When I moved to Portland over 5 years ago I had no plans on being any more involved with Apple than I already was--a happy owner of a 17" Flat Panel iMac, a machine I depended on to do pretty much everything I imagined creatively.
And that would have been enough.
But, as fate would have it, Apple would become a major part of my life. Serving coffee next door to an Apple Store, one becomes quite familiar with the people that work there. It took only a couple months before I was inquiring about a job. I started with Apple shortly thereafter, just before the holiday rush.
That January, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone and the world changed. An epic change. It was the type of event that I will never forget. Our little Apple Store went from being a nerdy place for creative types to hang out and talk geek about computers to a mecca for innovative consumer electronics devices.
Almost literally overnight we were transformed.
But it wasn't about the technology. It was about what it represented. Just before the iPhone was released I had the opportunity to go to Cupertino and meet Ron Johnson with a group of Specialists from around the country.
He came in the room, stopped for a moment, and asked, "do you hear that?" He then reached into his pocket and took out the iPhone. "Excuse me, I have to get this."
Everyone in the room was shocked for a moment. And then, a cheer. Actually, a roar. We all went nuts. We saw in that room not just a cool new gadget, but a glimpse at the future.
I no longer work for Apple, and in the few visits I made to the Apple campus in Cupertino, I never met, or even saw Steve Jobs. Yet, like so many people, I feel compelled to describe what the man has meant to me.
Apple wasn't just a job. It was a community. And even beyond that, it was a game plan. Being inside Apple showed me exactly how to construct an experience. On the sales side, it was all about understanding needs and crafting a solution to meet those needs.
The product is very much the same. Steve Jobs was a master problem solver. He used technology as his tool, but the result was the same, a well-crafted solution that meets the needs of the consumer.
Now, I write about Apple mobile devices for CNET and use my MacBook Pro, iPhone 4, and iPad 2 every day for everything I do. Because of Steve's vision, I make films, take pictures, design graphics and websites, and share it all seamlessly between all my devices and online.
I still have my iMac in my basement. Not to mention my original iPhone and my iPhone 3G. I preordered Steve Jobs' biography. And, I truly believe he did enough to set Apple up to continue his vision for the foreseeable future.
That's what's up. That's why we're #sodigital.
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