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Remembering Apple CEO Steve Jobs on His Birthday

CheffyDude said:
Fact: Steve Jobs was not a genius. He merely surrounded himself with the best people possible who could put up with him.
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It depends on how you define genius. Steve Jobs was not an engineering genius, or a gifted software developer or probably even a prodigy of spreadsheeting or supply chain optimisation.

But he had vision and instincts and a drive to make them happen. He brought all of these people together and make products happen that I'm not sure would have happened without him.

I think building what Steve Jobs built requires a certain genius and inspiration that not everyone has.
 
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I remember the day and the headline, "Most people learned of his passing on the very device he invented".
Miss him.
 
Pezimak said:
Some would say they miss his magic, others his reality distortion field!

But I miss his stage presence, he was a damn good salesman and presented products in a way to get you excited. I also don't believe he would be targeting profits first as much as Apple does now despite their wealth, and we would have had more innovation, as opposed to incremental updates.
But hey ho it is what it is and I'm still buying Apple products so....

He has given the world the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (I think that was developed under him?) and Mac.
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This so much. His presence on a stage could turn even a very by the numbers presentation into something that felt exciting.
It's telling that more than a decade after his passing and dozens (if not hundreds) of books written in every language imaginable on "how to present like Steve Jobs," basically no one can even come close.

That combination of charisma, showmanship, and passion is just exceedingly rare. It's interesting to think what he might have become had he been born at a different time or in a different place. It's also of course the hallmark of a true Apple fan to wonder "what would Apple look like if Steve was still around today" 😢

UK-MacAddict said:
Steve was never solely profit driven and believed in reasonable level of profit on each product. He said that many times in interviews which you can view on YouTube. That's why he never gave any dividends to shareholders the entire time he was in charge.

This was his passion, his company he started from scratch with Woz. He truly believed in the ethos of making insanely great products for customers. You can't replace that kind of passion unfortunately...
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I agree Steve's passion, the soul he poured into every product was a big part of Apple's secret sauce.
That said, while it's easy to criticize the direction Tim has taken Apple (and I'm happy to do so,) I think the reality is that Steve Jobs was a 1 in a million (billion?) type of person. No one was going to be able to fill those shoes as well as he could. It's easy to say "Ive would've been more like Steve" but who knows, perhaps giving it to the "design" guy would have been even worse than giving it to the "logistics guy."
One of Steve's great strengths was bringing together lots of different, extremely talented people, keeping them from clashing, taming their excesses, and getting them all to work together toward a common vision.
It's also important to remember that his way of running Apple had its own cost to the people who worked there (he wasn't always a great boss to put it lightly.)

All of that said, RIP Steve, you are missed.
 
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This idea that people have, that Steve ran Apple not caring about profit and focusing more on customer satisfaction and innovation and that today’s Apple is a purely profit / greed driven company more akin to what Microsoft was under Balmer, is just complete crap. Steve wanted the same thing Microsoft had achieved in being a dominant and profitable force, with the major difference being Steve understood the need to offer good design and UX, something Microsoft still has not achieved.

Anyone that thinks Apple designs new products based on profit first is a fool. Apple’s product teams are focused on developing products and services that consumers will want and spend their money on. Product mandates will include a suggested range for retail pricing, but designers are trying to build products to hit a certain profit number. Cost of goods is handled by purchasing and it’s their job to figure out how to get the lowest price for every component so that Apple can hit their 30-40% margin. They are, after all, a for-profit company.

And if you say Apple isn’t producing new or innovative products today, compared to what they offered back when Steve was alive, you’re conveniently forgetting that Apple’s chip development IS years ahead of everyone else and the products you use (iPhone, iPad, Watch, MBP, MBA, etc.) have all been made leaps and bounds better than they were when Steve was still alive because of the developments they’ve made over the past ~5 years.

The incremental advances happening with the iPhone are more a function of the advanced state of personal electronics today. There just isn’t as much left to do BECAUSE these products have advanced so much. Add to that, the fact that because each of Apple’s products are sold in such huge numbers, Apple can’t and won’t take risks with technologies that could be problematic, or that don’t benefit the UX, as they could risk damaging Apple’s overall reputation.
 
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Malus120 said:
This so much. His presence on a stage could turn even a very by the numbers presentation into something that felt exciting.
It's telling that more than a decade after his passing and dozens (if not hundreds) of books written in every language imaginable on "how to present like Steve Jobs," basically no one can even come close.

