We have lost a true genius in Steve Jobs. Not only was he an inventor, but he was able to lead, motivate, and carry out his ideas at every level. Most amazingly, he created industries in the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Some may have the luck to create products, but Steve Jobs was a genius in consistently creating new industries that his competitors were lucky enough to share minimal product market share.
How did Steve Jobs really die at the young age of 56? He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and successfully removed the tumor. Jobs did not receive chemo or radiation during his treatment. In 2006, he looked noticeably gaunt although no rationale was provided. In 2008, Jobs blamed his cachectic appearance to antibiotics taken for a common bug. Later, the New York Times interviewed him to find that although there is no recurrence of cancer, health issues arose. In January 2009, Jobs confessed to a hormone imbalance that he was suffering from for several months, leading to a six-month leave of absence. In April 2009, Jobs underwent a successful liver transplant. Fast fowarding to January 2011, Jobs took another leave of absence to focus on his health. He did make appearances at the iPad 2 launch in March 2011 and iCloud’s launch in June 2011. Finally, Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO on August 24, 2011 since he could “no longer meet duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO.”
On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs past away. Yes, cancer took his life, but the lack of Apple in his life stole his will. Ever Since Jobs was young, he looked for ways to create, improve, enhance, and make a difference. Apple was his outlet. With Apple out of his life due to his disease, Jobs’ will and desire most likely faded. Similar to a spouse’s broken heart, I feel that Jobs’ Apple soured for him. He took Apple to the pinnacle of the IT support world, notable personal IT service industry, and had so many more ideas his poor health condition wouldn’t allow him to execute.
Is it just coincidence that Jobs past away a day after the iPhone 4S announcement? I can only imagine it was tough for him to cope with someone stealing his thunder on stage. Maybe he came to the realization that he could never be what he once was? Whatever the speculation, I’ll cap this off by saying that Steve Jobs was a true innovator that the computer industry will be forever indebted to. In blunt terms, he took an ugly computer and made it pretty. But, he went well beyond to satisfy computer service needs that consumers never knew they had. He created industries and needs to the ease and betterment of how we live today. He will be sorely missed.
