The Legacy of Steve Jobs

As I went about my day on Thursday, the day after the death of Steve Jobs, I thought about the enormous impact he and the products his company has created, have had on 21st century technology and culture. When I saw him resign 6 weeks ago from his post as CEO of Apple, I knew that the end was near. I know about pancreatic cancer and liver cancer first hand, as my mother in law died from liver cancer, while my father in law died from pancreatic cancer.

Steve Jobs was not just a visionary and brilliant businessman, but he was an ordinary man. He connected with people the way his products connected with people. When he would unveil a new product, he'd get up on stage in a casual shirt and jeans and explain how it worked, always with such ease. You couldn't wait to go out and buy the product.

Steve Jobs was a visionary. He knew what we wanted before we knew we wanted it. He headed the largest technology company in the world, and his influence will put him at the top of any list of influential people in the past century.

Here's how my Thursday went, and how the inventions of Steve Jobs changed my day and our world. First, I went to the Y to take a spinning class. The cycling teacher organized her "playlist" (list of music to be played), and we were ready to spin. Often the spin teacher will connect the computer to her ipod, then the ipod to the tv screen, and we will have a playlist with a video of where we're riding. All inventions of Steve Jobs.

Next, I stopped at Starbucks for coffee. I sat and watched a number of customers talking on their iphone, or working on their ipad or laptop. Again, all visions of Steve Jobs. Later that afternoon we were planning to attend a movie, and we used the iphone to get the movie times. For dinner we stopped at a new restaurant in San Diego, Stacked, that has an ipad on each table. Customers order their meal on the ipad. I could go on and on. The products resulting from the vision of Steve Jobs have such a dramatic effect on culture worldwide it is staggering. There's not a region of the world that hasn't been touched by him. We are all connected now, more so than we may want to be. Technology will continue to progress without Steve Jobs, but he was the innovator, the visionary, the creative mind that got the ball rolling.