The man who pioneered the idea of a personal microcomputer in the late 70th, refining it by introducing the graphical user interface to "… the rest of us" in the early 80th — who these days, ironically, works quite successfully on making the very same concept of the PC obsolete — has resigned his post as CEO of Apple.

Jobs in 1996, the year he returned to Apple:

• "The desktop computer industry is dead. Innovation has virtually ceased. Microsoft dominates with very little innovation. That’s over. Apple lost. The desktop market has entered the dark ages, and it’s going to be in the dark ages for the next 10 years, or certainly for the rest of this decade."

In 2007, Apple introduces the iPhone, in 2010 the iPad. These days, we certainly live in interesting times again. Steve Jobs hands over the now most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization to his successor, Tim Cook. Steve Jobs remains at Apple, taking the position of Chairman of the Board.

Steve Jobs on creating products:

• "Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. … To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that."
• "Focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple."
• "People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully."
• "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love: 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very, very beginning. And we always will."

Lot’s of „obituaries“ are starting to show up on the internet. If you want to read one, read this one on Infoworld. Written by someone personally screwed over by Steve Jobs, I think the respect that article shows can’t be argued with by simply insinuating „fandom“.

Tags: Apple