The Day Steve Jobs Died - Macintosh, Syria, and iReactions from Apple-charged World
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Play Image 1 of 9: An Apple "iPad 2"-displayed obituary is more fitting a commemoration than an engraved headstone might be. On hearing of his death, wherever in the world or whatever time zone, fans left flowers in Apple stores as the natural point for paying respects. A reseller in Singapore, Epicenter, literally became center-point for 'Apple Evangelists’.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Can you see the resemblance? His biological father is now-80 year-old Abdulfattah Jandali, Syrian man from Homs: No ordinary Syrian, he was born in the town of Homs to a "self-made millionaire" father with no university education who owned "several entire villages". Steve had no relationship with this Dad.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: The original iPod, 2001: This first digital music player- the forerunner to many copycats, as the MP3 players. This compact appendage blew the walk-man & the disc-man out of the water, and for many made running and gym sessions with favorite playlists an altogether lighter experience. This mini Apple was a turning point for the music industry.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: These forlorn scenes of grief were replicated world-wide, particularly in homeland USA, where mourners flocked to home-town 'Frisco' to pay their respects to a hero of their time who revolutionized the computer age. His ill-timed death came on the heels of Apple's launch for iPhone 4S, and not a couple of months after his landmark resignation.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Product after product launch he accrued followers, more akin to worshipers. Fanatical respect and user-support gave Apple something of a cult following. The mantra "Think Different"- adopted as Apple's slogan in the1997 Apple Computer campaign, ensured a certain cool that - popular as Apple got- entitled it to counter-mainstream appeal.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: iMac computer was a second-wind groundbreaker for Apple, and hailed Steve Jobs' comeback in 1998. iMac 'to go' followed on its back in '99 (the mobile mac-top version): One remembers seeing orange iMac portables hit the scene late 90s? Forerunners to more i-Products, iMac was "next year's computer for more, not last year's computer for less".
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: A scene capturing the Chinese emotional and heightened reaction: His mass following saw global aficionados, from China to the UAE - including Dubai that today has become a 'Mecca' to the Apple products.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: Unbeknownst to Steve, other talents for 'change' in his unclaimed Syrian family include: Malek Jandali, known musical artist, who sang a song of patriotism at a Revolution for Syria march in DC, prompting government thugs to break into his parents' home in Homs causing extensive damage to property and injury to mother and father.
Pause Play Image 1 of 9: A humble Apple CEO in spite of coffee mugs after his image & T-shirts in his likeness, in his blue jeans, black turtle neck & sneakers, he cut an ordinary figure whose simple, no-nonsense style reflected his work ethos more than his billion-dollar net-worth. The last products launched under his watch were iTV, 2006, and of course iPhone 2007.
October 6th, 2011 marks the passing of a 'Beautiful Mind', Steve Jobs; an astoundingly creative, evidently resilient and heroic man, the co-founder of Apple computers and former CEO. His innovative contributions brought the computer to the non-desk-top or un-trained masses alike, through hand-held phone devices and the introduction of the tablets. With the iPhone and its entourage of 'apps', he revolutionized the telephone.
Jobs reminds us that there are still brilliant minds in the age of mainstream. He thought out of the box, out of IBM and he gave us the fruit of his mind's labor in many Apple products. He is what an inventor should be -- or what we expect in a toymaker: he who leaves us with devices and gadgets that are life-changing, educational and enjoyable. In a general time of attempted political 'change' he epitomized 'daring to disrupt', even more than the 'change'-master himself, Obama.
His legacy and history
Herewith, a reminder of some products that thrilled lives; a survey of the reaction his death provoked; as well as a little reminder of the un-sung Arab in him that he was never to reconcile with. His legacy will be manifold-- not least people are lining up to memorialize him in tatoos and thinking forever 'differently'. As for his former colleagues at Apple, he hasn't forgotten them either: He leaves them 5 years worth of iCreations and sundry applications-- and fully-patented with the Apple master-mark to resist the copy-cat competition-- to be forging ahead with.
The man has even organised his posthumous projects!
