My interest in Apple first began in 1998.
Steve Jobs had already been fired and re-hired as interim CEO, and was the brain behind an inventive and
sleek new computer, designed to bring Apple Computers Inc. out of the financial slump it had been
experiencing at the time.
The
iMac.
With hardly any cables or
unseemly wires leading out of the computer, one of the model’s main selling points was that it would be less
cumbersome. But that wasn’t really what I noticed. Unlike the grey and glaringly hideous desktop computer
that sat in my home, the iMac was — for lack of a better word —
pretty.
Packaged in a
semi-transparent teal called “Bondi Blue,” trying to look through the coloured paneling of the
iMac was like trying to see underwater, with only
murky shapes being semi-visible through a screen of blue. It wasn’t until later that year when the company
released the same iMac in a rainbow of colours, including an
ultra-violet purple, that I really fell in love.
Purple was my favourite
colour. And there was nothing that filled me with more awe and covetousness than the grape-coloured
iMac I’d seen on the TV. I was young though and
had no business owning a computer. As such, my request for one went expectedly
unfulfilled.
Fast-forward to early
2004, when Apple’s newest release, the iPod Mini, stole another piece of my heart. The design was smaller,
more streamlined and far sleeker than its predecessor, the original white iPod, and of course — it too came
in a range of colours.
As a high school freshman,
(read: angst-ridden teenager) I had discovered the fulfilling escape of plugging into my music and drowning
the rest of the world out. But with the introduction of the colourful range of Apple’s portable MP3 players,
my Discman just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. This time, I had eyes for the shiny blue version that I often
saw being carried in the halls of my high school.
Unlike before, my request
for the item as an advanced birthday present was actually considered, but in the end, again went
unfulfilled.
Then, three years later on
September 5, 2007, the first generation of the iPod
Touch was revealed by Jobs at a press conference under the slogan, “The Beat Goes On,” —
a reference to the famous song by The Beatles, of whom Jobs was a huge fan.
“The new
iPod
Touch.
Multi-touch user interface, 3.5-inch wide-screen display, delivers stunning video and photos, [a] fantastic
way to browse your music library with cover flow — find music that you haven’t listened to in a while that
you still love, it’s great. And Wi-Fi, with Safari and YouTube and Google and Yahoo search — there’s
something cool to do with Wi-Fi now, so let’s go ahead and build it in. All in an incredibly thin form
factor, just 8mm thin,” said Jobs.
Available in an 8 GB
version for $299US, or a 16 GB version for $399US, the iPod
Touch was not only the first touchscreen iPod from Apple, but the first Apple product to
be available for shipping outside of the U.S. — including, of course, Canada.
This time, I wasn’t giving
up. I pursued my family relentlessly, even throwing in the age-old line — “I’ll pay for half, I promise!”
Finally, after months of begging and almost ten years after first falling in love, I got my first bite of the
Apple: A brand new, absolutely beautiful, first generation iPod
Touch.
After getting over how
stylish and pristine my new piece of technology was, I began to actually use it.
I thought I’d fallen in
love with it before, but in fact, I’d only been in lust with its beauty. It was only once I began using it,
engaging with the technology as it was meant to be engaged, that I truly fell in love. It occurred to me
then, that this incredible sliver of technology in my hand was a creation, and therefore had to have a
creator.
Enter Steve
Jobs.
I understood then, that
Jobs must have been smart and creative, but it didn’t quite dawn on me just how brilliant the man behind my
MP3 player really was.
On Wednesday, October 5,
2011, he passed away at the age of 56, from an ongoing struggle with pancreatic cancer — and the world
reflected. Not only on his life as the creative genius behind Apple, but on the future of the company without
him. Some technology writers like Robert
Scoble who attended an Apple press conference helmed by the company’s new CEO, Tim Cook,
just one day prior, issued apologies for criticizing Cook’s performance and instead praised him for his
ongoing professionalism through what must have been a difficult time.
Many Apple fans and users
took to Facebook and Twitter to express their sadness, using hash tags like #RIPSteveJobs and #iSad, quoting
Jobs’ most memorable lines from both Apple keynote addresses and an increasingly
famous speech at Stanford University’s 2005 commencement ceremony. News outlets did the same,
publishing pre-prepared obituaries and photo timelines of Jobs’ life.
But what about the future
of Apple without Steve
Jobs?
“You can’t connect the
dots looking forward,” said Jobs himself in his speech to Stanford graduates. “You can only connect them
looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust
in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever — because believing that the dots will connect down
the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path
and that, will make all the difference.”
The world may not be able
to predict the future of Apple, but looking backwards certainly puts into perspective just how far beyond his
time Jobs really was. Looking at my iPod
Touch now, I see both the beauty in the design, as well as the genius and innovation
behind the product. Looking at my iPod
Touch now, I recognize a greater appreciation for Jobs as its creator, than I do simply
for it, as a creation.
And instead of speculating
about Apple’s future, I’ll simply honour Jobs by plugging in and pressing play. After all, the beat must go
on. •
Photo Courtesy: Ben
Stanfield
