“The World has lost a visionary” – Barack Obama

Somewhat poignantly, just 2 days after the release of the iPhone 4S, Steve Jobs passed away peacefully last night, surrounded by family. Obama could not have put it better.

Social networking sites, particularly Twitter, are experiencing huge volumes of traffic as tributes pour in from around the world. We have lost someone very special indeed. His CV included Chairman and CEO of Apple, CEO of Pixar and Walt Disney Company’s largest individual shareholder and a former member of its Board of Directors. He was considered a leading figure in both the computer and entertainment industries.

The phrase “big shoes to fill” must have been overused after the Tuesday night launch of the iPhone 4S. Tim Cook, brilliant as he may be, might never be able to prove himself as worthy a successor. The applause at the beginning of the launch was lukewarm, almost muted. Something was missing.

The first Apple launch without Steve, with his iconic black turtle-neck sweater and jeans, coupled with the disappointment at the 4S and not an iPhone 5, would explain the reason that Apple stocks fell by ten dollars on that Tuesday.

Steve Jobs is synonymous with intuitive technologies, breaking the barriers of possibility. He made products a lifestyle, he was a marketing genius. Steve was perhaps the only one to prove that nerds can be seriously cool.

I will leave you with an extract of Steve Job’s Stanford graduation speech in 2005

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”