Yesterday, Steve Jobs passed away from his ongoing battle with cancer.
Was he a genius?
Categorically: Yes, he was.
There seems to be a raging debate over what contributions he has made to technology and the world at large. I find that absolutely staggering. The man was a once-in-a-lifetime visionary who had the capability to bring that vision to fruition.
You can quibble about what he actually “invented”, but that misses the point entirely. Did he create the first graphical interface? No. His genius was in recognizing it for its importance, and managing a company in such a way to bring it to market. Xerox (who did invent it) would have never been able to pull that off. What does the invention matter if no one is able to use it?
Did he invent the smartphone? The portable music player? The tablet computer? No, no and no. His genius was in making the first one in all three categories that was worth a damn. His were the first ones that the average person wanted to use.
There are critics that say he was only a good marketer. But that again misses the point all together. He was smart enough to understand technology, see what it could be capable of, and figure out how to make it so the average person could use it. In that, he stands alone. Was he also a good marketer on top of that? You bet – also, one of the best ever. That makes him even more unique.
Anyone who uses technology in their day to day work, especially web designers like me, have had their world shaped in part by Steve Jobs.
It’s often repeated that he set out to put a “dent in the universe”.
Consider the Universe dented
Posted on October 6, 2011 by Chip Cullen
Yesterday, Steve Jobs passed away from his ongoing battle with cancer.
Was he a genius?
Categorically: Yes, he was.
There seems to be a raging debate over what contributions he has made to technology and the world at large. I find that absolutely staggering. The man was a once-in-a-lifetime visionary who had the capability to bring that vision to fruition.
You can quibble about what he actually “invented”, but that misses the point entirely. Did he create the first graphical interface? No. His genius was in recognizing it for its importance, and managing a company in such a way to bring it to market. Xerox (who did invent it) would have never been able to pull that off. What does the invention matter if no one is able to use it?
Did he invent the smartphone? The portable music player? The tablet computer? No, no and no. His genius was in making the first one in all three categories that was worth a damn. His were the first ones that the average person wanted to use.
There are critics that say he was only a good marketer. But that again misses the point all together. He was smart enough to understand technology, see what it could be capable of, and figure out how to make it so the average person could use it. In that, he stands alone. Was he also a good marketer on top of that? You bet – also, one of the best ever. That makes him even more unique.
Anyone who uses technology in their day to day work, especially web designers like me, have had their world shaped in part by Steve Jobs.
It’s often repeated that he set out to put a “dent in the universe”.
Well, consider the universe dented.
This entry was posted in Apple, Blog and tagged apple, steve jobs. Bookmark the permalink.