Steve Jobs retires from Apple; a look back at a true technolgy titan
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
As a technology company, and a member of the electronic engineering community there’s no doubt that we all at SemiStore are a little sad to see the Steve Jobs era at Apple come to an end. As engineers, we’ve always been more fans of the “other Steve”, after all, the Apple II revolutionized the personal computer industry in the 1970s (Yes generation Y, there was a time where we all didn’t have computers on our desks or in our homes). And, really is there anyone else like the Woz? I think not. But that being said, you cannot discount Steve Jobs and his awe-inspiring career in tech. The man revolutionized four industries, Computing, Telecommunications, Music and Movies. Think I’m just waxing nostalgic? See for yourself on Wikipedia , I’ll bet you’ll see many things you didn’t know about him. I was a little sad to see his resignation from Apple has already been posted. (Boy those Wiki guys are quick!). And was very surprised about the time in India and experimentation with psychedelics, but hey it was the 70s, just about everyone was searching for “spiritual enlightenment”.
Forbes contributor, Carmine Gallo put out a great article today, “What Makes Steve “Steve”? He makes the case that we should all learn how to “unleash our inner Steve Jobs”, after all, who doesn’t want a career that impacts the world like his did? Mr. Gallo defines seven principles of innovation that make Steve “Steve”, in a nutshell, they are:
- Do what you love
- Put a dent in the universe
- Connect things to spark your creativity
- Say no to 1,000 things
- Create insanely different experiences
- Master the message
- Sell dreams, not products
Makes you feel a little differently about that iPad, iPhone or iPod now doesn’t it? If you want to read more about this, check out the full article.
The thing about Steve Jobs is he kept going forward, and I think there is much to learn about his failures as much as his successes, fortunately the Washington Post just posted them, “The flops among the pops; 7 products Steve Jobs got wrong”. $10,000 personal computers that were way ahead of their time, The Lisa (with GUI in 1983!!), The Puck Mouse, the original iMac mouse that was too tiny to be useful, The iTunes Phone, predecessor to the iPhone, and who can forget Apple TV? Without these flops, it’s quite possible that the products you cannot not live without today may have not ever been…That is a true innovator, One who keeps pushing forward even in the face of failure.
And no tribute would be complete without the 10 Iconic Steve Jobs Moments in Video. Can you remember where you were when..It's definitely worth the bandwidth. And while PC World is asking "Who Will Drive the Tech Industry Forward without Steve Jobs", I personally have enjoyed the trip down memory lane, as far as I'm concerned, Steve Jobs is forever woven into our lives.
I’m certainly inspired, and I hope you are too. An era ended today, a really amazing era, and if you don’t believe me, just check your Twitter or Facebook feeds, they are blowing up with “Steve” news, and considering the most recent news cycles (war, debt, recession), a little time reading about Mr. Jobs is not a bad a bad use of your iPhone. If you’re more the Made for TV Movie, type, stream the Pirates of Silicon Valley to your iPad (It’s a SemiStore Web team favorite). Can’t wait for the Podcast!
RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011 (10/5/11)