad. He was a true innovator. People like him made Silicon Valley what it is. People are not opting for the technical degrees that made the US the technical giant that it is today. If that skill set continues to go overseas the US will be in bad shape for the next generation IMO. We need people like him and they are disappearing.

vangogh
10-07-2011, 01:03 AM
I'm sad at his passing and thoughts of Steve Jobs have been coming to me all day. Even if you don't own Apple products he likely influenced something you own, starting with your personal computer. Maybe you've watched a movie from Pixar.

I woke up this morning when the alarm on my iPhone rang. A few minutes later I flipped open the lid of my MacBook Air. Early tonight I was watching a baseball game on my iPad. Most of my time each day is spent on a computer he envisioned years ago. It's hard to find too many aspects of my current life that Steve Jobs didn't influence in one way or another.

Bill keep hope. His greatest innovation is probably Apple itself. The company was built and now runs in his image. It's hard to know where the company will go now that he's no longer there, but most expect it to continue to run well and continue to innovate. One of Steve Jobs greatest skills was in assembling the right people and many of them are still going to be there to innovate. It's also likely that the next 2-5 years will still be about producing things Steve envisioned.

The lessons for the rest of us are there. Building a successful project is about design and attention to detail. It's about getting the foundation absolutely right and then iterating with new features. It's about anticipating what your customers want rather than asking them, because your customers can only envision what already exists and they generally won't know what they want until they see it. It's about doing the best you can every step of the way and not cutting corners to save a couple of bucks. It's about adding as much value as you can at a given price point over cutting the price by removing the value. It's about creating products you love and feel passionate about.

There are so many more lessons too for anyone who's been paying attention. It's not so much the technical degrees or the lack of them or where that skill set resides. Most of Steve Jobs innovations are about the user interface and making the technology easy and joyful to use.

He wil be missed by many. We knew his death was coming, but it was still very sad to hear the news.

Steve B
10-07-2011, 04:37 AM
Yes, very sad.

"People are not opting for the technical degrees" - don't worry - I understand Steve Jobs dropped out of college.

greenoak
10-07-2011, 09:56 AM
what a loss...we started with an apple 2 and have ipads and ipods and iphones....i can remember wondering what we would do with the apple 2..
..i think he saw so much right from the start... so sorry hes gone...

Business Attorney
10-07-2011, 10:12 AM
Steve Jobs' vision was amazing. Although we generally think of his impact on the technology side - the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad - I think his innovation that may have the greatest long term impact on society is iTunes. Although music downloads were around long before the arrival of the iTunes Store, iTunes has pretty much single-handedly changed the music industry in a way that 8-track tapes, the Sony Walkman and CDs never could. Those changed the format or changed listening styles, but iTunes changed almost everything.

vangogh
10-07-2011, 10:54 AM
It's amazing all the things we probably already take for granted that he helped usher into the world. David if you remember before iTunes most downloads were illegal. Downloading music was clearly the direction consumers wanted, but the record companies weren't offering it for fear of everyone copying the digital files. Steve Jobs saw that if you could make the download process easy (Naptser and others weren't easy) people would pay a reasonable price for the download. No one was sure, but he convinced the major record labels to get on board and now the world pays to download music.

Here's a good video of Steve in action from the 2007 keynote introducing the iPhone (http://youtu.be/Svo45oepsI0). It's 5 minutes of the full keynote, but you can get a feel for his presentation style. Try to imagine any other CEO presenting like this.

Evan
10-09-2011, 10:21 PM
I was greatly saddened to hear of the loss of Steve Jobs, even though I'm not an Apple fanatic, though I do enjoy iTunes and my iPod. It's hard for one man to have such an influence over business and society like he did. And I believe, what makes this specifically tragic is the fact that unlike many of the "geniuses" before him, there was a great sense he wasn't finished with all his work.

It also provides a sad, but true reflection, that no amount of money can buy good health, so you must try to maintain good health in all the areas you have control over, before your health controls you.

vangogh
10-10-2011, 02:01 AM
I think part of what makes his passing so sad for so many is that sense he wasn't finished. You can't help but wonder at the things he might have changed for the better had he been given more time.

Ever since he stepped down as CEO in August I've been watching old videos of him being interviewed and some of his keynote addresses over the years. There's a lot of great business advice in those videos. For any interested just head over to YouTube and search for Steve Jobs. Lot's of good stuff.