Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and the creative force behind several of the company’s most successful products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, passed away today.
He was 56.
The cause of death was not disclosed.
Jobs had been ailing and recently passed the baton to Tim Cook.
Announcing Jobs’ death, Apple said on its web site:
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
Steve Jobs’ great talent was to offer products that were exceptionally well-designed and a joy to use.
As users of the iPhone, iPod and iPad, we owe a debt and a big ‘Thank You’ to Steve Jobs.
Besides Apple, Steve also co-founded and Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the finest animated films including Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006.
Steve, we doubt there’ll be another digital media visionary like you!
Steve’s India Connection
Several decades ago, Steve visited India in search of spiritual enlightenment and had his head shaved there. 😉
He was just 19-years-old then.
Here’s an excerpt from Steve’s 1985 interview with Playboy:
I was walking around in the Himalayas and I stumbled onto this thing that turned out to be a religious festival. There was a baba, a holy man, who was the holy man of this particular festival, with his large group of followers. I could smell good food. I hadn’t been fortunate enough to smell good food for a long time, so I wandered up to pay my respects and eat some lunch.
For some reason, this baba, upon seeing me sitting there eating, immediately walked over to me and sat down and burst out laughing. He didn’t speak much English and I spoke a little Hindi, but he tried to carry on a conversation and he was just rolling on the ground with laughter. Then he grabbed my arm and took me up this mountain trail. It was a little funny, because here were hundreds of Indians who had traveled for thousands of miles to hang out with this guy for ten seconds and I stumble in for something to eat and he’s dragging me up this mountain path.
We get to the top of this mountain half an hour later and there’s this little well and pond at the top of this mountain, and he dunks my head in the water and pulls out a razor from his pocket and starts to shave my head. I’m completely stunned. I’m 19 years old, in a foreign country, up in the Himalayas, and here is this bizarre Indian baba who has just dragged me away from the rest of the crowd, shaving my head atop this mountain peak. I’m still not sure why he did it.
Steve also mentioned in a Stanford University commencement speech in 2005 that times were hard during his student days and how he walked 7-miles to the Hare Krishna temple every Sunday night for ‘one good meal a week.’
Steve Jobs’ Famous 2005 Stanford University Address:
Can Apple Thrive After Steve Jobs?
Steve Jobs had such a powerful influence on Apple that one can legitimately ask the question whether the company can thrive after his death.
With his extraordinary passion for delivering first class digital entertainment products that were unmatched in their quality, Steve was nonpareil.
Apple’s current portfolio is so strong that it’s unlikely the company will pass through any hiccups for at least the next couple of years.
The big question is what happens when the allure and glitter of Apple’s current hot products like the iPhone and iPad start to fade?
Will Apple be able to come out with other products that can capture the imagination of tens of millions of consumers the way the iPod, iPhone and iPad have done?
Well, the jury is out on that big question.
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on food: I had the fortune of having the Hare Krishna’s prasad back a couple years ago at New Vrindaban, praying that I get the chance to go back sometime, for those who have never tasted Iskcon’s food, it’s definitely worth the seven mile walk, at least the stuff I ate was!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Steve must thought so too.
Otherwise, he’d not have mentioned the Hare Krishna food three decades later.
longing for the day to return to New Vrindaban or go to Mayapur,you guys should def. stop by the Palace of Gold someday,cant beat their prasadji, well mabe south indian (yes you heard me!) prasad at BAPS Chicago,but other than that……………
SearchIndia.com Responds:
All Swamijis are scamsters!
read “Eternal Virtues”,it’s about Pramukh Swamiji Maharaj,though I have long since stopped affiliating myself with that Sampradaya,still recommend it as it’s a good read
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccMQ-khhGJs
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Just watched the above video – Pure Propaganda nonsense! 🙁
BAPS isnt too bad,though they arnt a part of the original sanstha,kinda like the Gaudiya Math VS ISKCON rivalry.Do take prasadji if you do go there on sundays,they sit on the matted floor like in Gujarat(well in Gujarat there isnt always a clean spot!) and are served just like in an ashram,unlike most of the mundirs in usa which are just social places for the NRI’s to congregate.
Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. There will never be another innovator like you.
The passing of the greatest icon…..Aswin is rite, there can never be another Steve Jobs
🙁 I am stunned. 🙁
Steve was a guiding light to world of tech entrepreneurs in imagination,creativity and marketing. He will be placed on par with Einstein and Newton in the pages of history. Hitting six home runs is no fluke.
My only fear is that Apple’s product innovation and revenues could have already peaked and the company will face the fate of sony, motorola etc despite a very strong ecosystem.
We will NEVER get another steve in our life time.
Just by using iPod for 2 months (my first ‘i’ product) I got such a personal attachment to it.
RIP Steve. You are one of the greatest innovators, an icon and more than anything, an inspiration. The whole world will miss you and there is no replacement for you, EVER!
Steve Jobs: “Death Is The Destination We All Share”
A techcrunch article – with jobs speech in it
http://pulse.me/s/21VmI
I may have become iSad if we hadn’t see this coming.. I am guessing he suffered a lot behind the firewall.. pancreatic cancer doesn’t sound like fun..
Great guy.
Wondering who would make a good Steve Jobs on screen. Joseph Gordon-Levitt?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
No, James Franco (at least for the mercurial younger Steve).
“No, James Franco (at least for the mercurial younger Steve).”
The answer to your question: Somebody has already played the role of STeve Jobs in a film called “Pirates of the Silicon Valley”
Here is a link displaying the video of Steve Jobs and Noah Lyle playing a practical joke on the Apple Audience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIClAanU7Os
And in case you schmucks never knew much about Steve’s young self, here is a rare video of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVtxEA7AEHg&feature=related
Here is an apple spoof of Bill Gates during the launch of some apple product.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN2COsYqTW8&feature=related
And here is what SI can learn from Steve Jobs. You can crack jokes at yourself and still smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv1pvRDFFqs&feature=related
And here is link to all those folks, who think that bitter rivals can never get along together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Z7eal4uXI&feature=related
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. Nice links, all of them (above).
Thanks. Watched ’em all.
2. We think the earlier commenter was referring to a new movie coming out on Steve Jobs, based on the upcoming biography by Walter Isaacson.
I am back to irritate you with links again. These are the last on the list.
Steve Jobs on the origin of iPhone (Seems crazy to think how you can start work on one project to end up with another completely different one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdbvAdINPPA&feature=related
And here is some story of a prototype iPhone 4S stolen from Apple months almost a year before it was launched.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLkD3yriPAU&feature=related
And here is the last video explaining why APPLE IS AGAINST ADOBE FLASH. A must watch for Flash lovers like me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPb9eRNyIrQ&feature=related
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Watched all three videos.
The first and last one (seen this one on Flash support before) are worth watching.
We suggest readers skip the middle link (above) as it’s on iPhone 4 theft in a bar.
Also, we don’t believe a word of Steve Jobs blah-blah-blah on Values in the middle video. Nor for that matter any other corporate honcho pontificating on Values.
When a businessman talks Values, you know he’s got an ax to grind or his hand is in your pocket.
The only Value that’s important for a businessman is success.
If Leona Helmsley were alive, she’d say, Only the little people taxes and watch stupid videos on Values.
The world has lost a visionary and a creative genius, most important an amazing human being. RIP Steve, you’ll never be forgotten in the world of computing.
Came across this message in twitter
“3 Apples changed the world 1st one seduced Eve, 2nd fell on Newton 3rd was offered to the world – half bitten by Steve Jobs”
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Good one, your Twitter citation.
On this day, it makes sense to watch “Pirates of Silicon Valley”. Watch it if you could, it’s all about Apple and Microsoft….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Not on Amazon Instant Play. They only have MacHeads.
Karma is a b***h.
No display of genius can compensate for failing to recognize the legitimacy of his own child! RIP..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
He did eventually.
The guy in my gravatar also died 🙁
wish you would change that ugly as hell thing muni andy!see if you can change it to Shahidji K. or Vijay(actor)
your wish is my command, ramaji dasaji
How did you learn to read thamizh?