Remembering Steve Jobs

[Brighton Apple Guy]

The reason I switched to Apple was simplicity, and that was by Steves design.

These days the Apple ecosystem has become over complicated, full of stuff that doesn't work properly or never gets finished. I get that the Tech landscape has changed hugely in 14 years, but still. They have the resources to be better.

 

[neomorpheus]

And as usual, Steve The Woz Wozniak is chopped liver.

Yes, I know, its Jobs anniversary but I hate how The Woz is not mentioned at all as if Jobs founded Apple all by himself.

 

[djgamble]

Today marks the 14th anniversary of Steve Jobs passing away, at the age of 56. He died just one day after Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S and Siri.

Damn he'd be 70!!!

Sigh... the days when Apple was truely innovative. I miss the days when iPhones weren't just iteratively larger, with more cameras glued on each time.

 

[djgamble]

And as usual, Steve The Woz Wozniak is chopped liver.

Yes, I know, its Jobs anniversary but I hate how The Woz is not mentioned at all as if Jobs founded Apple all by himself.

He's not dead though? This is about Jobs' death and remembering him... not retelling the Apple story from the ground up. Woz has mad respect and recognition IMO...

 

[davidec]

By that measure, he would be even more impressed that Microsoft is a 3.8 trillion dollar company today.

Now that’s a stretch. I don’t think Steve would ever have been impressed with anything Microsoft did!

 

[thiscatisfat]

For all the naysayers regarding Tim I would just say look at the present day MacBooks. Then remember those plastic-bodied models that used to crack at the corners. There were plenty of products in Steve's time that didn't really adhere to his oft-repeated high standards. What I remember Steve for was his vision but the implementation with regard to product has improved vastly with unibody and Apple Silicon to name just two aspects.
People get hung up on clickbait testing of stuff aimed squarely at undermining what products have to offer. Without finding and exaggerating issues their videos won't succeed.
Steve's vision is still there even if there are gaps and areas that need attention - it was ever thus. I look at what I'm typing on now, my phone, those Airpod Pro 2s and the Mac Mini M1 that saved me during Covid and I am incredibly thankful to the legacy of Steve and the present-day achievements of Tim and his team.

The white plastic Macbooks were made for education specifically. It was meant to get you through school and get recycled, and to grab marketshare in that area. It wasn't meant to be built to last, it was something you'd get for free as a student from your school. I really wish these were still around, my work laptop is some sort of a Dell and it's just crappy black boring plastic computer that looks like it's stuck in 1995. If that's all my company can afford for everyone, fine, I'd rather have a Macbook, even if it's plastic as long as my company can afford it. It was very much the 5C of Macbooks, it really didn't matter.

 

[QuarterSwede]

???

He was a salesman. A great one. He made you want to buy the product he was talking about.

He was absolutely doing it for the money. To suggest otherwise is just ridiculous.

Yes, he was a salesman. But once you get to a certain amount of money many people don’t do it for that anymore. They do it for altruistic reasons or the love of the game. Jobs said many times why he was so passionate about computers. Not all of that is just salesman speak. Don’t put people in a simplistic box. We’re all more complicated.

 

[neuropsychguy]

The reason I switched to Apple was simplicity, and that was by Steves design.

These days the Apple ecosystem has become over complicated, full of stuff that doesn't work properly or never gets finished. I get that the Tech landscape has changed hugely in 14 years, but still. They have the resources to be better.

What doesn't work properly or isn't finished? Can you give specific examples of Apple products that are not working as they are designed to work?

 

[thiscatisfat]

Damn he'd be 70!!!

Sigh... the days when Apple was truely innovative. I miss the days when iPhones weren't just iteratively larger, with more cameras glued on each time.

Oh I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have a lineup full of phablets exclusively. I can't imagine Jobs seeing the new 17 Pro and be like hell yeah, that's what we're doing. Make it orange to match the pedo's face! It would be more like what he said about using a stylus. "Yuck!".

 

[iMac The Knife]

R.I.P. Steve Jobs. And to all those who've decided to take time out of your day to bash Jobs on the anniversary of his death, I will never understand this behavior. It would be far easier to scroll on. Trolls will forever be trolls though.

 

[MaxVerstappen]

I don’t think he envisioned handing his company over to someone who would waste literal billions on a car project and ignore the next biggest market in tech in Ai.

I might be the only one, but I simply don’t care or use AI at all. In fact I despise it.

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

Thank You Steve

Though you’re not here, the wonder you left behind continues to shape the world. Apple is not just a company—it’s a living expression of your vision: where technology meets the humanities, where design speaks as loudly as function, and where simplicity hides unimaginable depth.

