On the 7th day

7 days now since Steve Jobs' passing. While many mourned, many are also dumbfounded as to why many mourned his death. I would like to give props to the man, but there's just too many things to say. That's why when I heard the news, I only had an article title, but not a main body. I was speechless. Sad.

My own story went like this. October 6th morning, Japan time, I went to the university a little bit earlier than usual because I had a  9:30am class. I had my breakfast as usual, but I was probably running a little late. Ideally I would leave my apartment no less than 15 minutes before 9:30am to have ample time for whatever else I needed to do. Anyway, as I left, my wife started getting on her Facebook fix for the day. I was probably just 2 minutes into my bicycle ride to the university when she gave me a call. My first thought was I had probably left something - my lunch for the day or my umbrella or my raincoat or something else - and then she broke the news. Steve Jobs passed away.

My first reaction was like, "No way!" I got to the office maybe 5 minutes early. The first thing I did was check - on my iPhone, nonetheless - if the story is true. I am subscribed via RSS feeds to a number of Apple-related news/gossip websites and after seeing similar headlines from two or three, only then that I accepted the truth. The first thing I did then was blog about it. But I didn't really know what to say. It was sad. So I said nothing. Life must go on.

Anyways. When Steve Jobs resigned from Apple back in August, 8 months into his 3rd medical leave (which was this time, an indefinite one), I should have seen it coming. But then I would have eroded my mind with too much negative emotions then. I had a ton of hope that his passing is far from happening. Not this soon. After all, in his 2005 Stanford commencement address, he said he was still looking forward to decades ahead. It was wishful thinking on my part, looking back. I thought though that he made the best move for himself, for his family, and for Apple; just be the Apple chairman. No need to be CEO. Tim Cook is very much capable. But as chairman, he can still do plenty of things. We can still expect even more awesome products. We can still expect to see him make those keynote presentations now legendarily called "SteveNotes." He might have ended his full-time reign at Apple, to better take care of himself and his health, but there would still be one more thing. I really thought there would still be one more thing. I could never be more wrong.

Guy Kawasaki argued that Disneyland is still a very fun, very enjoyable place for most visitors, young and old alike, and meanwhile Walt Disney himself has not been around for a very long time already. This could be one scenario for Apple, considering that Steve Jobs has ingrained his DNA into this very first baby of his, particularly thru Apple University, an in-house executive learning school. You know what, I'm just really hoping for more insanely great products.

Of course, coincidentally, Steve waited until after the October 4th announcement of the iPhone 4S concluded. There was a lot of unmet expectations speculations about the iPhone 4S, mostly from non-Apple fans, as if Apple never released the iPhone 3GS which was a minimal upgrade of the iPhone 3G, although some reports say that Jobs himself was pleased. And so he went. Anyway, as I appended in my blog article about the iPhone 4S announcement, what "one little thing" that people did not notice from the iPhone 4S announcement was the announcement of the iPhone 3GS being free and the iPhone 4 being only $99 under 2-year contracts. The 3GS is still a very capable smartphone and a price tag of free would get a whole lot more people into the iPhone ecosystem. The iPhone 4 is like - you know, it still wows me up to this day. It is just beautiful. And it becomes everything that I need it to be. It's no wonder the iPhone 4S still looks like the iPhone 4. As of today though, pre-orders of the iPhone 4S have sold out. I don't think it's people intentionally doing it for Steve. It's just Siri and that new camera are on another level compared to most similar products even though people might not admit it. Overall though, it's nice to see Apple-haters who are respectful enough to pay respect to the man. I respect them, too. Unfortunately, there are also the disrespectful ones. You know who you are. You don't deserve any respect from me, or from anyone.

Anyways. Sad, sad, sad. Steve Jobs is the third game changer who I really admired but who has already passed on, Kurt Cobain and FrancisM being the other two. I should stop admiring people, but you know, I would strive to be a game changer myself. Until then, I should stay hungry, stay foolish.