Steve

I’ve been following the news of Steve Job’s resignation as CEO of Apple since last night, and read posts from my favorite pundits and tech industry people (here, here and here). It’s a lot to take in, and there’s so much that’s been written already, from every possible angle, I won’t bother to try and re-do any of that.

My only encounter with Steve in a public capacity, with an intimate group of several thousand others. I was attending one of the famous Macworld Expo keynote addresses, known affectionately as the “Stevenote”, in 2007. I only ever attended one of these, and it happened to be the one where he unveiled the iPhone. (Holy crap, if I could have picked one to be at, what a one to pick!)

Leading up to the keynote, I’d heard stories about how he was able to project a “reality distortion field” and be charismatic and compelling. I’d watched scores of his keynotes in previous years, back when they used to stream them live, and I was pretty sure I know what I was in for. I was expecting just sort of a well-done nerdy tech geek chat. I felt I was pretty immune to any razzle-dazzle a gifted speaker might send my way.

As the keynote started, and Steve came out, he was good. Really good. He built up to announcing the iPhone, but not in a way that said “HERE”S THE DEVICE THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE THE ENTIRE PHONE MARKET AND PERSONAL COMPUTING FOREVER”. No, in fact, if I remember correctly, he set it up as, “…today we’re releasing three revolutionary products; 1) a widescreen iPod with touch controls, 2) a revolutionary mobile phone, and 3) a breakthrough internet communications device.” He repeated those three things a few times, and then asked “get it yet?”. His punchline was “This isn’t three devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone”. Subtle. But the real moment was a few minutes later, before he’d shown us what the iPhone looked like. He mentioned that “…currently, there’s a category of phones called smartphones (supposedly)”. He went on “…the problem is, they’re not so smart, and not so easy to use. They have these little plastic keyboards and lousy interfaces…”

I, along with probably most everyone in that room, had one of those “most advanced phones” with me. In my hand I had a Palm Treo, (which I was furiously using to send images and chat text out to some fellow tech nerd friends who were not in the hall, but were anxiously awaiting the news of the event. This was waaaaay before Twitter.) which was one of the most awesome things out there at the time. I could feel it sweating, trembling, and starting to get heavy in my hand as Steve went on along the lines of how, really, you have to admit, these phones were a pain to use, poorly designed, and not very capable. A sinking feeling grew — he was right. I did spend a lot of time battling the thing; reading email was inconsistent, web browsing, although possible, was slow as hell and the pages, when they loaded at all, looked terrible, apps were few, crummy, and expensive. Back to the Stevenote. He then showed a slide of the leading four smart phones at the time; the Moto Q, BlackBerry, Palm Treo (ooh, that wass mine), Nokia E62. Then came the slide showing the iPhone. BANG! like a shot, it hit us all. It was as obvious as day to everyone in that room; when they’d walked in to that keynote, they were carrying the coolest, most advanced tech gadgets on the planet in their pockets. Now, after seeing the iPhone, they were carrying clunky, outdated, dinosaurs.

I still remember that feeling, at that moment, and how it hit me. Looking back on the video today, that moment doesn’t translate very well. It all seems so obvious now, in hindsight. But in that room, listening to Steve directly, it was palpable.

I think in that brief, public moment, I was lucky to have been able to directly sense of what makes Steve such a powerful figure. It was potent, and unforgettable.

Steve’s still with us, despite the obituary like tone of some of the comments out there, and he’ll be involved in Apple for hopefully years to come. Apple will be fine, has great people, and will make many cool things and innovations for years to come. but it is undeniable; it will never be the same. And I’m glad to be able to say I think I know why.

Apple, as an extension of Steve’s vision, has been part of my life since I got my first Macintosh, a Mac Plus in 1986. Since then, I’ve used Apple products personally and professionally virtually every day. I used Apple products as a student, then as some of my first jobs doing desktop publishing, then pre-press, web design, web coding, and now as a consultant. I used Apple products for doing audio recording and audio mastering for years, and recording and mixing bands I was in a mixing and creating records, CDs, and artwork. I use them for recreation, listening to music on iPods, iPhone, playing games, watching movies and TV shows, etc etc.

In that, I’m not unique, as millions of others have the same experiences with Apple. But what felt so odd is that I am embarrassed to admit I actually felt a tremor of… something… upon hearing the news. As corny as it sounds, it seems Steve was able to really connect and affect all those millions of people over those decades, and I guess I’m one of them.

Thanks Steve, best wishes.