Mourning Jobs: A Model for Our Age

Mourning Jobs: A Model for Our Age
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
October 7, 2011

Summary: Apple Computer founder and chairman Steve Jobs is dead. The Apple board issued a statement reading: "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Full Text Below:

Apple Computer founder and chairman Steve Jobs is dead. The Apple board issued a statement reading: "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

Just 24 hours earlier, Apple released its new iPhone 4S. But because it was not the much-anticipated iPhone 5, public reaction was mixed, Many journalists began discussing a "post-Apple era" without Steve Jobs. Twenty-four hours later, Jobs passed away. His 56 year long life could not have come to a more dramatic end.

Less than a week after he was born, he was adopted by a couple in California. He dropped out of college after one semester. When he was 21, he and a friend co-founded Apple. The company experienced its first wave of success. But internal power struggles forced Jobs out. Jobs then founded NeXT computer. Apple performed poorly after Jobs left. Eventually it asked him to return. Apple scaled one height after another, until today.

Steve Jobs was the soul of Apple. He was an key force who changed the world. American pundits say that Steve Jobs bears the same relationship to the beginning of 21st century that Thomas Edison bore to the beginning of the 20th century. Edison was an inventor in an age of inventors. Jobs was a product innovator in an age of product innovation.

Jobs' most famous and most widely read aphorism was, "To live is to change the world. Is there any other reason?" He really did change the world, He not only changed the world, he defined the era.

He defined the computer age. From the 80s second-generation Apple2, to the 90s Macintosh line, Jobs was involved not only in the birth of the personal computer, he also made the computer a popular experience, Today many fans love the Mac interface and its unique style.

He defined a new era of film-making. After leaving Apple, Jobs founded Pixar. He used animation technology to make the "Toy Story" movies. He established numerous film history records, He brought animated film into the digital realm.

He defined a new era of music. The iPod and iTunes were music industry killer devices, He introduced a new generation of digital music. Jobs changed the way music was transmitted and stored. But he always believed that the nature and meaning of music had not changed. Technology merely helped people enjoy music with higher fidelity, more efficiently.

During the last five years of his life, he defined the action era. The iPhone gave birth to the smart phone, It combined the functions of a phone and a personal computer. Mobile services led to a structural revolution. After Apple came out with the iPad, Information Technology entered the "post-PC era." People demanded greater mobility and more entertainment value. This indirectly contributed to the development of "cloud technology," because it enabled seamless integration between different devices.

More importantly, Jobs defined a new era of leadership. His ideas and aphorisms were published and became a best seller. Jobs' lectures and briefings were popular events. They were even made into university courses. The world Jobs created was a concept, an ideal. His products and technologies were merely a means to realize his dreams. He never felt he was selling hardware or software, but introducing people to a total experience.

Behind every successful individual, there is always an important support team. But without Jobs' charisma as a leader, without Jobs' vision as a dreamer, a strong technical team and smart financial management alone can never change the world.

What do we hope to learn from him? Jobs' leadership style, Jobs' approach to trends and products, should give politicians and businessmen on Taiwan cause for reflection. What makes for a total experience in products and services? What character traits make for a leader with vision? What sort of thinking is worthy of becoming a corporate vision?

Steve Jobs was not God, Some of his decisions have yet to survive the test of time, For example, his closed operating system strategy, his opposition to "machine sea tactics," his belief in focusing on a single product. Jobs was a model of success. But he also created obstacles, by establishing a mythology about himself. Tim Cook, his successor at Apple, said he must not be compared with Jobs, In this world there is only one Steve Jobs. He may not be unique in the history of the world. But he is unique in the world of today.

