It’s been a year since Steve Jobs passed away. He was a pioneer in the world of computers cut from the same cloth as Walt Disney, Henry Ford, and Alexander Graham Bell.
He is a man people won’t soon forget, as well as an ever-growing legend of sorts. Millions of people have shared their condolences to Mister Jobs last year, and the outpouring of support continues even to this day.
He was a game changer in every sense of the term, and he has for decades changed the way the field of computing is conducted. Many people were moved by his creativity and his passion for the business. On the other hand, he has a dark side too, because he’s only human.
The Man behind the Legend
He’s quick to temper and mistrustful as well as has a long memory when it comes to trespasses done to him. He also wanted control at times, particularly his image, such that news of his poor health hadn’t come to light until much later on, after much speculation.
He was also a very private individual not just in his personal life but in the way he practiced business. His secretive means of controlling product image have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Nevertheless, these eccentricities helped make him become the person he is; a man who made a significant impact in the world of PCs, handheld devices, and even mobile phones.
His need for control and perfection compelled him to produce quality products in accordance to his exact specifications and marketing campaign. He was a hippie who made capitalism cool for his fellow hippies. His “hipness” even extended to appealing to the new generations of buyers, particularly the young people of the new millennium.
He was able to see how these customers thought and was quick to adapt to the changing times. Then again, he’d always been quite adaptable even during the time when Apple was mostly a computer company first and foremost.
Mastering the User Experience
One thing that Steve Jobs was able to bring to the table that no one will ever hope to replicate, even his contemporaries, was his ability to improve the user experience. He anticipated customer behaviours no matter what demographic they belonged to or what mode of thinking they had. He was a genius in regards to making people choose his products over others thanks to how useful and convenient they are.
It’s hard to explain, since all companies strive to make their products high quality for the consumer, but every last major Apple product is created in a way that shapes a person life one way or another.
That was what this savant brought to the table in terms of business. Although he might not be perfect and he was even ousted from his own company at one point at the height of Apple’s bitter rivalry with Microsoft, he remained a visionary through and through; a cut from a different cloth, if you will.
His view on products was such that a constant arms race on specs was not the way to go. Every component of the product, from its ad campaign to the way people viewed it, is part of what makes it a great buy. Presentation and quality must go hand-in-hand.[leftpullquote]comment and share your thought about Steve Jobs and get reward points[/leftpullquote]
- Steve Jobs: What We’ve Learned One Year After - October 5, 2012
- iPhone 4S vs iPhone 5 – How Does the New iPhone Measure Up? - September 18, 2012
- iPhone 5 rumors collection - May 30, 2012
I am reminded of two stories that Jobs often repeated. One was about how man could revolutionize his life through tools and why it was essentially tools that mattered. And second was the foresight in anticipating a particular trend in consumerism. He mastered both because it was an innate quality in him. I am not sure of that particular streak would be intact in Apple now but there’s enough room for many more Jobses in this world.
His inventions are used by people around the world, how amazing is that.