The passing of Steve Jobs - quintessential genius
Published:Friday | October 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Visit Apple's homepage www.apple.com. As of Wednesday, October 5, a black and white image of Steve Jobs appears with the words: "Steve Jobs 1955-2011". That's it.
Apple's tribute is fitting, reflecting the imprint of the man upon his company. Steve Jobs, the embodiment of genius, in great measure defined the global digital landscape at the beginning of the 21st Century.
What, in part, separates genius, as we have come to define and know it and the merely ordinary is the capacity to ask the correct questions and to see quickly, inter-relationships hidden from normal or ordinary people.
A classic example of this quality and capacity was Jobs' recognition of the potential uses and power of the mouse. On a visit to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC), Jobs was given a demonstration of a device under development, a prototype of the now ubiquitous computer mouse.
Lights immediately went off in his head and before he had left the vicinity of PARC, he had called the developers to figure out if they would come to Apple with their invention. The rest we know as history.
Blessing in disguise
Indeed, the Xerox PARC facility, known for creative and inventive activity, has on more than one occasion missed the boat on its own inventions, or to put it more correctly, the inventions created by its alumni. Another example of his farsightedness was his recruitment of John Sculley from the Pepsi Company to run Apple.
That one didn't work out so well for him, in the immediate short run. He asked Sculley if he preferred to spend the rest of his life making sugared water versus creating the future at Apple. Sculley signed on but in the end had Jobs fired from the company he created.
This may have been a blessing in disguise, for when he returned, Jobs had learned so much that he was able to launch the then sagging Apple onto a new and successful path: one wedded to innovation and the view that you don't ask your current customers what it is that they want. They often don't know! You envision the future and give it to them. This is what Mr Jobs did.
Sergey Brin, one of Google's co-founders, posted his reaction: "From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the Macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person, the few times we have met. On behalf of all of us at Google and more broadly in technology, you will be missed very much. My condolences to family, friends and colleagues at Apple."
The Google homepage includes a link to Apple's memorial page - yes, this may be a competitor but pure class is by every measure, class! Google recognises, acknowledges this.
Asked to indicate thoughts on Steve Jobs' impact, one comment simply indicated: "Pixar movies. GUI [the now ubiquitous Graphical User Interface]. The computer mouse. iPods. Macs. iPhones. iPads. Innovation. Vision. American Guts." Nuff said!
Mr Jobs knew how to pick himself up, start over, move on. The mistake of the Apple Lisa that killed one of Apple's major attractive features - access for enthusiasts to create hardware and software for its products - was difficult to handle. His firing from Apple would have been devastating to anyone. He bounced back, better equipped.
Apple had announced on August 24 of this year that Mr Jobs, battling cancer for several years, would step down as CEO. Apple's stock immediately dipped but subsequently recovered. Yes, we have witnessed the passing of an icon. In the field of technological change and innovation, Steve Jobs is the embodiment of the reality that it is not necessary to have endlessstashes of money and massive infrastructure to succeed.
He and Steve Wozniak began their digital creative life as youngsters in one of their parents' garage. The capacity of genius is unique, but it exists all across the world in all populations. The potential inventor, given the wrong environment easily turns out to be tomorrow's Don in a garrison! We should take note.
Someone with the handle "iamwill" posted a graphical tribute filled with apple seeds and the words: "plant these apple seeds for Steve Jobs ... so we can grow more, more geniuses".