You showed that true innovation lies at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. You taught that it’s not enough for something to work—it must inspire. You built not just devices, but experiences. And you gathered around you a remarkable group of people who still carry that torch—people who believe, as you did, that great technology must also touch the human soul.

Thank you for daring to “think different.” Thank you for reminding us that beauty and precision can coexist. Thank you for leaving behind a legacy that’s more than machines—it’s a philosophy, a way of creating, a way of seeing the world.

Endlessly greatful for Apple and the the products it creates on earth, products that enhance life.

 

[wanha]

The reason I switched to Apple was simplicity, and that was by Steves design.

These days the Apple ecosystem has become over complicated, full of stuff that doesn't work properly or never gets finished. I get that the Tech landscape has changed hugely in 14 years, but still. They have the resources to be better.

This is all true, but keep in mind the staggering growth in complexity of technology in general. Every new feature, accessory, and connected device requires its own controls and UX.

The iPhone can do so many more things it could at the start, and by necessity this is force that challenges the notion of simplicity in very tangible ways.

This isn't to say Apple couldn't do better because it most certainly could, but that complexity is a rising tide that forces more complexity into the UX over time, and you can hide it or keep it simple only up to a point.

 

[Kr0019]

When creatives run the show things get exciting and edgy. Coming from a creative background, the best places to work were where those artists run the circus. Steve wasn’t just a creative he had a perspective on the industry that no-one else had. He could see where the future was heading and he skated to the puck (so to speak). Yes, we have all heard how he was difficult to work with at times, but my best learnings came from the headstrong creatives that were deeply passionate about what they were creating. To them it was like birthing a child, so I can now understand why they are the way they are. My very first computer was the original Macintosh. Boy have things changed.

R.I.P Steve, regardless of your flaws, you made the world a more interesting and exciting place to live in. The passion isn’t there today which is why everything feels clinical but one can hope we get to see another Steve Jobs electrify the stage for that, one more thing!

 

[Vinyl3131]

It’s funny how every Apple thread like this turns into Steve Jobs would’ve never let this happen, or Apple died with Steve Jobs. Look, no doubt Steve was a genius and set the bar for product vision and design. But Apple’s strength was never just one man. Jobs himself famously said, “I hire people smarter than me so they can tell me what to do.” Tim Cook was handpicked by Steve, not by accident, but because he knew Apple needed operational excellence to scale the kind of innovation he started. And guess what? Under Cook, Apple became a multi-trillion-dollar company that now builds its own chips and redefined wearables while still making massive impacts in the iPhone category.

So yeah, Steve made an impact but pretending Apple’s a mess now because he’s gone is like saying Disney stopped being creative after Walt died. The founder laid the blueprint the company built the empire.

Definitely true. Though I have a feeling, Steve left a very long road map of products and strategies for Tim to follow, otherwise why would Steve have appointed such a linear thinker.

I also don’t think Tim followed the road map as planned.

The question that sticks in my head is, why would Steve have chosen somebody so opposite himself to lead? Unless he anticipated Johnny Ive being a strong leader to assist in the plan.

Tim Cook’s narrow-mindedness and a lack of vision led to Johnny’s exit. I doubt Steve saw that coming.

 

[precision01]

Tim Cook and it's associates focus on Boomers, Gen X and investitors. Jobs had a mentality much ahead of it's time, and also understood what the userbase really wants. I'm pretty sure that with him, everything would be diferent, from iphones to macs and software.

 

[Pezimak]

I might be the only one, but I simply don’t care or use AI at all. In fact I despise it.

Max.... HI Max! Lol, I doubt you are the only one, sadly millions are using it and more each day. It was pretty stupid of Apple to ignore the market for so long.

 

[Pezimak]

Such a key difference between Steve and Tim

(Among several others)

Yes, Steve grew the 'company' and its product list, after stripping it back to 2 or 3 products was it? Tim has grown the stock value and bank balance, not the company. IMO anyway.

 

[macdisciple]

Steve was impressive, sometimes. But people are incredibly naive to think there would be much difference under his leadership nowadays.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Steve was impressive, sometimes. But people are incredibly naive to think there would be much difference under his leadership nowadays.

If you think this HOT GARBAGE software quality would be getting released under Steve, you're sorely mistaken.

 

[I7guy]

I agree with you. He knew a good product will bring in revenue, so he focused on Apple delivering the best possible product. Having good sales was a side-effect of that.

Exactly Peter Drucker 101.

It's the complete opposite with Cook and his finance bros. Cook is delivering mediocre products and mediocre software since 2014,

No he’s not.

you can just tell that Cook's Apple is milking the legacy, nothing more.

No he’s not.

They keep pushing for a "better" product every year, and yes they do get incrementally better, but it's always more of the same.

Do you believe the iPhone 4s was leaps and bounds ahead of the 4? Similar to what you are claiming Cook does.