That combination of charisma, showmanship, and passion is just exceedingly rare. It's interesting to think what he might have become had he been born at a different time or in a different place. It's also of course the hallmark of a true Apple fan to wonder "what would Apple look like if Steve was still around today" 😢


I agree Steve's passion, the soul he poured into every product was a big part of Apple's secret sauce.
That said, while it's easy to criticize the direction Tim has taken Apple (and I'm happy to do so,) I think the reality is that Steve Jobs was a 1 in a million (billion?) type of person. No one was going to be able to fill those shoes as well as he could. It's easy to say "Ive would've been more like Steve" but who knows, perhaps giving it to the "design" guy would have been even worse than giving it to the "logistics guy."
One of Steve's great strengths was bringing together lots of different, extremely talented people, keeping them from clashing, taming their excesses, and getting them all to work together toward a common vision.
It's also important to remember that his way of running Apple had its own cost to the people who worked there (he wasn't always a great boss to put it lightly.)

All of that said, RIP Steve, you are missed.
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I agree with everything you’ve said. Steve was that guy who didn’t care what anybody thought, shot from the hip and without filter.

I personally like these types of people. It cuts through all the fakery and focuses straight on the point in question.

I have a thick skin and not easily offended at all but understand not everyone would like to be spoken to in the way he probably did.
 
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Listening to people talk about Steve Jobs is rather like istening to people talk about Gene Roddenberry.

GR wanted a successful production for television. He also had some forward thinking ideas that were in tune with the times of the 1960s. He imaginatively conceived of an idea for serious minded science fiction for television that also allowed for sneaking in social commentary. He didn’t have it all worked out, but he had a talent for recognizing others’ talents and inspiring them. He gave birth to arguably the most successful science fiction franchise in history. He was a decent writer, but he was a better editor. He championed equality for all and equal rights for women.

On the flip side. While recognizing talent he was known for sometimes taking credit for other’s work and ideas. He championed equality for women, but he was a notorious womanizer. He had good ideas, but he also had messed up ideas he had to be talked out of. He could be great on selling people on ideas he didn’t follow through on. Fans idolized GR, but those who worked with him could tear their hair out at times. He also had a blind spot in demonizing some of those who could have actually helped him.

He certainly wasn’t one dimensional.

It can be fairly argued his creation lost something when he died. Where it once led now it seems largely to follow.

It was once said that Star Trek was created in spite of the system in which it was born, but has long been taken over by that very system.

People tend to see what they want to see and tend to ignore or gloss over what they don’t want to see.
 
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UK-MacAddict said:
I agree with everything you’ve said. Steve was that guy who didn’t care what anybody thought, shot from the hip and without filter.

I personally like these types of people. It cuts through all the fakery and focuses straight on the point in question.

I have a thick skin and not easily offended at all but understand not everyone would like to be spoken to in the way he probably did.
Click to expand...
And I wonder if he only did that with employee who needed that. We had great supervisors at one time who knew exactly how to motivate each person. Some needed positive reinforcement, some a kick in the butt, some just to be left alone...
 
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Malus120 said:
This so much. His presence on a stage could turn even a very by the numbers presentation into something that felt exciting.
It's telling that more than a decade after his passing and dozens (if not hundreds) of books written in every language imaginable on "how to present like Steve Jobs," basically no one can even come close.

That combination of charisma, showmanship, and passion is just exceedingly rare. It's interesting to think what he might have become had he been born at a different time or in a different place. It's also of course the hallmark of a true Apple fan to wonder "what would Apple look like if Steve was still around today" 😢


I agree Steve's passion, the soul he poured into every product was a big part of Apple's secret sauce.
That said, while it's easy to criticize the direction Tim has taken Apple (and I'm happy to do so,) I think the reality is that Steve Jobs was a 1 in a million (billion?) type of person. No one was going to be able to fill those shoes as well as he could. It's easy to say "Ive would've been more like Steve" but who knows, perhaps giving it to the "design" guy would have been even worse than giving it to the "logistics guy."
One of Steve's great strengths was bringing together lots of different, extremely talented people, keeping them from clashing, taming their excesses, and getting them all to work together toward a common vision.
It's also important to remember that his way of running Apple had its own cost to the people who worked there (he wasn't always a great boss to put it lightly.)

All of that said, RIP Steve, you are missed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think the only one that comes close is Craig, but the rest including Tim don't come anywhere near to the flow Steve had. He was a natural presenter. I like Craig as he has a sense of humour and is good with the jokes, makes it more light hearted.
But I agree Steve was a rare breed.
 
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