If he lived for another decade, the world, like it or not, would have been even more different,

悼賈伯斯：定義時代的典範
【聯合報╱社論】
2011.10.07 03:09 am

蘋果電腦公司創辦人暨董事長史蒂夫‧賈伯斯辭世。蘋果公司董事會發表的聲明寫著：「我們很悲痛地宣布賈伯斯去世，史蒂夫的才華、熱情與活力，是豐富改善人類生活的泉源，世界因為有了史蒂夫而變得更美好。」

距此二十四小時之前，蘋果電腦公司剛發表了新的智慧型手機iPhone 4S，但因為不是眾所期待的iPhone 5，因此外界褒貶不一，許多媒體開始討論沒有賈伯斯的「後蘋果時代」；二十四小時之後，賈伯斯離世，為他五十六年的戲劇人生，劃下了一個簡直不能更戲劇性的句號。

他出生不滿七天，被加州一對夫妻領養；大學入學才一學期即輟學離開；二十一歲時與朋友共同創辦蘋果公司；在公司到達第一波成就之後，卻因內部權力鬥爭，被迫離開去自創NeXT電腦公司；蘋果公司在賈伯斯離開後表現不佳，最後只好再請他回來，從此再創蘋果電腦公司的高峰，直到現在。

賈伯斯是蘋果公司的靈魂，更是改變世界的重要力量。美國評論家形容：他將成為「二十一世紀的開始」，一如愛迪生是「二十世紀的開始」一樣。愛迪生是發明家輩出年代的一位發明家，而賈伯斯是產品導引時代的產品發起人。

賈伯斯最為人傳誦的名言之一：「活著就是為了改變世界，難道還有其他原因嗎？」他也真的做到了，他不但改變了世界，他更定義了這個時代。

他定義了電腦時代。從八零年代的蘋果電腦第二代（Apple2），到九零年代的麥金塔系列，賈伯斯不但參與了個人電腦的誕生，也打造了一種對於電腦的流行體驗，迄今仍有許多的麥金塔迷深愛其獨特的操作介面與風格。

他定義了新的電影時代。離開蘋果電腦之後，賈伯斯投資創辦了皮克斯電腦動畫公司，用新的動畫技術推出「玩具總動員」電影，創下影史的多項紀錄，把動畫電影帶到新的數位境界。

他定義了新的音樂時代。iPod與iTune成為唱片工業的殺手，但也開啟了數位音樂的全新世代；賈伯斯改變了音樂的傳遞與儲存方式，但他始終認為音樂的本質與內涵沒有改變，科技幫助人們可以用更高品質、更有效率的方式享受音樂。

在人生的最後五年，他定義了行動時代。iPhone開啟了智慧型手機時代，讓手機與電腦功能結合，讓行動載具的服務產生結構性革命；在蘋果公司推出平板電腦iPad之後，資訊界普遍認為進入了「後PC時代」，人們對於電腦的需求開始朝向更高的移動性與娛樂性，更間接促成了「雲端科技」的發展，因為使用者要求在不同行動載具之間可以無縫接軌。

更重要的，賈伯斯定義了新的領導時代。他的理念、名言都已成為暢銷著作，而賈式風格的演講和簡報，更是成為一種流行標竿，甚至是大學裡的課程。賈伯斯打造的世界是一種概念、一種理想，他的產品與技術，只是實現夢想的手段；他從不認為他在銷售硬體或軟體，而是在推出一個完整的使用經驗與方案。

每一位成功者的背後，絕對都有重要團隊的支持，但如果沒有賈伯斯獨特的領袖者特質、少了賈伯斯的夢想家魅力，再堅強的技術團隊，再精明的財務管理，也無法創造這種改變世界的力量。

如果問，我們希望從他身上學到些什麼？至少，賈伯斯的對於趨勢及產品的領導風格，可以讓台灣政治界與企業界人士有些省思：什麼是產品服務的完整體驗、什麼是夢想領袖的魅力特質、什麼是企業願景的具體思維。

賈伯斯不是神，他的若干決策都尚有待於更多時間的檢驗，例如採用封閉的作業系統策略；他也不贊成多種產品的「機海戰術」，而強力專注於單一產品。但賈伯斯真的成就了一種典範，塑造了一種障礙，建立了一種傳奇。蘋果公司接班人庫克說，不要拿他與賈伯斯比較，因為這世界上只有一位賈伯斯。他或許不是歷史上的絕無僅有，卻是當今世界的唯一。

是的，如果他能多活十年，相信這個世界會更不一樣，不論人們喜歡與否。