Article by Adam Bellamy | Owl Staff
Steve Jobs’ achievements are a prime example of how one person’s ideas can change the world. He left a wide-ranging legacy, from devices like the iPhone to standards of modern technology like the graphical user interface.
Jobs’ passion and exceedingly high standards yielded amazing products, but sometimes caused personal conflict. In 1986, after leaving Apple amid such conflict, Jobs purchased a small company called Pixar. Nine years later, Pixar released Toy Story which is still considered one of the greatest films of all time. Jobs’ jaunt in the film industry made animated movies a staple in the box office.
“Personal computers, mobile phones, mobile gaming, and tablets were all revolutionized by Jobs’ vision and determination.”
When discussing the idea of iTunes in 2003, Jobs said, “It will go down in history as a turning point for the music industry. This is landmark stuff. I can’t overestimate it.” The iTunes Store recently sold its sixteen billionth song, while the iPod remains the portable music player, with over 300 million devices sold worldwide.
Jobs’ dedication to his ideas helped Apple excel in just about every avenue it explored. Personal computers, mobile phones, tablets, movies, and music were all revolutionized by Jobs’ vision and determination. Now that he has passed, many people in the technology industry wonder who will be the next Steve Jobs. Obviously, no one person can fill those shoes, but luckily there are still innovators among us.
Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, the founders of YouTube, took it upon themselves to build a website that allowed content creators to easily share their videos with an unlimited audience over the Internet. YouTube has since become the third most visited site on the Internet. Thanks to devices like Job’s revolutionary iPad, YouTube eventually extended this service to the palms of users’ hands.
One thing I took away from the death of Steve Jobs is how incredibly lucky we are to have lived while he was in his prime. Innovators like the founders of YouTube show us two things: Jobs’ ideas will continue to live on, and we can still make great strides in innovation.
While his visionary thinking will be deeply missed, I can only hope that Jobs motivated the next great pioneer. As he stated in his famous 2005 Commencement Address at Stanford University, “Right now, the new, is you.”