Thank You Steve
Thank you Steve. Even though we never met, you were one of my biggest inspirations of creativity, innovation, hope and leadership. You and your amazing team at Apple, in such a short amount of time, has left a significant foot print in our world. Your philosophy and desire for innovation and organically beautiful hardware and software will never be forgotten. You were a master of marrying art with science. I for one am truly sad and got goosebumps upon finding out about your passing this week on October 5, 2011.
Thank you Steve for the memories. I clearly remember playing Treasure Mountain in elementary school on an Apple computer. It’s actually funny now, that when I look back, the first first computer I ever spent much time on was a Macintosh. Then for some reason, which didn’t really seem to bother me, Macs kind of disappeared from a large part of my childhood. In high school and in undergrad, we were given IBM ThinkPads (none of which are currently functional and gave me so much anger…) to learn such tools as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint etc. I guess it was fine for the time, but then something exciting happened. An TV commercial featuring a silhouette with white earplugs started rocking out to U2 aired and I was sold. I bought my first iPod, and it was truly revolutionary. However, it wasn’t up until I finally graduated my Bachelors degree that I purchased my MacBook Pro. And boy did I love it. The feeling you get when using such a beautifully engineered product and the confidence of stability, performance and no viruses was just perfect. Later in 2010, I ditched my Blackberry for an iPhone 4 and then in 2011, I got an iPad 2 (which I never thought I needed, but it is totally useful). You sure helped designed some good products Steve.
Thank you Steve for the innovation. It would be an understatement to say that you only made incredible iDevices, Macs and the intuitive OSX. You also created a brand new environment and way of looking at technology and art harmoniously. Every time you walk by or into one of the many beautiful Apple Stores, it truly is an experience like none other. Your desire to push the status quo and to never be held down is inspiring. The touching stories of your upbringings, to all the hurdles and disappointments you over came, but never calling it quits is inspiring. You and Woz came up with the concept of a having a personal computer in everyones house, everyone thought you guys were crazy, you were, and you were crazy geniuses who helped revolutionize technology and the quality of life we have in the world today. Without you, we wouldn’t have mouses peripherals or even the ability to choose different fonts for design purposes.
Thank you Steve for the leadership. According to many sources, you led with a tough stand and demanded one’s very best work. But you always gave everyone a reason on why a specific detail had to be a certain way. Every company wishes it could influence the media and consumers the way Apple does. Massive twitter trends to an upgrade on a phone or even an operating system? Unheard of. Every CEO wishes he or she could be like you and have millions of people mourn over your death and post notes at their retail stores. Unheard of. In this infamous time of American greed with corrupt CEO’s sinking large companies and businesses such as Enron, you were the real deal. You did something no other CEO would have done, work for $1.00 USD a year. This means that success was the only option for you. You based your entire fortune off stocks, translating to that if you wanted to be prosperous, you had to work your tail off and fully believe in what you did, love what you did and do what ever it took to be successful. And you did it.
If there is a take away message about everything you’ve done for our world, it can all be found in your speech at Stanford University. “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” and to “Think Different”.
Thank you Steve.
Sean
Originally published at Live in Limbo.
