Meditations on the passing of Steve Jobs...

October 10th, 2011

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.  -William Shakespeare

 It's now about 5 days since the news went out that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, died. And quite frankly, I was surprised by the immediate response of the media. It was Princess Di reduxe, as far as the news was concerned. Or as if the Pope had died (which, on G4's Attack of the Show, it actually seemed he did.. ). That a current CEO of a corporation could generate such heartfelt reverence, at a time when corporations are being vilified by the public, and especially by liberal political pundits, was a shock.
If the question is : "why?", then the answer is simple: Steve Jobs was their superhero.The myth of Steve Jobs was that he was one of them, a college drop out, who toiled in a garage with his sidekick, Steve Wozniak, to build the first successful home computer, the Apple II. And he founded a successful company based on that, which would shower mankind with it's benefices in the form of new technologies that improved everything...
As with every industrial myth, the truth is far more complex, often venal, and mundane than that...
For starters, Wozniak actually built the thing... All Jobs really ever did was to market it. But, in doing so, Jobs would lay the foundation for a new type of business model: CEO as cult leader. Jobs copied the model that Sony corp. had used with it's innovative technologies of the 80s, the "closed garden" where no one else had access to the product or it's design. Any improvements of their product would be strictly due to Apple. Compare that with upstart Bill Gates and Microsoft's initial game plan: Gates made sure, by hook or by crook, that every competing PC was loaded with the Windows operating system. Even gave it away free, on occasion. Microsoft would make it's money on the back end, with licenses for other software companies to use their platform, and by charging for updates. This forcing of a standard on the emergent market whiffed of violating anti-trust, but also actually helped the market expand for new software companies. And if a new software app proved successful enough, Microsoft would either snatch it up in a takeover purchase, purchase a competitor it would give unfair advantage to, or clone it outright.
It probably gave Steve Jobs a conniption fit that the first successful spreadsheet program, Visicalc, was a product of the Open Source mind set, and would soon become Lotus 1,2,3 for the PC.
It probably also privately irked him that Gates aped his presentation style, becoming a recognizable face for Microsoft and it's products. Competing gurus vying for consumer adulation....
Jobs insistence that the mountains come to Mohammed probably explains most of the turbulent years that Apple fell from it's front runner status. Jobs wanted a company that didn't play well with others, and it probably cost him. As did the significantly higher price tags for a hermetic product that could actually be outclassed by PCs that were in a constant flux state of improvement.... But, Steve Jobs wanted a product for the everyman (even if the cost was often more than the everyman would be willing to bear). I remember often having the discussion with fellow computer users that while the Mac seemed wonderful, you could easily get a more powerful PC, with more peripherals, for the same price...
Of course, there was the Mac Notebook, a great idea that didn't really require a promoter such as Judge Ito to sell... Just ask anyone who had experienced the Kaypro and Compaq 'portable computers' of the early 80s...
Jobs comeback and second act was the iPod, and a newish concept for the world. During the 80's, if you wanted a superior sound system, you naturally went with components. You picked and chose which elements suited your needs and purchased them separately. The Walkman changed that approach with it's personalization of the tape deck. But, Jobs, seeing the potential that Quicktime presented, took it even further. Quicktime morphed into iTunes and the iTunes store. But, Jobs being Jobs, he had to start a format war... After all, Napster proved that people would rather not pay for mp3 files, if given a choice. In a way, Jobs saved the RIAA. But, when competing mp3 players entered the market, they had to choose litigation to preserve the marketing of music (and Jobs helped to fund them).
Not that the iPod was the end of his vision: he foresaw the market for the digital "swiss army knife" appliance. Thus was born the iPhone. The iPhone completely shattered the component concept of equipment. Everything you needed was in the palm of your hand. Smartphone competitors had to rush to keep up (and some, like RIM, could never catch up in time, partially due to Jobs-similar exclusionary policies that kept them from importing and including bleeding edge apps..).
This led to the iPad; computer, display screen, modem and wacom pad all in one.
Apple is now the most successful corporation, but poised upon a precipice. A precipice that other megacorps are organizing to push Apple from.. Google's android OS, combined with Samsung. Google buying into Motorola's smart phone production... Things do not bode well for the Jobs-less Apple, especially bereft of their charismatic icon.