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For the past few years, Twitter has been the source for breaking news. Last night, I started seeing several tweets that mentioned that Steve Jobs had died. Knowing that the Web sometimes spreads false rumors, I typed in Apple.com and saw that it was true. The Apple homepage was bereft of colorful imagery. The page read: Steve Jobs 1955-2011. An iconic black and white photograph of Apple's co-creator seemed like Steve's final touch. Simple. To the point. Functional.
Steve Jobs' influence on education, entertainment, and innovation was expansive. His impact on business, public relations, public speaking, music distribution, learning/teaching, accessibility, and technological invention makes Jobs one of the most prominent figures of this century.
I remember playing Oregon Trail on an Apple IIe while in elementary school. In high school, the yearbook staff worked on an older Macintosh. The library technology coordinator even had a Newton. Apple products were everywhere. Today, Apple products are still everywhere... in classrooms, boardrooms, dorm rooms and living rooms. On my desk sits a MacBook Pro, an older iPod, a bluetooth Apple keyboard, and an iPod shuffle. Many of my friends have iPads. The iPhone gets more press for an incremental update than most gadgets will see in a lifetime.
I've admired Steve Jobs for a very long time. He was an awesome communicator. He could captivate huge audiences of people. He was blunt. Even when communicating his thoughts about a new Apple campus, his conciseness was ever-present. The innovations that came about while he led Apple are all around us. Jobs helped bring us one of the most stable operating systems we've ever seen, the best (and still magical) tablet in the universe, aesthetically/functionally superior hardware and the game-changing iPhone. Personal computers, mobile devices, and content distribution were dramatically impacted because of Job's leadership and vision.
Thank you, Steve, for giving us so much. At the end of the day, you were an iconic inventor who always made us want to hear three words: "one more thing."
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