While not unexpected, the death of Apple cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs in October triggered an avalanche of reaction from media and businesspeople. While many claimed his genius lay primarily in an innate understanding of technology’s essential components and its many applications, others said Jobs’ biggest and best talent was his ability to not only market his products, but also himself. Some expressed concern about Apple’s future without its enigmatic leader.?
Susan Brooks ? The Washington Post?
Steve Jobs … was a technological genius whose vision not only shaped an industry, but also our entire culture. Technology became personal, relational and revolutionary. With an iPod in your ear, playing your music downloaded from iTunes, you check your messages on your iPhone and network using your iPad. Your Apple computer gives you point-and-click access to a world of knowledge and play. You are deeply, profoundly connected to the digital age. His instinct for marketing was almost mystical in its ability to anticipate human desire. There are very few people who have as much impact on their times, and on the time to come, as Jobs. But fewer still are those who seem to profoundly grasp the deep existential truths ?of the human condition.?
Tim Rutherford,? The Independent?
Many will buy the iPhone 4S not because they need it, but because they are indoctrinated into believing that they should have it, like those who will buy the home and away kit every year regardless, even if the only change is a stripe across the sleeve. These Apple fans won’t want you to note that Jobs was a fortunate product of a lucky environment. No, they will try to persuade you that Jobs should be posthumously be canonized; that he was a tech genius who was light-years apart from everyone else in his field. But he was not — he was?just marketed as such. This is where Jobs excelled: marketing. He even marketed himself; his laid-back black sweater and jeans combination became the epitome of ?a ‘cool’ CEO. The only ‘cool’ CEO the world has ever known was Jobs.?
James Stewart,? The New York Times?
Of all Steve Jobs’ accomplishments, this, to me, remains both the simplest and the most astonishing. How did he take a commodity … and turn it into one of the most desirable objects on the planet? Jobs was hard for many business people to understand. Go into a computer store today, and there’s an array of mostly indistinguishable keyboards and monitors — and then there’s Apple. Apple now faces competition on nearly every front, and whether it can maintain its edge without Jobs is a pressing question, especially for Apple shareholders and customers. ?
Cavan Sieczkowski,? International ?Business Times?
Of course Jobs operated ?with a desire to invent and build for the greater good, but he also wanted to make money. He understood the current markets and envisioned future markets. He utilized very carefully detailed marketing plans and packaging designs to create not just a product, but an accessory almost as necessary and useful as a bodily appendage. Most of all, he had eager and willing consumers who were — and still are — excited about these new innovations. Demand is the root of Apple’s success. So what has Jobs left behind? A company whose shares have risen more than 6,000%? Yes. Products that have changed the way the entire world connects and communicates? Yes. Jobs is the pioneer of Manifest Destiny for the digital era.
OUR VIEW?:
Jobs’ life and career resulted in dramatic changes to technology, communications and business. However, Jobs wasn’t such?a marketing genius that Apple will now fail to wow its devoted consumer fan base with aesthetically pleasing state-of-the-art ?music devices, computers and smartphones. Jobs infected Apple’s employees with his passion and vision, and the company boasts about the brilliance of its design teams. Jobs may have been the face of his products, but he was not personally building each one. According to the latest comScore statistics, the iPhone has 27% market share in the smartphone category, and ?research firm Gartner indicated it enjoys 73% of the tablet market share. Jobs’ talents — marketing and otherwise — have? ensured continuing success for the company.?
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