Much of what I am going to write below has been written about many many times on the net since Steve Jobs passed away 2 days ago, and probably articulated much better than I can. Regardless, I still feel a need to note this all down here.
My first real “magic” experience with Apple products was with the introduction of the iPod Touch. Back in 2007 when the first iPhone was announced, I didn’t really feel a strong compulsion to get it considering how young I was and how undeveloped 3G technology was in Singapore at that time. However, when the iPod Touch was announced, I knew I had to have one. Being a tech geek, the idea of a handheld device that was nothing but a touch screen was like a dream come true.
I got my first ever first-gen iPod touch at the end of 2007. Because the store I went to was out of stock for the 8GB version, I got the 16GB version, at $700. Yeah, 700 bucks for an iPod Touch, that’s almost the price of an iPad 2 today. Crazy huh? But till today I think that that $700 was exceedingly well spent, for the joy of having an iPod touch at a time when no one else had one was simply too gratifying. I had that iPod for years, but unfortunately lost in in 2010. Careless me…
Since then, I replaced my iPod Touch with a new one, and am now typing this blog post on an iPad 2. (By the way the keyboard works a lot better than I expected it to). As much as it sounds like rhetoric, these iOS devices really do feel magical to me. It’s crazy that 4 years on, I have yet to see another device that has a touchscreen that works or feels better than the iOS devices. And I think it’s all thanks to Steve Jobs that the devices we have feel the way they do.
Even detractors owe Steve a big one. Without the Macintosh all the way back in 1984, you might not have Windows. If not for the iPhone, you probably wouldn’t have Android. Without the iPad, you probably wouldn’t have your Blackberry Playbook. Without the Macs, probably not a single windows PC would be remotely aesthetically pleasing. Steve Jobs’ understanding of how the common man thinks, feels, and wants has helped him develop all the magical products we have today.
These products have brought me a great deal of joy and excitement. Oftentimes when I’m using my iPod Touch (and now my iPad), I will occasionally stop and think, “Wait a minute, I’m using a touchscreen device. That does basically everything. That feels great and isn’t clunky. Wow, just wow…” When I was a much younger kid, I never really did think that touchscreen devices would become so readily available to me. They were always these cool devices you saw in sci-fi films that you’d never have. But thanks to Mr. Jobs ushering in the “post-PC” era, I now have one with me everywhere I go.
He truly is the inventor of the 21st century. It’s a pity we will never know what else he had in that creative brain of his. Regardless, thank you Mr. Jobs, for everything, you will be missed.
In a shocking turn of events, Apple has suddenly announced that it will no longer be present at Macworld Expos after 2009. Next month’s keynote will be Apple’s last at one of these events, which is a major letdown in my opinion.