Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs.  All colleagues as inventors and innovators.  I was recently working on a video about innovation and it’s definition.  A lot of people invent stuff–we all have good ideas and maybe a few of us actually create crude prototypes, but innovation is when you take that invention to market and it changes the lives of people.

The very fact that I’m using a mouse right now and not typing  into a command prompt is because of Steve Jobs – the graphic interface–he perfected that.  The mouse – his idea.  Pixar Entertainment – “Cars” “Finding Nemo” etc., he financed that then sold it to Disney.  He started apple, creating the first “personal” computer that anyone could pick up and understand.  Then he hired the CEO of Pepsi who ended up firing him.  He said in an interview shortly thereafter, “What can I say, I hired the wrong guy?”  Apple lost 2 Billion over the next two years–that was in the 90′s.  They went through 4 CEO’s before bring back Jobs.  They were begging.  Jobs came on and made immediate changes – lots of them and apple started to take off.  Today it’s the number 1 grossing company in America (neck in neck with Exxon).  It’s the #8 brand on planet Earth.

He changed and/or revolutionized the music industry by creating a digital market place called “iTunes” at a time when the music industry was limping from illegal downloading.

He changed the smartphone industry — not raising the bar, but creating a new measuring system all together.  He created the touch screen – something all competitors now use – not only in smartphones.

iPod – revolutionized – put the walkman out of commission – literally.

He completely started a HUGE new category in the computing industry; the tablet.  2 years later, there literally is nothing close to the iPad – believe me, I study specs and nothing is close.

He wasn’t a nice man all the time.  He was passionate, tunnel-visioned and often frustrated by the “dumb” ideas and people around him when he didn’t agree with someone’s suggestion.  He was a computing Beethoven.  Part electronic genius, part design artist.

Overall his vision wasn’t to make money.  It wasn’t to maximize Apple profits–it really wasn’t.  He said on many occasions in many different ways that his dream was to ‘change the world’.  He did.  All those innovations tie together into an invisible electronic consumer-friendly lifestyle that my 4 year old can pick up and intuitively understand without my help.

His vision will continue to change the world as he inspires us to “think different”.

RIP Steve Jobs

Below is an article from USA Today I thought was great:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-06/reaction-to-steve-jobs-death/50674146/1

 

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