Private: Intelligence

Thank you.

Thank you for making the entire tech industry so much better and smarter.

For your passion for the emotional side of the “user.”

Heck, for thinking about us as people instead of as “users.”

For destroying the putty-colored commoditization of the device business.

For making a PC in “Tangerine.”

For proving that desktop software needn’t be buggy and frustrating.

For forcing MSFT to give up DOS and provide the Windows GUI.

For introducing millions of kids to the remarkable technological frontier.

For instilling passion and excitement into an industry that has enlivened and enriched the creativity ofhumanity.

For showing manufacturers the virtue of simplicity and how a few products that are well thought through can be more popular than thousands of permutations of disappointment.

For making a cell phone I actually could work and enjoy using.

For making every other cell phone manufacturer follow suit.

For creating a fertile field on which thousands of developers can create mobile apps – and make a decent living doing so.

For showing us the virtue of recognizing when you are on the wrong track, admitting it, and making the tough decisions to correct a company’s course.

For creating brands instead of products.

For delivering creative ideas instead of bullet-point-riddled sell sheets.

For teaching “tech marketers” what marketing actually is.

For never standing still.

For never resting on your laurels.

For making every other company struggle to keep up, or at least not fall too far behind.

I was never an Apple groupie. I never owned a Mac. I buy books with a Kindle. I use an Androidphone.

But I have always been thankful that you were such a force in tech.

Because without you, the industry would still be making buggy, confusing, insular crap.

Because without you, so many things I now take for granted wouldn’t exist.

Though I didn’t buy many of the things that bore the best logo in tech, I know that they and you were what made everything I bought better.

And inspired everyone to be better.

 

Sent from my iPad