Apple founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs has passed away after several years of battling against pancreatic cancer, the tech giant confirmed this morning.
Although Jobs had been on medical leave since earlier this year, and resigned from his role several weeks ago, the news has shocked the technology industry.
From introducing the original Mac to the latest iPhone, Jobs has been responsible for some of the biggest changes in the information technology industry – changes that have informed how other companies and entire industries do business.
Jobs may be gone, but his impact on the technology world will never be forgotten. Here are five of his biggest innovations.
This is the device that changed how everyday consumers use personal computers.
It can’t be overstated how significant the release of the Mac was in the 1980s. That period in the information technology scene represents the transition from computers being mysterious objects used by universities and rocket scientists into something personable and useful. Jobs and peers including Bill Gates made PCs must-have household item.
An early video of Jobs debuting the Mac to thunderous applause highlights its significance. This was the first powerful, useful personal computer that would set the trend for years to come.
Jobs didn’t do it alone, but the Mac transformed how we perceive and relate to desktop computers – a consumer relationship that informs business decisions to this day.
Apple never takes the first step. When Jobs debuted the iPod in 2001, it wasn’t the first MP3 player on the market and it technically wasn’t even the best. But this device – which has sold hundreds of millions of units in the past decade – represents Jobs’ vision.
By releasing the iPod, Jobs proved that consumers don’t necessarily respond to technical specifications. Instead, they prefer stylish, well-designed objects that are as much of a fashion item as they are music player.
Although Jobs’ obsession with design started in the 1990s, the first iPod represents the strengthening of the relationship between technology and industrial design. Until his resignation Jobs had always been obsessed with design – how gadgets look and feel, rather than just what’s inside.
Before the 2007 release of the first iPhone, smartphones were barely breaking any ground. They weren’t good looking, they couldn’t browse the internet very well, and they certainly couldn’t operate any comprehensive software.
Jobs’ vision for the iPhone changed not only how smartphones operate, but also how they appear – nearly every major smartphone that is released now appears similar to the original version of the iPhone that launched just four years ago.
The genius in Jobs’ vision isn’t the phone itself, but in his recognition that the phone was slowly becoming more of a personal computer than just a telecommunications device. Even now experts and analysts constantly comment on how the phone is now becoming a personal computing device with more power than some laptops currently on the market.
Foresight is everything in technology – you need to be able to see where the market is heading. The iPhone was in production for years before it was actually launched, with Jobs at the helm.
Having Macs and iPods is great, but devices are nothing without the content that fills them. Two of Jobs’ most underrated innovations are the iTunes and App Stores, both of which have changed how people interact with digital music and software forever.
Think back to the year 2003. There is basically no easy way to buy music online, so most people pirate it from peer to peer networks. Music labels are in disarray, publishers are fretting over what to do next, and consumers see no reason why they should ever have to pay for music again.
The creation of the iTunes Store represents a fundamental shift in how we consume content, and once again, highlights Jobs’ ability to not only see where markets are going, but create entirely new ones when none exist.
Working with music labels to create an entirely new digital marketplace, Jobs created a perfectly simple way for users to buy music – just click on a song. No mess, no fuss, just clicks. And most importantly, it’s cheap. Users were given an easy alternative to support artists and get high quality tracks.
Although the App Store wasn’t necessarily filling a gap in the market like the iTunes Store, it nevertheless represents Jobs’ ability to spot a future opportunity.
Just as Jobs recognised smartphones were becoming more like computers, he also recognised these computers need software to fill them. Giving developers the freedom to create all different sorts of products and features, and then sell them, has not only created new revenue streams for Apple but – put simply – has created an entire new industry out of thin air.
Jobs had a great eye for design, and loved to create well-built devices. But content is king, and Jobs recognised that offering customers valuable material like music, television shows, films and apps is just as big a part of the entire Apple experience.
Not a device, not a piece of content, but nevertheless technology that has changed filmmaking forever. In the 1980s Jobs bought a small graphics technology group form George Lucas that would later become Pixar, now renowned and celebrated for its high quality feature films and for being the first company to produce a film entirely generated with computer graphics.
Jobs’ vision is obvious here. Recognising that technology would not only change consumer electronics forever, but also filmmaking, he set out on an opportunity to have a stake in that change.
Although Jobs has had less to do with the company as time has gone on, it is nevertheless a key point
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
