I never capture to get together Steve Jobs . I came close a couple time , fend within a few foot of him at printing press events like the unveiling of the iPad . The one I remember the most , though , wasat Macworld Expo 2006 . It was the first Macworld Expo I ’d attend since I ’d gone to a Boston - based one in the early ’ 90s , and I was there on my own dime , saucily unemployed and wide - eyed .
After follow Jobs insert the first Intel - base MacBook Pro from an overflow room , I stray over to the expo hall . Riding down the escalator , I catch sight of a bubble moving towards the entrance — job himself , I realized , surrounded by an entourage . hoi polloi menstruate around them , everybody snapping pictures and attempt to get a glimpse of the Apple CEO .
My trip-up down the escalator clause brought me within substructure of Jobs and his work party , and I found myself pulled along with the bunch . I snapped a exposure of my own — it seemed like the thing to do — and as he change by reversal , we exchanged a look . He smiled at me and gave a nod , which I returned . A small gesture , perhaps , but one that meant a lot to a 25 - twelvemonth - old who had lately give up his business , jumping without a safety profits , to find some more meaningful pursuit .
Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo 2006, taken by the author.
Whenever I saw him at late outcome , he was always surrounded ; it seemed gauche and rude to interrupt . I did n’t want to look like a fanboy or seem unprofessional . But with that cold limpidity that hindsight brings , I bid I ’d had the braveness to say hello and to thank him ; now I ’ll never have the fortune again .
That said , I sure catch near to him than most mass ever did . I covered a bunch of his keynotes during the last five years … but I usually had my school principal down , furiously transcribe his words as fast as I could . Every once in a while I would take a intermission and look up , to try and ascertain the human race in his element — just to ground myself , remind myself where I was . Someday , I figured , I might require to tell my kids I ’d insure Steve Jobs talk . But over time , it began to melt into a blur of product and catch phrase - laden soundbites .
It seems like we ’d just come to terms with Jobs ’s stepping down from the CEO theatrical role back in August — we were n’t ready to lose him entirely . There was a comfort to his pickings on the company ’s chairmanship , that his touch would still be feel , just just outside the edge of our vision . As trusted as Tim Cook is — and I do think that Cook is in spades the veracious person to helm Apple — there was a continuity that eased the changeover .
Still , it did n’t make the jolt any easier . I was on a plane on Wednesday , on my way back from San Francisco , where I ’d been covering this week ’s iPhone event . Tim Cook ’s first presentation as Apple CEO . He ’d done well , in my popular opinion , and I felt that Apple was in honorable hands — I said as much to anybody who asked , and that was that .
While walk back from the plane ’s public convenience , I glanced at the row of glowing seat - back TVs in front of me , only to see the headlines on every major word web . My heart sink as I made my way back to my own seat and tuned to the reporting , and as the statements rolled in : Tim Cook , Mark Zuckerberg , Bob Iger , Warren Buffett , Bill Gates , President Obama . And I did n’t even have access code to the Internet , where it seems as though everybody on every social internet has something to share about how Steve Jobs affected them .
Like I saidwhen he take the air away from the CEO role , there was a time I reckon I would be done with technology writing when Steve Jobs was n’t a part of that world . Certainly , there ’s a part of me that feel that far more keenly today than six weeks ago .
But really , Steve Jobs ’s impact will always be felt in the engineering existence ; his legacy is that pervasive . Even as I look around the plane , I witness more Macs , iPhones , and iPads than I could calculate .
I never met Steve Jobs , but I ’ll still feel his personnel casualty . How can I not ? After all , I work out here , at a publication devoted to compensate the intersection the man develop . I use these devices every day , and have for two decade . While he was larger than life to those of us who never experience him in person , there was an inherent link in the using of his products that made us allfeelas though we did . When you mentioned Steve — on a first - name basis , as though he might drop by for lunch — there was no inquiry who you were talking about .
Apple will last ; that much Jobs has assured through the painstaking craftsmanship that he put not only into its products , but into the company itself . Jobs ’s fingerprints are all over the polish of Apple , and the masses who have been pull to work there are there because of the company he has created . And because of the humanity himself .
Some might speculate that the next Steve Jobs is somewhere in 1 Infinite Loop right on now , but in trueness Apple ’s a company made up almost alone of people who desire to be the next Steve Jobs .
And is there really any great testament to the human race than that ?
