Steve Jobs: 1955-2011.

Dear Steve (can I call you that?),

I've never met you - though I wish I did, neither have I gotten to know you - I'm sure you would've been a great friend, but in more ways than one, you've left impressions in my life through my days growing up.

First, it was the Macintosh. No offence, but I really hated the interface when I first got in touch with one back in high school. Had to use it for art and I had difficulties picking up skills in using a Mac especially when I've only been faced with a PC prior to that. The exterior was really funky (a word we loved to use back then), with the different colors you could choose from, but I didn't like the way the desktop and 'windows' (no pun intended) looked.

Then came the revolutionary iPod. It was just like any other MP3 player, except that it wasn't. You scroll through songs with the touch of a dial. You can carry so many songs on the go with the large memory space. And, who could forget - the cool white earphones.

But it wasn't just the consumer market that had changed. The use of lifestyle as an effective means of marketing originated from you, Steve. iPod = cool. Everyone wanted one. I was probably one of the very few who didn't own an iPod (any version of it), ever. I remember how I was in my Social Psychology of New Media class and I was the only one who raised my hand when the teacher asked who didn't own an iPod. I didn't care whether people thought it was "uncool" to not have one, I prefer to think I was different. Besides, iPods were pretty expensive back then, and from the moment I knew the existence of Apple's new product - the iPhone, I knew iPods were going to be a thing of the past. I, unlike everyone else, was a couple of hundred bucks richer.

Then came the time when you, Steve, changed my life forever. I got the iPhone. I don't actually remember why I didn't get my hands on the first generation of iPhone (I was so envious of those who did) but I got the iPhone 3GS in white (I had to use my mum's line to get it because it was exclusive to Singtel when it first launched!). It was the like, the best thing I ever had in my entire life! I had an iPod, a phone, a gaming 'console' - all in one! I recall a simple post I blogged just a couple of weeks back on thanking you for the creation of the iPhone because without you, I wouldn't have been able to blog on the go using the Blogger app. But it wasn't just my life that you changed, it was everybody's.

Steve Jobs and the white iPhone4.

Mr. Jobs, you created the need for an iPhone (and later iPad) out of thin air. There was nothing like the iPhone before it was launched and nobody needed anything like this. You created an entirely new segment in the market - the smartphone, and more importantly, an entirely new lifestyle. The implications of this was huge: people got bored if they didn't have their iPhones with them while waiting for the bus or at the clinic, more jobs were created because the iPhone apps created a whole new target audience for businesses, long distance communication was free and on-the-go with apps like Whatsapp and Viber, trees could be saved since you could now download books and read them on your phone without squinting your eyes because you could enlarge things simply with your thumb and index finger - just to name a few.

The iPad just emphasized your genius work on the iPhone in creating needs, rather than creating to cater to needs. When you first introduced the iPad to the world, you were faced with scepticism. "Why in the world would anyone need an iPad?", was what everyone was saying. Then the next moment, half the world owns an iPad (and half of them queued up for it). Children were no longer throwing tantrums on the airplane because they could watch Spongebob Squarepants on Daddy's iPad, making for a pleasant flight for everyone onboard. Reading iBooks were less tiring (and definitely makes more sense) than reading them on the iPhone. Couples used iPads for guests to leave them a well-wishing at their wedding ceremonies. Businesses also used iPads to do their selling by showing customers high-definition images through iPad's high resolution screen of whatever they were selling. I once walked past a booth promoting wedding packages to couples, and they were presenting their photographers' work using the iPad. I thought that was something else.

Steve Jobs making his final product presentation of the iPad 2  as CEO of Apple despite being on leave.

In more ways than one, you have revolutionalised the way the human race communicates, and re-defined the meaning of a cellphone. You created a whole new lifestyle and changed the way technology is woven into our lives.

Steve, you were an extraordinaire, a visionary, an inspiration to all of us across the world. It isn't everyday that the world benefits from someone like you who can touch so many peoples' lives without having to meet you in person. It also isn't everyday that you get an unselfish businessman who takes home a USD1 salary and wholeheartedly throws his heart and soul into the company. You only stepped down from your position as CEO of Apple a month before you lost the battle to cancer, it was as though Apple is one of the sons you can't bare to leave behind.

You were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at such a young age and for anyone at all, it's a painful fact to be hit with. But you faced it with such courage and bravery, not letting sickness come between you and an ordinary life - well, you were way beyond ordinary, you are extraordinary. You brought meaning to "living life to the fullest". Departing the world at 56 must mean you leave behind lots of unfulfilled wishes, but Steve, have no regrets because you are a legend. And before this very day, you were already one. It is our loss, as much as it is to your family, to have the most influential man of the decade, if not century, leave so suddenly. But do rest in peace, you did your family proud and I'm positive your sons will do you proud too.

You will always be remembered, Steve. I wish this 'letter', as well as all the thank-yous and condolences from all around the world reaches you, somehow, through our heartfelt thoughts and tears.

It was raining really heavily today here in my part of the world (Singapore). At first, I thought, could it be that the heavens are mourning the loss of such a great man like Steve Jobs? Then I realize, it can't be, because the heavens took you away from us. Rest in peace, Steve, I will miss you and your black-sweater-and-jeans ensemble.

Taken off the Apple website.

Signing off, I'd like to share this song by Queen, No One But You (Only the Good Die Young):


A hand above the water
An angel reaching for the sky
Is it raining in heaven -
Do you want us to cry?

And everywhere the broken-hearted
On every lonely avenue
No-one could reach them
No-one but you

One by one
Only the Good die young
They're only flying too close to the sun
And life goes on -
Without you...

Another Tricky Situation
I get to drownin' in the Blues
And I find myself thinkin'
Well - what would you do?

Yes! - it was such an operation
Forever paying every due
Hell, you made a sensation
You found a way through

One by one
Only the Good die young
They're only flyin' too close to the sun
We'll remember -
Forever...

And now the party must be over
I guess we'll never understand
The sense of your leaving
Was in the way it was planned...

So we grace another table
And raise our glasses one more time
There's a face at the window
And i aint never, never saying goodbye...

One by one
Only the Good die young
They're only flyin' too close to the sun
Cryin' for nothing
Cryin' for no-one
No-one but you

Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.  ~Norman Cousins