Steve Jobs didn’t hit a home run every time, but he got more men on base than most CEOs, and that made all the difference. He certainly succeeded with my family. The children and grandchildren were over for dinner on Sunday and after the usual greeting and kiss, each of them hauled his personal Apple piece out of his pocket and retreated into the instrument. Conversation ceased.  

 

Three grandsons are post school and waiting to go to college. They are all in search of jobs while they wait for the year to begin. All 3, as far as I could see, had iPads in their hands and when I did manage to squeeze a question in, I asked what they were so busy with. They replied that they are combing the Internet looking for jobs. Two younger grandchildren were busy with iPods, both bought with their own earnings, they assured me. It seems that they both have great reputations as baby sitters and waiters down at the beach cafe. They were playing games that made my mind boggle.

 

I’m seriously thinking of trading in my old steam-driven first generation mobile phone for one of these iPhones, the latest model 4S. My main problems is that knowing Steve Jobs and the legacy he left at Apple, my 4S model will be made obsolete by Model 5 as I leave the store. Three grandchildren were busy with their iPhones as we sat and talked after dinner. When I asked what they were doing, I got a couple of smothered answers and an explanation from a parent, “they’re probably playing games against each other!” And that’s exactly what they were doing.  

 

Apple’s stock is up an astonishing 7,000% since Jobs returned from an exile in 1997, much of the success came from steady, patient work, not brilliant flashes of inspiration. But it was also combined with understanding what people want, that people always want the latest, and most important of all, a fine understanding of “the next step”. When the iPod landed in his lap Jobs was quick to seize on it and refine it over years, turning a mere gadget into a lifestyle.

 

I had to ask 3 times what an “App” is and I finally had it explained to me. These iPod and iPads are partly ‘empty shells’ into which you can add all sorts of Apps, meaning software programs like games, calculators, books, newspapers and magazines, There is a huge selection of Apps. Some are free and for others, and here is Steve Jobs’ genius, you have to pay. Not large amounts, but you have to pay a few dollars for a game or the right to read the New York Times on your iPhone. Of course if a few million iPad or iPod users buy an App for $2.99 you would be talking about $9 million. And if that happens a couple of times a day or week, well… Apple will be laughing. The whole concept is sheer genius.

I bought an iPad exactly 1 year ago and from the second day I had it, I understood that it is a sophisticated money-making making machine. In addition, it changed my life and many of the ways that I pass the time. All that is due to Steve Jobs, the modern day visionary, who changed the world. People like him come very rarely and they leave a huge footprint on out planet 

 

A college drop-out and the son of adoptive parents, Jobs changed the technology world in the late 1970s, when the Apple II became the first personal computer to gain a wide following. He did it again in 1984 with the Macintosh, which he built on the breakthrough technologies developed at Xerox Parc and elsewhere to create the personal computing experience as we know it today. The rebel streak that’s central to his persona got him tossed out of the company in 1985, but he returned in 1997 and after a few years began the rollout of a troika of products: the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, that again upended the established order in major industries. Steve Jobs changed the daily habits of millions around the globe.

 

His death after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer sparked an immediate outpouring of tributes as world leaders, business rivals and fans alike lamented the tragedy of his premature passing and celebrated his monumental achievements. President Barack Obama said: "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented." Fans paid homage to Jobs outside Apple stores around the world, from Los Angeles to Sydney. Outside one store in New York City, mourners laid candles, bouquets of flowers, an apple and an iPod Touch in a makeshift memorial. In San Francisco, they held up black-and-white portraits of Jobs on their iPads. Many websites, including Apple’s own, were transformed into online memorials, a testament to the digital creativity that Jobs inspired.

 

Jobs in his trademark uniform of black mock-turtleneck and blue jeans, was deemed the heart and soul of a company that rivals Exxon Mobil as the most valuable in America. Forbes estimates Jobs’ net worth at $7 billion. It was not immediately known how his estate would be handled.

 

Born in San Francisco, son of adoptive parents, Jobs started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in his parent’s garage 1976. Six years ago, Jobs had talked about how a sense of his mortality was a major driver behind that vision.

 

Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends’ rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."