Steve Jobs is no more. 56 is definitely not the age to head heavenwards, but even the supposed 'Greatest Inventor' since Thomas Edison, could not really persuade God to listen to some more music on iPod before descending down on earth to take him away. Technology, after all, can not alter the inevitable.
The global mourning over the death of Apple co-founder has highlighted some very interesting facts. The event has divided the global population in three distinct chunks or bites (we may say so with reference to 'Apple'). The much talked about Digital Divide was on full display yesterday as the news of Steve's death trickled across various media.
One, most aggrieved people are those who are the beneficiaries of Jobs' revolutionary vision on technology. They belong to the 'elite' class, the tech-obsessed generation, the ones who sleep with their iPods on. Two, close on the heels of this section is an even larger pool of people, which aspires to make it to the first category. They are quintessential 'middle-class' with their eyes set on the 'elite'. This section might not have used any Apple product till date or may not know much about Jobs but would behave as if his death is their personal loss. These people would wail and whine, mostly online, pay glowing tributes to the erstwhile Apple CEO, using creative expressions such as iMiss and iSad. Before you, as a reader make any wrong impression about me and think I am belittling Jobs' contribution or making fun of people who paid tribute to him, let me make two things clear. I, myself, belong to the second category and I have greatest respect for the man who was the best CEO of our times, to put it in the best possible way.
Lets talk about the third category of people now. This is the largest chunk of human civilization that knows only one apple and that is red in color (sometimes green). They do not know who Steve Jobs is, they do not have access to the internet, they do not know whats 'trending'. As netizens churned out one creative status updates and tweets after the other, this section was busy in its own world. After all, most celebrations, mourning, revolutions and war are, now a days, formulated and fought online. The 'elite' takes up the subject, the 'middle class' cashes on it and the media generalizes it as thumb rule or 'pulse' of the nation. Take up today's leading Hindi and English Dailies, the glaring Digital Divide, that the genius Jobs so wanted to bridge, would stare you in face. A TOI would dedicate two full pages to Jobs' death other than the front page, a 'Nayi Duniya' would sum up Jobs in a box.
Yes, Jobs was a great entrepreneur, an unparalleled CEO and an extremely talented technocrat. But saying that he was the greatest inventor since Edison, is taking things too far. All that Jobs invented in his lifetime was a touch-enabled music pad, a phone and a tab. All these three Apple products are more of innovations than inventions. Do we pay similar tributes to those who invented phones or music systems for that matter? Do we know who invented the Walkman? Apple, after all, is a billion-dollar firm that makes consumer products. iPod, iPad and iPhones are consumer products, may be better than their contemporaries, but certainly do not qualify as inventions that revolutionized the world. Having a thousand songs in your pocket is cool but nothing changes if you have say just 80 songs! Apple makes luxury products, products that make our lives easier. But, these products do not change our lives. It's understandable when Obama pays tribute to his nation's leading innovator or Zuckerberg and Gates say good things about their rival, but that online frenzy over Jobs' death is, well, a little baffling.
Steve Jobs was a visionary, a hard taskmaster and an able CEO. With a life & career full of ingredients of a Hollywood Potboiler, Jobs was and will be part of the popular culture. His ultimate goal was to bridge that huge Digital Divide in which he succeeded to an extent. But he is no way near the Edisons and the Newtons. Bulb and gravity are far more deeply embedded in our lives than Apple products.
Kudos Steve for making a difference, taking that first step. Hopefully, one day our sorrows and joys would not be divided. The world would be unanimous in identifying and hailing the genius.
R.I.P.
The global mourning over the death of Apple co-founder has highlighted some very interesting facts. The event has divided the global population in three distinct chunks or bites (we may say so with reference to 'Apple'). The much talked about Digital Divide was on full display yesterday as the news of Steve's death trickled across various media.
One, most aggrieved people are those who are the beneficiaries of Jobs' revolutionary vision on technology. They belong to the 'elite' class, the tech-obsessed generation, the ones who sleep with their iPods on. Two, close on the heels of this section is an even larger pool of people, which aspires to make it to the first category. They are quintessential 'middle-class' with their eyes set on the 'elite'. This section might not have used any Apple product till date or may not know much about Jobs but would behave as if his death is their personal loss. These people would wail and whine, mostly online, pay glowing tributes to the erstwhile Apple CEO, using creative expressions such as iMiss and iSad. Before you, as a reader make any wrong impression about me and think I am belittling Jobs' contribution or making fun of people who paid tribute to him, let me make two things clear. I, myself, belong to the second category and I have greatest respect for the man who was the best CEO of our times, to put it in the best possible way.
Lets talk about the third category of people now. This is the largest chunk of human civilization that knows only one apple and that is red in color (sometimes green). They do not know who Steve Jobs is, they do not have access to the internet, they do not know whats 'trending'. As netizens churned out one creative status updates and tweets after the other, this section was busy in its own world. After all, most celebrations, mourning, revolutions and war are, now a days, formulated and fought online. The 'elite' takes up the subject, the 'middle class' cashes on it and the media generalizes it as thumb rule or 'pulse' of the nation. Take up today's leading Hindi and English Dailies, the glaring Digital Divide, that the genius Jobs so wanted to bridge, would stare you in face. A TOI would dedicate two full pages to Jobs' death other than the front page, a 'Nayi Duniya' would sum up Jobs in a box.
Yes, Jobs was a great entrepreneur, an unparalleled CEO and an extremely talented technocrat. But saying that he was the greatest inventor since Edison, is taking things too far. All that Jobs invented in his lifetime was a touch-enabled music pad, a phone and a tab. All these three Apple products are more of innovations than inventions. Do we pay similar tributes to those who invented phones or music systems for that matter? Do we know who invented the Walkman? Apple, after all, is a billion-dollar firm that makes consumer products. iPod, iPad and iPhones are consumer products, may be better than their contemporaries, but certainly do not qualify as inventions that revolutionized the world. Having a thousand songs in your pocket is cool but nothing changes if you have say just 80 songs! Apple makes luxury products, products that make our lives easier. But, these products do not change our lives. It's understandable when Obama pays tribute to his nation's leading innovator or Zuckerberg and Gates say good things about their rival, but that online frenzy over Jobs' death is, well, a little baffling.
Steve Jobs was a visionary, a hard taskmaster and an able CEO. With a life & career full of ingredients of a Hollywood Potboiler, Jobs was and will be part of the popular culture. His ultimate goal was to bridge that huge Digital Divide in which he succeeded to an extent. But he is no way near the Edisons and the Newtons. Bulb and gravity are far more deeply embedded in our lives than Apple products.
Kudos Steve for making a difference, taking that first step. Hopefully, one day our sorrows and joys would not be divided. The world would be unanimous in identifying and hailing the genius.
R.I.P.
