Twitter is about you.
Facebook is about you and your friends.
Google is about searching for stuff all by yourself (with someone else's tool, of course).
Apple is about Steve Jobs making the things you crave.
And it always will be.
He knew what you wanted in a computer with style and grace ... in music you made your own and carried around ... in movies about kids' toys that made grownups cry ... in a mobile phone that changed everything ... in a tablet computer nobody thought they needed.
Today, Steve Jobs is gone, but we will always have the previous paragraph ... and more, if Apple is as good as most people think.
At Tnooz, we wonder what Apple will bring forth in iTravel, since they went through the exercise of patenting the word and processes that surround it. In a nearby post, Kevin May recounts how travelers now have richer experiences using Apple's devices and services. But the stories about Apple's direct links to travel are for another day.
[caption id="attachment_52378" align="aligncenter" width="237" caption="Jobs with Apple II in 1977 (source: Apple, Inc.)"]
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I was thinking about a personal context for Steve Jobs' passing and what it means to two generations of Apple users. Two other American icons come to mind. These obituaries reflect what "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" meant to my kids and what "The French Chef" meant to me ... followed by what Steve Jobs meant to Apple's friends and family.
Fred Rogers (1928 - 2003)
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Fred Rogers, who gently invited millions of children to be his neighbor as host of the public television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" for more than 30 years, died of cancer early Thursday. He was 74.
Rogers died at his Pittsburgh home, said family spokesman David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on the show. Rogers had been diagnosed with stomach cancer sometime after the holidays, Newell said.
"He was so genuinely, genuinely kind, a wonderful person," Newell said. "His mission was to work with families and children for television. ... That was his passion, his mission, and he did it from day one."
Julia Child (1912 - 2004)
From The New York Times:
Julia Child, who turned the art of French cooking into prime-time television entertainment and brought cassoulet to a casserole culture in the two volumes of her monumental "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," died yesterday at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., two days before her 92nd birthday.
The cause was complications of kidney failure, said a niece, Philadelphia Cousins.
Mrs. Child was a towering figure on the culinary front for more than 40 years. Most Americans knew her as the imperturbable host of the long-running PBS television series "The French Chef." She was a tall, exuberant woman who could make lobster bisque look as easy as toast. But she was also respected by food professionals for the clarity and rigor with which she translated French cuisine for an American audience, most impressively in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," a work that Craig Claiborne, in The New York Times, said "may be the finest volume on French cooking ever published in English."
Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
Apple's official statement:
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
What do Steve Jobs and what he built at Apple mean to you?
Disclosure: My daughter works as a creative consultant at Apple's Genius Bar.