Losing Steve
10/07/2011 09:47 a.m. | Apple
In the late 90's I became a gadget geek. It started with MP3 players. I had a rio and a nomad and several others. I didn't really like any of them, and none of them were easy. In 2003 I sold a bunch of stuff on eBay to buy a third gen iPod. After a week, I realized that my string of upgrading was over.
I loved that iPod. I took it everywhere around campus and got it hooked up in my car, and I began to fall in love with music. In 2005, my dad got a Mac mini for fathers day. He tried it out and wasn't into it, and he gave it to me. I started playing around with iMovie and trying to make videos like Ze Frank, and spent endless nights listening to the Fray and editing video. I fell in love with the Mac.
At the same time, I was searching for a new kind of gadget. I wanted a portable video player. I wanted an iPod video player. As January 2007 approached, I started reading the gadget blogs that were predicting Apple would announce a video iPod at their keynote presentation. That keynote was the first live blog I ever watched. Apple did announce a video iPod in the form of the iPhone.
The next day Apple posted the video of the keynote and I watched it.
"An iPod, a phone, and communication device. An iPod, a phone, and a communication device. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone."
That's when I fell in love with Steve Jobs.
Since then I have become an Apple zealot. I've owned several macs. I got up at 4am to get in line for my second iPhone. I tell everyone they need to get a Mac.
But much more than that, I have changed my way of thinking about business, technology, and leadership. These three things are what I do now. They are my focus. My vision to build things that people want to use, and it has been shaped by Steve Jobs.
I never met the man and probably never would have. I'm certain that no other stranger has been more influential on my life.
The world has lost a great man.