On some level people view Jobs as an artist first, a businessman second.

“Good artists copy, great artists steal” – Steve Jobs.

Sadly, the passing of Steve Jobs didn’t come a surprise to me.  My blog post dated August, 30th, stated as much.  ”Upon learning that Jack Layton had passed, I was stuck by the fact that so many people stated that they were shocked to hear the news.  If you watched his press conference in July, when he announced that he was stepping aside for health reasons, he looked like a man who has been told he should get his personal affairs in order.  Not to sound morbid but I have to wonder if the same doesn’t hold true for Steve Jobs.  It’s been widely reported that Jobs has been fighting cancer for last seven years, and his health today required that he step aside as CEO“.  Prophetic? Nope.  It was an assumption based on facts. He had cancer and the naked eye told the truth.  So his passing didn’t come as a surprise but what’s a little surprising is the outpouring of emotions for Steve Jobs.

Normally when a billionaire businessman passes away, it’s the immediate family, and possibly shareholders who grieve. Yet the reaction to Steve Jobs death is what we come to aspect when a rock star dies.  Apples signature store on 5th Ave in New York created a memorial within hours of announcing the death of its founder.  Fans of Apple could visit the memorial to pay tribute, and they’re doing so in creative ways, taking a bite out of an apple and leaving it there or writing notes on an apple.  I guess it’s fitting that fans of Apple would find creative ways to eulogize a creative genius. I just realized that I’ve been using the word “fan” instead of “customer”.  Maybe that explains the rock star treatment.  Maybe it’s fitting the reaction is not unlike what happened when Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison died.  On some level people view Jobs as an artist first, a businessman second.

Make no mistake that Jobs was a shrewd businessman.  Apple is the largest publicly traded company by market capitalization in the world.  He is to the digital world what Henry Ford was to the industrialized world.  History will look kindly on his vision and his success.  Not everything he touched turned to gold, and the reality is that in 1985, the esteemed Apple board ousted him.  After over a decade in the wilderness, and not creating anything of value, especially shareholder value, the board brought Jobs back.  Steve Jobs, 2.0, returned to Apple in 1997.  It’s from that time on most people associate Jobs with Apple.  Yet there’s such a rich history of Apple and Jobs, and it makes for a fascinating read. There was time when Apple was considered a failure.  Hard to imagine when we think of the iPod, iPhone and the iPad.  These products represent the present but Apple fans are now wondering about the future.  The genius of Steve Jobs was that he knew what customers wanted before they did.

I came across a quote from Steve Jobs that I found poetic and revealing.  He said, “good artists copy, great artists steal”.  Jobs was a huge fan of the Beatles, who had their own record label, Apple.  The Apple iStore is predominately white in Colour.  Jobs’ favorite album was the Beatles White Album.  Apple didn’t invent mobile phone or portable devices allowing us to listen to music wherever we are.  Indeed, Steve Jobs was a great artist.

Until next time,

Cheers.