It saddened me and I remember thinking that it should not have saddened me as much as it did. I'd never met the man. I don't own stock in Apple. What was it to me?
Back in the 1800s, they called Thomas Edison the "Wizard of Menlo Park." People would travel from from far and wide to Menlo Park to see what Edisin was working on, to see what he would come up with next. Deep down, I think that is why I, and many people like me, are sad that Steve Jobs has left us. We've lost our wizard, the "Wizard of Cupertino." We're afraid that we will no longer be amazed at what Apple releases. We will no longer be able to marvel at the vision and foresight Jobs displayed with each new device Apple released. Gone are the days when he will conjure up such magic as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad.
Think about it. Before Jobs and the iPod, people wondered if file sharing would destroy music. How could musicians afford to continue to make music if they couldn't make any money doing it? Could any of us, besides Steve Jobs and his team at Apple, imagine a world were we would carry thousands of our songs around in a device smaller than a cell phone? How quickly we forget our massive CD racks.
When the MacBook Air came out some scoffed. "What, no CD/DVD-ROM drive? Is Apple crazy? I have to buy an external drive to upgrade my computer?" they asked. In the video for the MacBook Air, Apple showed how the Air could be updated wirelessly using Apple's Airport. Just a few days ago I saw a commercial for an Android smart phone. The newest feature being touted on this ad? You can update your Android apps wirelessly; you never have to plug in and sync your smart phone again!
When Jobs announced the iPad, people scoffed. "Tablets have been tried and they failed," skeptics said. Former Mac Evangelist Guy Kawasaki expressed doubts about the iPad's success, citing the fact that it didn't supposedly allow users to create anything. Last month, Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire, with its full-color screen, its "Movies, apps, games, music, reading and more." If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Steve Jobs and Apple have been highly flattered.
Some will say that Steve Jobs didn't see the future, that he created it and made a lot of money in the process. Perhaps, but regardless of whether Jobs was a visionary, or a Tom Sawyer creating demand where none existed, I will miss being marveled by his new creations. His creativity is beyond dispute.
But in the end, we shouldn't be too sad. Instead, we should focus on how lucky we were to share the same time and space with such a genius.