Steven Paul Jobs

Below is part of what I wrote for the "People in the News" section of the Daily Monitor newspaper (and it was published on 7 October, pg 24). I take it as my tribute to such a great personality, that is why I have posted on the blog

Many think that success is going from achievement to another with falling along the way, others are often discouraged by the fear of failure that they don’t even try, yet others will simply be glad to bask in the glory of an achievement for as long as they can ride the wave.

This week, Steven Paul Jobs, popularly known as Steve Jobs of the highly successful Apple Inc., succumbed to a rare form of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. Almost all eulogies, obituaries and tributes inevitably mention how he revolutionised the technology industry. You can hardly blame them because the name Steve Jobs has become synonymous with iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and iMac, which were developed during his tenure as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The digital music player, iPod, introduced in 2001, has 70 per cent share of the market. The iTunes music store has sold more than 16 billion songs since 2003. By December 2010, 92 million units of the iPhone mobile phone had been sold. In the same year, the iPad tablet computer was introduced; currently more than 29 million have been bought. The company he co-founded in 1976, now has a yearly revenue of US$65bn (UShs185 trillion).

Even with such a string of successes, Jobs remained a simple man in dress, character and outlook. He frequently dressed in jeans, a turtle-neck and running shoes. According to those who have worked with him say he did not dwell on past achievements. Probably that is why he seemed unfazed when a number of the products that he introduced to the market flopped or he branched out to animated films after he was forced out of the company in 1985 and, on his return in 1996, he continued to develop the products that brought Apple back from the brink.

May be his disposition can be attributed to his Buddhist faith or having been brought up as an adopted child. Perhaps this statement from a speech he made at Stanford University provides an insight into Steve Jobs: “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”.

Note: a substantial part of the information was sourced from the Wall Street Journal