Steve Job is no more! This was the line that greeted me when I opened Google News this morning. I am not at all an Apple fan - though its hard to deny the fact that as a company Apple changed the way we look at computing and entertainment devices. I am not even a technology and technology news freak. But I know who Steve Jobs is. I know him as the man who founded Apple and made the name of a fruit synonymous with magic.
As my friend Vishwas says, what Arthur C Clarke said - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic - was proved by every product from Apple. I know Steve Jobs as the man who delivered the famous "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005. His words inspired me.
I know him as the man who was unceremoniously fired from the company he founded only to be called back to take it to greater heights. I know him as the man who battled cancer, emerged humbler and, more importantly, aware of what the priorities of his life should be.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose
I remember him as the man who made the use of 'i' almost as frequent, if not more, as that of 'I'. I also know him as the man whose products I considered overrated. I know him as the man who created a cult following with devices which straight-jacketed the user and the user, in an act of sadism, loved the device back. I know him as the man who had so much confidence in his products that many a times he changed the rules completely upside down. I will surely remember him as the man who played nasty when Google tried to encroach on his turf.
Most importantly, however, I will always remember him for being someone who stuck to his conviction despite all odds and emerged a winner every time he seemed to be in the dumps for good. I leave you with a few quotes from Steve.
On motivation
There's nothing that makes my day more than getting an e-mail from some random person in the universe who just bought an iPad over in the UK and tells me the story about how it's the coolest product they've ever brought home in their lives. That's what keeps me going. It's what kept me five years ago, it's what kept me going 10 years ago when the doors were almost closed. And it's what will keep me going five years from now whatever happens - AllThingsD conference, 2010
On design
In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. My position coming back to Apple was that our industry was in a coma. It reminded me of Detroit in the 70s, when American cars were boats on wheels - Interview with Fortune magazine, 2000
Lastly, on what really matters
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me - Interview with Wall Street Journal, 1993
Quotes courtesy: BBC
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