Word comes that Steve Jobs - Apple's famous former CEO and sitting chairmain of the board - has passed away. We've known that Steve has been ill for some time, culminating in his stepping down from Apple's CEO, but you never really know when to expect the worst. Not a single AnandTech editor went through their childhood without working with an Apple II at least once, and numerous other Apple devices years later; the story of the coming of age of the personal computer and the story of Steve Jobs are often one in the same.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Source: Apple
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tipoo - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
You certainly did make that ding in the universe you wanted.People can criticize his specific methods to their hearts content, but no one can deny we just lost one of the great technological revolutionarys, a man who changed the world in a massive way. He stayed with Apple right until the very end, he could teach anyone out there lessons in commitment.
Cr0nJ0b - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
I couldn't agree more. Say what you will about the corporations he build or the products...he certainly made an impact.Rest In Peace!
B3an - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
As a human being the guy was an a-hole and screwed over friends and family. I couldn't care less. I just hope that now he's dead that people dont start putting him in to the categories of the true greats of society who have truly helped people and made real progress, because that would be disgusting.KoolAidMan1 - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
You're like Roddy Piper from They Live with the magic sunglasses, and only you can see just how awful Jobs was while everybody else reflects on his invaluable contributions to technology, culture, and society.Congratulations on being so smart.
damianrobertjones - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
"on his invaluable contributions to technology"I wouldn't call them invaluable...
Shame that he's passed away though.
BSMonitor - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Are you kidding? Smart phones were text driven ./ pale immitations of computing before the iPhone.MP3 players and MP3s in general were a clusterfck of designs, cheap parts, lack of continuity, until the iPod and ITunes came along..
The PC market was even more of a mess of blurred product groups, shotty parts and service, complete lack of user-friendly environments, receding profits until the iMac's became the fastest growing PC group in the country.
Regardless if you agree with the philosphy.. Average joe computer user does not need all the chaos that a PC can bring. They want it to just work. Apple's way of simplifing the insanity the PC world brings really works for a LOT of people.
The question technology users always have to ask themselves. How much time do I want to devote to this new device. No answer is wrong here, just the PC market in general left the users who answer, "As little overhead time as possible" completely on their own. This is where Apple has stepped in and had wide success.
You may call them sheep, letting the manufacturer limit what one can do with their products... But there is a huge market of people who are calling for this.
Imagine if the dashboard of your car looked like the inside of an airplane cockpit. Each system giving you switches, options, monitors for things you have no idea about. How much fun/hassel would it be to drive?? Something like an airliner needs all that. Safety of hundreds of people depend on it. Minor changes make a world of difference. However in a car, average joe turns it on and wants to go.
Apple has given a lot of people an option for just turning it on, and GO.
The PC industry got so big so fast, that chaos followed with all the options and alternatives. Apple brought a single path to follow through that chaos. Right or wrong for you, it was the right path for $100Billion in revenue per year.
Kudos to Jobs for building a wildly successful tech company in a post internet bubble era.
rlandess - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
I'm not intending to speak ill of Jobs but his contribution to Apple wasn't his technological expertise, it was marketing. He found a neglected market segment those who weren't tech savvy or just not willing to learn. He guided the esoteric design of ipods, macs and Ipads and their operating systems. He was able to create buzz within the right groups of people and was able to make a market frenzy for the initial product launches.Let's give him credit for what he was good at.
Let's also be honest about the products.
The Ipod wasn't the first quality mp3 player, or the easiest to use.
The iMac shouldn't even count as an accomplishment.
The Iphone was not the first smart phone. It wasn't even the first touch screen smartphone.
There is not a single area of technology that Apple has revolutionized. Apple has been successful in shaping existing technology and marketing it to the masses. Let's not belittle their accomplishments but be truthful about the extent of those accomplishments.
If you look at Steve Jobs life and legacy you have to admit he was a great person.
BSMonitor - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Complete denial."The Ipod wasn't the first quality mp3 player, or the easiest to use."
300 Million Sold. Name the next in line? Right, Can't.
"The iMac shouldn't even count as an accomplishment."
???
The only PC company to be growing it's install base.
"The Iphone was not the first smart phone. It wasn't even the first touch screen smartphone."
Didn't say that at all. But seems to me there wasn't a race to build the best touch-screen smartphone until AFTER the iPhone launched. Most assumed it fail as all other smart-phones had.
"There is not a single area of technology that Apple has revolutionized. Apple has been successful in shaping existing technology and marketing it to the masses. Let's not belittle their accomplishments but be truthful about the extent of those accomplishments."
iPad is still the only wildly successful tablet. The tablet concepted failed entirely time and time again until the iPad.
Smartphones. Again. No one bought them until after the launch of the iPhone. Now the smart phone market is poised to become the largest cell phone market.
Ipod. 300 million. I would guess no other single music device family has sold more than 20 million.
Let's be truthful, you hate Apple and are biased toward their products.
JonnyDough - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
The iPod used a more quality/fancy case and a small hard drive. It was overpriced but it sold because people wanted lots of music storage. There were much cheaper flash versions of mobile music, and modern cell phones make the iPod a thing of the past anyway. Every technology has its hayday but the fact that the iPod will never see huge sales again goes to prove that it was evolutionary and not revolutionary.Greg512 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
The incandescent light bulb is a thing of the past. Was it not revolutionary? Besides, very little credit is given to Apple for what it has done. Look, for example, at the rise in popularity (and fall in price) of IPS monitors. It was Apple that pushed the technology by incorporating it in their monitors, iMac computers, iPhone 4, and tablets. Look at the capacitive touch overlay. Apple showed the world that a smartphone didn't need a stylish to be useful, that a capacitive screen was better than a resistive for most tasks. Look at the mouse. Sure, it was Xerox that invented the mouse, but it was Apple that pushed its adoption. These are just several examples of Apple's contributions to the computer industry. In the end, Apple did not invent new technology, it showed the world how to use it. Isn't that important? I would say so.