Just Finished

A few days after I got the iPad 2, I purchased a "Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson" ebook on eBay. I thought it apt to read about the man behind this device.

This is why I've been quiet on the blogosphere. Steve Jobs' biography is an absorbing read, albeit it took me more than a month to finish. I found myself cringing at his numerous idiosyncrasies but my heart leaped in delight at the part where he returned to Apple. His story may not be that of a saint, but his legacy is unmistakably lauded by his peers and rivals.

Steve Jobs' saga is best summed up as follows (p. 922-923):

Some leaders push innovations by being good at the big picture. Others do so by mastering details. Jobs did both, relentlessly. As a result he launched a series of products over three decades that transformed whole industries:

• The Apple II, which took Wozniak’s circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.

• The Macintosh, which begat the home computer revolution and popularized graphical user interfaces.

• Toy Story and other Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.

• Apple stores, which reinvented the role of a store in defining a brand.

• The iPod, which changed the way we consume music.

• The iTunes Store, which saved the music industry.

• The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, email, and web devices.

• The App Store, which spawned a new content-creation industry.

• The iPad, which launched tablet computing and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books, and videos.

• iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.

• And Apple itself, which Jobs considered his greatest creation, a place where imagination was nurtured, applied, and executed in ways so creative that it became the most valuable company on earth.