Thank You Steve

We’re like many of you and reeling at the announcement of Steve Jobs stepping down at Apple. We knew that it would some day come, but still. While he will remain Chairman of the Board in MacLand and he handpicked the capable Tim Cook as his replacement we can’t argue the fact that Steve changed our world and we owe him a tremendous debt.

Since the introduction of the Apple II in 1977 Steve’s vision has changed the way we compute and manage information in our world. It doesn’t matter what sort of machine you use. Mac like us, HP, Dell: he changed the game. Before the Apple II we thought of computing as a room of ominous, humming boxes and a little black and white screen. Imagine: a computer in a plastic box for your home with colorful graphics and an easy to use interface.

Bon Jovi said that Jobs was responsible for “killing the music business.” We grew up peeling the shrink-wrap from LPs and we do sometimes miss that but iTunes changed the game for the way we listen to music. How many millions of tracks and artists do we have access to because of the way iTunes works? It’s staggering. Gone is the boombox and bye-bye to the Walkman. 15 hours of hundreds of tracks in a little square that weighs less than half an ounce.

We have become a very mobile and information craving society. The smartphone changed that for us too. Call, text, email, search, map: it’s all at your fingertips. Apple set the bar and technology races to catch up. The iPhone made everyone reach for the stars. Many still rely on a BlackBerry or Android based phone but it was Apple and Jobs that made them what they are today.

Much has been said about Jobs’ leadership style. “Mercurial.” “Demanding.” “Temperamental.” Fortune called Jobs “one of Silicon Valley’s leading egomaniacs.” Be that as it may; under Jobs Apple Computer has become the leader in personal computing. We have no doubt that it’s been a hot minute since Steve actually built anything. He became too important for that. Rather, it was his vision that led the innovation and creativity that his little computer company continues to spit out at a remarkable pace. 2001: A Space Odyssey amazed us with a computer that could think and talk. Voice recognition, gestures, spellcheckers; it all just works. He came to his development team with an idea. A germ, a seed of thought that asked, “What if…?” He then tweaked and cajoled and coached and watched his ridiculous thought become a reality.

We’re excited about the things that Apple has in the pipeline and we're certain that they will continue to be the leader in personal computing and related technology. We confident in the abilities of Tim Cook. We’ll miss Steve Jobs. He changed the game.

Thank You Steve.