Steve Jobs has passed away :(

[Kzach]

Holy crap!

He must've known since he only stepped down a few months ago as CEO.

I'm blown away...

http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

 

[Relique du Madde]

Just imagine how the Tim Cook feels...

iPhone 4s is announce and instead of the week continuing to be good, BOOM! Steve Jobs dies from cancer the next day.

 

[Sutekh]

He has known he was dying since 2005, the year after his first operation.

some people didnt like what he did for Apple, but I think Apple itself owes much of its existence to Mr Jobs.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

He has known he was dying since 2005, the year after his first operation.

some people didnt like what he did for Apple, but I think Apple itself owes much of its existence to Mr Jobs.

Yeah, pancreatic cancer is pretty much a death sentence, even for a gazillionaire.

And Apple's influence is more important than who uses an iDevice -- personal computers, as a concept, are in large part something he invented. He helped change the world in a way few people ever have.

 

[Aeolius]

Somewhere around 1979-1980, my folks bought our first home computer, an Apple ][+. After that, I had an Apple //gs, Mac Quadra 900, PowerMac 8500,and a handful of PowerBooks. From that point I got married and started a family. Numerous iMacs, desktop Macs (G3, G4, G5), iBooks, MacBooks, AppleTVs, Airport Base Stations, iPods, iPhones, and iPads followed. Steve Jobs was not without faults, the man was not perfect, but he was a visionary pure and simple. Thanks, Steve... from one of the original Apple fanboys.

Still... it's weird... I don't remember when Walt Disney died... I was too young. I barely remember when Elvis died, though I was in elementary school. It's the childhood icons one attaches to. I cried when Vincent Price died. I cried when Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) died. Steve, thanks for the toys... this tears for you.

 

[Janx]

It was never clear what engineering contribution Steve Jobs made to the company. Did he write any code? Did he design any circuit boards?

But as a marketer, the guy was legendary. More often than not, he knew what people would like, and would insist on the style and feature set he envisioned.

And his vision worked.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

That vision was what made him not merely a marketer. He defined the goals of Apple. How should a product look like, what should it do?

I think that is a relatively well-defined job. It's not an "engineering" job, as it's not an engineer's job to decide whether we need to build a racing car or a .50 rifle or an iPad. An engineer's job is to build one. (And sometimes explain why it can't be made.)

 

[Felon]

Just imagine how the Tim Cook feels...

iPhone 4s is announce and instead of the week continuing to be good, BOOM! Steve Jobs dies from cancer the next day.

Well, the iPhone 4s announcement was pretty much regarded as a letdown, since most folks were hoping something grander than an iPhone 4 with a faster processor.

As for Jobs, pancreatic cancer is the ultimate raw deal. Nearly impossible to diagnose until it's spread to other organs, which is too late. Can't even get at the pancreas for a biopsy without major surgery that involves shuffling other orgarns out of the way.

That's why I was sympathetic with him when other folks gave him a hard time about some of his glib responses to complaints about various Apple product inconveniences. "What should I do about my iPhone losing calls when I hold it this way?" "Well, don't hold it that way." There are problems in this world, and then are problems.

All-in-all, he kep his cool before the public eye while staring his own mortality in the face.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Yeah, pancreatic cancer is pretty much a death sentence, even for a gazillionaire.

And Apple's influence is more important than who uses an iDevice -- personal computers, as a concept, are in large part something he invented. He helped change the world in a way few people ever have.

No, he popularized them. Xerox created the personal computer but they went nowhere with it since they only tried to sell to buisness.

All-in-all, he kep his cool before the public eye while staring his own mortality in the face.

He had to because the moment he lost his cool while under the helm, Apple stocks would fall. Remember once a CEO starts to panic the investors begin to flee as a result of thinking that the ship is sinking (even if it wasn't).

Today, Tim Cook is in a crappy position. Apple's "Genius" is dead, iPhone 4s (S is for Stinker) is just not revolutionary, and stocks are down (until all the idiots leave the market and everyone who sold high starts rebuying for profit). Deep down he knows that if he doesn't pull off something particularly "innovated" at the next Apple presentation then people will start to assume that Apple was only Steve Job and not a company filled with bright engineers and designers. As CEO now Tim Cook is faced with the challenge of stepping out of Steve Job's shadow or at least show that he is a better Steve Jobs for Apple then Steve Jobs was because sadly, now that Steve Jobs can never return to Apple, Tim must show that Apple is not going to go to waste.

 

[Fast Learner]

Take it somewhere else, Relique. There are plenty of other threads where you can express your distaste.