Nothing groundbreaking, nothing like a flop after flop under Cook.

You mean forgetting about the jobs flops and missteps.

Jobs was a salesman, but he understood that a good product will have good sales. Cook's philosophy is making an "okay" product that won't make Apple lose too much on R&D and production and aligning with marketing to push the thing as hard as possible to make sales, it feels very forced.

That’s not correct.

Under Jobs, it just felt natural. You saw the new thing, it was pretty much self-explanatory why you'd want to buy it, you didn't need a pre-recorded hour-long ad with 30 people telling you why you should buy the new product.

And yet Steve did just that. The world has changed and the Steve RDF is in effect unfortunately.

 

[citysnaps]

Damn he'd be 70!!!

Sigh... the days when Apple was truely innovative. I miss the days when iPhones weren't just iteratively larger, with more cameras glued on each time.

Many conveniently not remember the flops Jobs introduced.

 

[MrENGLISH]

Definitely true. Though I have a feeling, Steve left a very long road map of products and strategies for Tim to follow, otherwise why would Steve have appointed such a linear thinker.

I also don’t think Tim followed the road map as planned.​

The question that sticks in my head is, why would Steve have chosen somebody so opposite himself to lead? Unless he anticipated Johnny Ive being a strong leader to assist in the plan.

Tim Cook’s narrow-mindedness and a lack of vision led to Johnny’s exit. I doubt Steve saw that coming.

The first hint of that was when he fired Scott Forstall.

Cook's strength has always been in logistics. I don't doubt for a second that he is the reason the M1 Pro, Max, and Ultra are designed in a way to cut down on waste and make use of manufacturing defects. Being able to take a faulty Ultra chip and cut it in half to make it into a usable Max chip or to take that a step further and cut a faulty Max chip and make it into a usable Pro chip was absolutely brilliant thinking.

I haven't really followed the designs of the M2/3/4 Pro/Max/Ultra chipset designs but I would assume they still follow a similar manufacturing design that allows them to cut down on waste.

Unfortunately, his lack of vision and direction outside of logistics really shows and makes Apple look like they are falling behind the competition. Not to mention he comes across as greedy with the way products and options are priced.

I really think it is time for a new CEO with a real vision for products to take over. Let Cook do what he does best, oversee logistics.

 

[thiscatisfat]

Exactly Peter Drucker 101.

No he’s not.

No he’s not.

Do you believe the iPhone 4s was leaps and bounds ahead of the 4? Similar to what you are claiming Cook does.

You mean forgetting about the jobs flops and missteps.

That’s not correct.

And yet Steve did just that. The world has changed and the Steve RDF is in effect unfortunately.

The 4S? Bro. When was the last time you used a 4S with 4 side by side? I've got both of them right here, and the 4S is just so much better than the 4 even if it was meant to be an incremental upgrade. The difference in performance between a 4 and 4S feels like the jump between normal 12 and a 14 Pro in today's terms, the 4S is just so much better than the 4, they look the same but the performance difference between the two is just massive. Look at the massive leaps from 3GS to 4S to 5, all within 4 years. Look at the last 4 years of the phablet they call the "iPhone" today. The thing hasn't really changed much since iPhone 10, maybe 12. And don't come at me with it being a "mature product", it's never been a mature product and the competition has overtaken Apple's iPhone long time ago. You can't attribute the innovations in chips to Cook, that's not his work, he did absolutely nothing to claim a credit for those. He didn't push innovation, ever. He pushed VALUE of the company above everything else, he's a pure numbers person. Like how can you say he's not milking the legacy of the old Apple, that's literally why he was chosen to be a CEO, because he's good as this sort of a thing

Yes I keep forgetting because the things he did right outshine the things he did wrong, that's why people remember him this way. What will you remember from Cook? Artificially bloated market value? The weird "vision pro" (brutal flop) that nobody really wants? The AI flop? Definitely the "GOOD MORNING!". Give me a break. Apple under Cook became boring to say the least. Absolutely boring. Ive in he's interview explained pretty much spot on how Cook's leadership killed the spark at Apple, it just became a traditional old corporate people grinder. As I said before, a simple packaging of a DVD released under Jobs had more magic than anything Apple offers today.

 

[delsoul]

If you think this HOT GARBAGE software quality would be getting released under Steve, you're sorely mistaken.

Steve would have cleared house and sent the Software team packing a LONG time ago. None of this 3rd, 4th, infinite chances to keep screwing things up and making it worse. That’s why Apple products were the absolute best because it was as much perfection as possible, no compromises. Not just ios 26, but even the iPad, computer, etc releases of 26 have all been atrocious. That’s not an accident or off chance, that’s just a horrible software team. Steve would have had zero mercy on such shoddy work, rightfully so.