Word comes that Steve Jobs - Apple's famous former CEO and sitting chairmain of the board - has passed away. We've known that Steve has been ill for some time, culminating in his stepping down from Apple's CEO, but you never really know when to expect the worst. Not a single AnandTech editor went through their childhood without working with an Apple II at least once, and numerous other Apple devices years later; the story of the coming of age of the personal computer and the story of Steve Jobs are often one in the same.
R.I.P. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Source: Apple
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choirbass - Friday, October 7, 2011 - link
That's about 100% correct. Apple hasn't really invented much of anything in the time they were around as a whole, but it is their renovating, manipulating and publicizing of pre-existing products that pushed their sales to be what they have. They are an advertising and software company before anything else, of course then you have hardware following suit too, however far behind the top end hardware it may be.rlandess - Sunday, October 9, 2011 - link
a smartphone that didn't suck before the iPhone.I dunno.... I had a Treo back in 2002 it worked fine on the web. It also did a lot of other cool things, like had an App store, played music and video, and existed half a decade before the iPhone. What the iPhone brought to the market was momentum from the iPod Touch, same works for the iPad.
I think what the iPhone did was bring the consumer price point up to $500.00. Before the iPhone no one bought $500 dollar phones and $100 dollar a month contracts just for the hell of it.
BSMonitor - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Ultrabook 1 aka Macbook AirOWNED
Greg512 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Processors existed before Intel. Cars existed before Ford. Birds existed before the Wright Flyer. Sometimes evolution is more important than invention itself.Taft12 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Legitimate online music store with full partnership from the music industry67STANG - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
He didn't have a vision for technology, he took ideas that had been around forever, put them in expensive packaging and marketed the hell out of them. If that's a vision for technology, that we're hosed. He *was* a marketing genius, however.Dug - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Another uninformed person. Really? You need to take some history classes.KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Execution actually matters, and originality is overrated. Enzo Ferrari didn't invent the combustion engine, but his company iterated upon and improved on the groundwork that was laid before. Numerous examples like this exist, and it doesn't diminish achievement either way.In Apple's case the importance of execution was in user interface and making technology accessible. The importance of this is obvious as billions of people are directly and indirectly affected by the work his company has done.
b4raider - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
Yes he was an a-hole when he lived. Lot of people hated him and loved him.But there is no denying what he's achieved.. world wouldn't be what it is now without him. He's changed peoples lifestyles and reached more people than most.. Give him the credit for that..
R.I.P Steve
slyck - Saturday, October 8, 2011 - link
Well put, one less dirtball. Decent people die everyday too but of course they don't mean jack.