One year ago: Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Last night when Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died, my Twitter exploded with heartfelt tributes, quotes, and instagrams of Apple products. To me, it has always been strange when a public figure dies and the world at large has this very public, and very emotional, reaction to it. But this time around, I can understand it a bit more.

October 5, 2012; 7:45 AM • by Ross Catrow

Update — October 5th, 2012

On the anniversary of Steve Jobs’s death, Apple has put together a short slide show remember his life and the products his company created over the last 40-some years. You can watch the slide show (with some great quotes from Jobs) on Apple.com.

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Original — October 6th, 2011

Last night when Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died, my Twitter exploded with heartfelt tributes, quotes, and instagrams of Apple products. To me, it has always been strange when a public figure dies and the world at large has this very public, and very emotional, reaction to it. It’s especially strange when the person in question is “just” the head of a very large, very corporate, and very wealthy technology company.

But, obviously, for a lot of people Steve Jobs wasn’t just a CEO, he was a symbol for something. What I’ve learned since Michael Jackson died (which was the last famous guy whose death blew up my Twitter), is that these much-loved public figures remind us of important and formative times in our lives, and when these people die…it is sad.

This is probably obvious to people with more life experience than myself.

I was just in Chicago for a local news conference that brought together twelve of the most successful local/hyperlocal news publishers in America. Every single one of those publishers used a MacBook. Over half of them had an iPhone. The final day of the conference overlapped the iPhone 4S event, and the group had to be specifically told to turn off the keynote. In our industry we’re never more than a few inches away from an Apple product.

RVANews is a “Mac Shop.” At last count, our team of five has: two MacBook Pros, four iPhones, four iPads, a MacBook, an iMac, and a MacBook Air. What started as having a MacMini for Safari testing has grown into an obsession. We use these tools every day to run RVANews, write our stories, take photos, and live tweet events. They are essential for our business.

And that’s why I felt emotions when I saw Wil Wheaton tweet:

iRIP, Steve Jobs. Thank you for making incredible things, so we can live in the future.

These incredible things that he helped make have made RVANews possible. And, that’s what I think of when I think of Steve Jobs.

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Feel free to leave your Jobsian tales below in the comments.

October 5, 2012 7:45 AM 5