Business: Remembering Steve Jobs

Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid respect to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Jobs had struggled with health issues but said very little about his battle with cancer since an operation in 2004. When he stepped down in August, handing the CEO reins to long-time operations chief Tim Cook, Jobs said simply that he could no longer fulfill his duties as chief executive.

"He was a very private person, but he's everywhere in the products he created," said Glenn Harada, a 22-year-old former Apple employee. "He didn't work alone but none of this could have happened without him."

With his passion for minimalist design and a genius for marketing, Jobs laid the groundwork for Apple to continue to flourish after his death, most analysts and investors say.

Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which built on breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today.

The rebel streak that was central to his persona got him tossed out of Apple in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the roll-out of a troika of products -- the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad -- that again upended the established order in major industries. This cutting-edge mentality and unique leadership style lead supporters to name Jobs ‘CEO of the decade’.

Jobs had a very unique outlook on life and understood situations differently from the common man. An example of this is in his Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 where he explained how we can use death as a tool to help us live. He said:

“Death is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

The death of this ground-breaking visionary is going to hurt the technology and business industry. Hopefully many more Steve Jobs’ will emerge from our youth who will share the same passion, work-ethic and pursuit for perfection.

The Ahmadiyya Post, Business. Oct 07, 2011